Serbia men's national water polo team

Serbia
Nickname(s) Delfini
(The Dolphins)
Association Water Polo Association of Serbia
Confederation LEN (Europe)
Head coach Dejan Savić
Asst coach Žarko Petrović
Uroš Stevanović
Captain Živko Gocić
Most caps Dejan Savić (444)
Top scorer Aleksandar Šapić (981)
FINA code SRB
Olympic Games
Appearances 17 (first in 1936)
Best result 1st (1968, 1984, 1988)
World Championships
Appearances 14 (first in 1973)
Best result 1st (1986, 1991, 2005, 2009, 2015)
World League
Appearances 14 (first in 2003)
Best result 1st (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015)
World Cup
Appearances 12 (first in 1979)
Best result 1st (1987, 1989, 2006, 2010, 2014)
European Championship
Appearances 27 (first in 1927)
Best result 1st (1991, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2016)
Appearances (first in 2009)
Best result 1st (1959, 1963, 1971, 1979, 1983, 1997, 2009)
Serbia men's national water polo team
Medal record
Competitor for  Yugoslavia/ Yugoslavia/ Serbia and Montenegro/ Serbia
Olympic Games
1968 Mexico City Team
1984 Los Angeles Team
1988 Seoul Team
1952 Helsinki Team
1956 Melbourne Team
1964 Tokyo Team
1980 Moscow Team
2004 Athens Team
2000 Sydney Team
2008 Beijing Team
2012 London Team
World Championship
1986 Madrid Team
1991 Perth Team
2005 Montreal Team
2009 Rome Team
2015 Kazan Team
2001 Fukuoka Team
2011 Shanghai Team
1973 Belgrade Team
1978 Berlin Team
1998 Perth Team
2003 Barcelona Team
European Championship
1991 Athens
2001 Budapest
2003 Kranj
2006 Belgrade
2012 Eindhoven
2014 Budapest
2016 Belgrade
1954 Turin
1958 Budapest
1962 Leipzig
1977 Jönköping
1985 Sofia
1987 Strasbourg
1989 Bonn
1997 Seville
2008 Málaga
1950 Vienna
1966 Utrecht
1970 Barcelona
1974 Vienna
2010 Zagreb
FINA World League
2005 Belgrade
2006 Athens
2007 Berlin
2008 Genova
2010 Niš
2011 Firenze
2013 Chelyabinsk
2014 Dubai
2015 Bergamo
2004 Long Beach
2009 Podgorica
World Cup
1987 Thessaloniki
1989 Berlin
2006 Budapest
2010 Oradea
2014 Almaty
1981 Long Beach
1991 Barcelona
1979 Belgrade
2002 Belgrade
Mediterranean Games
1959 Beirut Team
1963 Naples Team
1971 Izmir Team
1979 Split Team
1983 Casablanca Team
1997 Bari Team
2009 Pescara Team
1967 Tunis Team
1975 Algiers Team
1991 Athens Team
2005 Almería Team

The Serbia men's national water polo team represents Serbia in international water polo competitions and is controlled by the Water Polo Association of Serbia. They are one of the world's best teams in the history of water polo, having won 11 Olympic, 11 World Championship, 21 European Championship, 11 FINA World League, 9 FINA World Cup, and 11 Mediterranean Games medals.

They are the best of all national sports teams of Serbia, having won more titles than any other team in Serbia's history.

European Championship

2012 Eindhoven

On 16 January, Serbia water polo team beat Spain 8–5[1] in an excellent first game at the start of the European Championship. This was a match between two great rivals who played in the finals at the World Championships in Rome. On 17 January, Serbian water polo players as expected got the second triumph. "The Dolphins" selection won against Germany with a score 13–12 in a very hard match. Pijetlović was the man who made the difference scoring four goals for his team including the final for 13–11 which got Serbia the victory. On 19 January Serbs defeated the defending European champions Croatia with 15–12 in a third round game and made a decisive step towards direct placement in the semifinals. Udovičić was the top scorer for his team with three goals. This was a big and hard clash for bouth nations in which Serbs came out as winners. The clash will be also remembered for unsportsmanlike conduct of Dobud who struck Filipović from behind who instantly got the bruising under his eye. On 21 January, Serbia routinely came to the fourth victory at the European Championships in Eindhoven beating Romania 14–5. After the Montenegro and Spain 10–10 tie and Germans 10–9 victory over Croatia, Serbia has qualified for the semifinals. On 23 January, in the last round of group A where Milan Aleksić played his 100th official match for Serbia national team, Serbia lost to Montenegro with 11–7. In a match that in principle didn't mean much to Serbia, it was clear that the absence of motive may be crucial for the final result. On 27 January Serbia defeated the current world champion, Italy, with 12–8 and thus qualified for the finals. It was not revenge for defeat in the final of 2011 Shanghai, it was a simple lesson, which consisted of three phases – solid defense, a wise selection of moves in the attack and forceful implementation. On 29 January Serbia water polo team won its second European title since independence, and "dolphins" won the gold by beating Montenegro 9–8, paying them back for defeat in the 2008 European Championship finals played in Malaga.[2]

2014 Budapest

Serbia defended their title in the 2014 Championship held in Budapest 14–27 July 2014. After a bad start in the group, having lost to Hungary 6–8 and tied with Croatia 8–8, they secured the second place by defeating Spain 8–6. After a routine victory over Greece in the quarterfinals, the semifinal match with Montenegro was an uphill struggle: Serbia came from behind after losing 5–1 in the second quarter, to win by 10–9 in the end[3] and meet Hungary in the finals. By contrast, the domestic team had an easy path to the finals, having scored all victories thus far. However, in the finals they succumbed to the expectations and got crushed by increasingly self-confident Serbian team, who led by 7–2 by the halftime and securely brought the match to an end, with the final score of 12–7.[4] Gojko Pijetlović was elected the best goalkeeper of the tournament.

Team

Current squad

This squad represented Serbia at the 2016 Men's European Water Polo Championship.

No. Name Date of birth Position L/R Height Weight Club
1Pijetlović, GojkoGojko Pijetlović7 August 1983GoalkeeperR194 cm (6 ft 4 in)92 kg (203 lb)Romania CSM Oradea
2Mandić, DušanDušan Mandić16 June 1994 L202 cm (6 ft 8 in)96 kg (212 lb)Italy Pro Recco
3Gocić, ŽivkoŽivko Gocić22 August 1982WingR193 cm (6 ft 4 in)91 kg (201 lb)Hungary Szolnok
4Ranđelović, SavaSava Ranđelović17 July 1993PointR193 cm (6 ft 4 in)93 kg (205 lb)Italy AN Brescia
5Ćuk, MilošMiloš Ćuk21 December 1990WingR191 cm (6 ft 3 in)91 kg (201 lb)Hungary Eger
6Pijetlović, DuškoDuško Pijetlović25 April 1985Centre ForwardR192 cm (6 ft 4 in)91 kg (201 lb)Italy Pro Recco
7Nikić, SlobodanSlobodan Nikić25 January 1983Centre ForwardR197 cm (6 ft 6 in)96 kg (212 lb)Turkey Galatasaray
8Aleksić, MilanMilan Aleksić13 May 1986 193 cm (6 ft 4 in)93 kg (205 lb)Hungary Szolnok
9Jakšić, NikolaNikola Jakšić17 January 1997DriverR197 cm (6 ft 6 in)90 kg (200 lb)Serbia Partizan
10Filipović, FilipFilip Filipović2 May 1987WingL196 cm (6 ft 5 in)93 kg (205 lb)Italy Pro Recco
11Prlainović, AndrijaAndrija Prlainović28 April 1988WingR187 cm (6 ft 2 in)91 kg (201 lb)Italy Pro Recco
12Mitrović, StefanStefan Mitrović29 March 1988WingR195 cm (6 ft 5 in)91 kg (201 lb)Hungary Szolnok
13Mitrović, BranislavBranislav Mitrović30 January 1985GoalkeeperR201 cm (6 ft 7 in)96 kg (212 lb)Hungary Eger

Coaches

Most appearances and goals

Professional friendly and competitive matches only where Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro and now Serbia were represented.

Name Years Matches Goals
1 Dejan Savić1994–2008444405
2 Aleksandar Šapić1997–2008385981
3 Igor Milanović1984–1996349540
4 Aleksandar Ćirić1997–2008346201
5 Vladimir Vujasinović1990–2008341391
6 Živko Gocić2003–present332193
7 Slobodan Nikić2003–present330318
8 Petar Trbojević1997–2006306231
9 Danilo Ikodinović1997–2008304299
10 Filip Filipović2003-present271441

Statistics accurate as of matches played 8 August 2015

Honours

Gold medals

Philanthropy

On 25 December 2011, Serbia's water polo team was included in a humanitarian action "Bitka za Bebe" ("the Battle for the Babies") playing an exhibition match with the team of the Faculty of Organizational Scihences (FON), in Belgrade. Before the Serbian water polo team had joined the action, many other athletes were included. Among them was the best tennis player in the world, Novak Đoković, football and basketball players of Red Star Belgrade, and many other's. Proceeds from the ticket sales went to fund "Bitka za Bebe" and the money was successfully collected to purchase one incubator.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serbia men's national water polo team.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.