Danilo Ikodinović

Danilo “Dača” Ikodinović (Serbian Cyrillic: Данило Дача Икодиновић, born 4 October 1976) is a Serbian former professional water polo player who played on the bronze medal squad at the 2000 Summer Olympics (with Yugoslavia) and the silver medal squad at the 2004 Summer Olympics (with Serbia and Montenegro). He received a Golden Badge, award for the best athlete in Serbia and Montenegro.

Danilo Ikodinović

Personal information
Born	(1976-10-04) 4 October 1976 (age 49) Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Medal record Men's Water Polo Representing  Serbia and Montenegro  Serbia Men's Water Polo Olympic Games 2004 Athens 2000 Sydney World Championships 2005 Montreal 2001 Fukuoka 1998 Perth 2003 Barcelona European Championship 2001 Budapest 2003 Kranj 2006 Belgrade 1997 Seville FINA World League 2005 Belgrade 2006 Athens 2008 Genova 2004 Long Beach FINA World Cup 2006 Budapest 2002 Belgrade Mediterranean Games 1997 Bari

Club career

He spent the 2005/06 season playing for VK Partizan. He appeared for the Serbian national water polo team in 304 matches, scoring 299 goals. In 2006, he appeared as a model in an underwear campaign for ExtremeIntimo. During the summer of 2006 he signed for Russian club Sintez Kazan. In his first season in Sintez Kazan, Ikodinović led the team to 2006/07 LEN Cup trophy^[1] as well as the Russian league title. In late March 2008, he reached an agreement with PVK Jadran to play for them in 2008/09 season.^[2]

Clubs he played for

• 1992–1998 VK Partizan
• 1998–1999 ASN Catania
• 1999–2001 AN Brescia
• 2001–2005 Pro Recco
• 2005–2006 VK Partizan
• 2006–2008 Sintez
• 2008–2009 PVK Jadran

Honours

Club

VK Partizan

• National Championship of Yugoslavia (1): 1994–95
• National Cup of Yugoslavia (3): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95
• LEN Cup (1): 1997–98

Pro Recco

• Serie A1 (1): 2001–02
• Trofeo del Giocatore (1): 2003
• LEN Euroleague (1): 2002–03
• LEN Supercup (1): 2004

Sintez Kazan

• National Championship of Russia (1): 2006–07
• LEN Cup (1): 2006–07

Individual

• LEN Euroleague Final Four MVP (1): 2003 Genova
• Golden Badge (1): 2005

Post-playing

Administrative work

While in recovery following his June 2008 motorcycle crash that forced the end of his professional water polo playing career, Ikodinović, who had since relocated to Novi Sad, took a board position at a local waterpolo club, VK Vojvodina.

Hospitality entrepreneurship

In December 2010, together with business partner Aleksandar Dobrijević, Ikodinović became part of a hospitality venture, a newly launched kafana named Tako je suđeno (That's Fate) located in Novi Sad's Ribnjak neighbourhood with an interior themed around Northern Serbia ethnographic motifs.^[3] The restaurant's opening night generated attention in Serbian media, with most outlets focusing on the presence of Ikodinović's pop star celebrity wife Nataša Bekvalac.^[4] It would soon be revealed that Ikodinović's initial involvement with the venue is not in majority ownership capacity, but mostly as its front facing promoter due to his high public profile in Serbia as well as its maître d' of sorts.^[5][6]

Politics

Ikodinović endorsed the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) for the 2018 Belgrade City Assembly election, however, later he became a strong critic of SNS and its leader Aleksandar Vučić.^[7] On 17 March 2021, Ikodinović joined the People's Party (NS) and was appointed president of its Sports Committee.^[8]

Personal

Marriages, relationships, and children

In 2000, Ikodinović married his girlfriend Anja who gave birth to their daughter Andrea later that year.^[9] The couple divorced in 2003.^[10][11]

For a few months during 2004, he dated professional karate competitor Snežana Perić. The relationship was high profile in Serbian public with extensive coverage in the country's tabloids and lifestyle magazines.^[12]

Later that year, Ikodinović began dating the Serbian pop singer Nataša Bekvalac. Once the relationship became public on New Year's Eve 2005^[13] it generated even more press coverage than Ikodinović's previous relationship. In August 2005, upon his return from winning the World Championships with Serbia and Montenegro national team in Montreal, Ikodinović married Bekvalac in a civic ceremony they initially kept hidden even from their respective families.^[14] One year later, in late July 2006, with Bekvalac in early stage of pregnancy, the couple held a church wedding ceremony at the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Sremski Karlovci followed by reception at Novi Sad's Hotel Park.^[15] Their child, daughter Hana, was born in March 2007 while Danilo was away in Melbourne with Serbia national team at the World Championships.^[16] The couple divorced in January 2011 amid allegations of Ikodinović's infidelity.^{[17][18][19][20]} Though the two parties had initially agreed principal terms of an uncontested divorce, subsequent disagreements over division of assets led to the case going before the divorce court.^[21][5][22] By May 2011, they managed to finalize the divorce terms that included Bekvalac getting custody of their 4-year-old daughter.^[23][24] In an interview years later, Ikodinović stated that the marriage had been "disintegrating" even before his June 2008 motorcycle accident and that it would have ended regardless.^[25][26]

By March 2011, Ikodinović began dating Tanja Vračarić.^[27][28] Taking place simultaneously with the legal proceedings in Ikodinović's divorce from Bekvalac, the relationship ended within three months.^[29][30][31]

In 2013, thirty-six-year-old retired professional athlete Ikodinović started dating the active professional volleyball player Maja Ognjenović, 8 years his junior. The couple married in late December 2016.^[32] They divorced in September 2025.^[33]

Motorcycle accident

On Friday, 27 June 2008, around 8:20pm, while riding his Yamaha R1 motorcycle on the Zrenjanin-Novi Sad regional road, Ikodinović caused a traffic accident near the town of Kać. Riding while intoxicated, he rear-ended a Yugo driven by Pajica Dejanović that had been overtaking a tractor vehicle driven by Miroslav Kukić.^[34] Thirty-one-year-old professional water polo player Ikodinović was transferred to intensive care in Novi Sad where he immediately went in for surgery that ended up lasting almost eight hours. As a result, his condition was stabilized, but remained critical.^[35] Reportedly, of the numerous injuries he sustained, the heaviest trauma occurred on his right arm with severe tearing of blood vessels (nerves and arteries).^[36]

The next day, in the evening hours of 28 June 2008, almost twenty four hours following the accident, he underwent another vascular surgery on his arm.^[37] His condition has since improved.

Investigation of the crash completed by mid November 2008, determining that Ikodinović had been driving at a speed of 173 km/h while having blood alcohol content of over 2 per mil (considered to be the medium level of alcoholic intoxication) when he rear-ended Dejanović's Yugo that had just begun overtaking Kukić's tractor vehicle.^[34]

Ikodinović was charged with violating traffic safety. On 5 March 2009, his case went before a Novi Sad Municipal Court judge^[38] who ruled him guilty of causing the accident and ordered him to pay RSD70,000 (around €760 according to the exchange rate at the time). Ikodinović also received an eight-month ban on operating a motorcycle.^[39] District public persecutor submitted an appeal on the court's decision due to not being satisfied with the amount of the fine.

The damages part of the case was settled out of court on 26 May 2009, which is when Ikodinović paid a sum to Pajica Dejanović that was in some media outlets reported to be €6,000.

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in water polo (men)
• List of world champions in men's water polo
• List of World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo