FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Marko Mitrović doesn’t wait for opportunity, he creates it. A doer and a go-getter, he lives by one rule: if you never try, you’ll never know.
That principle has largely shaped his life. From his managerial philosophy to meeting his wife, Mitrović is a man of action.
“In life, we have choices. You can analyze on the daily how many choices you make in your life, anything you do. Then you realize, there were actions you took in the past to impact the choices you have today,” he said in a one-on-one interview shortly after being introduced as the Revolution’s 10th head coach this past Wednesday morning. “I love to take actions because I think it will give me more choices, more opportunity.”
One of his proudest decisions was marrying his wife, Marija. But it could have never happened if he hadn’t acted at opportunity. Mitrović tells the story of a 19-year-old Marko, who saw a beautiful woman in a coffee shop and knew he had to try.
“I was walking in the streets of a mountain in Serbia, and I saw this girl in a coffee shop. She stood up and started walking somewhere and I was like, ‘wow.’ She looked exactly how I would picture the perfect girl for myself. So, I stopped. I waited to see if she would come back,” Mitrović said with a smile. “She sat back down and there were two other girls there at the table with her. I learned later one was her sister, the other a cousin, but there was an empty chair. So, I went and I sat in that chair and I said, ‘this chair is for me.’ I remembered how they looked at me, but now, this girl is my wife. We’ve been married 25 years.
“This is why I love actions. I’m not saying I knew then she was going to be my choice, but I gave myself the opportunity. If you don’t go for it, you never know,” he continued. “I’m ready to be the guy that goes to that chair 100 times to try, rather than waiting for something to come to me.”
That willingness to act can be traced all the way back to his childhood and how he discovered soccer. Growing up in Belgrade, Mitrović didn’t come from an athletic family; he found his love for the game on his own.
When he told his parents he wanted to join a team, they kept saying it wasn’t the right time, so he took matters into his own hands and called the local club himself one day when he was home alone. Mitrović earned a tryout with Red Star Football Club, and the rest is history.
It’s a decision, made at nine years old, that would shape his life and eventually bring him to New England, now 47 and ready to tackle his next challenge.
“I called Red Star and I was lucky to get the chance there. It was my dream club, but I knew even if I wasn’t successful there, I could call someone else, someone else, someone else, until I got accepted,” Mitrović explained.
From there, Mitrović rose through the ranks, joining training sessions with the first team only six years later. Soon after he’d make his professional debut with the club and begin his pro career as a midfielder. Spanning 16 seasons, Mitrović played professionally across leagues in Serbia, Hungary, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan.
While the choices he made as a boy propelled him into a life dedicated to soccer – gaining 15 years of coaching experience before making his way to the Revolution – it didn’t just shift the trajectory of his own life, it paved the way for his entire family.
Mitrović and his wife share three children, all of whom play soccer. Their eldest son, Mitar, played three years of college soccer at Marquette University before joining the University of Michigan as a graduate student; his other son, Matija, currently plays professionally with Vitória SC in Portugal; and his daughter, Mia, competes with her local club in Chicago.
Mitrović’s kids make him a better coach, he says. While most head coaches rely on their own playing careers to relate to professional athletes, his understanding goes even deeper. Conversations with his sons, who play at such elite levels, keep him grounded in how players think, what they expect from coaches, and the pressures they face. That perspective makes his leadership both more compassionate and up to date with the needs of today’s athletes.
“It’s regular talk in our house. Now that they are older, they can give me more serious feedback. They tell me what the current generation likes and doesn’t like,” Mitrović explained. “We have great, mature talks about how we can get better. We all really support each other and I love talking to them. I have that with every player, but it means a lot to me with my sons, and they really help me understand. There are a lot of different personalities in a locker room, and they give me a lot of perspective.”
Mitrović’s instinct to act will shape everything he asks of his Revolution players: to take chances, attack the ball, and refuse to wait.
In a time of transition, Mitrović could be exactly what New England needs. He brings the courage that once led a young man into a café to approach his future wife – that same courage he’ll now ask the team to show as they chase silverware in 2026 and beyond.
“I honestly feel like I belong here,” Mitrović said. “We’re going to be relentless. We will not give up, and we will never lose our identity, no matter who we face.”
