Dejan Stanković (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Станковић, Serbian pronunciation: [dějan stǎŋkoʋitɕ], born 11 September 1978) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He captained the Serbia national team from 2007 until 2011, when he announced his retirement from international football.

Stanković began his career at Red Star Belgrade before joining Lazio in 1998. He spent more than five years with the latter club before joining Inter Milan, where he remained until his retirement in 2013. Stanković is the only man to represent three differently named nations at FIFA World Cups – Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and Serbia.

Stanković grew up in Zemun, a municipality of Belgrade. Both of his parents, Borislav and Dragica, have strong football backgrounds. Stanković began playing football for FK Teleoptik, based in his neighbourhood of Zemun. When spotted by Red Star cadet squad coach Branko Radović, however, 14-year-old Dejan transferred to Red Star Belgrade's youth system. Stanković then passed every age category at his hometown club. In the youth teams, he was coached by Vladimir Petrović, playing alongside future professionals Nikola Lazetić and Nenad Lalatović.

During the 1994–95 season, Stanković's debut opportunity for first-team action came under head coach Ljupko Petrović against crosstown rivals OFK Beograd on 11 February 1995, becoming the youngest player to debut with Red Star at senior level. Fighting for a spot on the team led by, among others, Rambo Petković, Darko Kovačević, and Nebojša Krupniković, 16-year-old Stanković made seven league appearances that season as the team won the league title. He scored his first goal against Budućnost Podgorica, becoming the youngest goalscorer in Red Star history as well as a first-team regular and a fan favourite.

During the early 1990s, Red Star was under an international ban because of a United Nations sanction imposed on FR Yugoslavia, meaning that the team could not compete in any European competition. The ban was lifted ahead of the 1995–96 season, and just a year later Stanković debuted in a European competition in two-leg victory over 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the Cup Winners' Cup.

Before the start of the 1997–98 season, he was made squad captain at the age of 19, the youngest ever in the club's history. Despite not winning the league, he captained the team to two domestic cup victories.

In the summer of 1998, Stanković transferred for ₤24 million to Lazio, where he scored on his Serie A debut versus Piacenza on 13 September 1998. In those years, Lazio had an all-star squad with world class players at almost every position, but Stanković quickly secured a regular first-team place despite competition from Pavel Nedvěd, Juan Sebastián Verón and Roberto Mancini. He formed a formidable midfield combination with Argentinian Verón and Diego Simeone and were an integral part of the successful Lazio side at the turn of the decade. His work rate and impressive performances earned him the nickname "Il Dragone" ("The Dragon"). He had five-and-a-half successful seasons in the Biancoceleste part of Rome – winning 1999–2000 Serie A, 1999–2000 Coppa Italia, 1998 and 2000 Supercoppa Italiana, 1998–99 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and 1999 UEFA Super Cup – before earning a high-profile move to Inter Milan in February 2004.

Although Lazio had suffered from financial issues since 2001 and had been forced to sell some of its best players, Stanković began the 2003–04 season at Lazio. In January 2004, Juventus were favorites in the chase for the Serb's signature, with even some preliminary paperwork reportedly signed between the two parties in early January 2004, but the player eventually chose Inter. He was signed as part of a deal worth €4 million, that also sent Macedonian international Goran Pandev in the opposite direction.