Maja Ognjenović

The Serbian setter and captain was honored by receiving a framed version of her jersey with the number 300."“It is a big motivation for me to have played 300 matches with the national team for the past 16 or 17 years. Actually, I didn’t know that today is the day of my 300th match. It is a big privilege to be a member of the Serbian 300+ club and I think I am the first woman to have reached this mark. It was very emotional when I received the shirt with the number 300, but most of all I am happy about tonight’s victory.”"

Maja Ognjenović (Маја Огњеновић; born 6 August 1984) is a Serbian professional volleyball player of the Serbia women's national volleyball team.

Ognjenović made her professional career debut with Crvena Zvezda in 2002.

Ognjenović joined the Serbian women’s national team in 2005.

She started all matches of the 2006 FIVB World Championship held in Japan; the Serbian national team went on to win the bronze medal.

In 2007, Ognjenović won the silver medal and the Best Setter award at the 2007 European Championship.

Ognjenović was part of the Serbian squad that won the gold medal during the 2009 European League.

She took part in the 2009 Summer Universiade with the national team the following month and won the silver medal.

She went on to win back-to-back gold medal at the 2010 European League with the national team.

She was also named the Best Setter of the tournament.

Ognjenović was named in the roster for the 2011 European League.

Serbia won the gold medal for the third year in a row.

She was awarded tournament’s Best Setter for the 2nd year running.

At the final match against Germany, Serbia was able to get the title of the 2011 European Championship in front of its audience, ending the match and the tournament with a 3–2 score.

Ognjenović was awarded Best Setter of the tournament.

Ognjenović won the bronze medal with the Serbian squad at the 2012 European League.

She was named Best Setter for the third year in a row.

In 2015, Ognjenović won the bronze medal with the Serbian national team after defeating Turkey 3–0 in the 3rd place match of the 2015 European Championship.

She was awarded tournament’s Best Setter.

Ognjenović was part of the 12-player Olympic roster for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

On August 20, 2016, she won a silver medal as a member of the Serbian women’s volleyball team after being defeated by China 3–1 in the final.

Even though Ognjenović decided to take a break from the Serbian national team after the 2016 Rio Olympics, Serbia national team head coach Zoran Terzić announced her comeback by including her in Serbia’s 14-player roster for the 2018 World Championship.

She then proceeded to win Serbia’s first World Championship gold medal, when her team defeated Italy 3–2 in the final match.

Ognjenović won gold with the national team at the 2018 World Championship, and the 2011/2019 edition of the European Championship, silver at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Ognjenović has won a total of 17 podiums from major world-level or continental-level competitions (Olympic Games, World Championship and European Championship) with the women’s national team, six gold, five silver and six bronze medals.

She also has a successful club career, having played in some of the world's most competitive leagues such as Italy, Turkey, Russia, Poland and more.

Ognjenović won the gold medal with her national team at the 2019 European Championship after they defeated Turkey 3–2 in the finals.

She was awarded tournament’s Best Setter.

In 2020, Ognjenović was included in the list of #roster100 by FIVB as one of the 100 most influential volleyball players between 2010 and 2020."“I’m happy to have had the opportunity to play in Serbian volleyball and in world volleyball during the last decade and I hope to have the opportunity to play a little more during the new decade. Because I have plans. I feel really good on the court and I have more to give to volleyball.”"

On 1 September 2021, Ognjenović marked an important milestone of her career as she became the first Serbian woman to join the Serbian 300+ caps club after having played 300 matches with the national team.

Ognjenović was named to the 12-player roster for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, her fourth straight Olympic Games.

After a devastating 3–0 defeat to USA during the semifinals, Serbia proceeded to defeat South Korea 3–0 in the 3rd place match for the bronze medal.

She led Serbia to victory as they defeated France 3–1 to proceed to the European Championship semifinals.

She went on to win the silver medal at the 2021 European Championship after being defeated by Italy 3–1 in the final.

Ognjenović participated in the VNL for the 1st time in her career since the creation of the tournament.

As it was widely regarded as a non-major tournament for the longest time (before the introduction of ranking points), she uses this time to recuperate after a hectic and stressful club season.

This time round, along with fellow compatriot, Tijana Bošković; both joined team Serbia in Week 3 of the 2023 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League in Suwon, South Korea at the request of Giovanni Guidetti, Serbia’s new coach.

Due to a rough start during the first 2 weeks of the competition, Serbia did not qualify for the Final 8 as they only won 3 out of 4 matches in Week 3, ranking just outside of the top 8 at the end of the preliminary round.

Ognjenović, despite being diagnosed with a severe stomach virus, came off the bench in the 3rd set against the Netherlands in the semi-finals after her team lost the 2nd set and was trailing by 3-points in the 3rd and led them to a decisive 3–1 victory with her experience and tenacity.

She went on to win the silver medal at the 2023 European Championship final after a well fought match which ended with a score of 3–2 in favor of Türkiye.