Scotland fears repeat of Balkan “hate match” at Euro 2020
Serbia and Croatia could play each other at the European Championships in Scotland next summer, and this threatens to result in major unrest.
The British Sun newspaper writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Thousands of fans will gather in the city for the match on June 23. Serbian and Croatian fans hate each other. They don't play each other very often, but this could turn out to be a big problem at Hampden (stadium in Glasgow - ed.), if the Serbs break through (to the championship, -ed.). The match will be played in the evening, so fans of both sides will be drinking all day. The ultras are organized and they will even take on the police,” the article says.
If this forecast comes true, then 30 years later the “hate match” that began the Serbian-Croatian war will be repeated.
On May 13, 1990, fans of Croatian Dynamo and Red Star Belgrade met at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb. The match almost immediately turned into a mass brawl, both in the stands and on the field. Fire trucks drove around the stadium and tried to pour water on the fighters. More than 100 people were seriously injured.
Sports competitions still awaken mutual hatred in Serbs and Croats 30 years later. In August of this year, in the city of Knin, Croats beat Serbs simply because they were watching the match on TV and cheering for their team.
In response, fans in Belgrade installed a T-55 tank in front of the Rajko Mitic stadium, which became a symbol of the Serbian victory over the Croats in the bloody siege of Vukovar in 1991. The car was decorated with the red and white symbols of FC Red Star.
In response, Dinamo Zagreb fans installed a tractor in front of the entrance to their Maksimir stadium as a symbol of the expulsion of thousands of civilians from the Serbian Krajina in 1995.
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