Former captain water polo of the Serbian national team, Vladimir Vujasinović is the new coach of the national team, announced the Water Polo Federation of Serbia (VSS). He will take over the national team at the time of the greatest crisis of the most trophy-winning Serbian sport.
Vujasinović will take over the position of selector from Uroš Stevanović, winner of Olympic and European gold, who resigned due to disagreements with the new president of the Supreme Court Slobodan Sora.
Greatness in and around the pool
Vujasinović was the captain of the national team at the beginning of the 21st century, he won three Olympic medals - silver in Athens and two bronzes in Beijing and Sydney. He also won four representative gold medals at the world and European championships. He also has a rich club career in which he won 37 trophies, including four Champions Leagues. He was declared the best water polo player in the world in 2001.
From the very start, Vujasinović was one of the candidates for taking over the selectors' bench, which he wrote about weekly magazine "Vreme". He is the current coach of the Greek Vuliagmeni, so it is not known whether he will continue to lead the national team of Serbia and Vuliagmeni at the same time. During his work at the Greek club, he achieved great success by reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2023.
In his previous career, before Vuljagmeni, he was the coach of Pro Rek, Partizan and Novi Belgrade. In addition, he was the assistant coach of Dejan Savić in the national team.
Photo: VK New BelgradeVladimir Vujasinović, former coach of Novi Belgrade
The engagement he had in New Belgrade, where he collaborated with Slobodan Sora, and where his assistant coach was the mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, is particularly significant for the position of coach. Vujasinović left New Belgrade in January 2022, when he submitted his resignation.
This summer, Serbia is expecting the Mediterranean Games, which are a small competition, and the first big one will be next summer, when the World Championship is played. However, Vujasinović will assemble the national team on June 16 in Belgrade, when preparations will begin for the Mediterranean Games, which begin at the end of August in Italy. The question is which players will they count on.
Why did Stevanović resign?
After assuming office, Slobodan Soro stated that the national team has not recorded great results in recent years, which are not worthy of the reputation of the Serbian national team.
"Results are made for 10-15 years and only then can we enjoy the fruits of our work. It will not be easy for us, because in recent years we have not had great results. Since the gold in Tokyo, we have first places in Paris and at the European Championships in Belgrade. We have been eliminated before in other competitions, and these were not results worthy of the reputation of our water polo", said Soro.
Stevanović said that he does not agree with Soro's vocabulary, that he is not worthy of an Olympic and European champion, and that this is the reason for his resignation.
"The new president of the Supreme Court uses a vocabulary uncharacteristic of the current Olympic and European champions. A vocabulary that aims, I don't know what caused, the qualitative and professional discrediting of the Serbian national team. As I do not agree with that, and I do not want any public polemics, I emphasize that I 'understood the message' and leave it to you to find a coach who will satisfy your high ambitions in every competition," announced Stevanović.
In addition, Soro stated that the coach of Serbia cannot be a coach in the home club at the same time, because, according to him, this is not fair to the sport, because there were cases where players were blackmailed to play in one club in order to play for the national team. It was Stevanović who was the coach of Radnicki from Kragujevac and the selector of the national team.
Who will play for the national team?
After Stevanović resigned, a statement was issued by 11 members of the Serbian national team, who won gold at the European Championship in Belgrade in January this year. They made a decision to leave the national team together as long as Slobodan Soro and his team of people are at the head of the Association.
They stated that their results are not the result of momentary inspiration, but years of great sacrifices, training, togetherness and struggle. In addition, they reminded that several national team members were already exposed to the unsportsmanlike actions of Slobodan Sor and his team in New Belgrade, who forbade them from training, kicked them out of the club and did not allow them to play for the national team.
Captain Nikola Jakšić, Dušan Mandić, Strahinja Rašović, Sava Ranđelović, Đorđe Lazić, Nemanja Vico, Nikola Dedović, Viktor Rašović, Petar Jakšić, Radoslav Filipović and Radomir Drašović resigned from the national team.
Photo: Tanjug/Amir HamzagićSerbian water polo players, champions of Europe in 2026
Soro and the Supreme Court replied that it was a statement by seven former and four current national team members. They based such an assessment on the last list of the national team for the qualifying tournament of the World Cup, which did not include some of the players who won the European gold a few months earlier, because the then coach Uroš Stevanović decided to rest them. The association also assessed that the election of the new leadership turned into a political showdown and an attempt to abuse sport for political purposes.
It is to be expected that Vujasinović will try to reconcile the leadership of the Association and the national team members, but the question is whether he will succeed in this. Therefore, the question is who will he be able to count on at the next gatherings and whether he will manage to get the national team out of the crisis.
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