Vladimir Marković: Rejuvenating the national team of Germany and Spandau to reach higher goals

Germany used to be one of the European water polo powers a In the 1980s, she was the champion of Europe twice e At the 1984 Olympic Games, she won a bronze medal, two years earlier she was third at the World Championships.

However, all that is now a long time ago. In the 21st century, the Germans won only one medal - bronze in the 2005 World League in Belgrade. They have not participated in the Olympic Games since 2008.

The "motor" of German water polo in its glory days was Spandau from Berlin, a four-time European champion.

A large number of our trainers worked and still work in Germany. At the moment, representatives of the Serbian school are leading the way in both the national team and Spandau, when it comes to the profession, and they will try to return the national team and the club to the paths of old glory.

At the end of 2022, Miloš Sekulić was appointed as the head coach, and a few months later Vladimir Marković joined him as an assistant in the coaching staff, who was later elected as Spandau's first coach.

Vladimir Marković spoke for the UVTS website about the current situation in German water polo, plans and goals.

The former player of Partizan, Crvena zvezda, Bečej, several Italian clubs, started working as a coach even before he "hung up his cap".

"In the Italian Civitavecchia, as an active player, I started working with the younger categories in 2002. I coached 11-year-olds, and the most successful player from that generation is Marco Del Lungo, the current goalkeeper of the Italian national team and Pro Reka," recalls Vladimir Marković.

A few years later, he led the women's team of Peru. Then he returned to Serbia. He worked in the younger categories of Partizan and coached the junior team, Košutnjak, which participated in senior competitions. At the same time, he helped Dragana Ivković in her work with the women's national teams of Serbia. After the Olympic Games in Tokyo, he was Dejan Savić's assistant in the coaching staff of the men's national team. He led Stari Grad in the 2022/23 season, in which the club qualified for the Super League of Serbia.

With Spandau to the first European semi-final after more than two decades

"At the beginning of last year, an invitation came from Germany to join the professional staff of the national team, as an assistant to Miloš Sekulić and to work with the players who are on the wider list of the national team. In November I accepted the offer to take over Spandau,

The last season in the Berlin club was quite successful, and it was close to being even more successful. Spandau won the German Cup, lost to Hannover in the final of the national championship playoff after five games, and for the first time in a long time achieved a notable result on the European stage, reaching the Final Four of the Euro Cup. For the first time in 21 years, Spandau reached the semi-finals of the European Cup," said Marković, whose club eliminated Italy's vice-champion, Savona, in the quarter-finals.

This summer, Spandau has strengthened significantly. A large number of players came, mostly from the countries of the former Yugoslavia, among them the Serbian water polo talent Nikola Kojić.

“Eight new, mostly very young players have arrived. The goal is to create a stable team that will last and play together for a long time. There won't be many changes in the coming seasons."

The club's long-term goals are for Spandau, a four-time European champion, to return to where it once was. Let's go step by step. The result in the European Cup is an added incentive, we want to continue on the same path. The club has excellent working conditions, although finances, like almost everywhere in water polo, are the biggest obstacle. We will try to include more German players, potential national team members, in the first team in the coming period.

Last week, Špandau played at the "Vlaho Bata Orlić" Memorial Tournament and left a good impression by winning third place. From Thursday to Sunday in Oradea, they will participate in the Champions League qualifying tournament, together with Brescia, host Oradea, Greek PAOK and Turkish Enko.

“At the beginning of the team creation process. It also takes time for the new players to get to know each other, for me to get to know them, for them to get used to me and my work system, but I think we are on the right track. At the tournament in Belgrade, we played the first official matches with the new team, and next weekend we will play the qualifiers in Oradea.

Season start in Oradea, goals unchanged

Assessing Spandau's chances at the qualifying tournament for the Champions League, which will be held in Oradea from September 12 to 15, Marković says:

“It will be a very difficult tournament. It is clear that Brescia is the favorite. It was left without several important players. Đorđe Lazića moved to Jadran from Herceg Novi, goalkeeper Petar Tešanović to Marseille, and Vicenco Rencuto to Sabadelj. As far as I know, they didn't bring sound reinforcements, but they have a very strong base of young players. Among them is the 22-year-old center Tommaso Giannaca, who played for Italy at the Olympic Games. Oradea is also a very good team, PAOK is tricky. We will fight, we will try to reach first place, but even if we fail, we will have a chance in the Euro Cup.

The goals for this season are to, as always, fight for all three trophies in Germany, the championship, the Cup and the Super Cup, and to go as far as possible on the European stage.

A rejuvenated national team looks to Los Angeles

Spandau rejuvenated the team, and the situation is similar with the German national team.

“After the European Championship in Croatia, where Germany won 12th place, according to the plan of Miloš Sekulić, the national team was significantly rejuvenated. A good move was made. There are many promising young players among the candidates for the national team. We started the new Olympic cycle with a new team and with ambitions to qualify for the Games in Los Angeles 2028, as well as to, for a start, establish ourselves among the eight best selections in Europe.

The latest results show that Germany has players it can count on. Last week, the Germans took fifth place at the European Under-19 Championship in Burgas. The selection, which is also led by the Serbian coach, Nebojša Novoselac, achieved the best result for German junior water polo since 1995 and fifth place at the World Championship.

“The result in Burgas is encouraging for the future of German water polo. The junior selection was not even far from the semi-finals, only losing to Hungary by a goal difference. A large number of water polo players from that team are competing for the senior national team. After all, one of them, Finn Daubert, was in the senior team at the European Championship".

At first glance, German water polo boils down to two clubs Spandau and Waspo Hannover, which have been playing in the final almost regularly for years. Is that a sufficient basis for the formation of a national team?

“I wouldn't agree that everything comes down to just two clubs. Hannover and Spandau bounce back, they are at a slightly higher level. But Duisburg is not bad either, this season it has strengthened even more. Ludwigsburg from Stuttgart is also working more and more seriously, and there is also Potsdam, which has a large number of junior national team members. Potsdam has a boarding school for water polo players. The system in that club is such that the players who come to that club can fit in their obligations at school and train twice a day. There are ten clubs in the First League, as well as in Serbia. It is not the level of the best European leagues, but it is getting better and the base of potential national team players is expanding.

How popular is water polo among young people, is the base in younger categories developed?

"I cannot say that there are no children who practice water polo. However, this is not a sufficient number. In Germany, as in many Western countries, when young people graduate from university, their future is practically decided. They are aware that they will live better and earn more if they dedicate themselves to the profession for which they were educated, rather than water polo, so many of them leave water polo prematurely.

Congratulations to the Serbian national team, the calendar is a big problem of modern water polo

This summer, all the eyes of the sports world were on Paris and the Olympic Games, and Serbia had something to look forward to. For the third time in a row, the water polo national team became the Olympic champion.

"All credit to the Serbian national team, it achieved a huge success. I secretly hoped we could get a medal, but I didn't expect gold.

When asked whether the level of water polo at the Olympic Games shows that this sport is going in the right direction, Marković answers:

“I wouldn't talk so much about the level, but about the preparation of the players. A huge problem is the large number of competitions and matches, especially during this year, when the club season was interrupted due to the European and World Championships. It is very difficult for the selectors to time the form and bring the teams to the level they should be at. There is little time for preparations, which the national team members come to after hard club seasons. This is why there are more and more injuries. Watching the games at the Olympic Games, I got the impression that many players were overworked and therefore did not give their best.

The competition calendar, with a large number of matches, is the biggest problem of today's water polo. Unfortunately, as Dejan Savić said recently at the forum in Korčula, no one asks coaches or players when calendars and competition programs are made. They are not asking for our opinion on whether the players can withstand all that, what is the risk of injuries, concluded Marković.