Photo: Bildbyrån
He became known as “The flying meatball” and was part of the classic Swedish team building “Bengan Boys”.
After his own career, he has been both coach and sports director for several clubs and national teams – but now he wants to take a step away from handball.
– It would be fun to try something new, he tells Expressen.
He has lived a life many can only dream of. Ljubomir Vranjes is only 51 years old, but he has already managed a lot. He is of course best known for his time in the Swedish national handball team, when despite his 166 centimeters he bombed forward on the pitch and moved opponents who were several centimeters taller than him.
Ljubomir Vranje’s matchless career
Vranje’s track record is long. He was one of the most popular profiles in the national team that was led by Bengt Johansson and who came to be known as “Bengan Boys”. He won World Cup gold in Egypt in 1999, won three straight European Championship golds in 1998, 2000 and 2002. In addition, there was Olympic silver in Sydney 2000. The Gothenburg native was nicknamed “The flying meatball” because of his physique and in total he scored 451 goals in 164 international matches for Sweden.
READ MORE: Ljubomir Vranjes shows off the incredible transformation – new photos of the icon’s super body: “What a machine”
After the active career, when he won five SM golds with Redbergslid and was a professional in Spanish Granollers and in German Nordhorn and Flensburg-Handewitt, he quickly switched to becoming a handball coach. For seven years he was in Flensburg and then became Champions League champion in 2014, for the first time in the club’s history. He has also coached Hungarian Telekom Veszprém, German Rhein-Neckar Löwen, French Nimes, Swedish Kristianstad and the national teams in Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia.
Want to leave handball in the future
Nowadays, Ljubomir Vranjes, who together with his wife Maria have the children William22, and Esther18, again in Flensburg. But this time as sports director. He got the job in the summer of 2023 and enjoys the club very well. When he is in Sweden, Lund is where the family is based, even though he is from Gothenburg (on the other hand, he has a summer house in Lysekil). They have renovated a house from the 1860s.
Despite all the successes as a player and coach, the 51-year-old has begun to look towards a life beyond sports. In a previous interview with Dagens Nyheter, he said that the current sports director job may be his last handball job. Then he wants to look around for something new.
– Yes, you want to test your wings and maybe do something other than sports all the time. I’ve been doing this for a while now and gained some experience over the years, so it would be fun to try something new. But nothing is set in stone, I’ve learned to take it as it comes. I don’t feel like I want to be a coach again. Not right now anyway. I’ll stick with this for a few more years and after that we’ll see. Then we have to make a decision about what to do. Right now, as I said, I enjoy the job, except that in a position like this you have to make some tough decisions. But unfortunately that is part of it, he now tells Expressen.
Vranjes wants to move to France
Vranjes says he dreams of a new life, a different kind of life with less stress. In addition to his work as a sports director, he also works to some extent as an online coach and he helps others, preferably those over 40, with training plans and diet plans.
– This is my 34th year at elite level. I still have the passion and energy to do it, but then you also feel that you should take care of yourself and your family, that time is running out. I should be able to hike, travel and enjoy life. Working 16 hours a day, more or less 365 days a year… it gets quite tiring in the end, he says.
READ MORE: When 166 cm Ljubomir Vranjes offered the brashness of all time against the 197 cm tall goalkeeper icon: “It’s not wise!”
He admits that he and his wife are hungry for a quieter life on the French south coast where he wants to open a restaurant. He is a trained chef and has been in the industry before. The time in Nimes, France, was also one of his happiest ever – so he longs to return.
– You can say that! It’s a completely different lifestyle. You get up in the morning, it’s bright and sunny. You go out into town, buy fruit and vegetables at the market and some cheese. Then you have an outdoor life as well, not an outdoor life in the way that we are used to, but that you live more on the street. You sit in cafes, eat out at a restaurant, take a walk outside, go to the beach and so on. It’s harder to do that where we live. Sure, I’m walking now too – with rain gear. But there is a difference, you have to admit that, says Ljubomir Vranjes.
Exciting to read about the sports hero Ljubomir Vranje’s new life. We remember him from the time in “Bengan Boys” when he was part of and reaped great success in the Swedish national team.
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