Frane Žanić takes over leadership of Croatian Volleyball Federation

Frane Žanić, until now Expert Secretary of the Croatian Volleyball Federation, takes over the reins of the organisation as its President following an Extraordinary General Assembly held almost one month after the premature death of former President Ante Baković. Žanić, a former member of the national team and coach, received the unanimous support from all the delegates in attendance.

“This situation has shaken the entire Croatian Volleyball community. Nobody expected it. Ante Baković as a person, leader, and boss will be very hardly replaced. He was not only important for Croatian Volleyball, but for Croatian sport in general as well as for the whole Croatian political scene. Ante was a great visionary, always ahead of everyone. What I want and what is my goal is to continue in his footsteps, on the path that he, General Director Valentina Bifflin and myself started several years ago as a harmonious team. All projects that we started together are to be realised and continued,” Žanić said.

During the past month, the team at the Croatian Volleyball Federation did quickly manage to reorganise itself, just as real team sports players, and have organised competitions as well as achieved important results. The U17 women’s national team have qualified for the final stage of their European Championship, the men’s U17 team has reached the second qualification round, and the Federation delivered with success the National Junior Championship too.

“We want to work on the continuity and stability of our national teams, because without the results of the national teams, the visibility for the sport does not exist. Our women’s junior team is currently ranked no. 4 in Europe, and the U17 women are the no. 7 team in Europe. Both senior teams have qualified for EuroVolley 2023, and the senior women’s team will participate in the VNL this year. Maintaining stability continues to be our priority, through a professional approach while working with the members of all our national teams,” Žanić continues.

This coming summer will again be very demanding for the Croatian Volleyball Federation, with the women’s national team debuting in the VNL, and the men’s and women’s teams competing at EuroVolley 2023. The men will contest the European Golden League and host their opponents in the Final Four in Zadar. Together with the National Federation of Hungary, Croatia is co-hosting the U19 Girls’ World Championship in Osijek, while the U17 team will join the best teams from across the continent at the CEV U17 Women European Championship – with the men’s U17 team hoping to achieve the same feat too.

“I would like to thank our Board of Administration and Supervisory Board for their unconditional support to this Presidential candidature, from the very first day. I know that for this entire period ahead I will have to carry one heavy burden, but I know that my position is not to compare to Ante’s, who made so many good decisions for Croatian Volleyball and to whom the entire Croatian sports community is indebted. Considering that for several years I have been, together with our Director Bifflin, one of the two main operatives in the Federation, I am very familiar with the entire scope ahead of us. In this short time, we will have to upgrade our in-house capacities, respecting our best former players for their positions within the Federation, such as Katarina Barun, Vesna Jelić, Iva Bule, and Željko Nojić,” concludes President Žanić, who will continue to hold the position of Sports Director in MEVZA, where Valentina Bifflin is the President.

All Board of Administration members will remain the same, as well as the members of all working groups and bodies, as this is also in one way, as points out Žanić, “showing respect to Ante Baković, who chose these people to compose his team.” Therefore, First Vice-President remains Mr Petar Sprčić, together with two Vice Presidents, Josip Škorić and Vlado Bagarić.