For a man that looks like he never smiles, it’s ironic that when you mention the name Bojan Hodak people’s faces light up.
It’s hard to find anyone across Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and Indonesia, where he has worked for the past decade, that has a bad word to say about about the 54-year-old Croatian.
Now in charge of two-time defending Indonesian champions Persib Bandung, Hodak was born in Zagreb in the 1970s, and his upbringing in a family with strong military roots – his father and brother were both army officers – perhaps explains his pitchside demeanour.
But what you see isn’t always what you get, according to those who know him best.
Australian defender Giancarlo Gallifuoco played under Hodak at Kuala Lumpur City for two years from 2021 to 2023.
Like everywhere Hodak has gone, it coincided with a purple patch for the club, which not only won the Malaysia Cup in 2021, but also became just the second Malaysian side to make the final of the former AFC Cup a year later; a remarkable achievement at a club as modest as Kuala Lumpur City.
“He does appear always angry, but it’s kind of a facade,” Gallifuoco explained.
“He does that because what he’s trying to get you to realise is to be level headed. So his version of level headed is, like, slightly angry, but he’s never too high and he’s never too low.
“But fortunately, I have seen him give me a couple smiles because in three years, we reached three finals, we won a trophy, we were the second team ever in Malaysian history to get to the AFC Cup final.
“So I’m blessed that I have seen, you know, something rarer than a blue moon – and that’s Bojan smiling.”
Veteran media commentator Dez Corkhill has witnessed his time in Southeast Asia up close, particularly in Malaysia where Corkhill is based, and has become to know Hodak as a friend, describing his personality off-the-pitch as “affable”.
“In social occasions, he’s the same character as when I observe him training,” he explained.
“On radio panels together, he is a thoughtful, sensible talker about tactics and people.”
Above all else though, he is an excellent football coach. Whether it’s Malaysia or Indonesia, or even Cambodia; wherever he has gone he has found success, winning league titles for Phnom Penh Crown, Kelantan, and Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT), before his Cup success with Kuala Lumpur City.
Now he is bringing that success to one of Indonesia’s biggest clubs, Persib Bandung.
That is clearly no fluke.
“To be honest, Bojan is one of my favorite, if not my favorite coach of all time,” said Gallifuoco, who has worked under the likes of Kevin Muscat and Markus Babbel during his time in Australia.
“Just purely for the fact that he had a perfect balance. He had a perfect balance between being your friend and being your mentor, being a leader and letting you lead. He’s a major reason why I have such a big name in Southeast Asia, and I’ve got infinite respect for him. I pray to be under him again at one point, he was a great, great, great, great coach.
He continued: “Something we discuss a lot as players, is simple instructions. Sometimes coaches, they bombard us with too many ideas and too many suggestions, and you feel like you’re pulled in every direction.
“Whereas Bojan’s instructions were simple and (he) made them simple, he broke everything down to two or three rules, and that that gave us an identity, and we love that.”
That simplicity of his instructions, says Indonesian journalist Aun Rahman, is a reason for his almost unprecedented success with Persib Bandung.
“I’ve spoken to a few players and it’s clear Bojan brings simplicity to many things,” he told Malaysia’s Bola Itu Life last year.
“Let’s say in terms of tactics or how he approaches the game, it’s not complicated. It’s straightforward and that makes the players happy. They don’t overthink things. I think that’s one of the key factors with Bojan, he doesn’t overcomplicate things and that really suits the players.”
Speaking to people across both Malaysia and Indonesia about Hodak, the one thing that becomes obvious is the connection he is able to build with his players and those around the club. The words ‘man management’ come up frequently. But he doesn’t just manage a team, he manages the entire club. He gets the unique way in which clubs in Southeast Asia operate, and rather than fighting against it, he works with it.
“Bojan, to be very honest, is so unique,” Adhitia Putra Herawan, Deputy CEO of Persib Bandung, told Bola Itu Life last year.
“We are very lucky to have Bojan, because he’s like the glue that holds together the management and the dressing room. The dressing room after all is a unique environment. A very unique environment. And not everyone truly understands how it works.
“Bojan is not only a coach, he’s an advisor for the club itself. He is so unique.”
Having all but ‘conquered’ Malaysia, with league titles with Kelantan and JDT, and his unprecedented success with Kuala Lumpur, even guiding the U19 national team to regional success in 2018, he turned his attention to Indonesia where there was a sense of unfinished business after his time with PSM Makassar was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Appointed ahead of the 2020 Liga 1 season, he only managed three league games – one win, two draws – before the league was suspended, and then eventually cancelled as the pandemic worsened.
So when the opportunity came to return, this time to one of the country’s biggest clubs, he grasped it with both hands. But he was walking into the fire.
“The pressure at Persib is immense, because in West Java, Persib is not merely a football club,” Indonesian broadcaster, and Persib fan, Ibam Hariri explained to The Asian Game.
“It is an identity, a legacy, a source of pride, and even a vehicle of struggle. Persib does not belong only to the people of Bandung; it represents urang Sunda as a whole.
“Many of us are often stereotyped as being easily intimidated, conflict-averse, and less competitive. Through Persib, however, urang Sunda are able to fight back, to win, and to feel proud. In such a context, when results fail to meet expectations, pressure arrives relentlessly—from elites, football practitioners, to ordinary people on the streets.”
Despite their status in Indonesia, Persib had one just one league title in three decades. The thirst for success among their famed Bobotoh was extreme. Many a coach has arrived in Bandung with stars in their eyes, only to struggle under the weight of expectation.
But not Hodak. He has turned them into a winning machine, losing only seven of 72 games across the two Championship-winning seasons.
“There were indeed a few years when Persib had this habit of ‘choking’, even ‘bottling’, especially when the competition used the full league format. Bojan broke that curse,” Rahman explained.
Achmad Jufriyanto is a legendary figure in Indonesian football, playing 19 times for the national team playing and appearing more than 130 times for Persib across three stints at the West Javan club, which included playing in all of their last three title-winning seasons.
Now 38, he credits Hodak’s adaptability to the region for his sustained success.
“He’s like the final puzzle piece we needed,” he said on Bola Itu Life last year.
“Maybe it’s because he’s long understood the characteristics of Southeast Asians. He’s spent years here – how long in Malaysia? 12 years? Yeah 12 years in Malaysia.
“He understands what Southeast Asian players are like, so his approach to players, be it as individuals, or as a collective, is something previous managers just didn’t have before he arrived.”
With less than half the season remaining, they currently sit top of the Super League standings by a single point and are on track for an rare three-peat. Not since the 1960s, when PSMS Medan won three league titles has a club completed a hattrick of titles.
He’s already etched his name into Persib and Indonesian football history with back-to-back titles, winning three in a row would place him in rare air.
“We all know this is because of Bojan,” Rahman explained.
“His hard work brought Persib here – back-to-back champions, winning a full league. He’s made so much history. Persib is not only part of Indonesian football history, they are the history itself. And Bojan is now a part of that history.”
Hariri is even calling for a statue of the Croatian, such is the reverence from the fans.
“With two league titles alone, he is already considered a hero among Bobotoh and the Bandung football public,” he said.
“Should he manage a three-peat, he would likely be enshrined as a legend, on par with figures such as Nandar Iskandar, Indra Thohir, and Djadjang Nurjaman.
“Personally – and I believe many Bobotoh would agree – Bojan is already worthy of having a statue erected in the heart of Bandung.”
Having dominated Indonesian football for the past two seasons, attention this season turned to success on the continent.
Their maiden appearance in the revamped AFC Champions League Two competition saw them finish bottom of Group F, as fellow Southeast Asian sides Lion City Sailors, who went on to make the final, and Thailand’s Port FC.
While a bitter pill to swallow, the lessons learned were invaluable and returning for a second bite at the cherry, the club were better prepared for the challenge.
On-field there was a complete overhaul of the playing squad, with almost a complete change in foreign talent. That saw club legends like Nick Kuipers and David da Silva depart, with the club bringing in the likes of Iraq international Frans Putros, French striker Andrew Jung (below) from Greek side OFI, and Italian Federico Barba, who last season played in Serie A for Como.
Biggest of all, however, was the signing of two of the national team’s Dutch-born stars in Thom Haye and Eliano Reijnders, while in this recent January transfer window they added left-back Layvin Kurzawa, who played close to 250 games with AS Monaco and PSG.
While Kurzawa has only recently arrived, the strengthening of the squad led to improved performances on the continent, and having finished bottom of their group 12 months ago, the script was flipped this time around, finishing top of Group G and eliminating Lion City Sailors in the process.
It sets up a massive Round of 16 showdown with Thai side Ratchaburi, who are currently second behind Buriram United in the Thai League.
It’ll be a challenge, but as Hariri explained, in many ways Persib has already won.
“Many people assume that the AFC Cup is equivalent to ACL Two, but that is a misconception,” said Hariri, who co-hosts Simamaung, the biggest Persib Bandung podcast.
“ACL Two sits just below the ACL Elite level and has a significant gap compared to the AFC Challenge League, whereas the former AFC Cup was only marginally stronger than the Challenge League.
“From that perspective, Persib’s success in reaching the ACL Two knockout stage this season is already a remarkable achievement. Targeting the title may be naive, but Persib’s journey thus far is a statement: the club has established a distinct class within Indonesian football.
“It now serves as a benchmark for other Indonesian clubs on how to build an organisation capable of competing at the Asian level.
“Undeniably, Persib have also gained added value from their continental run – across business and financial aspects, by enriching Bobotoh’s experience, and by proving that the club operates with a forward-looking, more sustainable vision.”
If they can overcome Ratchaburi to reach the quarter-finals, which would see them face either Korean powerhouse Pohang Steelers, or Japanese giants Gamba Osaka, perhaps even Hodak might allow himself a little smile.
