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Milorad Kijac has been rated as one of the best
club coaches in the history of Yugoslav (now
Serbia and Montenegro) Volleyball and it’s not
hard to understand why. His roll of honor in his
homeland of Serbia and Montenegro is vast and at
48-years-of-age Kijac has built up a volleyball
coaching pedigree to be envied.
After an extensive playing career as a setter
for Yugoslavian clubs Sloboda and Gik Banat from
1965 – 1984 Kijac moved straight into coaching
and had immediate success. From 1985 – 1988
Kijac coached the junior team at Gik Banat,
which contained players non other than Vladimir
and Nikola Grbic before moving into a coaching
position at Vojvodina, one of Yugoslavia’s most
successful teams. Eight straight Yugoslavian
national titles from 1991-1999 are a fair
reflection of the coaching skills of this man.
The first two titles were as an assistant coach
and the remaining six Kijac was in sole charge.
Other silverware with Vojvodina included the Cup
Winners title of Yugoslavia in 92, 94, 95, 96
and 98 and the Super Cup winners of Yugoslavia
in 1993. Current Serbia and Montenegro players
Petrovic, Lagumdzija, Kovac, Vladimir and Nikola
Grbic, Mester, Batez, Duric, Geric, Boskan,
Vusorovic and Petkovic all played under Kijac in
his time at Vojvodina.
One of Kijac’s highest accolades came in 1995
when he was pronounced the best Yugoslav coach
in every sport-discipline. It was no surprise
when firstly, a move to Bulgarian club Levski
Sikonko at the turn of the century continued to
reap dividends with the Bulgarian national title
in 2001 and 2002 and then secondly, when he was
called up to take charge of the Bulgarian
national team in 2003. Since then, Kijac steered
his team skillfully into fifth place at the 2003
World League before slipping slightly at the
European Championships where Bulgaria couldn’t
muster a serious challenge and ended the
tournament in ninth position.
He has already had a taste of success at
international level having coached a Yugoslavian
“A” selection to third place at the 1996 World
Cup in Japan but now in charge of Bulgaria,
Kijac has the responsibility to return one of
Europe’s former volleyball superpowers back to
its glory days of the 70’s and 80’s and with his
coaching history, he’s got just the right
credentials to do it.
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Bulgaria
4-6 June