First BIH Women's Premier League futsal tournament will be held on January 24th and 25th in Bijeljina. Eight clubs divided into two groups will participate in this tournament:
Group A
1. ZNK SFK 2000
2. ZFK Banja Luka
3. ZNK Celik
4. ZFK Modrica
Group B
1. ZNK Mladost
2. ZFK Radnik Bumerang
3. ZOFK Gradina
4. ZFK Zeljeznicar 2011
Competitions department director Elmir Pilav explains the goal of this tournament, as well as the next one which will be held next month in Zenica: "With these tournaments in Bijeljina and Zenica we wish to make women's football more popular in our country. There's also a social aspect in these events where players and club representatives get to know each other. Considering the clubs are involved in regular competitions, events like this should make everyone more cooperative in the future. This isn't the first time FFBIH worked on women's football promotion. We introduced the Women's premier league recently, much has been done since then, and player database has been improved. We should mention that with UEFA's support, FFBIH covers almost all the costs (officials, travel expenses and so on), and all the matches are officiated exclusively by female referees. However there's still room for improvement, especially in some of the competition aspects which we are looking to improve in the next season. We are working on a unified youth league, and sponsorship deals as well."
Women's football coordinator Nermina Hadzibajric adds: "The clubs gladly accepted to play in a futsal tournament, because it will help them to overcome long winter break, and to keep their players in the shape as well. FFBIH once again showed how much it cares for women's football development. Besides fair play, we expect the clubs will be more cooperative with each other and FFBIH in the future. With FIFA and UEFA's support we're working hard on making women's football more popular. Unfortunately, when we talk about women's football in Bosnia and Herzegovina, majority of the people are unaware of women's clubs and Women's premier league competition. FFBIH has three women's national teams (cadet, junior and senior) which compete in World Cup and Euro qualifications each year. If you look closely how female players in top European clubs and teams play, there's certainly no lack of spectacular moves in their games, and that shows women can play as well as men. I think media and various promotions can help women's football become more popular in our country."
