Slavko Goluža

Slavko Goluža (born 17 September 1971) is a retired Croatian handball player and most recently coach of RK Zagreb.

Club career Goluža was born in the village of Pješivac-Kula near Stolac. He began his career with RK Mehanika Metković. At the age of 18, he moved to RK Zagreb-Chromos, with which he won two consecutive European Cups in 1992 and 1993.

He won the EHF Cup with RK Metković Jambo in 2000 and the year later the club reached the final again.

Goluža also played in Germany for TuS Nettelstedt-Lübbecke, in France for Paris Saint-Germain and in Hungary for Fotex Veszprém.

International career He was a member of the Croatian national team that won Olympic gold medals twice: at the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics. For over a decade he participated in all medals that Croatia had won at the World Championships (gold in 2003, silver in 1995 and 2005), and at the European Championship (bronze in 1994).

Coaching career Goluža worked as an assistant coach with the Croatian national team between 2006 and 2010 under the coaching staff of the head coach Lino Červar. He also worked as head coach for RK Siscia once and for RK CO Zagreb in two terms.

In September 2010, Goluža succeeded Červar as the head coach of the Croatian national team, guiding Croatia to the bronze medals at the 2012 European Championship, 2012 Summer Olympics and at the 2013 World Championship. In February 2015, following Croatia's surprisingly unsuccessful World Championship in Qatar, he left the bench and was replaced by his assistant Željko Babić.

In April 2017, Goluža became the head coach for HT Tatran Prešov.

Personal life Goluža is a supporter of the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). He was married Iva Goluža, with whom he has a son Ivan. The couple got divorced after 25 years of marriage, in 2026.

Honours

Player RK Zagreb Croatian First League (9): 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2004–05, 2005–06 Croatian Cup (9): 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2006 Yugoslav First League (1): 1990–91 EHF Champions League (2): 1991–92, 1992–93 European Supercup (1): 1993

RK Metković Jambo Croatian Cup (2): 2001, 2002 EHF Cup (1): 2000

Fotex Veszprém Hungarian Premier League (1): 2003–04 Magyar Kupa (1): 2004

Head coach RK Zagreb Croatian First League (2): 2012–13, 2016–17 Croatian Cup (2): 2013, 2017

Croatia Summer Olympics third place: 2012 World Championship third place: 2013 European Championship third place: 2012 Mediterranean Games runner-up: 2013

Individual Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport: 1996, 2004, 2009 Best Croatian handballer by Sportske novosti & HRS: 2001 Trophy MOO for sports and promoting optimism: 2007 Best Croatian handball coach by Sportske novosti & CHF: 2012, 2013, 2014

Orders