Members of Government
Zoran Gajic
Minister of Sport
Born in 1958 in Pancevo. He is a master of volleyball.
From 1988 to 1993, he was an assistant for volleyball at the Faculty of Physical Culture in Novi Sad, from 2000 to 2002, a professor of volleyball at the Faculty of Coaching in Belgrade, and in 2015, a lecturer in the subject of Volleyball at the Faculty of Coaching in Novi Sad.
In the period from 1980 to 1988, he was the head coach of the camp of the province of Vojvodina and coach of the junior national team of the province of Vojvodina. From 1980 to 1983, he organised and led groups of beginner volleyball players aged 9 to 11. From 1987 to 1992, he was the coach of the men's junior national team of Yugoslavia.
As part of his work on training coaches, he gave lectures at seminars in Yugoslavia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Iran and Hungary, on topics ranging from initial volleyball technique training to working with top teams.
As the first coach of the men's senior national team of Yugoslavia, he won 9 medals – two gold, two silver and five bronze: gold medals at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney (Australia) and the 2001 European Championship in Ostrava (Czech Republic), silver medals at the World championship in 1998 in Tokyo (Japan) and the European Championship in 1997 in Eindhoven (Netherlands), bronze medals at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA), the 2001 World Cup in Tokyo (Japan), the 2002 World League in Belo Horizonte (Brazil), European Championship in 1995 in Athens (Greece) and 1999 in Vienna (Austria).
In addition to the national team of Yugoslavia, whose first coach he was from 1995 to 2002, he was the first coach of the senior team of Russia in the period from 2005 to 2006 and the first coach of the senior team of Iran from 2007 to 2008.
With the Russian national team, he won a gold medal in the European League in 2005 in Kazan (Russia), a silver medal in the European Championship in 2005 in Rome (Italy) and a bronze medal in the World League in 2006 in Moscow (Russia).
In his club career, he won eight titles of the champions of Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Russia and Azerbaijan, and three titles of the winners of the Cup of Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey.
From 1989 to 1993, he was the first coach of Vojvodina from Novi Sad, with which he won the "double crown" in 1992: the Championship and the Cup of Yugoslavia, and in 1993 the second title of the champion of Yugoslavia. From 1993 to 1995, he was the first coach of the Greek club Aris from Thessaloniki. Two years in a row, in 1994 and 1995, he was the vice-champion of Greece, and in 1995 he was a participant in the Final Tournament of the CEV Cup Winners' Cup.
In the period from 1995 to 1997, he was the coach of Orestiadas, with whom he played in the final tournament of the CEV Cup in 1996, and in 1997 he was the runner-up in the championship and the Greek Cup. From 1998 to 2000, he was the coach of Olympiakos from Piraeus, with whom he won the championship and the Greek Cup in 1999, and in 2000 another Greek championship title.
He was the coach of Orestiadas, with which he took fourth place in the Greek championship, from 2000 to 2001. From 2002 to 2004, he was the coach of the Turkish Arcelik from Istanbul, with whom he won the championship of Turkey and the title of winner of the Turkish Cup in 2003. In the 2004–2005 season. he won the championship of Russia with Belogorje from Belgorod (until January 30, 2005, when he was appointed as the coach of Russia).
From 2007 to 2009, he was the coach of the Russian Iskra from Odintsovo, with whom he was the vice-champion of Russia in 2007 and 2008, the vice-champion in the Russian Cup in 2008 and the winner of the third place in the Final tournament of the Champions League in 2009 in Prague.
He was the coach of the Russian Ural from Ufa from 2009 to 2011, and in 2011 and 2012, and then from 2014, he was the coach of the Azerbaijani Rabita from Baku, with whom he achieved the greatest success in the club's history in 2011, when he became the club world champion at the World Championship in Doha (Qatar). With Rabita, he won two championships of Azerbaijan, in 2012 and 2015.
He was re-elected as president of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia in 2020 by the decision of 44 out of 50 delegates at the regular, electoral Assembly of the Volleyball Association of Serbia.
