Serbia Names 16 Players for European Championship Preparations

Serbia's men's senior national team began preparations in Belgrade on Thursday for the 2026 European Championship, which will be held across Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, and Finland. Head coach George Krecu called up 16 players for the training camp.

The squad includes setters Nikola Jovović, Vuk Todorović, and Aleksa Batak; opposites Dražen Luburić and Veljko Mašulović; liberos Vukašin Ristić and Stefan Negić; middle blockers Aleksandar Nedeljković, Nemanja Mašulović, Aleksandar Stefanović, and Stefan Kokeza; and outside hitters Marko Ivović, Miran Kujundžić, Pavle Perić, Vuk Kulpinac, and Lazar Marinović. The coaching staff includes assistant coaches Đorđe Pejić, Kasper Jakub Nalepka, and Michał Mateusz Mienkus, along with statisticians, conditioning coach Matías Rebeles Chiocci, physiotherapists Ivan Ružić and Danijel Petrović, and team manager Edin Škorić.

According to the current plan, Serbia will train in Belgrade before playing friendly matches against Slovenia on August 19-20. They will then travel to Sofia for two more friendlies against Bulgaria on September 1-2, before returning to Belgrade to continue training ahead of departing for Tampere, Finland.

Serbia will compete in Group C of the European Championship alongside Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark. Their group matches begin September 11 against Estonia, followed by Finland (September 13), the Netherlands (September 14), Denmark (September 16), and Belgium (September 17). The top four teams from each group advance to the round of 16. The tournament runs from September 9-26, with the champion earning a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.