The EUSA Institute workshop, which took place in the City Hall of Ljubljana in Slovenia, gathered participants from football clubs, sports organisations and institutions, and focused on the experiences of women in leadership positions in the sports sector.

The one-day event began with a welcome address by Matjaz Pecovnik, EUSA secretary general, which was followed by a presentation of the iFlipp project by Sara Rozman, EUSA education and development manager and iFlipp project coordinator.

The first session saw participants challenging and dismantling gender stereotypes based on two case studies before hearing two inspiring personal stories.

Tanja Lekic shared her story of being an ex-football player and now coach at Slovenian women’s football club Posavje, while Andreja McQuarrie shared her experiences as a former professional Alpine skier and now as the only female President of a Slovene women’s football club Radomlje.

The final session of the day encouraged participants to identify and address strategies and skills that are important for women in leadership positions in sport organisations.

Parts of the day’s workshop will be incorporated into a massive open online course, which will be one of the project outputs.

As a follow-up a short online meeting took place with four project partner organisations present, where project activities, including the previous day’s workshop in Slovenia, were discussed.

Co-financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, the iFlipp project’s aim is to examine the narratives from women and minority ethnic leaders in football who have been successful and identify obstacles and opportunities they face in their trajectory towards football leadership.