{"id":209057,"date":"2026-05-04T16:08:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:08:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=209057"},"modified":"2026-05-04T16:14:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T14:14:38","slug":"here-is-why-serbia-is-without-a-water-polo-head-coach-the-new-president-of-the-federation-criticized-the-results-of-the-olympic-and-european-champions-and-added-one-blackmail-to-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/here-is-why-serbia-is-without-a-water-polo-head-coach-the-new-president-of-the-federation-criticized-the-results-of-the-olympic-and-european-champions-and-added-one-blackmail-to-that\/","title":{"rendered":"HERE IS WHY SERBIA IS WITHOUT A WATER POLO HEAD COACH: The new president of the federation criticized the results of the Olympic and European champions, and added one blackmail to that\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>Shock in Serbian water polo \u2013 head coach Uro\u0161 Stevanovi\u0107 has submitted his resignation, despite the fact that he brought Olympic and European gold to the national team. The immediate reason cited for such a decision is a statement by the new president of the Water Polo Federation of Serbia, Slobodan Soro, which caused a storm in the public.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stevanovi\u0107 announced that he does not agree with the views Soro expressed in his first address, especially in the part relating to the role of the head coach and his engagement in clubs, and thus decided to step down from the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a reminder, immediately upon taking the helm of the Federation, Soro openly criticized the existing system and clearly messaged that he would introduce new rules. One of the key messages related precisely to the head coaching function:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The head coach will not be able to be a coach in a domestic club. We have had these overlaps for a long time\u2026 That is not fair to our sport. There were cases where players, in order to be national team members, were blackmailed into playing for a specific club. I repeat, that is not fair to the sport,&#8221; Soro emphasized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This statement directly relates to the current practice in Serbian water polo, where Stevanovi\u0107 himself managed a club in parallel, which was obviously one of the main reasons for the disagreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">FIND OUT MORE<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-serbiantimes-info-en wp-block-embed-serbiantimes-info-en\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"qn0s64AY1P\"><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/replaced-boots-with-a-laboratory-viktorija-from-nis-received-her-doctorate-in-chemistry-in-the-usa-she-was-the-captain-of-the-national-football-team\/\">REPLACED BOOTS WITH A LABORATORY: Viktorija from Ni\u0161 received her doctorate in chemistry in the USA, she was the captain of the national football team!<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;REPLACED BOOTS WITH A LABORATORY: Viktorija from Ni\u0161 received her doctorate in chemistry in the USA, she was the captain of the national football team!&#8221; &#8212; Serbiantimes.info EN\" src=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/replaced-boots-with-a-laboratory-viktorija-from-nis-received-her-doctorate-in-chemistry-in-the-usa-she-was-the-captain-of-the-national-football-team\/embed\/#?secret=fYj822sj6o#?secret=qn0s64AY1P\" data-secret=\"qn0s64AY1P\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In his address, Soro further highlighted that it is necessary to &#8220;restore the system&#8221; and strengthen the professional staff within the Federation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Professional expertise must return to the Federation; our professional council is not functioning. The coaches&#8217; association needs to get involved as much as possible. Only with a firm system can we achieve results, and that is the crown of our work,&#8221; the new president said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although he emphasized that he respects the results of the national team, Soro also pointed to a decline in form in recent years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;We are Olympic and European champions, that is true, but in the last eight years, we have won only four medals. While I was playing, I won 16 medals in 17 competitions. This speaks to a change in the dynamics of results. We have started skipping competitions, not giving them importance. We must return to the old doctrine and philosophy of Serbian water polo, that every competition is the most important. Especially now when we have a team that is not at the level of previous years. All credit for both the Olympic and European gold, won recently in Belgrade, however, I think that was more a moment of inspiration than proof of great quality, as was the case before.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stevanovi\u0107&#8217;s resignation has opened numerous questions about the future of the national team, but also about the direction in which Serbian water polo will move under the new leadership. It is clear that the conflict of vision between the head coach and the head of the Federation escalated faster than anyone expected \u2013 and the consequences are yet to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/pali-zbog-14-tendera-i-2-5-miliona-evra-cetvoro-uhapsenih-u-novom-sadu-medju-njima-i-stric-nikole-jokica\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">FELL BECAUSE OF 14 TENDERS AND 2.5 MILLION EUROS: Four arrested in Novi Sad, among them the uncle of Nikola Joki\u0107!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/now-she-has-every-trophy-tijana-boskovic-won-the-champions-league-also-named-mvp-of-the-final\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">NOW SHE HAS EVERY TROPHY: Tijana Bo\u0161kovi\u0107 won the Champions League, also named MVP of the final!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/hope-dies-last-but-fewer-and-fewer-chances-for-andrej-stojakovic-to-play-for-serbia-here-is-what-his-father-peda-stojakovic-did\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">HOPE DIES LAST, BUT\u2026 : Fewer and fewer chances for Andrej Stojakovi\u0107 to play for Serbia, here is what his father Pe\u0111a Stojakovi\u0107 did!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/the-more-they-have-the-less-they-pay-the-state-belgrade-on-water-owes-as-much-as-165-million-euros-in-taxes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">THE MORE THEY HAVE, THE LESS THEY PAY THE STATE: Belgrade on water owes as much as 165 million euros in taxes!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/motive-for-the-brutal-murder-of-serbian-miss-in-switzerland-revealed-her-wealthy-husband-killed-kristina-ground-up-parts-of-her-body-then-left-them-in-a-bag-for-her-father-to-find\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">MOTIVE FOR THE BRUTAL MURDER OF SERBIAN MISS IN SWITZERLAND REVEALED: Her wealthy husband killed Kristina, ground up parts of her body, then left them in a bag for her father to find!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Source<\/strong>:<\/strong> Serbiantimes, <strong>Photo:<\/strong> Ata images<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shock in Serbian water polo \u2013 head coach Uro\u0161 Stevanovi\u0107 has submitted his resignation, despite the fact that he brought Olympic and European gold to the national team. The immediate reason cited for such a decision is a statement by the new president of the Water Polo Federation of Serbia, Slobodan Soro, which caused a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2169,"featured_media":209058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[7581,8168,10928,2916],"class_list":["post-209057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-delfini","tag-sampioni","tag-uros-stevanovic","tag-vaterpolo","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209057"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209124,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209057\/revisions\/209124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}