Maja Ognjenovic is back! The prominent playmaker is part of the extended roster of 30 players Serbia’s new head coach Giovanni Guidetti called up for the upcoming 2023 season in the Volleyball Nations League. The names of as many as 13 of the 14 athletes, who defended Serbia’s title at the 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship appear on the list, officially announced by the national federation.
38-year-old Ognjenovic is one of the best setters of all time, a true legend of Serbian volleyball and a key member of the country’s golden generation, contributing to most of their national team’s major achievements this century.
She played when Serbia won the first major international medal in their history, the 2006 World Championship bronze. She played when Serbia won their first Olympic medal, the Rio 2016 silver. She played when Serbia conquered the World Championship title in 2018. She played when Serbia won their second Olympic medal, the Tokyo 2020 bronze. These are just four of a total of 16 medals Ognjenovic collected from major world-level or continental-level competitions with the national team. She was named the Best Setter of the European Championships as many as four times, in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. Besides her glorious club career, the distinguished playmaker’s number of national team caps has already reached 302 and counting…
Ognjenovic skipped the entire 2022 national team season and did not take part in winning her country’s second world title. However, she will be back in 2023, saying that Olympic gold at Paris 2024 is her greatest motivation.
