Serbian Federation made the BEST CHOICE!
Initially, Grbic had no intention of taking the job but glad to hear that he has eventually changed his mind.
CONGRATS NIKOLA!
One of the country’s most legendary players who retired at the end of the 2013-2014 season, Nikola Grbic, was just appointed as the head coach of Serbia men’s national team that this year will be vying for more glory at the inaugural European Games, as well as in the 2015 edition of the FIVB Volleyball World League and CEV Volleyball European Championship – Men. Grbic’s role will be extensively promoted at a later stage as he is currently busy with other commitments towards Sir Safety PERUGIA, Italy’s vice-champions who under his guidance recently made the Playoffs 12 of the CEV DenizBank Volleyball Champions League – Men right by their first appearance in the competition.
Grbic, who received the award for Europe’s best Volleyball player back in 1997 and in 2013 was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in the Polish city of Milicz, retired from competitive sport at the end of the 2013-2014 after winning the Russian Superleague while wearing the shirt of Zenit KAZAN. His career got started with VC GIK Banat from the city of Zrenjanin and then continued with the Volleyball club Vojvodina in Novi Sad. In 1994 he left the then Yugoslavia to start a long career in Italy’s first league, joining the ranks of Gabeca MONTICHIARI. After that he moved to Traco CATANIA before returning to Gabeca. In the seasons that followed he played for Alpitour CUNEO, Sisley TREVISO, Asystel MILANO, Copra PIACENZA, Itas Diatec TRENTINO, Bre Banca Lannutti CUNEO and eventually spent his last competitive season in Russia with Zenit KAZAN.
Grbic is a two-time winner of the Italian national league – in 2008 and 2010 with TRENTINO and CUNEO, respectively – and a winner of the 2014 Russian Superleague with Zenit KAZAN. He is also a three-time winner of Italy’s national cup – in 1999 and 2011 with CUNEO, in 2000 with TREVISO – and also a double gold medallist from the CEV Champions Cup / Champions League (in 2000 with Sisley and nine years later with TRENTINO). He also won the CEV Cup Winners’ Cup with CUNEO in 1998, the Top Teams Cup in 2006 with PIACENZA and the 2010 edition of the CEV Volleyball Cup once again with CUNEO. His list of honours in club competitions is completed by two European Super Cup titles – in 1997 with Gabeca, and two years later with CUNEO.
Nikola Grbic claimed as many as 19 medals with his national team (from 1995 thru 2010). He won gold (2000 – Sydney) and bronze (1996 – Atlanta) at the Olympic Games, silver (1998 – Tokyo) and bronze (2010 – Rome) at the FIVB World Championships, gold (2001 – Ostrava), silver (1997 – Eindhoven) and four bronze medals (1995 – Athens, 1999 – Vienna, 2005 – Rome, 2007 – Moscow) at the CEV Volleyball European Championships, four silver (2003 – Madrid, 2005 – Belgrade, 2008 – Rio de Janeiro, 2009 – Belgrade), and two bronze medals (2002 – Belo Horizonte, 2004 – Rome) in the FIVB Volleyball World League. He also has three bronze medals from the World Challenge Cup (1996), the FIVB World Grand Champions Cup (2001) and the FIVB World Cup (2003).
(images: cev.lu / FIVB)
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