It has been a really good decade for German men’s volleyball and if there is one name that really stands out among a great generation of players, it is Georg Grozer.

Grozer started his volleyball career in his native Hungary, but moved to Germany in 2002 to play for Moerser Sportclub. After gaining German citizenship, he played for the national team in 2007 and took part in the CEV European Championship that same year. Just two years later, he was on the German squad that won gold in the CEV European League.

The 2.00m-tall opposite made his FIVB Volleyball World Championship debut in 2010, but it was the next edition of the competition that really gave Grozer a chance to shine. At Poland 2014, Germany claimed the bronze medal, the country’s only podium in the history of the competition (outside East Germany’s gold in 1970). In the crucial match for third place, Grozer topped the charts with 19 points towards his team’s straight-set victory over France.

“Of course, the bronze medal at the World Championship is top of the ranking for me. It was an amazing tournament and a pleasure to participate in. For the German team, to win a medal at the World Championship was something really special. Nobody was expecting it,” Grozer told Volleyball World.

“It will stay forever in my mind. Everything in Poland was perfect – the audience, the organisation... Our families could come to watch the games because it was so close. My Mom did and that made it all the more special for me,” the German star added.

In 2017, again in neighbouring Poland, Grozer earned his last major podium finish with the national team of Germany, a EuroVolley silver. He was also named Best Opposite and included in the competition's Dream Team.

Back to his club career. After playing for VfB Friedrichshafen for two seasons and winning two national titles in Germany, he transferred to Poland’s Asseco Resovia Rzeszow just before the turn of the decade. He won the Polish championship and reached the final of the CEV Cup in 2012, before starting his first and most successful period in Russia, as a member of Belogorie Belgorod’s new golden generation.

After winning the national title in 2013, Belogorie had a fabulous 2013-2014 season, when they won the Russia Super Cup, the Russia Cup and the European Champions League before going on to claim the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Club World Championship in Belo Horizonte.

“We were the first Russian team to win the Club World Championship. It was a really great season for us, because we had won everything. And then, at the end of the season, when it was really hard with so many games in a row to play in Brazil, it was amazing! We won the Club World Championship and it was a historic moment,” the 35-year-old athlete recalled.

In addition to those fantastic results wearing the Belogorie jersey, Grozer has fond memories of his teammates at the club.

“I will remember the pleasure it was to compete on the same team with great people like Sergey Tetyukhin, Dmitriy Muserskiy, Dmitriy Ilinykh, Taras Khtey or Dragan Travica, who is like a big brother to me,” the German volleyballer said. “I never had idols in my life. I always wanted to be like myself and have my own style, but when I started playing with a legend like Tetyukhin and I realised how big a player and how big a person he was, I was inspired by him to give everything, to push in practice every day... We are still very good friends.”

After Belogorie, Grozer played for clubs in Qatar, South Korea and China before returning to Russia in 2017 for another three seasons, when he wore the jerseys of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk, Belogorie and Zenit Saint Petersburg through to the end of the 2020 season. He then transferred to Italy’s Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza and now plays for Vero Volley Monza.

The 2020 calendar year marked the end of Grozer’s national team career. With Germany narrowly missing the opportunity to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics by losing to France in the final of January’s continental qualification tournament, he announced his retirement from the Mannschaft.

Grozer missed Tokyo, but he has one Olympic participation to cherish, when Germany reached the quarterfinals at the London 2012 Games.

“The London 2012 Games was the biggest pleasure for me and I am thankful that I could be a part of it and enjoy the super atmosphere and the special energy of the Olympics. I was young. We were young and maybe the result would be different if we played again now, but anyway it was amazing for me,” he said.

The German star has certainly left a remarkable legacy as a national team player and continues to work hard and chase his dreams at the club level. With so much experience available to him, he is certainly in a position to address the next generation of volleyballers.

“What I can tell the younger players of the next generation is that it was all like a dream for me. I had never thought that I would enjoy volleyball in this way and that I would be able to fulfil my dreams,” he said. “So never stop dreaming, never give up your goals, because if you fight for them, most of them will come true one day. It doesn’t matter what your nationality is, where you play or how strong your team is. Everything is always possible if you fight and have patience.”

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