Career
He is widely known domestically by his nickname Pižon (Serbian: Пижон), after the French for pigeon. He was last working as manager of OFK Beograd. During his playing career, he mostly played for Red Star Belgrade and is one of only five Zvezdine zvezde (stars of the Star) — the legends of the club
He started out at Red Star making his debut in 1971, at the age of 16.
In 1980, he was named the Yugoslav Football player of the Year. In 1982 he moved abroad, and briefly played for Arsenal.
He joined the London side in December 1982 and made 22 appearances in the 1982-1983 season. At Arsenal he had a brief but memorable career and helped them reach the semi finals of both domestic cups (losing both to Manchester United).
In June 1983 he left Arsenal and subsequently played for Brest and AS Nancy in France, and Royal Antwerp (1) and Standard Liège (16) in Belgium.
In all he played 526 matches for the clubs. He also represented Yugoslavia 34 times and played in the 1974 World Cup and 1982 World Cup. In 2005, Petrović managed the Chinese Dalian Shide team to the double.
On September 14, 2007, Petrović was named as coach of the Chinese national team
After China failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, he was sacked. On June 2, 2009, Petrović returned to Red Star Belgrade. as manager.
Petrović was part of takeover of Red Star by the club"s veterans, replacing caretaker/interim coach Siniša Gogić. On 21 March 2010, Red Star officials unexpectedly sacked Petrović after a league defeat against Metalac.
On June 4, 2010, he was named the manager of Romanian club Football Club Politehnica Timișoara.
On September 15, 2010, Petrović was named the new head coach of Serbia. On October 14, 2011, the football association of Serbia announced they had terminated their contract with Petrović. On December 13, 2013, he was named the head of coach of the national football team of Yemen.
In May 2014, he resigned following the end of the contract.