Slavko Goluža (born 17 September 1971) is a retired Croatian handball player and current coach of RK Zagreb.

Club career

Goluža was born in the village of Pješivac-Kula near Stolac. He began his career with RK Mehanika Metković. At the age of 18, he moved to RK Zagreb-Chromos, with which he won two consecutive European Cups in 1992 and

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. He won the

EHF Cup The EHF European League is an annual men's handball club competition organised by the European Handball Federation (EHF) since 1981. It is the second-tier competition of European club handball, ranking only below the EHF Champions League. Previ ...

with RK Metković Jambo in 2000 and the year later the club reached the final again. Goluža also played in Germany for TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke, in France for Paris Saint-Germain and in Hungary for Fotex Veszprém.

International career

He was a member of the Croatian national team that won Olympic gold medals twice: at the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics. For over a decade he participated in all medals that Croatia had won at the World Championships (gold in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, silver in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

and 2005), and at the European Championship (bronze in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

Coaching career

Goluža worked as an assistant coach with the Croatian national team between 2006 and 2010 under the coaching staff of the head coach Lino Červar. He also worked as head coach for RK Siscia once and for RK CO Zagreb in two terms. In September 2010, Goluža succeeded Červar as the head coach of the Croatian national team, guiding Croatia to the bronze medals at the 2012 European Championship, 2012 Summer Olympics and at the 2013 World Championship. In February 2015, following Croatia's surprisingly unsuccessful

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Qatar, he left the bench and was replaced by his assistant Željko Babić. In April 2017, Goluža became the head coach for HT Tatran Prešov.

Personal life

Goluža is a supporter of the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and m ...

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). He was married Iva Goluža, with whom he has a son Ivan. The couple got divorced after 11 years of marriage, in 2013.

Honours

Player

;RK Zagreb * Croatian First League (9): 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2004–05, 2005–06 * Croatian Cup (9): 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2006 * Yugoslav First League (1): 1990–91 * EHF Champions League (2): 1991–92, 1992–93 *European Supercup (1): 1993 ;RK Metković Jambo * Croatian Cup (2): 2001, 2002 *

(1): 2000 ;Fotex Veszprém * Hungarian Premier League (1): 2003–04 * Magyar Kupa (1): 2004

Head coach

;RK Zagreb * Croatian First League (2): 2012–13, 2016–17 * Croatian Cup (2): 2013, 2017 ;Croatia *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

third place:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

third place:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

* European Championship third place:

* Mediterranean Games runner-up:

Individual

* Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport: 1996, 2004, 2009 *Best Croatian handballer by '' Sportske novosti'' & HRS: 2001 * Trophy MOO for sports and promoting optimism: 2007 *Best Croatian handball coach by '' Sportske novosti'' & CHF: 2012, 2013, 2014

Orders

Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar – 1995 * Ribbon of the Order of Duke Trpimir

Order of Duke Trpimir with Neck Badge and Morning Star – 1996

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goluza, Slavko 1971 births Living people People from Stolac Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian male handball players Olympic handball players of Croatia Olympic gold medalists for Croatia Handball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Handball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in handball Croatian handball coaches Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Croatia RK Zagreb players RK Zagreb coaches Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Croatia Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in handball