From 11 to 13 September 2026, Žabljak will host girls and young football players from Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. For fairplay, the Girls Football Festival is one of the most important events in our Western Balkans work: a festival held six times in Vienna and, last year, for the first time in Sarajevo, now arriving in Montenegro for three days of training, workshops, socialising and time spent exploring nature.
Football as a reason to meet without prejudice
The Girls Football Festival is not a classic tournament, even though it ends with matches. The point isn't who wins, but giving girls from different clubs, towns and countries the chance to spend time together on and off the pitch, meet without prejudice and see that football belongs to them too. It's exactly this kind of contact, built through shared activity rather than declarations, that fairplay has worked to create across the region for almost three decades, and the festival is where that work becomes visible over a single weekend.
What will happen in Žabljak
Friday, 11 September opens with the teams' arrival and registration, followed by an official welcome and opening ceremony at Black Lake in Durmitor National Park, and a networking dinner where coaches meet ahead of the weekend.
Saturday, 12 September is the heart of the festival: a joint football training session and workshops in mixed groups at Žabljak Stadium in the morning, followed in the afternoon by hiking and thematic workshops on respect, equality and teamwork.
Sunday, 13 September, teams gather at the stadium for the international Girls Football Festival tournament, played in mixed teams made up of players from different countries and clubs, so that girls who arrived as opponents leave having played and worked together. The festival closes with a final ceremony before the teams head home.
Six teams from three countries are taking part: AF City (Podgorica), JU Dječji dom „Mladost" Bijela, ŽFK Ekonomist (Nikšić) and ŽFK MKM (Podgorica) from Montenegro, ŽFS Meraki (Niš) from Serbia, and ŽNK Troglav (Livno) from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Part of Football Zajedno
The festival takes place within Football Zajedno, the regional initiative fairplay has coordinated since 2017 to use football as a tool for social inclusion, dialogue and the fight against discrimination, together with Igrajmo zajedno inicijativa - IZI from Bosnia and Herzegovina as the main implementing partner. Montenegro has been part of this work for years through our partnership with the Football Association of Montenegro, which includes fairplay workshops, Mini Van Tour programmes and joint initiatives such as Football for Unity, connecting refugee children, children at risk of statelessness and children from local communities. Bringing the Girls Football Festival to Žabljak is a continuation of that partnership and another step in growing the regional network Football Zajedno has built. The project is funded through the UEFA HatTrick programme.
Follow the festival
Follow all the news, photos and stories from the Girls Football Festival Žabljak on the social media channels of fairplay, Football Zajedno and Igrajmo zajedno inicijativa - IZI.
