Breaking stereotypes: Serbia's empowering girls' football festival
Friday, August 11, 2023
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The Football Association of Serbia (FSS) recently gathered 2,000 football enthusiasts to celebrate the women’s game at the Football Festival for Girls in Stara Pazova.
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The event was the pinnacle of an ongoing campaign promoting women’s football called “Football is for girls”, which has been running in the country for the past two years. The Serbian FA stated the campaign has had great impact on girls’ participation and hopes to keep the momentum going and build on the festival’s success.
Ruža Ilić, grassroots manager at the Serbian Football Association:
"It is a great honour and pleasure for me to stand before you today. There are all my colleagues who work hard every day to ensure that every girl has the opportunity to play football, there are the national team players who have paved the path to a brighter future and showed that everything is possible if you believe in it hard enough, and the most important, there are you, brought here by the love you have for football. Two years ago, we had a great campaign, the results of which we can still see today, and I would like to ask you all to repeat out loud its main message– Football is for girls."
Football is for girls
At the heart of its national training centre, the Serbian FA organised a day full of fun grassroots football and educational activities for girls aged five to 12 as part of its “Let’s Play football” grassroots programme. The Marina Maljković’s Institute for Women’s Sports also carried out activities on the pitch, engaging with girls from the Free Football School For Girls programme, which they have been implementing in cooperation with FA of Serbia.
Serbia’s women’s national team players Jelena Čanković, Jovana Damnjanović, Milica Mijatović, Violeta Slović, Marija Ilić, Dejana Stefanović, Tijana Filipović, Andrijana Trišić, Marija Ilić and Sara Pavlović were all present at the event, spending quality time and playing with the young girls before heading off to continue their studies for a UEFA B Licence coaching diploma.
The budding young players also enjoyed some Disney magic with the UEFA Playmakers programme, introducing them to the beautiful game through play and storytelling. With the help of Moana, Frozen and the Incredibles, the girls learned football’s basic skills and had a go at kicking a ball for the first time.
Milan Rodic, happy dad of six years old Petra, explains: “My daughter is now very excited to play football like her father, and she enjoys it. I don’t think she would have been so interested in playing if she was not a part of UEFA Playmakers. It was very helpful because kids are paying more attention when Disney characters are involved.”
What is UEFA Playmakers?
Playmakers sessions teach important fundamental movement and life skills, create friendships, and build confidence in girls by using Disney movies to provide a fun and safe introduction to learning football. Using their imagination and diving into the magic of Disney storytelling, girls are encouraged to reveal their inner Elsa or Violet and play football through themed exercises using elements of Disney stories.
Surveys have shown that 91 per cent of Playmakers participants want to continue playing the game following the sessions. Interested? Find your local Playmakers centre below.