„Croatian Sport: yesterday, today, tomorrow” is the title of the public lecture organized by Aspira University College and Split Olympic Club, held on 15th of January 2019 at Aspira.
The lecture was given by the famous basketball player and Olympic contestant Željko Jerkov, who is also the president of Croatian Olympic Club and vice-president of Croatian Olympic Committe. Jerkov shared his knowledge and expertise with the students and other participants, emphasizing the importance of success of our athletes and sports people, who have left their imprint in Croatian and world sports.
The importance of Croatian sports in future was especially emphasized. It is imperative that investments into Croatian sports are increased. According to Eurostat data (2016), Croatia invests 0,06 percent of the state budget (or 220 million HRK) for sports is not enough to support Croatian sport with 260 000 registered sports people and 7 000 sports clubs. As compared to other EU member states, Croatia is one of the countries with very low investment in sports, and it is very important that we invest into education of future sports leaders and managers. Furthermore, Jerkov referred to recent Sports Law, Developmental Strategy of Croatian Sports, the issue of women in sports, as well as recommendations of EU that the male-female ratio in sports are equal and that investments should be made into sports infrastructure and educated staff. The lecture ended with an interesting discussion where students participated with their suggestions about Croatian sports future development.