Serbia’s players and coaching staff were welcomed home after securing a second consecutive FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship title on Saturday.
The team had a celebratory flight back home, with cake and champagne served, and met their families and friends at Belgrade airport. Later on Sunday, it was time to reunite with their fans at City Hall, with a huge crowd welcoming the world champions home.
Team captain, Tijana Bošković, team setter, Bojana Drča, and the head coach, Daniele Santarelli, addressed the public and the media representatives, in a ceremony that was broadcasted live on the channel 1 of Serbian National Broadcasting company (RTS).
After that, the team was directed to Belgrade city center, to the famous balcony of the Belgrade City Hall, where more than ten thousand people waited to see their champions.
The magnificent day was concluded with all players and staff members appearing in front of the fans, cheering and singing with them.
The celebration at Belgrade’s City Hall has become a tradition for the team after important results. It has been repeated quite a few times over the last six years with world titles in 2018 and 2022, two Olympic medals (silver in Rio 2016 and bronze in Tokyo 2020), two European titles (2017, 2019) and a bronze medal at the VNL (2022) in the period.
Boskovic ended the 19th edition of the World Championship ranked fourth in points scored with 216 (195 kills, 13 blocks, eight aces). Her importance for her team is highlighted by the fact that the next Serbian on the list, outside hitter Bianka Busa, had just 89 points scored across 12 matches.
“I just enjoy being on the court and I think that’s the most important thing,” she said after Serbia’s gold medal match victory against Brazil. “I just enjoy playing volleyball, that’s all.”
After edging reigning Olympic champions USA in the semis earlier this week, Serbia delivered a truly terrific performance to cruise to a 3-0 victory (26-24, 25-22, 25-17) over Brazil. This result somehow makes up for the disappointments Team Serbia had to endure in 2021 – when they had to be content with bronze at the postponed Tokyo Olympics and silver at EuroVolley on home soil. Unsurprisingly, Tijana Boskovic was the match winner for Serbia with a personal tally of 24 points – as three players, including superstar Gabriela Braga Guimaraes, shared top-scoring honours for Brazil on nine.