Ante Milicic ( ; ; (born 4 April 1974) is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

manager and former professional player who currently is the head coach of the

China women's national football team China women's national football team (, recognized as China PR by FIFA) represents the People's Republic of China in international women's football competitions and is governed by the Chinese Football Association. China women's team won silve ...

Personal life

The son of Croatian immigrants, Milicic grew up in Strathfield, a suburb in the Inner West of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. Milicic was largely brought up by his father after his mother died when he was 17. At 16, he was selected to train at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Club career

He played for a variety of sides in two stints in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

. The first stint was played almost entirely for Sydney United, for whom he played as a junior, and which culminated in playing in their runner-up 1996/97 side. After that season he moved to

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and after 2 seasons there went to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

NK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as HNK Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka competes in Croatia's top division, Supersport HNL, of which they have been members ...

, where he was the club's top scorer in 2000/01 with 10 goals. On his return to the NSL in season 2001/02, he rejoined Sydney United for a brief stay, before moving to city rival

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

during the same season. He would spend the rest of the season and the next playing there, including scoring the only goal of the 2001/02 Grand Final against

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in Perth, Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under Professional sports league organi ...

. In the final he was awarded the Joe Marston Medal, delivering

their second NSL title, as well as playing in the runner up side the following season against

. In the last season of the NSL in 2003–04 season, he moved to Parramatta Power, where he would again experience Grand Final defeat against the

. After the NSL was disbanded, Milicic played in the

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League (), known simply as the Super League (), is the men's top professional Football in Malaysia, football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnersh ...

for

Pahang {{Infobox political division , name = Pahang , official_name = Pahang Darul Makmur , native_name = , settlement_type = States and federal territories of Malaysia, State , image_skyline = , imagesize ...

. He score a brace for Pahang in his debut against

Perlis Perlis (Kedah Malay language, Kedah Malay (Perlis dialect): ''Peghelih'') is a Negeri, state of Malaysia in the northwestern coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. The state borders the Thai ...

. He scored 9 goals for Pahang as they were crowned as the league champions of the 2004 season. It was widely felt that with the $1.5 million salary caps imposed on all

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

clubs, Milicic would not be able to be brought back to Australia. However, he joined the Newcastle United Jets, who finished 4th on the A-League ladder in 2005/2006, also joining close friends Labinot Haliti,

Ned Zelic Nedjeljko Zelic (born 4 July 1971), commonly known as Ned Zelic, is an Australian former footballer who played as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. Club career Zelic started his career in the old Australian National Soccer League, where he ...

. Ante Milicic was the first player in the

to score a Hat-Trick in the game

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

v New Zealand Knights on 4 November 2005 in round 11. In May 2006 Ante signed to transfer to rival A-League team

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional Association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland. competing in Australia's premier men's competition, A-League Men, which is the top tier Australia's Australian soccer league system ...

, where he played in 44 matches scoring 11 goals. On 8 December 2007, Milicic had his contract terminated by mutual consent and joining Malaysian Premier League

Shahzan Muda FC Shahzan Muda Football Club was a Malaysian professional football (soccer), football club based in Kuantan, Pahang. The club last played in the Malaysia FAM League, the third tier of the Malaysian football league system. Achievements Final st ...

, citing that "''It wasn't quite happening for me at Queensland Roar.''"

National team statistics

International goals

Coaching

Milicic returned home to his club Sydney United as player/coach for season 2009 and 2010 in the

NSW Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Lea ...

. It is his first venture as coach and currently boasts a record of 9 wins (8 in Premier League 1 Tiger Turf Cup), 2 Draws and 1 Loss. He was also called up as an assistant coach to the

Australia men's national under-20 soccer team The Australia national under-20 soccer team, known colloquially as the Young Socceroos, represents Australia in international under-20 soccer. The team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia (FA), whic ...

for the

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confede ...

in Egypt and 2011 Under 20s World Cup in Colombia. On 18 November 2009, it was announced that he would be joining

Jesper Olsen Jesper Olsen (born 20 March 1961) is a Danish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Winger, left winger. He is best remembered for representing AFC Ajax, Ajax of the Netherlands and Manchester United F.C ...

as an assistant coach at new

side

Melbourne Heart Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the South-Eastern Metropolitan Region, South-Eastern region of Melbourne, Victoria. They compete in the A-League Men, the Australian soccer ...

. After being passed over for the vacant manager position at

, he joined his close friend

Tony Popovic Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is currently head coach of the Australia men's national soccer team, Australia national football team. He guided the team to qualify for the 202 ...

as the inaugural assistant coach of

Western Sydney Wanderers FC Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football, association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South W ...

. At the end of the 2013–14 A-League season, Milicic joined

Ange Postecoglou Angelos "Ange" Postecoglou ( ; ; born 27 August 1965) is a soccer manager and former player who was most recently manager of club Tottenham Hotspur. Born in Greece, Postecoglou grew up in Melbourne from the age of five. As a player, he spen ...

as assistant coach of Australia's men’s national football team, the Socceroos. On 18 February 2019, Milicic was announced by the FFA as the interim head coach of the Australia women's national team, the Matildas, managing the Matildas to a round of 16 finish at the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

. He resigned from this position on 19 July 2020. On 15 May 2019, Milicic was announced as the inaugural head coach for new

club

Macarthur FC Macarthur Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in South Western Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in Australia's premier soccer competition, the A-League, under Professional sports league organi ...

. He began following his spell with the Matildas. After two seasons with Macarthur, on 26 April 2022, Milicic informed the club that the 2021–22 season would be his last choosing to return to Croatia for family reasons. On 11 May 2024, Milicic was appointed as the head coach of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

With

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

: *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

With

: * NSL Championship: 2001–02 With

: *

With Trinity Grammar 4th XI: * Cassen Cup- Most Outstanding Opens Team: 2009 Personal honours: * Joe Marston Medal: 2001–2002 with

Johnny Warren Medal The Johnny Warren Medal is awarded to the best player of the Australian national soccer club competition. It was first awarded in the National Soccer League in 1990, and upon the NSL's demise in November 2004, was carried forward into the new na ...

: 2003–2004 with Parramatta Power * NSL Top Scorer: 2003–2004 with Parramatta Power – 20 goals

References

External links

Oz Football profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milicic, Ante 1974 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Australian people of Croatian descent Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia A-League Men players National Soccer League (Australia) players Croatian Football League players Eredivisie players NAC Breda players Newcastle Jets FC players HNK Rijeka players Parramatta Power SC players Brisbane Roar FC players Sydney Olympic FC players Sydney United 58 FC players Sri Pahang FC players Australian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Australian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Men's association football forwards 2002 OFC Nations Cup players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Australian soccer managers Australian expatriate soccer managers Melbourne City FC non-playing staff Australia women's national soccer team managers Sydney United 58 FC managers Australian men's soccer players Macarthur FC managers A-League Men managers