Dejan Jakovic (, ; born 16 July 1985) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a centre-back for the Serbian White Eagles. Internationally, he represented the Canada national team from 2008 to 2018. Early life and career Born in Karlovac, SR Croatia prior to the breakup of Yugoslavia, Jakovic was brought by his parents to Canada at the age of six following the outbreak of war in 1991. They settled in Etobicoke, part of Metropolitan Toronto. His father Nenad played for NK Karlovac in Croatia. Jakovic took up association football in Canada. He was a four-year letterwinner at Scarlett Heights Academy, and was named team MVP as a junior and senior, captaining both indoor and outdoor teams. He played in the Canada national youth program, and also for two-time Ontario Cup winner Woodbridge Strikers under Bob Graham. He was a member of the team that competed at the 2004 Dallas Cup, played with former UAB teammate Lukasz Kwapisz. At the age of eighteen, Jakovic had a trial with OFK Beograd, but was not signed by the team. College After failing to make the OFK squad, Jakovic accepted a scholarship to the University of Alabama at Birmingham and went on to play four years of college soccer for the Blazers. In 2007, he played with the Canadian Lions of the Canadian Soccer League where he was selected for the Locust CSL All Star game. Club career Red Star Belgrade On 28 June 2008, soon to be twenty-three-year-old Jakovic joined Red Star Belgrade ahead of the 2008–09 season, after successfully completing a tryout with the team. He officially signed with the club on 30 June 2008. Jakovic made three league starts at the beginning of the season under head coach Zdeněk Zeman. However, following a coaching change on 6 September 2008, Dejan lost his spot in the team and failed to register a single league appearance following the appointment of new head coach Čedomir Janevski. At the 2008-09 winter break, Red Star began looking at options to move Jakovic. In December 2008 it was reported he would be sent to FK Rad along with Marko Blažić, another player who started under Zeman but had played sparsely since Janevski took over, as part of a deal to bring defender Nemanja Pejčinović to Red Star. However, by February 2009, no trade had been announced by the teams, and Jakovic was still on the