One such club comes from North Macedonia. We spoke with its president, MSc Igor Bozinovski, and asked him to introduce his club to us. Here is what he told us on that occasion:

“My name is MSc Igor Bozinovski, and I am the president of Football Club Lepenec from Bardovci, Karposh Municipality, Skopje, Macedonia.

Alongside managing the club, I am actively involved in organizing sports activities, developing the youth academy, improving sports infrastructure and organizing children’s football tournaments. Our core mission is to provide children with quality training conditions, opportunities to progress in sport and the chance to develop properly through football.

We believe that football is not just about competition and results, but also an important part of upbringing, through which children learn discipline, responsibility, respect, friendship and teamwork.

FK Lepenec was founded on September 10, 1963, in Bardovci, Karposh Municipality, Skopje. The club is named after the Lepenec River, which flows through this area.

The club was born out of the local community’s love of football and the desire for Bardovci to have its own sports club. Over more than six decades of existence, many generations of footballers, coaches and sports professionals have been part of the club and contributed to its development and the preservation of its tradition.

FK Lepenec is an officially registered sports club that holds a license to conduct sports activities issued by the Agency for Youth and Sport, as well as the relevant registration certificate issued by the Central Registry of Macedonia.

Today, the club continues its tradition, with a special focus on developing the youth academy, working with children and organizing sporting events. Our wish is to preserve the club’s rich history while laying the foundations for an even more successful future.

Throughout its history, FK Lepenec has gone through various stages of development, from local football competitions to competing in higher tiers of Macedonian football.

One of the significant periods in the club’s history was winning the Third Macedonian Football League – North titles in the 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 seasons.

A particularly important phase in the club’s more recent development began with the revival of the youth academy in 2019, with support from Karposh Municipality and improvements to training facilities.

Today, we are primarily focused on working with our youth teams, entering them in official competitions, organizing children’s tournaments and creating the conditions for the club’s long-term development.

We believe that investing in young people is the best investment in the future of football. At present, around 70 children train at our club, divided into five age groups – 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Our youth teams regularly take part in competitions organized by the Football Federation of Macedonia, as well as numerous children’s football tournaments.

We are especially proud to bring together a large number of children from Bardovci and the surrounding area, and to see interest in football growing year after year. Our goal is not only to develop talented footballers, but, above all, healthy, disciplined and responsible young people.

We strive to provide every child with quality training conditions, opportunities to progress in sport and the chance to develop team spirit, friendship and a love of sport through football.

When we talk about the club’s history, we must of course highlight its sporting achievements and winning two consecutive titles in the Third Macedonian Football League – North.

However, when we talk about the present, our greatest achievement is the revival of the youth academy, the increase in the number of children and the organization of major children’s football events.

We would particularly highlight the “Lepenec Cup 2026,” which brought together 32 teams from the 2016 and 2017 age groups.

For us, it is a great success when we see so many children, coaches and parents at our grounds, when there is a positive sporting atmosphere and new friendships are formed. Trophies and medals have their value, but the greatest reward for us is seeing the children happy and knowing that we are contributing to their sporting and personal development.

The idea came from the desire for FK Lepenec to become an organizer of high-quality sporting events for the youngest footballers, in addition to taking part in regular league competitions.

We wanted Bardovci to become a place where children from different clubs could gather, share experiences, compete and make new friends. That is how the idea of organizing the “Lepenec Cup” was born—a tournament that could eventually grow into a traditional sporting event.

From the very beginning, we did not want it to be just a one- or two-day competition, but a sporting event that would promote football, fair play and togetherness.

Our long-term goal is to contribute to the development of children’s football through these tournaments, as well as to promote our club, Bardovci, Karposh Municipality and the city of Skopje.

At first, we focused on laying a strong organizational foundation, building trust among the participating clubs and ensuring high-quality conditions for competition. Over time, we improved the organization, infrastructure, match schedules, refereeing staff and the overall experience for participants.

We are especially pleased with the organization of the “Lepenec Cup 2026,” which took place on August 29 and 30, 2026.

Thirty-two teams took part in the tournament, with 16 teams each from the 2016 and 2017 age groups. The matches were played on four pitches, in group and knockout stages. One of the new features was digital access to match schedules and results, making information easier for clubs, coaches and parents to access.

The tournament was organized with the support of Karposh Municipality, as part of the “Karposh Cultural Summer” event.

The greatest improvement can be seen in the quality of the organization, the number of participants and our ambition to gradually take the tournament beyond the local level. Our long-term vision is for the “Lepenec Cup” to become a recognized international children’s football tournament, bringing together a large number of strong teams from Macedonia and the region every year.

We plan to gradually increase the number of participants, add more age groups and establish partnerships with clubs from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and other countries. We will pay particular attention to improving sports infrastructure, the organization of matches, conditions for participants and digital tracking of the competition.

We want the tournament to develop a recognizable identity and for clubs to look forward to coming back every year. We are also interested in working with regional and international organizations and having our tournament included in networks such as AFT, which would significantly increase its visibility and support its further development.

Our next sporting event is the children’s football tournament “Future Stars,” which will take place on October 31, 2026, at FK Lepenec’s grounds in Bardovci, Karposh, Skopje. The tournament is for the 2018 age group, with younger footballers born in 2019 also eligible to take part. Thirteen teams are expected to participate, and matches will be played in a 4+1 format on three pitches.

With this tournament, we want to give our youngest footballers the chance to experience the atmosphere of a real football competition and gain valuable experience. At the same time, we are already working on plans for the “Lepenec Cup 2027,” which we want to make even bigger and better than the previous edition.

Following the successful organization of the “Lepenec Cup 2026,” which brought together 32 teams from two age groups, our ambition is to attract even more teams next year, expand the competition to include additional age groups and welcome clubs from other countries in the region.

We want to improve the overall organization, sporting activities and experience for the children, coaches and parents.

We are especially pleased about the possibility of establishing a partnership with AFT, as we believe that including our tournament in an organized regional system would be a significant step toward its internationalization.

Our goal is for the “Lepenec Cup 2027” to be another step forward in the tournament’s development and to lay the foundations for an event that will have an important place on the regional football map in the future.

We are familiar with the concept and activities of the Association of Football Tournaments (AFT), and we believe it is a very interesting and valuable initiative for the development of children’s football in the region.

We particularly like the idea of linking tournaments through an organized system, categorizing them according to quality and organizational standards, and providing the opportunity to rank and score teams.

We believe that the AFT tour concept can help create higher-quality competitions and encourage organizers to continually improve their work.

It is very useful for clubs to have a single platform where they can follow tournaments, plan their participation and make contacts with organizers from other countries. We believe this kind of system has the potential to become an important part of the development of youth football in the region.

We believe that working with AFT would be a significant step in the further development of our club and the “Lepenec Cup” tournament. Above all, it would provide greater regional and international visibility, connect us with other organizers and make it easier to build partnerships with clubs abroad.

Including our tournament in the AFT calendar and competition system could increase teams’ interest in participating, while also giving us further motivation to improve our organizational standards. For FK Lepenec, this would also mean new opportunities to share experiences, develop partnerships and promote our youth academy.

It is especially important to us that this kind of partnership gives children the opportunity to meet teams from different footballing backgrounds and gain new sporting experiences. Our goal is not simply to organize a successful tournament, but to become part of a wider sporting community that works together to develop children’s football.

We believe that platforms and tournament networks like these play an exceptionally important role in the development of children’s football. They connect clubs, coaches, organizers and young footballers, facilitate the exchange of experiences and create opportunities for higher-quality, better-organized competitions.

By meeting teams from different clubs, children gain valuable experience, develop their football skills and learn to respect their opponents regardless of the result.

At the same time, coaches have the opportunity to share knowledge and improve their methods, while organizers can raise the quality of their tournaments by following shared standards.

We believe it is especially important in children’s football not to place excessive emphasis on results, but rather on the proper development of young athletes, fair play, socializing and creating a positive sporting environment.

We believe the future of football begins in the youth categories, and that by working together, clubs, organizers and sports institutions can create better conditions for new generations. Our message is simple: results matter, but a child’s development, friendship, respect and love of football always come first.