Second Hungary job for Ljubomir Vranjes

Hungary has become the epicentre of breaking handball news this week.

On Wednesday it was announced that current SG Flensburg-Handewitt coach Ljubomir Vranjes would take over domestic champions Telekom Veszprém from next season on.

On Thursday the news broke that Vranjes also takes over the men’s national team, starting on 1 July.

The federation announced that the 43-year-old Swede signed a contract until 31 August 2020 which includes an eventual participation at the 2020 Olympic Games.

This means that Vranjes not only succeeds Xavier Sabate as Veszprém head coach, he also follows in the Spaniard’s footsteps in the national team.

Sabate’s national team contract came to an end on 31 January. At the World Championship 2017 in France he led the team to the quarter-finals and beat Olympic champions Denmark in the Last 16.

For Vranjes it will be the first time he coaches a national team on a permament basis - he did coach Serbia as interim coach for the two final matches of the EHF EURO 2014 Qualification.

As a player, he won EHF EURO gold with Sweden in 1998, 2000 and 2002. He also won the World Championships in 1999 and silver at the 2000 Olympics.

In 2010 he became the head of SG Flensburg-Handewitt which he led to victory in the VELUX EHF Champions League in 2014, the Cup Winners’ Cup in 2012 and the German cup in 2015.