02.04.2013, 04:14
Goluža to leave Zagreb´s bench at the end of the season

After one year on two chairs Goluža will leave the team of Croatian champions to focus solely on the national team.

Goluža to leave Zagreb´s bench at the end of the season

Slavko Goluža will not continue as a head coach of Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb after 1 June. Only a few weeks after Goluža's first assistant from Zagreb´s bench as well as from the national team Željko Babić left the club, Vice President of the Croatian handball federation Zoran Gobac announced that Goluža will leave too.

As he said for Croatian media, the reason is an overload that Goluža felt leading the club and the national team - both at the same time.

After SEHA League final weekend he will remain national team coach and will definitely have more time to concentrate on one thing which will be great relief for Goluža. He has been sitting on 'two chairs' from April 2012, when he took Zagreb over after Ivica Obrvan had been sacked just before the quarter-finals against THW Kiel.

As Gobac added, Goluža will coach also some other national team selections.

"I agreed about that with other people in the club. There is too much work to do in June and July as I also have to coach the junior national team on their World Champioship. It is really hard to coach national team and club in the same time," Goluža said.

"You just don't have enough time sometimes to prepare your team in the right way and you just can't achieve the best. On top of all that, CO Zagreb has young and talented team which need to be pointed in the right direction to keep growing and it is very hard if you don't have time to do it. I think this will be good for me and for the club," he added.

Boris Dvoršek, who is at the moment Goluža's first assistant, is set to replace him in the position of the head coach in a pair with a handball legend Zlatko Saračević.

Although Zagreb failed to qualify for Last 16 this season, Goluža stays optimistic.

"I believe that this was a great seson. All these youngsters were playing really well against some top teams. If we had a bit more luck (especially in Minsk or Schaffhausen) I think we'd be able to reach Last 16. But as I already said I am pleased with this season and I truly believe that this team has bright future. Speaking of remaining teams in the competition, I see Barcelona, Hamburg, Kielce and THW Kiel as the biggest favourites to reach the final weekend in Cologne," he predicted.

After 1 June Goluža will coach only national selections and of course the most important will be the senior team.

"We will continue playing as we were before, from the moment I became coach, and that is fast and effective handball. I believe that we'll show it in these two matches against Hungarians who are always very strong opponents. But hopefully full Zagreb Arena will be our 8th player," concluded Goluža.

TEXT: Bruno Pinević / br