Maja Ognjenovic is a Serbian volleyball player, who plays as a setter for the Italian team Savino Del Bene Scandicci and captains the Serbian national team. She won gold with the national team at the 2018 World Championship, and the 2011/2019 edition of the European Championship, silver at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Maja Ognjenovic was born on August 6, 1984, in Zrenjanin, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia. She started in volleyball as a child at school and played for the youth team of OK Postar.
Maja Ognjenovic made her professional debut in 2002 for Postar in Zrenjan, from where she moved to Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) a year later.
She played for the team from 2002 to 2006. Maja Ognjenovic won two championship titles in 2003 and 2004 and one national cup in 2003. It was a great generation of Crvena Zvezda in which, she played together with Anja Spasojevic, Ivana Derisilo, Dragana Ilic, and Sladana Eric. In the last season at the club (2005/06), Maja Ognjenovic also became the captain of the team, and in the league part of the championship, she scored 90 points in 18 matches. She also won the bronze at the 2006 World Championships with the Serbian national team.
After leaving Crvena Zvezda, she wore the jersey of the Romanian CSU Galati from 2006 to 2008, with which she won two championship titles in 2007 and 2008. In season 2008/2009 Maja Ognjenovic played in the Italian volleyball club Monte Schiavo Banca Marche Jesi with which she triumphed in the Challenge Cup, when she was declared the best setter of the tournament. She also played for the Turkish Eczacibasi Zentiva (2009/10), and won the Greek Cup with Olympiacos in 2011.
In 2011, Maja Ognjenovic returned to Italy and signed with the Serie A1 club Liu Jo Volley Modena, before leaving for Poland to play in the Impel Wroclaw (2012/2013) and Chemik Police (2013/2014 and 2014/2015), winning two Polish championships in 2014 and 2015 and the Polish Cup in 2014 She was also named the best setter of the final tournament of the Champions League in 2015.
In the 2015/2016 season, Maja Ognjenovic wore the jersey of the Italian Nordmeccanica Piacenza and her team finished second in the Serie A and Italian Cup, as well as 5th at the Champions League.
Maja Ognjenovic returned to Turkey in 2016 to play again for the Eczacibasi VitrA in the next two seasons. In her maiden season, her team won Club World Championship, as well as the bronze medals at the Champions League and the Turkish Cup. In the second season, her team won CEV Cup and finished second in the Turkish Cup and the Turkiye Kadinlar Voleybol Ligi.
In 2018, she moved to Russia to sign for one season with Dinamo Moscow to win a treble – Russian Cup, Russian SuperCup, and Russian Superleague. Her team also finished 5th in the Champions League. She was named the Russian Cup’s Best Setter.
Maja Ognjenovic returned to Turkey again in 2019 and signed with VakıfBank volleyball club. In 2020/2021 season, she won the Turkish Cup and the Turkiye Kadinlar Voleybol Ligi, and finished second in the Turkish Supercup. However, the biggest achievement for her with the team was winning the silver at the Champions League.
In 2021, Maja Ognjenovic signed again with Eczacibasi Dynavit for two seasons. During her maiden season, her team won the CEV Cup and finished second in the Turkish Supercup, as well as third in the Turkish Cup and the Turkiye Kadinlar Voleybol Ligi. She was named MVP of the CEV Cup.
In 2023, Maja Ognjenovic moved to Italy and signed with her current club Savino Del Bene Scandicci.
At the international level, Maja Ognjenovic left a deep mark on the Serbian national team, which she currently leads as captain. She played a record 230 games for the national team and took part in winning the gold medal at the European Championship in 2011, which was jointly organized by Serbia and Italy. She also has a silver medal from the European Championship in 2007. At both championships, she was declared the best setter in the tournament. She won bronze at the World Championship in Japan in 2006, and she also has three gold medals in the European League in 2009, 2010 and 2011. In winning all three gold medals, she was declared the best setters, which speaks volumes for how good her performance was in the greatest successes in the history of Serbian volleyball. She also has one bronze medal in the European League from 2012, and she also owns bronze medals from the World Grand Prix in 2011 and 2013 and silver from the 2009 Universiade. She participated four times in the Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio de Janeiro 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
She won the gold medal at the 2018 World Championship in Japan, the first in the history of Serbian volleyball. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, she won the bronze medal, with Serbia defeating South Korea in the bronze medal match. At the European Championship in 2021, the final of which was held in Belgrade, she won a silver medal.
Maja Ognjenovic photos
