MUNICH (Germany) – 2026 is the year of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Germany. It’s also the year that sees a flurry of activity and multiple projects within FIBA’s Women in Basketball strategy come to fruition.
One that stands out for its ambition on a truly global scale is the FIBA Women Leaders’ Program Supported by Molten.
The joint program by FIBA and its longest-standing Global Partner is the pinnacle of an initiative that Molten launched in the summer of 2025 under the slogan #KeepPlaying and included activities across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
The program will bring together 10 participants - two from each FIBA region. The outstanding projects of two TIME-OUT alumnae, Montenegro international Milica Jovanovic and recently retired Serbian international Tina Krajisnik, emerged as Europe’s representatives at the end of a rigorous selection process.
A total of 15 female leaders submitted candidacies in Europe, making it the region with the highest number of initial applicants. After a first stage where all candidates submitted videos outlining their projects, a panel of experts selected five finalists and invited them to individual interviews.
The panel based their final verdict on multiple evaluation criteria, including the applicants’ leadership and commitment, and the project’s vision, background, objectives, innovation, feasibility, impact and scalability.
Full Circle - the project submitted by Jovanovic - is an intergenerational mentorship program.
"With Full Circle, I'm tackling some of the biggest challenges facing women's basketball today: First, the retention crisis - by connecting young girls with veteran mentors who show them real pathways as players, coaches, and leaders, we keep them in the sport during those critical years when most quit. Second, we transform how we value retiring players, ensuring their expertise, passion and knowledge stay within basketball instead of disappearing forever," said Jovanovic.
"Ultimately, Full Circle becomes a global template - starting in Montenegro but proving that any country, regardless of size or resources, can build thriving women's basketball culture by connecting generations, transferring knowledge and passion, and creating the visibility and community support that makes the sport impossible to ignore,” she added.
Meanwhile Basketball is for Girls, the project that Krajisnik is developing, was created to empower girls aged 7-18 through basketball, because more than 50 percent of them stop practicing the sport by the age of 17.
"With this project we intend to promote basketball as a sport for girls, through workshop sessions in primary schools, by giving them the opportunity to see the beautiful side of this sport and decide to start their own basketball journey," said Krajisnik.
"Another important part of the project is the development of mentorship guidance and psychological support network for junior players in our country. The goal is to increase retention in basketball for girls in very demanding career stage when they are become professionals."
"I belong to a Serbian national team generation that promoted basketball through our success on the basketball courts for the last 10 years. At this moment, we are ready to give back to the basketball community and young generations in our country, showing them how basketball shaped us as persons and women leaders." - Tina Krajisnik
The two European representatives will join their fellow participants from the other regions in March, when the FIBA Women Leaders’ Program Supported by Molten gets underway.
Everyone will keep developing their individual projects through a series of online webinars until they meet for an in-person final workshop in Berlin, during the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup 2026.
"The FIBA Women Leaders’ Program bridges the gap between knowing how to play basketball and knowing how to make it better, while providing the skills, knowledge and training we need to transition successfully into new roles," said Jovanovic.
"The program offers validation that the years we spent playing basketball have immense value, while connecting us with a global network of women leaders facing similar transitions. Something that I personally have felt is that FIBA’s programs in general give us the credibility to open doors with federations, sponsors, partners." - Milica Jovanovic
Krajisnik agreed: "I find the program very helpful because of the mentorship and navigation it offers through the whole process of creating the idea and the project realization,” she said.
“I feel supported and I can see clearly how this is helping me in my professional transition from the player's side to someone who can help future generations of leaders and champions.”
FIBA