VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS from Serbia

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Serbian Volleyball Players of all time. This list of famous Serbian Volleyball Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Serbian Volleyball Players.

1. Slobodan Kovač (1967 - )

With an HPI of 42.73, Slobodan Kovač is the most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Slobodan Kovač (Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Ковач; born 13 September 1967) is a Serbian professional volleyball coach and former player, Olympic Champion at Sydney 2000, bronze medallist at the Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996 and winner of 2019 European championship. Since the 2023–24 season, he serves as head coach for Halkbank Ankara.

2. Vladimir Grbić (1970 - )

With an HPI of 41.86, Vladimir Grbić is the 2nd most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Vladimir "Vanja" Grbić (Serbian Cyrillic: Владимир Вања Грбић; born 14 December 1970) is a Serbian former volleyball player and three-time Olympian. He is 193 cm and played as passer-side attacker. He was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2011.

3. Nikola Grbić (1973 - )

With an HPI of 40.92, Nikola Grbić is the 3rd most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Nikola Grbić (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Грбић; born 6 September 1973) is a Serbian professional volleyball coach and former player who is currently serving as head coach for the Poland national team. Grbić is a gold medalist of the 2000 Summer Olympics, a bronze medalist of the 1996 Summer Olympics, and a multiple World Championship, European Championship, and World League medalist. He was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2016.

4. Maja Ognjenović (1984 - )

With an HPI of 39.81, Maja Ognjenović is the 4th most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Maja Ognjenović (Serbian Cyrillic: Маја Огњеновић; born 6 August 1984) is a Serbian professional volleyball player of the Serbia women's national volleyball team. Ognjenović won gold with the national team at the 2018 World Championship, and the 2011/2019 edition of the European Championship, silver at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. Ognjenović has won a total of 17 podiums from major world-level or continental-level competitions (Olympic Games, World Championship and European Championship) with the women’s national team, six gold, five silver and six bronze medals. She also has a successful club career, having played in some of the world's most competitive leagues such as Italy, Turkey, Russia, Poland and more. In 2020, Ognjenović was included in the list of #roster100 by FIVB as one of the 100 most influential volleyball players between 2010 and 2020.“I’m happy to have had the opportunity to play in Serbian volleyball and in world volleyball during the last decade and I hope to have the opportunity to play a little more during the new decade. Because I have plans. I feel really good on the court and I have more to give to volleyball.” On 1 September 2021, Ognjenović marked an important milestone of her career as she became the first Serbian woman to join the Serbian 300+ caps club after having played 300 matches with the national team. The Serbian setter and captain was honored by receiving a framed version of her jersey with the number 300.“It is a big motivation for me to have played 300 matches with the national team for the past 16 or 17 years. Actually, I didn’t know that today is the day of my 300th match. It is a big privilege to be a member of the Serbian 300+ club and I think I am the first woman to have reached this mark. It was very emotional when I received the shirt with the number 300, but most of all I am happy about tonight’s victory.”

5. Ivan Miljković (1979 - )

With an HPI of 37.48, Ivan Miljković is the 5th most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Ivan Miljković (Serbian Cyrillic: Иван Миљковић [ǐʋan mǐːʎkoʋitɕ]; born 13 September 1979) is a former Serbian volleyball player, a member of Serbia men's national volleyball team in 1998–2012, Olympic Champion 2000, European Champion (2001, 2011), medalist of World Championship, World Grand Champions Cup, World Cup and World League. After his active playing career Ivan reminded engaged in sport in different positions (governance, marketing, campaigns, management). After sport career resumed with education in economy and finance in order to get more insights about PE, VC and RE investments and M&A transactions. Ivan has a strong interest in technologies such as blockchain, smart contracts, NFTs and Metaverse.

6. Jovana Brakočević (1988 - )

With an HPI of 36.41, Jovana Brakočević is the 6th most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Jovana Brakočević Canzian (Serbian Cyrillic: Јована Бракочевић Канцијан; born 5 March 1988) is a Serbian volleyball player, who was a member of the Serbia women's national volleyball team that won the silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics, and also the silver medal at the 2007 European Championship in Belgium and Luxembourg. There she was named Best server of the tournament. She was also a member of the Serbia women's national volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 2011 European Championship in Serbia and Italy. There she was voted MVP of the tournament.

7. Aleksandar Atanasijević (1991 - )

With an HPI of 34.16, Aleksandar Atanasijević is the 7th most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Aleksandar Atanasijević (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Атанасијевић; born 4 September 1991) is a Serbian professional volleyball player who plays as an opposite spiker for Shanghai Bright and the Serbia national team. Atanasijević took part in the Olympic Games London 2012, and was a two–time European Champion (2011, 2019) with Serbia.

8. Marko Podraščanin (1987 - )

With an HPI of 33.87, Marko Podraščanin is the 8th most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Marko Podraščanin (Serbian: Марко Подрашчанин, born 29 August 1987) is a Serbian professional volleyball player, member of the Serbia men's national volleyball team and Italian club Itas Trentino, participant of the Olympic Games (Beijing 2008 and London 2012), bronze medallist at the 2010 World Championship, 2011 European Champion, 2019 European Champion, gold medallist at the 2016 World League.

9. Jelena Nikolić (1982 - )

With an HPI of 32.99, Jelena Nikolić is the 9th most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Jelena Nikolić-Nenadiċ (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Николић; born 13 April 1982) is a retired Serbian professional volleyball player, playing as a wing-spiker. She was a member of the Women's National Team that won silver medal at the 2016 Olympics and gold medal at the 2011 European Championship in Serbia.

10. Bianka Buša (1994 - )

With an HPI of 32.91, Bianka Buša is the 10th most famous Serbian Volleyball Player.  Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Bianka Buša (Serbian Cyrillic: Бианка Буша; born 25 July 1994) is a Serbian volleyball player, playing as wing spiker. She had played for ŽOK Vizura Belgrade before continuing an international career in Italy in 2015, with a brief stint in Romanian CSM Târgoviște. From 2017 to 2019 she joined Polish club KPS Chemik Police. She joined Alba Blaj in the start of season 2019–2020. With the Serbia women's national volleyball team, she competed at the 2015 Women's European Volleyball Championship, winning bronze, 2017 Women's European Volleyball Championship, winning gold, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, winning silver, 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship, winning gold., 2019 Women's European Volleyball Championship, winning gold and 2022 FIVB Volleyball Women's World Championship, winning gold.