Montenegrin union and stakeholders working to grow women's game

• Montenegrin player union SPFCG launched a project to improve working conditions of women’s footballers in their country
  
  
• The union held a survey and organised a conference with all stakeholders
  
  
• The project is funded by FIFPRO’s Capacity Building and Development Fund

Women’s football is developing in Montenegro, but a lot of work is still ahead. Professional footballers’ union SPFCG launched a couple of initiatives to help advance the women’s game and improve the working conditions of players in their country.

According to the union, women’s football is gaining popularity in Montenegro, becoming one of the favourite team sports for girls in school. The results of the national team are also getting better. However, in the opinion of the union, the way women’s football is organised should improve.

"We would rather take the initiative and start looking at how we can improve the status of the women’s game in our country, instead of talking about all the things that are not good," said Vladimir Krsmanovic, the general secretary of the union.

Recently, the SPFCG organised a conference: Increasing the Visibility of Women's Football in Montenegro.

The event was attended by various stakeholders, including four experienced national team players (captain Sladana Bulatovic, Armisa Kuc, Jelena Karlicic and Darija Dukic), the women’s national team coach (Mirko Maric), the FA’s Grassroots Office Coordinator and Head of PR Department (Amil Gerina and Branko Latinovic), the Secretary General of the Montenegrin Olympic Committee (Igor Vusurovic) and an advisor for the Ministry of Sports and Youth (Ana Milacic).

"It was great to have all important stakeholders at our conference," said Krsmanovic. 

Jointly they discussed the outcome of a survey the union had held in May this year with women’s players in their country. In total 48 players from five of the six first league teams participated in the poll, providing valuable information about their working conditions.

The survey showed among others that most players are very young, with 33 players under 18 years and 13 younger than 15 years, and that basically all players consider themselves amateur. The players also provided insights about their education, expectations and quality of coaching and conditions.

"We’re using this survey to identify the needs in women’s football," said Krsmanovic. "It enables us to develop strategies and action plans to advance the game. Besides, this study also provides us with the opportunity to do a comparative analysis in the future to hopefully show the progress we will make in creating better conditions for women's football in Montenegro."