After last week’s unofficial indications, there have been changes at the helm of Novi Beograd’s coaching staff.
Novi Beograd has not issued an official public announcement regarding these changes (as of Wednesday afternoon).
However, reliable sources confirm that Petar Radanovic, who was appointed head coach this summer, left the club two days ago following the match against Primorac, and that Aleksandar Sapic has replaced him.
Sapic served as Radanovic’s assistant in Sunday’s game against Primorac.
From now on, Sapic will be the head coach, and his assistant in the following period will be Slavko Gak, who has been a team leader.
Aleksa Ukropina to replace Djuro Radovic
At the same time, there have been changes to the roster, and more are expected.
Shortly after the start of the season, three players who surprisingly left Crvena Zvezda (Dusan Vasic, Kristijan Sulc, Stefan Pjesivac) joined rhe club. They have already played for Novi Beograd in the Premier League and the Serbian Cup. However, they still have no right to participate in the European cups.
As for the still-not-confirmed arrivals, it has been rumored for a while that Montenegrin leftie Aleksa Ukropina would join Novi Beograd after his two-year suspension for an anti-doping rule violation expires. Ukropina will be allowed to play starting from February 15.
Regarding departures, today, Novi Beograd terminated the contract with Djuro Radovic, another Montenegrin left-handed player. Radovic, who arrived at Novi Beograd in 2024, left the club on mutual agreement.
There might be more reinforcements and departures.
Two additions possible for crucial European game(s)
Novi Beograd will play two or three games by the end of 2025, but its crucial Champions League match comes in February.
In just two days, Novi Beograd will play at the Final Four of the Serbian Cup in Futog and will try to defend the trophy. On Friday, it will face its biggest domestic rival, Radnicki in the semifinals. If it defeats Radnicki, which is in good shape (and will probably have Nikola Jaksic on the roster), it’s almost certain that Novi Beograd’s rival in the final will be Sabac, the Premier League leader, which will meet its development team, Sava, in the semis.
On Tuesday, Novi Beograd will host Jadran Split in the fifth round of the Champions League Group Stage. However, that match doesn’t carry great importance for Novi Beograd if other matches in this group not involving Novi Beograd end as expected (i.e., if neither of the two Jadrans defeats Pro Recco in the remaining two rounds).
A win over Jadran Split won’t help Novi Beograd to reach the Top 8 Round if it doesn’t beat Jadran Herceg Novi in an away match on February 10. At the same time, Novi Beograd’s chances of qualifying for the Quarter Final Round will remain the same if it suffers a narrow loss (since it beat Jadran by three goals in Split).
However, not all of the new players will be available for the crucial match against Jadran HN. Only two of them will be able to help Novi Beograd in the match in Trebinje and in the further European games this season (in the Champions League or the Euro Cup).
According to the European Aquatics’ rules, during January, each club participating in the European cups can add two players to the list submitted before the start of the season.
Anyway, a new team reshuffle has started.
