Serbian specialist Igor Zakic is the new head coach of Russian Tuliсa (Tula), where the former captain of the Bulgarian national team Hristina Vuchkova plays. The 38-year-old coach signed a contract until the end of the 2026/2027 season and replaces Alexey Laznevoi in the position.
The appointment was announced today by the governor of Tula Oblast, Dmitry Milyaev. The club's management is making the coaching change after an unsuccessful start to the championship, in which Tulitsa suffered two defeats and remained without a single point.
Zakic arrives in Russia after three seasons at the helm of Serbian TENT (Obrenovac), with whom he won the championship title, the Serbian Cup, and two Super Cups. Before that, he worked at Spartak (Subotica) and Crvena Zvezda (Belgrade).
The Serbian specialist also has experience at the national level. In 2022, he led the Serbian U23 national team, and from 2025, he is part of the coaching staff of the women's national team. In his career, he has also been an assistant in the men's national team. For Zakic, this will be his first appointment as head coach of a club outside Serbia.
Tulitsa started the season with a 1:3 (26:24, 20:25, 21:25, 20:25) loss to Korabelka (Saint Petersburg). Hristina Vuchkova played the entire match and finished with 11 points and 73% attack efficiency. In the second round, the Tula team also lost to Uralochka-NTMK with 1:3 (16:25, 25:22, 20:25, 19:25). After the first two matches, Tulitsa occupies 12th place among the 14 participants in the Russian Super League.
The 35-year-old Vuchkova, who plays with number 11, will work with the new coach in competition with middle blockers Ekaterina Polyakova, Yulia Sinitskaya, and Darya Tulinova.
Zakic's first test will be on October 16, when Tulitsa visits Lokomotiv (Kaliningrad) in a match from the third round of the championship.