Serbia’s Vukovic extends contract until 2016 

The President of the Serbian Handball Federation (RSS) Velimir Marjanovic announced that the Serbian national team coach Veselin Vukovic has extended his present contract with the national team.

Vukovic will remain in charge until the end of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

In January of this year, Vukovic steered Serbia to their first ever handball medal since the nations independence, finishing runners-up in the EHF EURO 2012 in Serbia.

“The most important thing is that the RSS and I are on the same page regarding the future endeavors of the federation. The performance in the EHF EURO 2012 will be hard to emulate or surpass. We are aware that the fans have developed an appetite for success, however, they should also take into consideration that we are a small country and our domestic league does not guarantee a constant production of players good enough to replace the current generation,” added Vukovic.

At 53, Vukovic already has a number of medals as a player including a gold medal with the former republic of Yugoslavia in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. His success in the EHF EURO 2012 resulted in automatic qualification for the summer games in London, at the expense of Poland and Algeria who were squeezed out. Vukovic hinted that many of the national team’s core players may retire after the London Olympics to make way for younger players.

“It is a real possibility because a bulk of them may feel they have had their day at international level, what we have to do is to make sure that the transition is as smooth as possible. We need to create a system where young upcoming prospects blend in seamlessly so that they can reproduce their talent and accomplishments at senior level,” he added.

As the European Championship runners-up, Serbia have also gained automatic qualification for next year’s IHF World Championship in Spain.