Croatian women’s volleyball national team
Thus, from the Croatian Volleyball Association, from the new premises on Dražen Petrović Square, invitations were sent to the national team members who are expecting a stormy summer full of events. Especially as far as the women team is concerned, because the girls play on three fronts from May to September, in the Golden European League, in the Challenge Cup and finally, in the European Championship.
The chief operative in the Croatian volleyball federation, expert secretary Frane Žanić, is currently the best interlocutor regarding the upcoming preparations, because both selectors, Daniele Santarelli and Emanuele Zanini, are currently busy with club duties and fighting for the highest medals, Daniele in Imoco Conegliano, and Emanuele in Mladost Zagreb.
„The list of national team players that we sent to the players was compiled, of course, by the menu that monitors their work throughout the season. And I have to say that he is even a little worried because a lot of national team players did not have a lot of minutes in their clubs. That is why he imagined that through competitions we are preparing for the crown of the season, and that is the European Championship, of which we in Zadar are one of the co-organizers.“
This summer, the goal is very ambitiously set for the Croatian women’s national team.
„The ultimate goal is actually to secure a place in the World Championship next year, given that due to Covid 19, no qualifications will be held, but the teams will be placed according to the FIVB rating. We are currently in 24th position, and to be safe for the WC we need to go down somewhere around 19-20. places. For that, we need to reach the finals of the European League and Challenge Cup and the quarterfinals of the European Championship. It may sound ambitious, but we also think it is realistic. We in the Federation will do everything to provide them with the best possible preparations, and the players will have to know how to handle the pressure of these great competitions.“
Žanić will lead the first part of the preparations with the national team, which starts on April 25 in Zadar, with Mirela Delić who will be occasionally available to him and later to the selector Santarelli, who will otherwise have a complete Italian professional staff with him.
As for the men’s national team, the situation is much different, coach Zanini has fewer actions this summer, but that does not mean that their ambitions have been reduced. In fact. Žanić says:
„The most important thing is to try to qualify for the European Championship through two tournaments, from 6.-9. May in Zadar and 14.-16. May in Rotterdam, where we play in a group with the Netherlands and Sweden. The champion of the group goes directly to the European Championship, plus the five best runners-up. For this cycle, the coach invited the strongest currently available team, while for the second part of the summer, for the Europa League, the Silver Group, he will give a chance to some younger players, so he will rest Zhukouski, Raič and Mihalj. In fact, our goal is to produce a new organizer of the game through the European League, as a future replacement for Zhukouski and a new Raič and Mihalj, although we hope that all three will be available to the national team for a long time and try to ensure the best status of Croatian men’s volleyball. We all hope that after the European League at the end of the summer, our national team members will present Croatia as well as possible at the European Championship“ says Frane Žanić, expert secretary at Croatian volleyball federation.
List of players for the GOLDEN EUROPEAN LEAGUE, FIVB CHALLANGE and EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP:
Setter: Lea Deak, Klara Perić
Opposite: Samanta Fabris, Sanja Gamma, Dinka Kulić
Outside spiker: Matea Ikić, Lucija Mlinar, Katarina Pavičić, Lea Cvetnić, Karla Klarić, Laura Miloš
Middle blocker: Božana Butigan, Martina Šamadan, Beta Dumančić, Ema Strunjak
Libero: Rene Sain, Nikolina Božičević
Reserves: Katarina Luketić, Andrea Mihaljević, Karla Antunović, Lara Štimac, Mirta Freund, Izabela Štimac, Astrid Popić
List of players for the European Championship qualifiers:
Setter: Petar Višić, Bernard Bakonji, Tsimafei Zhukouski, Gabriel Ivančić
Opposite: Leo Andrić, Ivan Raič, Petar Đirlić
Outside spiker: Marko Sedlaček, Filip Šestan, Tino Hanžić, Ivan Zeljković, Marino Marelić, Stanko Stanković, Davor Bogdanović
Middle blocker: Kristijan Šućur, Ivan Mihalj, Sandro Dukić, Kruno Nikačević, Lovro Vranješ, Tomislav Mitrašinović
Libero: Sven Šarčević, Hrvoje Pervan
Reserves: Ivan Barić, Luka Kraljević
List of players for SILVER LEAGUE 2021:
Setter: Petar Višić, Bernard Bakonji, Gabriel Ivančić
Opposite: Leo Andrić, Petar Đirlić, Gabrijel Cvanciger
Outside spiker: Marko Sedlaček, Filip Šestan, Tino Hanžić, Ivan Zeljković, Marino Marelić, Stanko Stanković, Petar Jurić
Middle blocker: Kristijan Šućur, Dominik Brčić, Sandro Dukić, Kruno Nikačević, Lovro Vranješ, Tomislav Mitrašinović
Libero: Sven Šarčević, Hrvoje Pervan, Luka Kraljević
Reserves: Ivan Barić, Tino Busak Vidaković
