Football club Mladost DG deserves to be written about as a sports phenomenon. It was founded in 2019, and in May 2023 it celebrates its historic placement in the Meridianbet First Football League.
For a sport like football, such examples are rare, so Mladost DG has something to brag about after they put an end to the fight for first league status in the weekend round before the end of the competition in the Second League.
- From the first day, the goal was placement in the First League, but none of us believed that it would happen so quickly - says Mladost coach Marko Šćepanović.
Therefore, the mission was fulfilled much earlier than expected, but it is not a coincidence.
- Mladost was created through cooperation with FK Podgorica and it was planned to give young people a chance through the Second League. Then that cooperation was broken, the paths diverged, so we decided to try, we saw a chance to do something important with good work.
Mladost spent two years in the second tier of our football. Last year she played a barrage to fill the 1st CFL, this time she surpassed that result and left behind Berane, Bokelj, Kom... And not everything was ideal, far from it.
- In the half-season, we were in fifth place with a big gap behind the competition. During the break, as many as 16 players left us, ten came - we had a difficult task to overcome that and to build a team. We made excellent preparations for the winter, I was overjoyed, but already in the first match we lost against Podgorica 3:0, after which I was close to leaving the bench. Why? Because I felt that I was responsible - says Šćepanović.
Nevertheless, the young 40-year-old expert stayed, gave the team and himself a new chance and the season turned around.
- The duel against Komo followed, before which I told the club leaders that there was no such money or anything that would force me to stay if we lost. We played excellently, won 3:1, immediately after that we were better than Otranto in Ulcinj 1:0, where we won "on a fight". And those are the two games that I can say turned our season around. Confidence grew, we started to show what I knew we could do and to win in every way - emphasizes the former striker of Budućnost i Mladost, an international player in Hungary, Iran, Albania...
It is also important to note that Mladost DG reached the First League with a young team whose average age is "spoilt" by striker Bogdan Milić, midfielder Željko Krstović and goalkeeper Ljubomir Đurović.
- This is what we underlined as a must from the first day - that the main team should be made up of young footballers, eager to prove themselves. Of course, the combination of youth and experience is almost always a good combination, and it was shown in our case. We grew as a team through the second part of the season, had a fantastic series of results and deservedly reached the First League - says Šćepanović.
Mladost DG defeated Igalo 2:1 on Sunday. It turned out that she didn't have to, because Berane lost to Bokelj and promoted a new first division team.
- I told the boys before the match with Igalo that I am not interested in anything else but this match of ours. I wanted us to wonder, as has been the case in recent months, and to celebrate success as it should. And we succeeded in that - added Šćepanović.
The first league is definitely the second level compared to the second league caravan. Youth DG wants to step up...
- We have plans, we have already taken some steps, but the first and most important thing is that I remain the coach. This should also be resolved in the next seven days, because both sides want the cooperation to continue. And if everything goes as we imagined, Mladost will not deviate from the strategy - reinforcements will be mostly young players who have experience playing in the First League. Arsenal and Jedinstvo, who are having an excellent season in the elite, show that it can. We certainly do not want to have an episodic role, but for Mladost to be a standard member of the CFL - Šćepanović concluded.
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