Remembering Rabita’s historic success from 10 years ago

Ten years ago, Rabita BAKU achieved unprecedented success for Azerbaijan’s Volleyball family – as they claimed the FIVB Women’s Club World Championship title in Doha, Qatar – following a 3-0 victory over VakifBank TTelekom ISTANBUL of Turkey.

The achievement was even more remarkable – since the current Secretary General of the Azerbaijan Volleyball Federation and CEV Board of Administration member, Jalil Jafarov, had established the club only a few years earlier – in 2005.

After this success, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Mr Ilham Aliyev, organised a reception for the players and officials of Rabita BAKU, acknowledging this achievement as a “historic victory”.

This was not the only major success claimed by Rabita. The eight-time champions of Azerbaijan won CEV Champions League silver medals in 2011 as well as in 2013 – to go with bronze in 2014. Moreover, in 2012, Rabita were runners-up at the FIVB Club World Championship after losing the final match to Osasco Voleibol Clube of Brazil.

In conjunction with the 10^th anniversary of that victory, the European Volleyball family wishes to congratulate all those involved in that historic success.

The members of that team were Dobriana Rabadzhieva (BUL), Madina Aliyeva, Natalya Mammadova (AZE), Natasa Krsmanovic, Jasna Majstorovic, Silvija Popovic, Mira Golubovic, Sanja Starovic (SRB), Pelin Celik (TUR), Natasa Osmokrovic (CRO), Kathy Radzuweit (GER), and Iryna Zhukova (UKR) – coached by Zoran Gajic, now President of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia.