December the 28th, 2023 – Well-known volleyball expert Igor Arbutina is the new head coach of the Croatian women’s volleyball team. He comes to this position after 15 years of rich experience in the Middle East.
From 1992 to 2002, Arbutina worked as a coach for OK Karlovac, HAOK Mladost and OK Varaždin. From 1997 to 2002, he was the assistant coach of the Croatian national team, and in 2002 he became the head coach. From 2003 to 2007, he worked for MSC Moers and Rote Raben Vilsbiburg in Germany, and then became a club coach in Qatar, as well as head coach of the Qatar national team. He is most certainly remembered for the fact that he was the coach of the Croatian men’s national team at the World Cup in Argentina in 2002, which is still the first and only time that our men’s national team participated in the WC.
At the presentation at the Croatian Volleyball Association, the new head coach did not hide his enthusiasm for the new engagement, nor his motivation to face the new challenges that he intends to successfully overcome with the national team.
“I am grateful to HOS for this opportunity and honor. I am looking forward to returning to Croatia and working with the national team. After twenty years abroad, this is a great pleasure for me. I think that with our players we can achieve excellent results and integrate into the national team girls who have achieved excellent results through younger selections, so that we will have a long-term benefit for Croatian volleyball,” said coach Igor Arbutina.
“Next year, we will play in the Golden League as well as the qualifiers for the European Championship. I want us to set up a quality system together, from which we will gather the fruits in the coming seasons. I believe that in the next four years we can once again be present at all major competitions and compete with the top world teams. We have quality players who can succeed the legendary volleyball players, and I start work with optimism,” added Arbutina.
“With the arrival of Igor Arbutina, we have shown continuity in the selection of excellent coaches for leading positions. I think that Igor is the ideal solution now that we are going to rejuvenate the national team and create new goals, such as qualifying for the World Championship in 2025 and the European Championship in 2026 and returning to the top 20 national teams in the world,” said Frane Žanić. president of the Croatian Volleyball Association.
