After two years at the helm, Ferhat Akbas is departing as the head coach of the Croatian women’s national team.
At the beginning of 2021, Ferhat Akbas took over the helm of the Croatian women’s national volleyball team. He replaced Italian Daniele Santarelli, who had been the coach for just over three years. Now, two years later, Akbas is leaving his position as the head coach of the Croatian team, having not renewed his contract. Turkish expert, who led the Croatian women’s team for two seasons, will be remembered for guiding Croatia to its first participation in the prestigious VNL Nations League, as he turns a new page in his career.
Akbas bid farewell to the Croatian women’s national team with heartfelt words: “Working with a team so passionate and dedicated to volleyball was special for me, and will remain truly unique. Over the past two years, we worked together on and off the court, developed together, and made progress side by side. We celebrated victories together, supported each other after defeats, shared moments of joy and sorrow. We’ve experienced everything together, always dreaming of moving forward. During this time, we wrote beautiful stories from Croatia. I have always been proud to be a part of Croatian volleyball. However, the time has come to say goodbye. looking back, I see tremendous potential, and I hope Croatian volleyball continues to progress. I am grateful to every athlete I have worked with. I owe a thank you for everything to this country that will always hold a special place in my heart.”
The leaders of the Croatian Volleyball Federation now face the task of finding a worthy replacement for the foreign expert. Frane Žanić, President of the HOS, commented on the departure of Akbas: “I thank Mr. Ferhat Akbas for two years of excellent cooperation. There were ups and downs in terms of results, but I think we achieved a great and beautiful result, especially in the first season by qualifying for the VNL. During this season, a lot of young players started in the senior squad, but I think it could have been better in terms of results. However, there were also a number of other objective difficult circumstances due to which we did not reach where we wanted. Also, I think it’s extremely important that we part ways with Akbas on friendly terms. We are grateful to him for everything he has done for the improvement of Croatian volleyball.”
President Frane Žanić added at the end: “We will definitely soon move forward and find a solution for a new coach, so that we remain competitive at the top of European and world volleyball with women’s teams. I think our focus and strength should be on the younger age representative teams that showed excellent results this summer, and we need to ensure that they take the leading roles in the A team in the future.”
