Total Player 2020 by Vladimir Gojkovic

November 25, 2020

Vladimir Gojković, Montenegro’s head coach, joins the Total Player Award Jury for the third time.

As a former player, Gojković is best known for winning the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics and the gold at the 2005 World Championships. Later, he got another gold medal, playing for Montenegro at the European Championships in 2008.

Before becoming the head coach of the Montenegrin National Team, he started his coaching career at Jadran Herceg Novi.

After he led Montenegro to a silver medal at the EURO 2016 in Belgrade, this year in Budapest he added a bronze medal to his collection after a big comeback in the 3rd place match against Croatia.

Coach Gojkovic’s picks for his Timeless Seven are:

As for goalkeepers, I had no dilemma. I played with Denis Sefik, and he is, in my opinion, the best goalkeeper of all time. I think that Milos Scepanovic is missing among the candidates.

GOALKEEPER - Denis Sefik (SRB)

CENTER BACK - Aleksandar Ivovic (MNE)

CENTER FORWARD - Dusko Pijetlovic (SRB)

LEFT WING - Aleksandar Sapic (SRB)

LEFT DRIVER - Tamas Kasas (HUN)

RIGHT DRIVER - Tibor Benedek (HUN) | Cpt.

RIGHT WING - Filip Filipovic (SRB)

Here is what coach Gojkovic had to say about his pick:

"It was hard not to pick Hinic, Smodlaka, Chomakidze, or Zlokovic as a center-forward. Still, my choice is Pijetlovic because he introduced new standards for the center-forward position, with his play in both directions.

It has been impossible to assess who the best center-back has been – Vujasinovic, Udovicic, or Ivovic. I picked Ivovic due to his play in attack. Of these three, it is the hardest to stop him. I would add Predrag Jokic to the candidates' list since he was maybe the best back in the first decade of the century.

Picking the players for the right side was an easier part of the voting.

Whoever I choose for the left side and write about them, I make a mistake. It's impossible to make the right selection, for sure. I voted in this way because I consider Sapic the best player I played with and against, while Kasas was incredible and won three Olympic golds."