The Match That Started a War? Dinamo Zagreb and the Conflicts of Croatian Nationalism

The Assistant Professor of Football: Soccer, Culture, History.

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In front of the Stadium Maksimir, home to the World Cup's 3rd place finisher, Croatia, and to its biggest club, Dinamo Zagreb, a large memorial put up by Dinamo's fan group Bad Blue Boys is dedicated "to Dinamo fans for whom the war started on May 13 1990, and ended by laying their lives on the altar of the Croatian homeland.” That war is the Croatian war for independence, part of the larger bloody Yugoslavian war of the early 1990s. And the May 13th they mean, was the day of Dinamo played Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) in Zagreb, a match that descended into chaos and violence on and off the field.
With Dario Brentin, researcher and well-published author on nationalisms, sports, culture and politics of the Balkans, we'll trace Dinamo's and Croatia's history to today and ask not how soccer can push against nationalism - but actually construct it.
HELPFUL LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Dario Brentin on twitter
TV footage from the 1990 game between Dinamo Zagreb and Crvena Zvezda

Bad Blue Boys in Action

Bad Blue Boys for Ukraine - recent video

War Memorial at Maksimir Stadium
Maksimir Stadium on Stadiumguide

HŠK Građanski Zagreb

3 Minute History: The Yugoslavian War

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Artwork for The Assistant Professor of Football is by Saige Lind
Instrumental music for this podcast, including the introduction track, is by the artist Ketsa and used under a Creative Commons license through Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/