The debut against Guoan, the Red Star legend looks forward to a winning start.

By Han Bing. In the 23rd round of the CSL, Shenhua beat Henan 4-1, but the match was still under the command of the Chinese coaching team led by Mao Yijun. The new coach Vladan Milojevic's first match will be on the 18th at home versus Guoan. Against an opponent that is unbeaten in the last 10 games in both league and cup, achieving a victory in his debut will be difficult.

Red Star Belgrade and Shenhua share a long historical bond. In 2000, the legendary Petar "Old Peter" who coached Shenhua was the same man who led Red Star to the Champions League trophy in 1991. Twenty-five years later, Shenhua welcomes another famous Red Star coach—Milojevic, who created Red Star's "Golden Age" in the 21st century.

Milojevic is Red Star's most successful coach of the past decade. He led the team to consecutive league titles in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, starting an unprecedented nine-peat in the club's history. In 2018/19, Red Star won their milestone 30th league title, and after 27 years since the 1991/92 season, the club badge finally changed from two stars to three. Additionally, that season he guided Red Star through four qualifying rounds to reach the Champions League group stage for the first time, the best European result since Yugoslavia's breakup. The team's top scorer that year was Boakye, who joined Jiangsu in early 2018 but returned to Red Star after only half a season in the CSL and became the top scorer again.

Originally, in the 2019/20 season, Milojevic could have secured Red Star's second three-peat. Before the winter break, they led by a huge 11-point margin, making the title defense almost certain. However, after a 1-5 record in the Champions League group stage, conceding 18 goals in four matches against Bayern and Tottenham, he voluntarily resigned and handed the reins to former Lazio and Inter star Stankovic.

Before the winter break in December 2023, Milojevic returned in a crisis to chase arch-rival Partizan, which had started with 14 consecutive wins. He went unbeaten with 16 wins and 2 draws in 18 rounds, overtaking Partizan by 7 points to complete a comeback, achieving the seventh straight league title and the fourth consecutive domestic double. In the 2024/25 season, he not only defended the domestic double but also led the team into the Champions League group stage through qualifiers for the third time. In the 2025/26 season, Red Star started with 11 wins in 12 league matches, but before the winter break they only won 3 of the last 8 rounds, losing the top spot. Stankovic took over again, and Red Star won the title once more.

Milojevic coached Red Star twice, totaling four seasons and winning four league titles. The unprecedented nine consecutive league titles, the "Golden Age" of Red Star, were also initiated and sustained by him. Furthermore, all three times Red Star qualified for the Champions League group stage through playoffs in the club's history were led by him.

Unfortunately, Milojevic's overseas coaching record is not impressive. Among his first seven overseas jobs, only the 2020-2021 stint at Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia lasted more than a year, and the results were poor. His best achievement was leading APOEL to the Cyprus league runner-up in the 2022/23 season. Both of his coaching spells in Saudi Arabia ended in failure.

As a player, Milojevic was a center-back. Besides Red Star, he also played for Greek giants Panathinaikos. His older brother Goran, six years his senior, played in La Liga. Both of their sons are professional footballers. Vladan's son Andjela was born in Greece and has been selected for the Greek youth national team.

At age 19, Milojevic fell in love with his wife Daniela. The couple spent most of their time living in Greece, and both of their children were born there.

The entire family is immersed in a sports atmosphere. The father and son chose football, while the mother and daughter chose equestrianism. Daniela was a horse racing athlete in her youth, and after marriage she returned to the family. Their daughter Andjela followed in her mother's footsteps and has already won medals in international competitions.

After creating Red Star's "Golden Age" in the 21st century, Milojevic has become a tactical master admired across Europe. He primarily uses a 4-2-3-1 formation, sometimes switching to 4-4-2. His football philosophy emphasizes overall tactics, with every player required to participate in defense. In some ways, his style resembles Simeone's. Milojevic's teams focus on defense, favor double center-backs, and often employ high pressing. However, due to the gap in player quality, they cannot maintain a good defensive record against top-tier clubs. In attack, he emphasizes the wings, with crosses being an important attacking method.

Worth mentioning, Milojevic values and is skilled at promoting young talents. He believes that young players are the future of the team. During his four seasons coaching Red Star, he promoted a total of 18 young players from the youth academy to the first team. For Shenhua, Milojevic has the potential to help the team undergo a thorough generational renewal.

Of course, completing the team's renewal is a long-term task. Milojevic's most immediate priority is to perform well in the rescheduled match against Guoan and strive for a winning start. After signing the contract, he has been busy getting to know the players and the team's situation, holding several internal meetings with the Chinese coaching staff. He can already call the players by name, and after watching Shenhua's match against Henan, he gained a more intuitive understanding of the team. He hopes to do well in the rescheduled match against Guoan.