Change of guard on Slovakia bench as Kravarik named head coach

Lausanne, Switzerland, May 30, 2017 - Andrej Kravarik will lead Slovakia in the 2017 FIVB World League as coach of the men's National Team, replacing Miroslav Palgut at the helm, the Slovak Volleyball Federation announced today.

"It was not a simple decision," said Slovak Volleyball Federation president Lubor Halanda. "We considered all the positive and negative sides and we concluded that for the next team preparation change is key and the team needs a new impulse. The reason for the change was the unconvincing performance of our team in the world championship qualification tournament in The Netherlands."

The promotion of Kravarik from assistant to head coach comes a day after Slovakia returned from their 2018 FIVB Men's World Championship European qualifiers, where they finished second to The Netherlands in Apeldoorn and secured a spot in Round 3 to give it another shot.

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It also comes as Slovakia get ready to host Japan, Australia and Portugal in Poprad, as Group 2 of the 2018 FIVB World League gets underway this coming weekend.

Kravarik, 46, starred as a player for VKP Bratislava before moving to Greece and amongst playing for several other clubs led Iraklis Thessaloniki to five national championship titles. With Iraklis he was a finalist in the European Champions League three times.

Kravarik also played for a season for Italy's Montichiari in the A1 League.

He was on the Czechoslovakia National Team that played at the 1993 European Championship and also competed for Slovakia in the 1997 and 2001 editions of the continentla event. After switching nationality, he represented Greece in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and 2006 World Championship in Japan, as well as the 2005 and 2007 European Championships.


Andrej Kravarik celebrating for Greece at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Kravarik was assistant coach on the bench of the Slovak National Team to Stefan Chrtiansky, Alberto Giuliani and lately to Palgut. At club level he has coached Aris Thessaloniki and more recently Nestor Thessaloniki in Greece's A2 division.