Bojana Popović

Bojana Popović, née Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Бојана Поповић) (born 20 November 1979)[1] is a retired Montenegrin handballer.[2] She is considered by many to be the best female handball player of the past decade, 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]

Bojana Popović
Personal information
Born	20 November 1979 Niš, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Montenegrin
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 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)
2009-2016	Montenegro	61	(315)
Teams managed
2020-	Budućnost (Head coach)
2020-	Montenegro (assistant coach)
Medal record Representing  Montenegro Olympic Games 2012 London Team Representing  FR Yugoslavia World Championships 2001 Italy

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

• Champions League

Winner 2004, 2005 and 2007 (Slagelse); 2009, 2010 (Viborg) and 2012 (ŽRK Budućnost T-Mobile)

• EHF Cup

Winner 2003 (Slagelse)

• Danish Championship

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)

• Montenegrin Championship

Winner 2011, 2012

• Montenegrin Cup

Winner 2011, 2012

National team

• World Championship 2001

Bronze medal (Yugoslavia)

• Summer Olympics 2012

Silver medal

Awards and recognition

During her handball career, Bojana Popović was 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:

• Player of the year in Denmark in 2004, 2005, 2007[10] and 2008[12]
• Topscorer of the Danish League 2003/04 and 2004/05[13]
• Topscorer of the Champions League in 2004, 2005 and 2007[14]
• "Cup Fighter" (Danish: Pokalfighter) 2008[15]
• Montenegrin Sportsperson of the Year: 2012

References

1. "Spillerprofiler, damer - Bojana Popovic" (in Danish). Viborg HK A/S. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
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 25 May 2012.
4. "Buducnost win the EHF Women's Champions League 2011/12". EHF. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
5. "Norway beat Montenegro to women's gold". BBC. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
6. "Popovic returns to play in Rio". EHF. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
7. "EHF Champions League 2008/09 - Bojana Popovic". European Handball Federation. Archived from the original on 18 February 2009. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
8. "Spisak "lavica" - od 1979. do 1997. godišta". Vijesti. 17 July 2016. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
9. Jončić, Saša (21 November 2007). "Popovic experiences Moraca's atmosphere again". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
10. Bruun, Peter (4 May 2007). "Popovic: Player of the Year". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
11. Jončić, Saša (24 March 2009). "Successful operation". European Handball Federation. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
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 15 March 2009.
14. "Golden Goodbye of Top Scorer". European Handball Federation. 22 May 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2009.
15. "Pokalfightere gennem tiden" (in Danish). Danish Handball Federation. 6 January 2009. Archived from the original on 28 March 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2009.

External links

• European Handball Federation – Bojana Popovic
• Viborg HK – Player profile (in Danish)