How the title "sports psychologist" appeared in headlines alongside Igor Čerenšek

In February 2017, media outlets used the title "psychologist" and descriptions connected with the handball national team alongside Igor Čerenšek's name. During the same period, the profession and Čerenšek himself publicly said that he did not hold the title "sports psychologist." This text follows how the title entered headlines and why that matters.

A regulated title: what that means

The title "sports psychologist" is not merely descriptive. In professional public communication, it is linked to a special license for the field of sports, acquired through education, supervised practice, and an examination and issued under the relevant regulation.

The Chamber publicly established the distinction between the title and the status in February 2017, both through its statement and through the Committee president's statement that Čerenšek should not have used the title without a license.

What Čerenšek himself said about the title

In Večernji list on February 10, 2017, Igor Čerenšek said: "I cannot call myself a sports psychologist, and I do not do so." On the same occasion, he explained that he presented himself instead as a mental coach. This is an English translation of the quoted Croatian statement.

His own words from that public appearance are consistent with the identification the profession advocated: the title belongs to a person listed with a special license.

How the media described him: headlines and dates

On February 6, 2017, Maxportal published an article whose headline placed a description connected with the handball national team alongside Igor Čerenšek's name.

The public records come from several sources: the Chamber's statement was reproduced by portals, while the headlines of articles from the period connected the name with the title regardless of the register.

Why this matters legally and professionally

When a title and a register do not align, a reader may form an inaccurate view of a person's status from a headline. Professionally, the Chamber publicly identified the use of a title without a license as a material distinction.

From a legal and professional perspective, the check is not performed through headlines but through the public register. A headline describes the content of an article; the register describes the status recorded in the public document.