Commemorating the WU19 European Championship in Lithuania - career days in different cities

2024-06-17 13:20

Approaching the European Girls U19 Championship taking place in Lithuania in July, initiatives related to the tournament are still ongoing.

One such initiative is the "Legacy" program, part of which includes career days organized by the LFF and the Women's Football Association.

Representatives of LFF and LMFA visited various cities in Lithuania and introduced young people to career opportunities in football even without pursuing a professional player career.

"One of the project's goals is not only to attract girls to play football, but also to show what career opportunities exist in this sport, how they can become coaches, referees, managers. In this day and age, it is very important for children and teenagers to know where they can be, what they can achieve, what they can do after school or studies.

The first step in introducing football not only as a sport, but also as an organization, is very important," said LMFA director and one of the project's curators Milda Liužinaitė.

Former footballer, now international category referee from Lithuania Ugnė Šmitaitė also shared her experience.

"The project provides an opportunity to get acquainted not only with the player's profession, we hope to see an increase in the number of girls in various areas," she explained.

The participants and their teachers were satisfied with the project.

"At this moment, young people certainly have a lot of activities that interest them a lot, but with great efforts and various projects, we encourage young people to get involved. We have space and inventory, so I am really happy and believe that we will have more and more volunteers working in football activities," said Jūratė Žilinskienė, a physical education teacher in one of the schools in Marijampolė.