Marco Podrascanin will play for Cucine Lube Civitanova for the next two seasons. The iconic Serbian star signed a two-year contract with his former club. After four seasons with Sir Safety Conad Perugia and another four with Itas Trentino Trento, the 34-year-old middle blocker returns to the club, where he spent eight seasons from 2008 to 2016.

“Eight years ago I promised I would return. I kept my word!” Podrascanin told lubevolley.it. “I am happy to be able to end my career with my favourite team. I have completed some great journeys, first with Perugia and then with Trento, among other things with the icing on the cake of my first Champions League in the collection. The feelings brought me back here. This was the right time to return! I can't wait to get on the court and have fun again with the beautiful Lube jersey. I have found so many friends that it almost feels like I never left.”

2.03m-tall Podrascanin, known as Potke by nickname, started his professional volleyball career some two decades ago in his native Serbia as a player of Vojvodina Novi Sad and earned one national title and three national cups with the club, before transferring to the Italian SuperLega in 2007 for the rest of his club career, at least until now. After a season with Famigliulo Corigliano, he joined Lube. During his first period with the club, he collected one CEV Challenge Cup trophy, two national championship titles, one Coppa Italia and three Supercoppa Italiana trophies. During his time in Perugia and Trento, Podrascanin added two SuperLega titles, two national cups, three national super cups and, most recently, the continental 2024 CEV Champions League crown. His showcase also boasts numerous silver and bronze medal finishes in major club competitions, including FIVB Volleyball Men’s Club World Championship bronze in 2021 and silver in 2022 and abundantly garnished with individual awards.

As a member of the Serbian men’s national team since 2006, Potke triumphed as an FIVB Volleyball World League winner in 2016 and a two-time European champion (2011 and 2019), among a number of other podiums in the two competitions, as well as an FIVB Volleyball Men’s World Championship bronze in 2010. He played at three editions of the Olympic Games, most recently at Paris 2024, where the end of his national team journey was announced.

After the Paris Olympics, Podrascanin, who has been holding dual citizenship since 2022, has undertaken a change of federation procedure with the intention of competing for Lube formally as an Italian player. He has been training with the team for several weeks now.

“I would like to thank Lube Volley, not only because they accepted my request to return, but also because they first allowed me to participate in the Paris Games with Serbia, accepting the inevitable delay in bureaucratic matters. I really appreciated it!” Podrascanin said.

“For us, it is the homecoming of an athlete we had given up on only because of the limitations on the number of foreigners,” said Lube vice president Albino Massaccesi. “Podrascanin has been away from us for a few years, but the boy's desire to return to the Red-and-Whites has pushed us to finalize the signing. After his last year in Trento, Marko only thought of Civitanova as a destination, without considering other options. We are talking about a very elegant boy who has already spent eight seasons with us and achieved important results. He will be a point of reference for the younger ones, not only for the quality of his volleyball, but also in terms of mentality and experience. Despite the age gap with most of his teammates, Marko has shown in recent weeks that he can bond with everyone. The result is a very close-knit group that can grow even more, thanks to his help.”

Between seasons, Lube parted ways with some experienced stars like Luciano De Cecco, Ivan Zaytsev or Simone Anzani and attracted some younger talents like Croatia’s Petar Dirlic, Canada’s Eric Loeppky or barely-turned-20 Mattia Boninfante of Italy and Poriya Hossein Khanzadeh of Iran, among others. Podrascanin will share the middle blocker department with two-time Olympic champion Barthelemy Chinenyeze, Jacopo Larizza and two newcomers, Giovanni Gargiulo and Spanish teenager Davi Tenorio.

“I want to say that the team may be young, but it is truly talented and boasts athletes who have played their major roles at the Olympics,” Podrascanin added. “I am very happy to be back with the Lube fans. I ask them to have a little patience because the group is blending together and will level up over time, with experience. There is the potential to pursue important goals, even if teams like Perugia and Trento are further ahead on paper. In these weeks of training I have been impressed by the constant growth of the group. Can we be a surprise? I really think so!”

Potke applauded his new teammates as they hammered out a 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 18-25, 25-17) victory in a friendly match against Valsa Group Modena, played on Saturday, the day of the signing of his contract with the club. Lube will open the new SuperLega Credem Banca season on Saturday, September 28, with a home game against Sonepar Padua, starting at 20:30 local time (18:30 UTC).

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