Whether he wore the jersey of Lovcen, Metaloplastika, Barcelona or Yugoslavia, handball with him had a special touch, a game ahead of its time... Veselin Vujović is one of the greatest of all time in this sport and one of the many who discovered a passion for handball in Cetinje.
The legendary Vuja was a guest of the show (Failure) of the champion, which in the second season is also hosted by a famous handball name. Mirza Djomba.
The legendary Montenegrin touched on many topics from his career, starting from Cetinje and how it all started...
It is known that his first sport was karate, and then he decided to try basketball with his older brother...
"After the training where new basketball players were selected, they told my brother to come, and me - goodbye. I was really disappointed - I can't do the sport I love, and my brother is better than me," says Vujović with a smile.
Wow, what a handball
And then his love for rukmet was born quite by accident, when his friends invited him to perform at the school championship.
"What kind of handball, I told them, I don't even know how to play it... It doesn't cross my mind"
But...
"Somehow that day I didn't have better things to do and I went to the championship on my bike. We won that game, and the next one too... And he approaches me Miodrag-Miško Popović, the best coach in the history of Montenegrin sports, and he doesn't ask me if I can or if I want to, he just says - kid, on Monday for training. And there is simply no option to say no to Miško," Vujović recalled.
From Metalloplasty - "stojadin"
In the meantime, however, he also practiced basketball, and then at the age of 16-17 he had to decide which direction he wanted to go, and at the persuasion Veselin Vukovića he decided on Šabac and Metaloplatika.
"From Metaloplastika they gave Lovcen five million dinars for me and another five million in equipment, so I was the first player for whom compensation was paid. My only condition was that they buy me a 101 flag - when I have my own car, there is no one stronger than me at that moment," says Vuja with a smile.
Going to Šabac was the right move, and the two Champions Leagues are just the best confirmation of that. How much Metaloplasty was a hit during the eighties of the last century, and Vujović's mega popularity is also shown by the fact that the man from Cetinje was chosen as the best athlete of Yugoslavia.
"That choice had charm, because the previous winners chose the best, and in the closest competition we were an icon Drazen Petrovic and I..."
Among those who voted was the Montenegrin legendary boxer Miodrag Perunović.
"He fought with so much heart, desire... While the fight was going on I wanted to get on the TV to help him, I was crying with excitement..."
During that election, everyone publicly announced the name of the one they think should be the athlete of the year.
"I thought - if he didn't vote for me, I won't even take the award. He owes me to vote for me," joked the legendary handball player, and then when the time came for Perunović to vote, Veselin Vujović was heard.
"I caught the air and experienced everything very emotionally."
"War" by Jesus Hill and Jose Luis Nunes
And while Vujović was at his peak, he suffered a shock and injury to his Achilles tendon, an injury that at the time generally meant the end of his career. However, it was there that a new relationship for all time was born.
"While I was in the hospital bed, I received a telegram from Barcelona where they addressed me as 'our player' even though I had no agreement with them. In that expedition of theirs there was also Valero Rivera and we practically agreed that I would come to Catalonia".
Then the famous call from the beginning of his career came again - from Veselin Vuković, who played for Atlético Madrid.
At that moment, says Vujović, it was the wish of the famous and controversial president of the "colćoneros" (among others, the football club) Jesus Hill, also Jose Luis Nunes, the first man of Barcelona.
"Both one and the other said - as much as they offer you, we give you more. I struggled for a long time, but in the end my wife said to be Barca, because they remembered me when I was injured, when no one believed that I would recover".
We still had to agree on the salary...
"They told me that not even some footballers would have my conditions, and then the wife of Jose Luis Nunez broke everything... Hill often insulted Jose, he even named a pony after him, so his wife decided that she would not allow him to take me too and that she will pay for everything she needs".
Soon, Vuja brought the Champions League cup to Barca...
The Olympics are the top of the hill
In addition to the club, Vujović also wrote history through games for the Yugoslav national team, with which, among other things, he reached the Olympic gold medal in 1984 in Los Angeles.
"The Games are the Games - I spent a few hours next to it Michael Jordan during the grand opening, he has breakfast next to you Theophilus Stevenson, the best Cuban boxer of all time, are here Dragan Kićanović, Zoran Slavnic... When I won the Olympic Games, I felt an incredible emptiness, because I reached the top of the hill, I thought what more can I win after this".
The motive soon arrived.
"When I saw that everyone now wants to beat us even more, spite worked for me... Well, you won't - for 12 years in a row I was not second".
Throughout his great career, he always carried Cetinje within him, the mentality of the city below Lovcen...
The people of Cetinje are people who think very quickly, they are intelligent... Cetinje's history is written in stone and every detail teaches you in which direction to go and that you have to be the best," emphasized Vuja.
Montenegro and Serbia wanted me, I'm going to Skopje
Vujović also had great success as a coach - with Sijudad Real he won the EHF Cup Winners' Cup, he managed Yugoslavia, Vardar, Zagreb well, and with the Slovenian national team he reached the bronze medal at the World Championship.
He also recalled the moment when Montenegro regained its independence.
"I was the selector of Serbia and Montenegro at many levels, according to the IHF ranking we were the best selection and in all of that there was a split. Serbia wanted me to remain their selector, Montenegro wanted me to be theirs - no matter what you decide, you will have a problem and I will leave to Vardar," said Vujović.
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