This year, the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is competing for the UEFA Grassroots Awards in 4 categories, for the best Grassroots Leader, the best Grassroots Project, the best Grassroots Club and the Best football initiative for people with special needs.
Grassroots Leader
Vesna Njeguš was nominated for the best Grassroots Leader, and in the last three years she distinguished herself through volunteer work with national minorities (the OTAHARIN Project, which was awarded by UEFA last year), and in work with people with special needs. Her work with girls who want to have fun, play and compete through football should not be neglected, and in recent years she has participated in numerous Grassroots activities of the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This football player from Radnik Bijeljinais a former female junior national team member of our country, and today she also holds the position of assistant coach in the technical staff of the BH women’s futsal national team.
Grassroots Project
SFK 2000 Sarajevo was nominated for the best Grassroots Project. Enthusiasts from our most trophy-winning women’s football club designed and implemented a project based on working with girls from primary schools, first in the Municipality of Stari Grad and later in other Municipalities, to eventually cover the entire Sarajevo Canton.
The first step of the project was to train girls who were interested in football, and the second was to organize tournaments in the municipalities, where the girls had the opportunity to play this game for the first time and to represent their school.
Grassroots Club
The Academy “ATLETICO 1919” – Orašje was nominated in this category, which brings together over 100 girls and boys aged 7 to 15, not only from Orašje, but also from Domaljevac, Odžak, Šamac, Brčko, Gradačac…
The membership fee and equipment for the students of this Academy is free, and coaches, who have valid licenses, work with the youngest female and male players. In addition to training, the students of this school attend computer science and English language classes once a week.
Best football initiative for people with special needs
The Association for Support of Citizens with Intellectual Disabilities OAZA was nominated for the best football initiative for people with special needs.
For many years, this association has been working on the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities through football. UG OAZA organizes a tournament and competition for associations of the same character every year at the cantonal and state level. In addition to football, this association also organizes competitions in basketball, table tennis and chess.