NOVA HANDBALL TEAM
Nina Kraljevski — Handball Coach
Nina Kraljevski is a dedicated sports medicine physiotherapist and licensed handball coach based in Belgrade, bringing a rare and valuable combination of playing pedigree, hands-on medical expertise, and sharp coaching insight to her work with athletes. A determined and accomplished competitor in her own right, she played handball professionally at senior level, closing out an impressive playing career by winning both the national championship and the national cup in Macedonia. In 2023 she earned her Handball Coaching License from the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education in Belgrade, and has since put that qualification to enthusiastic use through RK Junior’s children’s handball activities, where her warm, patient approach helps introduce young players to the sport and nurture their early development.
Since 2021, Nina has been a trusted and integral part of RK Partizan’s men’s first team — two-time Serbian national champions and three-time runners-up, competing in the demanding EHF European League and EHF Cup — where she designs and delivers meticulous, individualized injury-prevention and pre-match preparation protocols, leads clinical and on-field rehabilitation with skill and precision to return players swiftly to competitive form, and works in close, seamless coordination with the coaching staff to align physical preparation and recovery with a punishing schedule of domestic and European fixtures. That immersive, day-to-day experience inside a top-flight club’s coaching environment gives her a practical, finely tuned understanding of performance readiness and athlete development that goes well beyond treatment alone.
Earlier in her career, she built a solid foundation in sports rehabilitation as a physiotherapist and personal trainer at “TOP GYM” Fitness Center (2019–2021), where she confidently led both individual and group training sessions alongside her clinical work. She holds a Physiotherapy Diploma from the College of Sports and Health (2018–2024) and completed her secondary education as a Physiotherapy Technician at Medical High School “Beograd” – Deligradska, giving her coaching a solid grounding in the science behind athlete performance and recovery.Approachable and communicative, Nina builds close, trusted working relationships with players, coaches, and technical staff alike, and is deeply committed to continuous professional development and the highest standards of athlete care. She brings that same energy, dedication, and attention to detail to every athlete she coaches — helping players become technically sound, physically resilient, and fully prepared to compete at the highest level.
Igor Nikolić — Head Coach
Igor Nikolić is a Belgrade-born handball coach whose relationship with the sport began as a player in the youth ranks of H.C. Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) Belgrade, where he went on to spend nine seasons in the senior team before adding a further season with Partizan. As a player he won Yugoslav championship titles across the pioneer, cadet, junior, and senior categories, and was named Player of the Year in 1996. He graduated as a handball coach in 2008 with the highest possible grade, mentored by Prof. Dr. Branislav Pokrajac, and has continued building his expertise ever since — attending coaching seminars in Serbia every year from 2006 to 2016, a 2009 seminar led by France national team coach Claude Onesta, seminars in Croatia and Austria, the EHF Top Coach seminar in 2012, and an IHF Olympic Solidarity Course, and an Olympic certification. In 2019 he attended a symposium in Munich and gained an IHF licence, and in December of that year he earned both the EHF Master Coach qualification and the EHF PRO Coaching licence.
His trophy cabinet reflects a career built on developing champions at every level. With Crvena Zvezda’s youth teams he won Serbian cadet and junior championships in 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2007, and claimed the Dortmund Cup in Germany — an unofficial world championship for younger categories, contested by 32 of Europe’s best teams — in both 2004 and 2005. The following decade brought a further string of titles and podium finishes with generations born in 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001, including the 2014 Festa Major international tournament in Barcelona, a fifth-place finish among 86 teams at an unofficial European championship in Prague (2015), and a top-four finish among 90 teams from 17 countries at a similar event in 2018. In 2013 his youth programme was honoured with the Best Handball School award in Serbia, presented by EHF President Jean Brihault. At senior level, he coached Crvena Zvezda to the Serbian Superliga title in 2007/08 and two runner-up finishes, a Serbian Cup silver medal, and Champions League group-stage handball against HSV Hamburg, Tatran Prešov, and FCK Copenhagen, as well as an EHF Cup campaign in which the team eliminated Turkish side Beşiktaş. He was named Coach of the Year in 2005, 2007, 2017, and 2018, and received scholarships for best youth coach in Serbia in both 2017 and 2018.
Igor’s coaching career has centred on H.C. Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, where he has worked since 2003 — coaching cadet and junior teams from 2003 to 2007, the senior first team alongside the junior team from 2007 to 2012, and serving as expert coordinator across all of the club’s teams from 2008 to 2010. During that period he also organised the club’s summer handball camps in Slovenia, ran the Serbian championship for younger categories in 2009, and directed the “Play Handball, Be a Star” tournament from 2007 to 2010, before returning to lead the cadet team from 2012 to 2016. From 2015 to 2020 he coached Serbia’s national youth team (players born 2000 and younger), guiding the squad to qualification for the World Championship in North Macedonia in 2019. He has since taken on senior head coaching roles, leading Novi Beograd’s men’s team in the First League from 2019 to 2022 (finishing runner-up in 2021/22) and RK Vojvodina’s women’s team in the Super League from 2023 to 2025.
Beyond the sidelines, Igor is qualified in scouting and statistical data processing and applies computer-based analysis to his coaching, and he has worked with Zlatan Arnautović, twice named the world’s best goalkeeper (1984 and 1985). Igor is especially driven to work in environments where handball still has room to grow and where players have high-level potential — bringing that same energy to developing every athlete at the academy.
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