After winning their 20th international medal at the 2010 World Championship, Serbia will be looking for another in this year’s World League. Since claiming gold at the 2000 Olympics, the country has consistently been among the medal contenders in major tournaments. The Serbian side plays with a passion that is unrelenting and strong in attack. They finished fourth at the 2002 World Championship before picking up silver in the 2003 World League – losing narrowly to Brazil – and bronze at the 2003 World Cup. For many years the Serbian team has been led by the Grbic Brothers (Vladimir and Nikola), Goran Vujevic, Andrija Geric, Djula Mešter and Ivan Miljkovic. In 2005, Serbia and Montenegro had the great honor of organizing the World League Finals. In an incredible final in front of 18,140 spectators in Belgrade, the hosts were eventually beaten by Brazil. In 2007, the boys in blue became known as Serbia, and a year later they took silver in the World League and finished fifth at the Beijing Olympics. In last year’s World League, a new generation of players stepped up to win bronze without stalwarts Nikola Grbic and Ivan Miljkovic, demonstrating that they are capable of sustaining the winning form of the previous two decades.

Igor Kolakovic replaced Ljuba Travica as head coach of Serbia ahead of the 2006 FIVB World Championships, after assisting him for three years. Kolakovic played as a setter until 1997, when he began coaching. He coached club side Buducnost Podgorica from 1997 until last year and cites his best coaching moment as winning the silver medal in the 2009 FIVB World League in front of 22,000 home fans in Belgrade. He also helped his side to bronze in both the 2010 FIVB World League and the FIVB Men’s World Championship in Italy.