Bojan Hodak (born 4 May 1971) is a Croatian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. He is currently coaching Liga 1 club

Persib Bandung Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Bandung (), also known in acronym as Persib (), is an Indonesian professional football club based in Bandung, West Java. The club competes in the Liga 1, the top tier of Indonesian football. Founded in 1919 as ...

Early life

Hodak was born and raised in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, Croatia, as the second child in a family with a strong military background. His father and brother were both army officers. In his early years, he spent most time playing basketball and football, not preferring one over the other as he excelled in both. There was neither a prominent figure that encouraged him, nor was there any history of sportsmen in his family, but Hodak carried on for fun, joining his friends. However at the age of 16, his local club

NK Trnje NK Trnje is a Croatian football club based in the city of Zagreb, founded in 1924. They currently play in the Treća HNL, the third division of Croatian football. History NK Trnje won the 2000-01 Treća HNL championship by six points, gaining pr ...

began paying him for his services and he duly gave up basketball to focus his time and energy in football.

Managerial career

UPB-MyTeam

Hodak's coaching career began in Malaysia in 2006 with the now-defunct UPB-MyTeam, where he guided them to promotion into the

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

. There he was responsible for the development of UPB-MyTeam's very young squad, which produced many Malaysian national players, including

Norshahrul Idlan Talaha Norshahrul Idlan bin Talaha (born 8 June 1986) is a Malaysian professional footballer who plays as a forward and Malaysian football pundit. From 2007 to 2022, he represented the Malaysia national team. He popularly known as Mat Yo by Malaysi ...

, Shakir Shaari, Bunyamin Umar, Syed Adney Syed Hussein, Stanley Samuel, Azmi Muslim, Nazrin Nawi and Azamuddin Akil.

Phnom Penh Crown

With

Phnom Penh Crown Phnom Penh Crown Football Club (), commonly referred to as Crown or PPC, is a Cambodian professional football club based in Sangkat Toul Sangke II, Khan Russey Keo, Phnom Penh. The club competes in the Cambodian Premier League, the top flight ...

, he won the

Cambodian League The Cambodian Premier League (, ) is a top association football division in Cambodia and administered by the Cambodian Football League Company (CFLC). Contested by 11 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Cambodian Secon ...

and qualified for the

AFC President's Cup The AFC Challenge League (previously known as the AFC President's Cup, abbreviated as ACGL) is an annual third-tier continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. The competition is played among clubs from n ...

Final Round for the first time in

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

n football history.

Shandong Taishan

With Shandong Taishan, he won the Reserve CSL and he was assistant coach in the First team that lost the

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. The current holders are Shanghai Port, having beaten Shandong Taishan in 2024 for their first title. H ...

final 2–1 to

Tianjin Teda Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club (), previously Tianjin TEDA (), is a Chinese professional football club based in Tianjin, that competes in . Tianjin Jinmen Tiger plays its home matches at the TEDA Soccer Stadium, located within Binhai. The f ...

Kelantan

Hodak was appointed manager and head coach of

Kelantan Kelantan (; Kelantan-Pattani Malay, Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate''; ) is a state in Malaysia. The capital, Kota Bharu, includes the royal seat of Kubang Kerian. The honorific, honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' ("The Blissful Abode"). ...

in February 2012. He made Kelantan history during his debut season, guiding them to a historic treble of the

Malaysian FA Cup The Malaysia FA Cup () is an annual association football, football competition in Malaysia, established in 1990. It was previously managed by the Football Association of Malaysia, before being transferred to the Football Malaysia LLP, Malaysian ...

and

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

. The team also qualified for the

2012 AFC Cup The 2012 AFC Cup was the ninth edition of the AFC Cup, a football competition organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for clubs from "developing countries" in Asia. Al-Kuwait from Kuwait won their second AFC Cup title in four year ...

quarter-finals where they lost to

Arbil FC Erbil Sports Club (, ) is an Iraqi professional sports club based in the city of Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq that plays in the Iraq Stars League, the first-tier of Iraqi football. Erbil are one of the most successful teams in Iraq, and the ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, 3–6 on aggregate. In his second season with Kelantan, despite losing six key players, the team managed to retain the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, but lost the league championship to

LionsXII LionsXII ("Lions Twelve"), also known as Singapore LionsXII, was a Singaporean youth football club founded in 2011 that played in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football, from their inaugural season until their dissolutio ...

and

final to

Sri Pahang Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Assamese, Meitei ( Manipuri), Marathi, Malay (including Ind ...

. He left the team after the conclusion of the 2013 season.

Johor Darul Takzim

With

Johor Darul Ta'zim Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore to the south and Indonesia to the east and w ...

, he won the

2014 Malaysia Super League The 2014 Liga Super () also known as the Astro Liga Super for sponsorship reasons is the 11th season of the Liga Super, the top-tier professional association football, football league in Malaysia.

and qualified for the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

. The team collected 44 points from 22 matches and beat Sarawak 1–0 at Stadium Negeri Sarawak, Kuching. In January 2015, he guided JDT to the Charity Shield after JDT beat Pahang 2-0.

Penang

Hodak was appointed

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

in May 2016 with the target to save Penang from relegation. Penang were bottom of the Malaysian Super League with only 6 points from 11 matches. He signed

Nenad Baćina Nenad Baćina (born July 29, 1971) is a Croatian football manager and former player, Baćina holds a UEFA PRO Coaching License. Club career Baćina was born in 1971 in Split, Croatia. As a professional football player he played with several C ...

as head coach, changed three players and the team started improving. In the second half of the season, Penang was one of the best teams, winning 16 points, with only

and Kedah Darul Aman winning more points in these 11 matches. The team managed to stay in Malaysian Super League in 2016. After Hodak left at the end of the 2016 season, Penang was relegated the next season, after collecting only 12 points From 22 matches.

Malaysia U19 National Team

With Malaysia U-19, Hodak achieved best results in the history by winning AFF U-19 Championship in 2018. Before that, in 2017 he was runner Up in same age group and manage to qualify for AFC U-19 Championship 2017.

PSM Makassar

On the last day of 2019 (31 December 2019),

PSM Makassar Persatuan Sepakbola Makassar ( 'Football Association of Makassar') commonly referred to as PSM Makassar, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Makassar, South Sulawesi that competes in Liga 1. PSM was founded in 1915 as , ma ...

officially announced Bojan Hodak as their new coach for the upcoming 2020 season.

Kuala Lumpur City

Bojan helped the City Boys reached their first cup final after 22 years (since 1999 Malaysia FA Cup). On top of that, Kuala Lumpur City put an end to the 32-year drought of Malaysia Cup (last won in 1989) by winning the 2021 Malaysia Cup final by beating the overwhelming favourites JDT 2–0 at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium. As title holders of the Malaysia Cup, Kuala Lumpur City qualified to play in the 2022 AFC Cup campaign via cup competition after Malaysia FA Cup was abandoned due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Bojan led the team to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, where they have to finish as the runner-up after losing 0–2 to Omani club Al-Seeb. Bojan's last match for the team was the

of the 2023 Malaysia FA Cup against Johor Darul Ta'zim which ended in their loss of 0–2. In 26 July 2023, four days after the match, Bojan announced his resignation.

Persib Bandung

In the same day of Bojan's resignation announcement from Kuala Lumpur City,

introduced him as the new head coach to replace Luis Milla. At the moment of his arrival, Maung Bandung was struggling in their 2023–24 Liga 1 campaign. They were down in the relegation zone, positioned 16th out of 18 teams. Under Bojan, Persib had managed to breach out of the bottom and managed to qualify for the championship series after finishing second in the regular series standings. Persib was finally able to emerge as champions after winning 6–1 in aggregate against

Madura United Madura United Football Club is an Indonesian professional football club. The club is based in Pamekasan, Madura, East Java. They currently play in the Liga 1. The current form of the club was established on 10 January 2016; the team's lin ...

in the

finals Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Bojan made club history as the first foreign head coach to win a league title. In addition, he was awarded as the season's Best Coach. Bojan made another history in the 2024–25 season as he led Persib to a back-to-back championship. The team sealed the title in Matchday 31 after both contenders Dewa United and

Persebaya Surabaya Persatuan Sepakbola Surabaya ( 'Football Association of Surabaya'), commonly known as Persebaya Surabaya or simply Persebaya (), is an Indonesian professional association football, football club based in Surabaya, East Java. The club currentl ...

failed to secure a win in their fixtures, leaving them ten points behind Persib with only three matches left to be played. This achievement had placed Bojan in par with Indra Thohir as the only other Persib head coach to win consecutive league titles by winning the 1993–94 Perserikatan and the 1994–95 Liga Indonesia.

Managerial statistics

Honours

UPB MyTeam *

Malaysia Premier League The Malaysia Premier League () was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. It replaced the Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs. The season usually ra ...

runner-up:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Phnom Penh Crown *

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Kelantan *

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 ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Malaysia FA Cup The Malaysia FA Cup () is an annual association football, football competition in Malaysia, established in 1990. It was previously managed by the Football Association of Malaysia, before being transferred to the Football Malaysia LLP, Malaysian ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

; runner-up:

Malaysia Charity Shield The Malaysian Charity Shield (English: Charity Cup), also known as Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah () or Piala Sumbangsih, is a Malaysian football super cup competition. It is the curtain raiser match to the new Malaysian football season, pittin ...

runner-up:

Johor Darul Ta'zim *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

runner-up:

Malaysia U19 *

AFF U-19 Youth Championship The ASEAN U-19 Boys' Championship (formerly AFF U-19 Youth Championship) is an annual international football competition contested by the national teams of the members of the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) and occasionally invited nations fro ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

; runner-up:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Kuala Lumpur City *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

runner-up:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

runner-up:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Persib Bandung * Liga 1: 2023–24, 2024–25 Individual *

Best Coach Award * Liga 1 Coach of the Month: October 2023, October/November 2024, December 2024 * Liga 1 Best Coach: 2023–24, 2024–25

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodak, Bojan 1971 births Living people Footballers from Zagreb Men's association football central defenders Croatian men's footballers NK Vrapče players NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac players Balestier Khalsa FC players Jurong FC players Hong Kong Rangers FC players Croatian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Singapore Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Singapore Premier League players Croatian football managers Malaysia Super League managers Liga 1 (Indonesia) managers Phnom Penh Crown FC managers Kelantan F.C. managers PSM Makassar managers Kuala Lumpur City F.C. managers Persib Bandung managers Croatian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Malaysia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Expatriate football managers in Cambodia Expatriate football managers in Indonesia Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia