On March 22, numerous national football teams from Southeast Europe play in in the qualifications for the FIFA World football championship in Brazil in 2014. Many of the matches will be played under strict security measures (Serbia vs. Croatia) or even with no audience (Hungary vs. Romania, Bulgaria vs. Malta), due to the history of clashes or racist behavior of local fans.Sport and politics in the Balkan region have never been strictly separated, as it has been shown before, during and after sport matches before.
Clashes in Kranj, Slovenia, after the water-polo match between Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro in 2003:
Clashes after the match between
Croatia-Turkey in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2008:
Clashes at the match between
BiH-Croatia in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2007:
Since clashes between the fans
of the teams from former Yugoslav countries occurred almost regularly
in the previous years before and after the matches, officials from Serbia
and Croatia used traditional and social media ahead of March 22 football
match to send the same message: „Let us play football and leave the past
behind“. As
regards to wider public some say that the the fans' passionate
performances should be subdued to show that fans can behave in a civilized
manner, whereas others are supporting spreading hatred and showing once
again violence in the stands. Here are some of the comments:
An
article on history of football and nationalism in the
region:
" Kada se u petak (22.3.) zakotrlja lopta na Maksimiru, nekoliko miliona
ljudi rizikovaće srčani udar gledajući nešto što bi trebalo da bude samo
– igra. Posljednja takva „igra“ iz 1999. godine praćena je ogromnim
nacionalnim nabojem. Tada je na Maksimiru bilo 2:2, ali je zapravo
pobijedila Jugoslavija jer se plasirala na Evropsko prvenstvo. Drugi gol
za Hrvatsku postigao je Mario Stanić, kojeg smo pitali da li su se i
koliko tenzije smirile od 1999. godine? „Teško da se nešto može
promijeniti kad, evo, Vi i ja sada opet razgovaramo o prošlosti. Problem
Balkana je teret prošlosti koji nosimo na leđima i koji nam ne
dozvoljava da gledamo u sadašnjost i budućnost“, kaže Stanić koji danas
piše uticajan sportski blog".
more on the following link:
An article on Croatia-Serbia
relationships specifically:
"18 GODINA nakon završetka rata koji je navodno počeo na maksimirskom
stadionu i 14 godina poslije dvoboja s krnjom Jugoslavijom, Hrvatska će
prvi put igrati protiv samostalne Srbije".
A vox-pop in Belgrade
streets about what their citizens expect from the match:
On his official page Head coach of the
Croatian National football team, Igor Stimac published a prayer for the victory of his team:
On the web site http://www.igraliste.hr columnist and former footballer in the Croatian national team Mario Stanic recommends that football should be above politics.
The most famous betting shop is William Hill gives a
quota of 5.00 on Serbia.
Neither the domestic betting shops are favouring the „Eagles
team“: the biggest line of betting shops Mozzart gives Serbia quota of 5.00 and
similar quotas are given also by other domestic betting shops.
In Bosnia
and Herzegovina is also an euphoric atmosphere. National football teams from BiH and Greece
will meet this evening at the Bilino polje stadium in Zenica, at the match
for the qualifications for the World Championship in Brazil in 2014; large
number of fans have already arrived in Zenica from all over BiH and abroad and
police has increased security measures around the stadium.
Arrival of "Bosnian Dragons" at Zenica hotel Dubrovnik
