Bojana Popović

Bojana Popović
Personal information
Born (1979-11-20) 20 November 1979
Niš, SR Serbia,
SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality Montenegrin
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Left back
Senior clubs
Years Team
1994–1998 RK DIN Niš
1998–2002 Budućnost
2002–2007 Slagelse DT
2007–2010 Viborg HK
2010–2012 Budućnost
National team
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Montenegro 56 (311)

Bojana Popović, née Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Бојана Поповић) (born 20 November 1979)[1] is a Montenegrin handballer.[2] She is considered by many to be the best female handball player of the past two decades, despite not being given any official recognition.[3] After winning the Women's EHF Champions League with Budućnost[4] and a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games with the Montenegro national team,[5] Bojana Popović decided to retire from handball. However, in June 2016 Popović announced she would come out of retirement and make herself available for selection by the Montenegro national handball team to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.[6][7][8]

Career

Bojana Popović started playing handball at Serbian club HC Naisa Niš when she was eleven years old.[1] She later played for Montenegrin club Budućnost Podgorica for four seasons.[9] In 2002, Popović signed a contract with Danish team Slagelse DT, at that time coached by Anja Andersen. With Slagelse, she experienced great success: three times Champions League winner, EHF Cup winner, three Danish Championship golds and one Danish Cup.

At the end of the 2006/07 season, Popović signed a contract with Viborg HK.[10] Since her arrival at Viborg, she has won two Danish Championship golds and two Danish Cups. In 2009 she won her fourth Champions League title, the first with Viborg.

Team results

Club
Winner 2004, 2005 and 2007 (Slagelse); 2009, 2010 (Viborg) and 2012 (ŽRK Budućnost T-Mobile)
Winner 2003 (Slagelse)
Gold 2003, 2005 and 2007 (Slagelse); 2008, 2009 and 2010 (Viborg)
  • Danish Cup
Winner 2003 (Slagelse); 2007 and 2008 (Viborg)
  • Serbian and Montenegrin Championship
Winner 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 (Buducnost Podgorica)
  • Serbian and Montenegrin Cup
Winner 2000, 2001 and 2002 (Buducnost Podgorica)
National team
  • World Championship 2001
Bronze medal (Yugoslavia)
  • Summer Olympics 2012
Silver medal

Awards and recognition

Bojana Popović is considered to be the best player in the world by many.[9][10][11] She has been chosen Player of the Year by the Danish Handball Federation four times. Popović's individual awards and achievements include:

References

  1. 1 2 "Spillerprofiler, damer - Bojana Popovic" (in Danish). Viborg HK A/S. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  2. "Wall of Fame - Bojana Popovic". Infostrada Sports. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
  3. "Bojana Popovic retires from club handball". EHF. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  4. "Buducnost win the EHF Women's Champions League 2011/12". EHF. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  5. "Norway beat Montenegro to women's gold". BBC. Retrieved 2012-05-25.
  6. "Popovic returns to play in Rio". EHF. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  7. "EHF Champions League 2008/09 - Bojana Popovic". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
  8. "Spisak "lavica" - od 1979. do 1997. godišta". Vijesti. 17 July 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-25.
  9. 1 2 Jončić, Saša (21 November 2007). "Popovic experiences Moraca's atmosphere again". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  10. 1 2 3 Bruun, Peter (4 May 2007). "Popovic: Player of the Year". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  11. Jončić, Saša (24 March 2009). "Successful operation". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
  12. "Bojana årets kvindelige håndboldspiller". Viborg HK (in Danish). 10 January 2009. Archived from the original on 1 January 2009. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
  13. "Topscorere siden 1965 - Damer" (in Danish). Danish Handball Federation. 9 July 2008. Archived from the original on 21 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  14. "Golden Goodbye of Top Scorer". European Handball Federation. 22 May 2007. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
  15. "Pokalfightere gennem tiden" (in Danish). Danish Handball Federation. 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
Awards
Preceded by
Srđan Mrvaljević
Montenegrin Sportsperson of the Year
2012
(with Katarina Bulatović)
Succeeded by
Nikola Janović
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Srđan Mrvaljević
Flagbearer for  Montenegro
Rio de Janeiro 2016
Succeeded by
Incumbent
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.