Croatia
(Republika Hrvatska) is a country at the crossroads of the
Mediterranean and Central Europe.
With its capital is Zagreb, Croatia shares
land borders with Slovenia and Hungary on the north, Bosnia and Herzegovina on the south and east, Montenegro on
the south, Serbia on the
east and a sea border with Italy to the west. Croatia includes six World Heritage
sites and eight national parks.
Probably the earliest known description of a sporting event in Croatia is from the 18th century (1764). It referred to the regatta of two fishing boats representing the cities of Split and Makarska, from an islet near Milna on the island of Brac to the Split harbour. It was the Makaran boat that triumphed! One of truly fascinating exploits in which Croatian mariners participated is related to ARCTIC EXPEDITION in 1872-1874, organized by the Austrian-Hungarian state.
The first international football (soccer) match where Croatia participated with its national name had been held in 1907 (with Czechia). The Croatian Sporting Union was founded in Zagreb in 1909. In 1911 the Croatian representation participated under its flag (and with its national name) on the European championship in Torino. In 1912 Franjo Gregl was the European champion in bicycling... Following are recent famous sportsmen with world-wide recognition: Franjo Mihalic (athlete), Zvonimir Boban and Davor Suker, (football players), Veljko Rogosic (swimmer), Perica Vlasic and Matija Ljubek (rowers), George Chuvalo (boxer), Kresimir Cosic, Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc and Dino Radja (basketball), Goran Ivanisevic and Zeljko Franulovic (tennis), Janica and Ivica Kostelic (ski), Val and Sandra Bezic (figure-skating)... to name a few.
HISTORY OF SOCCER (FOOTBALL) IN CROATIA
The earliest clubs were founded before World War I - HASK and PNISK in 1903, Hajduk and Gradjanski in 1911, etc. The Croatian Football Federation was founded in 1912.
After World War I, the Croatians played a major part in the founding of the first football federation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later named the Football Association of Yugoslavia, and its headquarters were initially in Zagreb before they were moved to Belgrade in 1929. During this time, the talented Ico Hitrec played football.
During World War II, the Croatian Football Federation joined FIFA as a representative of the Independent State of Croatia. After the war, football was resumed in the second Yugoslavia and at this point several other major clubs were founded - today's Dinamo, NK Rijeka and NK Osijek, to name a few. Over the following decades, the Croatian clubs performed well in the Yugoslav First League and the Yugoslav Cup. Hajduk and Dinamo formed one half of the Big Four of Yugoslav football (the other two being FK Partizan and FK Crvena Zvezda).
After Croatia gained independence in the 1990s, the football federation was reconstituted and joined the international associations. The Golden Generation of Croatian football arose in the following few years and peaked with the third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
FANS
The Croatian football fans organize in various fan groups such as the Bad Blue Boys (Dinamo), Torcida (Hajduk), Armada (Rijeka), Kohorta (Osijek), etc. On the international games, the Croatian fans usually wear the checkerboard colors red and white, as they are on the Croatian coat of arms.
BAD BLUE BOYS
Although Dinamo has had a large army of followers throughout its history, its first organized group of followers emerged in 1986 in Split. The most hardcore and faithful followers, copying similar groups abroad, formed the Bad Blue Boys. As legend has it, the name was inspired by then very popular 1983 film Bad Boys starring Sean Penn. Throughout the Zagreb boroughs, BBB chapters emerged, and at the matches one could see banners from various parts of the city (like Maksimir, Travno, and Dugave). At first, the supporters privately organized visits to Dinamo's matches in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Nis, Podgorica, and Skopje. At the start of the 1990s, the first organized BBB Fan Club was established and quickly became popular despite various problems.
Torcida Split is a supporter organization for the Croatian football club Hajduk Split. Founded in 1950, they are the oldest organized group of supporters in Europe. They named themselves after the Brazilian Torcida because they had made an impression on the Hajduk supporters with their performance at the Football World Cup 1950. They have many members not only from Croatia but also from around the world. Their main rivals are Bad Blue Boys, supporters of Dinamo Zagreb. Torcida is considered to be the most numerous supporters' group in Croatia.
Armada is a football supporters club for NK Rijeka. The name of the fan club was given in 1987 at a bar in the "Ri" shopping mall in Rijeka, and the first game attended by the Armada was the Final of the Yugoslav football cup against Hajduk Split in Beograd on the 9th of May 1987. The newly formed supporters group named themselves after the Spanish Armada because of the strength they showed in their support. Last year they celebrated 18 years of existence and the best gift the club was able to repay them with was winning the Croatian Cup. Their mottos are: Sami protiv svih - Alone against everybody, and Krepat, ma ne molat - Die but not give up. Armada's mascot is a shark.
