Dejan Udovičić ( sr-cyrl, Дејан Удовичић; born 26 July 1970) is a Serbian professional

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

head coach who currently coaches the U.S. men's national water polo team. He was named head coach for

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

in June 2006, after the dissolution of the state union of

Serbia and Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

. As a senior, he played for

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, lin ...

and VK Beograd, while his coaching career started with Partizan where he stayed for nine seasons (2000-2009). His most notable achievement with the club was third place at the 2007

Euroleague Final Four The EuroLeague Final Four is the final four format championship of the European-wide top-tier level EuroLeague professional club basketball competition. The Euroleague Basketball Company used the final four format for the first time in 2002, fo ...

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. As its head coach of the Serbia national team, they won gold medals at the

2009 World Aquatics Championships The 2009 World Aquatics Championships () or the XIII FINA World Championships were held in Rome, Italy from 18 July to 2 August 2009. This was the second time the championships were held in the city after being previously hosted in 1994 World Aq ...

and the

2006 Men's European Water Polo Championship The 2006 Men's European Water Polo Championship' was the 27th exhibition of the event organised by the Europe's governing body in aquatics, the Ligue Européenne de Natation. The event took place in the Tašmajdan Sports Centre in Belgrade, Ser ...

, as well as the

2012 Men's European Water Polo Championship The 2012 Men's European Water Polo Championship took place at the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swim Stadium in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, from 16 to 29 January 2012. Road to the 2012 Olympics The championships was part of the qualification proce ...

. He has also steered the national team to a bronze medal at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Early life

Dejan and his twin brother Darko began playing water polo in primary school, after a friend of their father's recommended that they tried it out. Both were attracted to other sports as well, but in the end decided to stick with water polo. At that time, Partizan had top level coaches who had emerged from the famous Yugoslav water polo school headed by Bata Vlaho Orlić (1934-2010). One of the top experts was

Nikola Stamenić Nikola Stamenić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Стаменић; born 17 April 1949), also known as "the General", is a Serbian water polo coach widely considered one of the greatest coaches in water polo history. Under his guidance, Yugoslavia men's ...

, who saw, early on, Dejan's potential as a player and even as a future coach. Dejan went on to play for Partizan with great success and became a member of the national team which he then captained for almost 15 years. On the other hand, Darko became the record holder for most games played in of the most successful national water polo teams of all time. While Darko ended his career as a player, Dejan decided to try himself as a coach.

Club career as a coach

VK Partizan (2000–2009)

Udovičić left the club on April 23, 2009, after his team's defeat against

Jug A jug is a type of container commonly used to hold and serve liquids, but not normally to drink from directly. It has an opening, sometimes narrow, from which to pour or drink, and has a handle, and usually a pouring lip. Jugs throughout histor ...

in the

Euroleague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

quarterfinals, which meant the Serbian champions failed to qualify for the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

Career as a Serbia national team coach

2012 Olympic Games in London

At the first training session before the 2012 European Championship, Udovičić showed his players an image of the golden medals which were to be awarded to the winners of the Olympic tournament in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He told his players, ''When you start feeling like training is taking a toll on you, these images should remind you to keep working as hard as you can!"

Honours

As a Coach

VK Partizan * National Championship of Serbia (4): 2001–02, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 * National Cup of Serbia (4): 2001–02, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09

Individual

* OCS Coach of the Year Award (1): 2009

Public Engagements

In 2011, Udovičić - with his fellow countrymen

Vlade Divac Vlade Divac ( sr-Cyrl, Владе Дивац, ; born February 3, 1968) is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the vice president of basketball operations and general manager of the Sacramento King ...

and Slobodan Soro - appeared in a TV commercial for a ''Quit smoking'' campaign.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Udovicic, Dejan 1970 births Living people Water polo players from Belgrade Serbian male water polo players Serbian water polo coaches Serbia men's national water polo team coaches Water polo coaches at the 2008 Summer Olympics Water polo coaches at the 2012 Summer Olympics United States men's national water polo team coaches Water polo coaches at the 2016 Summer Olympics Water polo coaches at the 2020 Summer Olympics Serbian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate water polo coaches Water polo coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics