The North Macedonia Men’s Volleyball National Team changed the head coach after three years. However, according to an expert that was replaced, Nikola Matijašević, the country’s federation (OFM) did it without informing him of such a decision.
Now the former head coach of the North Macedonia National Team, Matijašević, wrote an open letter to inform the public about the way he was dismissed from the post of head coach after three years. His words were strong, as he was discontent with the way OFM did it – without directly approaching him. The decision of the governing body of volleyball in North Macedonia is quite surprising given that the men’s national team is about to participate in the CEV EuroVolley in two months.
“First of all, I read on the Facebook page of the Macedonian Federation that I have been dismissed! On Facebook! No one informed me, contacted me, or explained the reasons behind this decision. It hurts a lot because I had a good relation with Petar Jovanovski (President) and Cajka (Vice President of Federation), and we used to be in contact all the time. To not even pick up the phone or call me for a meeting after 3 years of cooperation and 2 European qualifications makes me speechless,“ said a Serbian expert.
“I’m very sad and revolted with this decision as we qualified for the European Championship, beating Turkey in the decisive game. Turkey is currently a very high-level national team. To qualify a team for European Champs and not be able to go to the final tournament hurts a lot. I was expecting greater respect from the Federation in regards to the results we achieved: we qualified for the European Championship for the first time in history in 2019 and now for the second time in a row. I didn’t want to comment or give interviews to the press until today; mainly because I wanted to reflect and think strong before I give an interview. I spoke to my close ones and decided to be fully transparent and speak from my heart, without any filter,“ continued Matijašević.
“Things are clear now, the new Head Coach of the Macedonian National Team is Duško Nikolić, who was my assistant until now. This situation with Duško Nikolić is painful: he’s from Lučani, Serbia, the town where my father grew up. Moreover, he’s a fellow colleague I helped become the coach of Chaumont, one of the biggest French volleyball teams. In my eyes, he was a trustworthy friend from whom I expected nothing but loyalty. It’s the reason why I asked him to be my assistant in Macedonia… he obviously had another agenda from the moment things got complicated within the team. In May 2021, during the preparation for the European League, an attempt to replace me was already made. It was lead by the team doctor Petrovski and Filip Despotovski, the setter who was unhappy that I didn’t recruit him in PAOK, the team I coached this season. From this moment on, they tried to actively break the team. Petrovski and Despotovski called a few players in their room and asked for support to get me fired and appoint Duško Nikolić as head coach. At the time, their attempt didn’t work but the Federation did nothing when I requested the doctor to be replaced. That silence from the Federation gave a clear signal that my authority was abandoned. This move gave important room for division within the team. We lost in Strumica, Macedonia in the final of European League which gave a lot of leverage to Karanović (federation Director) and the couple people who wanted to get me fired,“ he stressed.
“I draw the conclusion today that even back in May 2021, Nikolić was working behind my back while telling me repeatedly that it was crazy that anyone could even think about replacing me, as results were extremely strong. It’s very disappointing to me that we didn’t manage to keep team unity and stay all together. Instead, we exploded from the inside because of some personal interest of Despotovski, Nikolić, and Dr. Petrovski. My whole life, I have always looked out for the interest of THE TEAM, thus it was extremely difficult to work because the president of Federation Jovanovski was often saying who should play. I rejected his ideas and I coached the team with my beliefs and principles. Jovanovski would often tell me setter Despotovski should play more. Lately, he would interfere a lot in my work. The highlight of the Presidents interference with my decisions was during the decisive game against Turkey when he texted the team doctor to come to tell me to put Despotovski in the game. I obviously rejected his wish, and we won the most important game of the season for Macedonia, qualifying the country for European Champs. Turkey was strong, with Lagumdžija, Arslan… and full squad,“ Matijašević spoke bluntly. “Coming back to Duško Nikolić’s behavior and his debut as Head Coach for European Championships: this never happened to me in 30 years of my international experience… it happened now from a friend from Serbia… who’s at the same time the president of the Coaches Association of Serbia… At last, I would like to say I had many great moments with Macedonia, went to battle with great guys who fight like hell for their country and gave 150 % for their National Team… to work and win with them was a great honor and fantastic experience… Unfortunately, the story ended in a very bad way for me, in a way that I wasn’t expecting nor deserving. I feel great sadness and despair, it is hard for me not to be with my team at the European Championship after we qualified all together. I wholeheartedly wish the players and Macedonia a lot of success at the European Championships and all future competitions! It was my honor to coach you guys these past 3 years!“ concluded the Serbian coach, who commanded Greece’s PAOK on a club level in 2020/21.
