Slobodan Boškan is the new coach of the Greek Olympiakos, and as he told "Vijesta", he signed a one-year contract. Boškan will succeed the Italian Flavio Giulinelli on the Olympiakos bench.
The coach of the Montenegrin volleyball team is thus returning to the club where he spent a year as a player, in the 1999/2000 season, when Olympiakos was the champion.
"I am very happy to be back at Olympiakos, this time as a coach. From my personal experience as a player, I know very well that this is a big club with big demands. Olympiakos has to constantly prove itself and do its best. It is always it was a pleasure to play in front of Olympiakos fans. Our fans expect a lot from us and we will do our best to celebrate together at the end of the season. I hope to live up to the club's expectations," said Boškan.
Olympiakos last season (last year the Athenian jersey was worn by our Božidar Ćuk) failed to return the championship title, which is "owned" by PAOK for the second year in a row. The Athenians with Boškan will try to get the title, which they last won in 2014, when they became champions of Greece for the 27th time.
"Olympiakos has a very good team this year and the plan is to win all domestic trophies and affirmations in Europe. In the CEV Cup they will play against Surgut and from that two-match it will be determined how far we will go. But I will be able to say more when I gather more information." added Boškan.
Boškan was the coach of Budva Riviera for the past two and a half seasons, but he this summer he left Budva, as he said, for personal reasons, wanting to be closer to his family in Novi Sad.
He was in a serious combination to take over Vojvodina, and thus, indeed, continue his work in his hometown, but in the Novi Sad club there was a prevailing current that wanted the new coach to be not the club's playing legend but last year's assistant coach Nedžad Osmankač.
It is speculated that his departure from Budva could also mean his departure from the position of head coach of Montenegro. Boškan's contract with the Volleyball Federation of Montenegro is valid until the beginning of next year, but considering that the first action is in May (qualifications for the World Cup), he will need a new contract on the continuation of cooperation.
The seniors failed to qualify for the third round of European qualification, as they were third in the group behind Germany and Spain, just ahead of Switzerland, with three wins and three losses each. Boškan is the only Montenegrin coach who led the national team in two consecutive cycles of qualification for the European Championship, both times unsuccessfully, as was the case in the previous three cycles, when Veselin Vuković, Rade Malević and Ivan Joksimović were Montenegrin coaches.
One set separated the Montenegrin volleyball players this summer from the second consecutive final four of the third division of the World League (Montenegro reached the final in the first). Boškan won the European League with Montenegro in 2014...
Boškan started his coaching career in Dunav from Novi Sad, which he founded himself, from where he arrived in Budva Riviera in January 2014. With Budva, he won three double crowns, while in two seasons in the Champions League he recorded two victories in 12 matches, although having weaker teams and more financial and organizational problems than his predecessors.
He had a rich playing career, especially in the jersey of the national team (FR Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro, and independent Serbia), with which, among other things, he was the Olympic champion in Sydney in 2000, the European champion in 2001 and the vice-champion of the world in 1998.
He started his playing career playing as a receiver in Vojvodina, then played for Olympiakos, Italian Trentino, Greek Iraklis, French Tours, Turkish Halkbanka and Budva Riviera.
He won club trophies in FR Yugoslavia, Greece, France and Montenegro, and the highlight was winning the Champions League with Tour in 2005...
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