Serbia men's national volleyball team

The Serbia men's national volleyball team is the national team of Serbia. FIVB and CEV considers Serbia the inheritor of the records of SFR Yugoslavia (1948–1991) and Serbia and Montenegro (1992–2006). Serbia won gold at the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia and bronze at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

The Yugoslav Olympic Committee declared the national volleyball team to be the best male team of the year in 2000, and the Olympic Committee of Serbia did the same in 2010 and 2013.

History
Serbia's most proud moment came at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when under the name Yugoslavia it won Olympic gold. A heavy favourite was team Italy, who won the last three World Championships and the European title in 1995 and 1999, but they had yet to win an Olympic gold medal. They swept through Group B undefeated and won their quarter-final match over Australia. In the semifinals, Serbia & Montenegro (Yugoslavia), runners-up at the 1998 Worlds, and bronze medalists at the 1999 Europeans, triumphed in straight sets, again denying Italy an Olympic gold medal. Serbia & Montenegro had struggled in the pools, finishing only third behind Italy and Russia, but they defeated Russia in straight sets in the final to win the gold medal. As in 1996, all medalists came from the same pool, this time Group B.

Volleyball was brought to Serbia by g. William Viland, a professor of folklore and folk sports from Oakland, California, when the Red Cross held a series of lectures and demonstrations of American sports in Belgrade and Novi Sad. It is believed that his arrival marked the beginning of volleyball in this area, and in 1924 is considered the year when the first volleyball ball came to Serbia. During the period of occupation, between 1941 and 1944, volleyball was played very actively, numerous competitions were held, and more sports clubs/society's had established its volleyball section.

The Serbian/Yugoslav Volleyball Federation was founded in 1946 by the Alliance for Physical Education of Yugoslavia. A year later, in 1947, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) was founded and the former Yugoslavia was one of the 14 founders. From 13 February 1949, the Volleyball Federation became an independent sports organization. Two years later, at the European Championships held in Paris, the women's volleyball team of Yugoslavia won the bronze medal for the first time. This success was repeated with the men's event in 1975, when Serbia for the first time in history hosted the biggest European competition, both the men's and women's events. The Serbian team in the last match of the final group defeated Bulgaria in the crowded hall of "Pioneer" in Belgrade and won the bronze medal.

2011 – 2019
In 2011 Serbia became European champion and in 2016 the champion of FIVB World League for the first time, with Marko Ivović being crowned MVP of the tournament and Srećko Lisinac being chosen as the Best Middle Blocker.

2019 – 2021
After two bronze medal 2013 and 2017, Serbia become European champion again in 2019 with Uroš Kovačević being crowned MVP of the tournament.

Olympic Games
Champions  Runners up   Third place   Fourth place

World Championship
Champions  Runners up   Third place   Fourth place

World Cup
Champions  Runners up   Third place   Fourth place

Squads

 * 🇯🇵 2003 Japan – Simple bronze cup.svg Bronze medal
 * Marić, Janić, Boškan, Mijić, N. Grbić (C), V. Grbić, Bjelica, Gerić, Vujević, Miljković, Ilić, Vusurović. Head coach: Travica

World Grand Champions Cup
Champions  Runners up   Third place   Fourth place
 * 🇯🇵 2001 – Bronze medal with cup.svg Bronze medal
 * Jokanović, Majdak, Škorić, Boškan, Mijić, N. Grbić (C), V. Grbić, Gerić, Vujević, Miljković, Vusurović. Head coach: Gajić

World League
Champions  Runners up   Third place   Fourth place

Squads



 * 🇧🇷 2015 Rio de Janeiro – Silver medal with cup.svg Silver medal
 * Kovačević N., Kovačević U., Ivović, Petrić, Kostić, Stanković (C), Jovović, Atanasijević, Starović, Majstorović, Podraščanin, Rosić, Lisinac, Okolić. Head coach: Grbić
 * 🇵🇱 2016 Kraków – Gold medal with cup.svg Gold medal
 * Okolić, Kovačević, Katić, Stanković (C), Ivović, Jovović, Nikić, Dokić, Luburić, Brđović, Majstorović, Podraščanin, Rosić, Lisinac. Head coach: Grbić

European Championship
Champions  Runners up   Third place   Fourth place

Squads

 * 1995 – Bronze medal with cup.svg Bronze medal
 * Boškan, Brđović, Đurić, Gerić, N. Grbić, V. Grbić, Jokanović, Kovač, Mešter, Petrović, Tanasković, Vujević. Head Coach: Gajić
 * 1997 – Silver medal with cup.svg Silver medal
 * Batez, Boškan, Đurić, Gerić, N. Grbić, V. Grbić, Jokanović, Kovač, Mešter, Tanasković, Vujević, Vušurović. Head Coach: Gajić
 * 🇦🇹 1999 – Bronze medal with cup.svg Bronze medal
 * Batez, Boškan, Đurić, Gerić, N. Grbić, V. Grbić, Mešter, Mijić, Miljković, Petković, Tanasković, Vujević. Head Coach: Gajić
 * 🇨🇿 2001 – Gold medal with cup.svg Gold medal
 * Boškan, Gerić, N. Grbić, V. Grbić, Jokanović, Marić, Mešter, Mijić, Miljković, Škorić, Vujević, Vušurović. Head Coach: Gajić
 * 🇮🇹 2005 – Bronze medal with cup.svg Bronze medal
 * Bjelica, Bojović, Boškan, Gerić, Ilić, Janić, Miljković, Mitrović, Samardžić, Stanković, Vujević. Head coach: Travica
 * 🇷🇺 2007 – Bronze medal with cup.svg Bronze medal
 * Kovačević, Janić, Petković, Boškan, Stanković, Samardžić, Grbić, Nikić, Gerić, Miljković, Starović, Podraščanin. Head coach: Kolaković
 * 🇦🇹 🇨🇿 2011 – Gold medal with cup.svg Gold medal
 * N. Kovačević, U. Kovačević, Petković, Terzić, Stanković, Vujić, Nikić, Mitić, Rašić, Miljković, Starović, Atanasijević, Podraščanin, Rosić. Head Coach: Kolaković
 * 🇵🇱 2013 – Bronze medal with cup.svg Bronze medal
 * Kovačević, Ivović, Petrić, Petković, Stanković, Vujić, Jovović, Nikić, Rašić, Atanasijević, Starović, Podraščanin, Rosić, Lisinac. Head coach: Kolaković
 * 🇵🇱 2017 – Bronze medal with cup.svg Bronze medal
 * Okolić, Kovačević, Katić, Petrić (C), Škundrić, Stanković, Jovović, Buculjević, Atanasijević, Luburić, Majstorović, Podraščanin, Rosić, Lisinac. Head coach: Grbić
 * 🇫🇷 🇧🇪  2019 – Gold medal with cup.svg Gold medal
 * Okolić, Kovačević, Petrić (C), Ćirović, Peković, Krsmanović, Ivović, Jovović, Atanasijević, Luburić, Majstorović, Podraščanin, Lisinac, Todorović. Head coach: Kovač

Mediterranean Games
Champions  Runners up   Third place   Fourth place

Current squad
The following is the Serbia roster in the 2023 Men's European Volleyball Championship.

Head coach: 🇲🇪 Igor Kolaković

Coach history

 * Zoran Gajić (1995–2002)
 * Veselin Vuković (2002–2003)
 * Ljubomir Travica (2003–2006)
 * 🇲🇪 Igor Kolaković (2006–2014)
 * 🇷🇸 Nikola Grbić (2015–2019)
 * 🇷🇸 Slobodan Kovač (2019–2021)
 * 🇲🇪 Igor Kolaković (2022–present)

Notable players

 * Ivan Miljković
 * Nikola Grbić
 * Andrija Gerić
 * Slobodan Boškan
 * Vladimir Grbić
 * Slobodan Kovač
 * Dejan Brđović
 * Rajko Jokanović
 * Goran Vujević
 * Đula Mešter
 * Vasa Mijić
 * Žarko Petrović
 * Igor Vušurović
 * Bojan Janić
 * Edin Škorić
 * Veljko Petković
 * Željko Tanasković

Kit providers
The table below shows the history of kit providers for the Serbia national volleyball team.

Sponsorship
Primary sponsors include: main sponsors like Poštanska štedionica. other sponsors: Škoda Auto, Radio Television of Serbia, Žurnal, Srbijagas, Posta, EPS and Blic.