Slovenian Federation awards best players and coaches of 2022

Earlier this month, Slovenian volleyball and beach volleyball fans and experts could cast their votes to award the best players of the year 2022. Saša Planinšec and Gregor Ropret were awarded for their Volleyball performances, whilst Tjaša Kotnik and Rok Bračko claimed the Beach Volleyball awards.

The voting for the best Volleyball players was held for the first time in 2016. In 2022, almost 2,000 votes came in through the official website of the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia (OZS). The votes cast by Slovenian volleyball fans, combined with votes of the members of the federation’s Expert Council and the Beach Volleyball Commission, brought the title of the best female Volleyball player of 2022 to Saša Planinšec, captain of the Slovenian women’s national team and member of the Turkish club AYDIN BBSK. This is the second such award for Planinšec who was voted best player in 2019 for the first time.

The best male Volleyball player of 2022 is Gregor Ropret, the Slovenian men’s national team setter, who is currently playing for Italy's Sir Safety PERUGIA - with whom he recently claimed the FIVB Club World Championship title. Ropret is only the third Slovenian player after Tine Urnaut and Klemen Čebulj to win the award.

Beach Volleyball player Tjaša Kotnik who impressed with her performances at this year’s EuroBeachVolley in Munich, Germany and in the Beach Pro Tour received the most votes for the third time in a row. The title of the best male Beach Volleyball player was for the second time awarded to Rok Bračko, who proved himself mainly on home soil in 2022 and represented Slovenia at the U22 European Championships in the Netherlands as well. 

The Expert Council of the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia (OZS) selected Matija Pleško and Gregor Rozman as the best coaches of the year. This is already the third award for Pleško and the fourth consecutive one for Rozman.