Many first times as best players and coaches of 2023 are voted and awarded in Slovenia

Earlier this month, the top players as well as coaches of the year 2023 were selected in Slovenia. More than 2,000 fans cast their votes online, while members of the Expert Council of the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia (OZS) and the Beach Volleyball and Sitting Volleyball Commissions voted separately.

Maša Pucelj was selected as the female volleyball player of the year. In 2023, Pucelj proved herself in the Slovenian national team at the CEV EuroVolley and in the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Moreover, she won a gold medal with the youth national team at the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) in Maribor and claimed the national championship title with Calcit KAMNIK. She is currently proving her worth with good performances in the elite CEV Champions League. This is Pucelj’s first award for the best volleyball player of the year, a prize previously claimed by Tina Grudina, Iza Mlakar (twice), Eva Mori (twice), and Saša Planinšec (twice).

The award for the male volleyball player of the year has been presented three times to Tine Urnaut and Klemen Čebulj, and once to Gregor Ropret. For the first time, the award went to Rok Možič, who won bronze with the Slovenian national team at the 2023 CEV EuroVolley, qualified for the final tournament of the FIVB Volleyball Nations League, and, together with his teammates, helped Slovenia achieve a record seventh place in the FIVB world rankings. At the same time, Možič plays an important role in the Italian top-level team Rana VERONA, where he proudly wears the captain’s armband at only 21 years of age.

The Best Beach Volleyball Player award had been held three times so far, with Tjaša Kotnik being the only winner in the women’s category. This year, for the first time the award went to Maja Marolt, who played with the Slovenian national team in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers (CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup) and, together with her teammates, won the inaugural CEV Beach Volley European Cup in Türkiye as well as the MEVZA Senior Club Championships. In addition, Marolt, together with Živa Javornik, claimed a respectable ninth place at the U22 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championships in Timisoara, Romania, and the gold medal at both the MEVZA senior event and the national championship.

In previous years, Vid Jakopin and Rok Bračko were voted Slovenia’s best male beach volleyball players. This year, the combined votes cast by fans and members of the Beach Volleyball Commission have awarded the title of male beach volleyball player for 2023 to Nejc Zemljak. Zemljak, a standard Slovenian national player, who previously won medals at several Beach Pro Tour events and national championships, competed with the national team in the qualifiers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup) contested earlier this year, while his fans could mostly cheer for him in the highly entertaining Queen & King of the Court series.

In 2023, for the first time, awards were presented also to the best sitting volleyball players. Suzana Ocepek and Marko Pokleka were honoured with these coveted prizes. Ocepek started her year with a national team bronze in the Nations Golden League followed by a victory in the Golden Euroleague with Robust. Ocepek then won a silver medal at the European Championships and finished sixth at the Paravolley World Cup held in Egypt.

Marko Pokleka, highly respected for his tenacity and energy on the court, won a bronze medal with the Slovenian national team in the Silver Nations League in 2023 and competed at the European Championships in Division A. Pokleka also had a successful club season, finishing sixth in this year’s Euroleague with the team from Šempeter, and in addition to that, he won the national championship title at the end of the year.

The Expert Council of the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia (OZS) selected Bruno Najdič as the best women’s coach in 2023, while the award for the best men’s coach went to Radovan Gačič.