BIOGRAPHY
Dejan Perić was born in the former Yugoslavia in what is now Serbia, and across his lengthy playing career represented Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and lastly Serbia as well as clubs in Serbia, Spain, Slovenia and Hungary. He has gone on to have a successful coaching career.
Perić’s early handball years were spent at Dinamo Pančevo and the early part of his senior career at Crvena Zvezda in Belgrade. In 1992, after the fall of Yugoslavia, Perić moved abroad for the first time and joined Atletico Madrid and then Teucro in Spain. But he really made his name and had some of his greatest successes during the nine seasons he spent at Celje in Slovenia, between 1995 and 2004.
At club level during that time, Perić and Celje won eight Slovenian championships — missing only 2002 — and seven Slovenian cups, missing 2002 and 2003. They also reached the semi-finals of the EHF Champions League five times between 1997 and 2001, finishing third on four occasions, before finally lifting the trophy in 2004.
Perić left Celje after that triumph, moving back to Spain to join FC Barcelona. There, he was part of the squad which won Barça’s first EHF Champions League title in six years in 2005, and also won the Liga Asobal in 2006.
In 2006, Perić moved to Veszprém, adding further national titles as well as the 2008 Cup Winners’ Cup. He finished his club career back at Celje with another two Slovenian cup victories.
Perić earned his first national team jersey in 1990. With the Serbia and Montenegro team (playing then as FR Yugoslavia), he won bronze at both the EHF EURO 1996 and the 1999 IHF Men’s World Championship.
Since retirement, Perić has acted as a coach for teams including the Serbian and Russian men’s national teams, RK Vardar, and currently Füchse Berlin.
