Sarajevo in the spirit of the Plazma Youth Sports Games: The biggest All-Star Day so far!
The 29th season of the Plazma Youth Sports Games, the largest amateur sports event in Europe, gathered an incredible 353,848 participants. Since expanding to Bosnia and Herzegovina 15 years ago, the Games have become one of Croatia’s most recognizable exports, and this year Sarajevo celebrated the major anniversary of international connection through sport.
In Sarajevo, children from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia came together – 1,500 young participants enjoyed three days of competitions, playing alongside famous athletes, meeting new friends, discovering Sarajevo, and even watching a film as part of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
The program featured dodgeball, the Zero Waste sports-ecology project, 60-meter races, a basketball tournament between SIM national teams from all four member countries, and three-point shooting contests. From Croatia, the young basketball players from Pazin, footballers Veni Vidi Vici from Slatina – national champions of the Coca-Cola Cup – the dodgeball team from Sisak, NSŽI girls’ football team, and the top SIM chess players all traveled to Sarajevo.
The program also included chess simultaneous exhibitions. Twenty of the best young chess players competed against distinguished guests including former EU Commissioner and Special Envoy for Cyprus Johannes Hahn, sports legends Slaven Bilić, Nemanja Vidić, Aitor Karanka, Aljoša Asanović, Mehmed Baždarević, Mario Stanić, Predrag Danilović, Dragan Stojković, The Guardian’s editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, journalist Adrian Chiles, Coca-Cola representatives Bianca Bourbon and Gjorgji Hristov, Karyn Harrington, Dimitris Rompis, Frank O’Donell of Coca-Cola HBC, and Austrian politician Susanne Riess Hahn. Across the boards stood grandmaster Borki Predojević and sisters Milana and Maša Babić, both FIDE masters and proud SIM participants.
NEW AMBASSADOR ANNOUNCEMENT – Željko Obradović
A special ceremony in Sarajevo City Hall marked the appointment of Željko Obradović as a new ambassador of the Games. During the event, President of the Games Zdravko Marić also presented special recognitions to Mehmed Baždarević, Nemanja Matić, and Slaven Bilić for their years of unconditional support. Obradović’s award was handed over by SIM ambassadors Aleksander Čeferin, President of UEFA, and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, President of PSG.
The Sarajevo celebration was further supported by numerous friends and distinguished guests, including Davor Božinović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior of Croatia, Nermin Nikšić, Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Johannes Hahn, and many other ambassadors and supporters of the Games such as Predrag Mijatović, Alastair Campbell, Marijan Kustić, Marino Pušić, Ivica Tucak, Veselin Vujović, Adrian Chiles, Katharine Viner, Vahid Halilhodžić, Stiliyan Petrov, Julien Escudé, Vladimir Šmicer, Christian Karembeu, Šime Vrsaljko, Goran Ivanišević, Aitor Karanka, Maurizio Mariani, Aljoša Asanović, Nemanja Vidić, Mario Stanić, Emir Spahić, Senijad Ibričić, Vico Zeljković, and many more.
The Plazma Youth Sports Games were founded in Split in 1996, and since then, across Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Slovenia, more than 3.44 million children and young people have taken part. Speaking about the importance of the Games, Croatian Deputy Prime Minister Davor Božinović said: “The values of tolerance, respect, love for sport, and fair play that the Games have promoted for almost three decades have the power to permanently shape our society. The Croatian Government has always, and will continue to, strongly support one of the most powerful Croatian brands – the Youth Sports Games.”
The grand finale of the 29th season will take place at the International Finals and Closing Ceremony in Split. From August 23rd to 27th, Split will host 820 participants – national champions from all four countries – competing in 10 sports: Coca-Cola Cup in football, Tommy small-sided football, Kinder Joy of Moving street basketball, HEP handball, volleyball, Paket24 tennis, table tennis, beach volleyball, FIDE chess, dodgeball, and athletics as part of the Telemach Day of Sports.
The Closing Ceremony will be held in the traditional setting of Split’s Riva on August 26th at 8:30 PM.
