A workshop on the social status of athletes in Olympic sports was held on Tuesday, November 21, 2023, at the headquarters of the Croatian Volleyball Federation in Zagreb. The workshop was organised by the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka, and its Centre for Sports Law, Sports Policies, and Sports Diplomacy, i.e. the head of the Centre and regional coordinator of the project, Assoc. Prof. Vanja Smokvina, Ph.D.
This is one of the project activities of the Erasmus+ Sport project “SOPROS“, gathering numerous experts and athletes, namely:
Tomislav Družak, State Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Republic of Croatia,
Josipa Klišanin, Head of the Labour Sector at the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy of the Republic of Croatia,
Biserka Vrbek, Romana Caput Jogunica, and Snježana Pejčić on behalf of the Croatian Olympic Committee along with Blanka Vlašić, President of the NOC of Croatia Athletes’ Commission,
Frane Žanić, President, and Valentina Bifflin, Director of the Croatian Volleyball Federation,
Zoran Primorac, President of the Croatian Table Tennis Federation,
Luka Jakovčev on behalf of the Croatian Water Polo Federation,
athlete Bruno Erent on behalf of the Croatian Athletics Federation,
Mario Jurić, President of the Croatian “Football Union”,
Marija Anzulović on behalf of the Croatian Olympic Club,
Suzana Šop, Secretary General of the Sports Association of the City of Zagreb,
and Katja Luketić, Secretary of the Sports Association of Primorje-Gorski kotar County.
The aim of the workshop was to present the SOPROS project to sports stakeholders and athletes, discuss the issue of social and legal status of athletes in Olympic sports in the Republic of Croatia, and present the self-assessment tools that the project team members will use to collect data from sports stakeholders to draw their conclusions and proposals for improving the status of athletes at the level of the European Union and Member States with the support of partners – the International Labour Organisation (ILO), EU Athletes (Athletes’ Associations), EASE (Association of Employers in Sport), and the European Olympic Academies as project partners.