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     CRO / Croatia

    		 
    Team manager Juraj Jogunica
    Coach Angelo Vercesi
    Assistant coach Goran Jovanovic
    Doctor
    Physiotherapist Alessandro Fazio
       
     
        No.   Name Lastname Shirt Name Birthdate Height Weight Spike Block Club
      1 Senna UÅ¡ic Jogunica Senna 14.05.1986 191 78 302 292 Eczacibasi Vitra (TUR)
      2   Ana Grbac Grbac 23.03.1988 186 64 302 288 Volero Zürich
      L 3 Nikolina Bozicevic Bozicevic 14.01.1995 160 62 282 273 OK Marina KaÅ¡tela
      L 4   Nikolina Jelic Jelic 09.11.1991 190 74 310 294 KS Developres Rzeszów
      5 Antonija Kaleb Kaleb 02.04.1986 188 71 305 289 Jakarta BNI 46 (INA)
      6   Mira Topic Topic 02.06.1983 184 72 300 284 Tyumen (RUS)
      7 Bernarda Cutuk Cutuk 22.12.1990 186 76 317 300 SC Potsdam (GER)
      8   Mia Jerkov Jerkov 05.12.1982 192 68 310 295 Bursa Buyuksehir (TUR)
      9 Matea Ikic Ikic 25.05.1989 185 79 290 278 Pallavolo Ornavasso (ITA)
      10   Ivana MiloÅ¡ Milos 07.03.1986 187 70 312 296 Agil Volley (ITA)
      11 Sanja Gamma Gamma 31.05.1984 186 76 291 283 Dinamo Moscow (RUS)
      12   Iva Jurisic Jurisic 24.03.1994 186 69 300 290 HAOK Mladost Zagreb (CRO)
      13 Samanta Fabris Fabris 08.02.1992 190 83 325 306 VBC Pomì Casalmaggiore
      14   Karla Klarić Klaric 05.09.1994 188 86 310 300 Volero Zürich (SUI)
      15 Bernarda Brcic Brcic 12.05.1991 192 81 305 297 Robur Tiboni Volley (ITA)
      16   Nikolina Kovacic Kovacic 30.04.1986 180 74 310 293 Rota Koleji (TUR)
      17 Jelena Alajbeg Alajbeg 01.10.1989 183 75 310 300 Iller Bankasi (TUR)
      C 18   Maja Poljak Poljak 02.05.1983 194 80 305 300 Dinamo Moscow
      19 Lucija Mlinar Mlinar 06.05.1995 180 70 308 287 HAOK Mladost Zagreb (CRO)
      20   Tamara Susic Susic 28.11.1990 193 72 318 308 VBC Pomì Casalmaggiore
      L 21 Marija UÅ¡ic Usic 05.02.1992 185 67 292 278 Amiens (FRA)
      22   Biljana Gligorovic Gligorovic 31.01.1982 183 68 298 292 Vrilission (GRE)
     C=Captain  L=Libero
     
    Team profile

    Croatia are making their World Grand Prix debut and they will look to veteran coach Angelo Vercesi to guide them through the experience. The glory days of Croatian women’s volleyball came in the 1990s when they took silver medals at the 1995, 1997 and 1999 European Championships and came fourth at the 1995 World Cup. 

    Their performances raised the sport’s profile in the country and many of the players at the World Grand Prix honed their skills on development programmes that sprang up on the back of the team’s success. The Croatians made it through to the quarterfinals of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games beating Australia, Kenya and Korea along the way. Their last appearance at the World Championship was in 2010 when they came 17th. 

    The team will take encouragement from their fifth-place finish at last year’s European Championship. They beat the Netherlands in the pool play-offs before going down to Germany in the quarterfinals.

    Despite it being the team's debut in the competition they are aiming for a spot in the Final Four of Group Three, and they bring a mix of experienced stars and young prospects to help them achieve their target.
    Coach profile

    Angelo Vercesi will lead Croatia’s first tilt at the World Grand Prix. He knows exactly what it takes to succeed in the tournament having led his native Brazil team to gold in 2005 and 2006. His two-year reign as Brazil coach also saw the side win the 2005 Grand Champions Cup and South American Championship. 

    He then spent four trophy-laden seasons in Italy with Scavolini Pesaro, initially as assistant coach, and guided them to league and CEV Cup triumphs in 2008 and an Italian Super Cup win in 2009. More recently, Vercesi coached teams in Croatia and Azerbaijan. After taking on his present role last December he oversaw the Croatians’ qualification for this year’s World Championship.