SIPANewS - SIPA - Columbia University

Development
through Football:
A Vision for
the Balkans
BY BEHAR XHARRA AND MARTIN WAEHLISCH
When Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade entered the green of
Maksimir stadium in Zagreb, no one could have foreseen that their
game would change the world. On May 13, 1990, their football
match turned into a battlefield between Croats and Serbs, helping
to trigger the beginning of the war and the end of Yugoslavia. Fans
of Dinamo, known as the Bad Blue Boys, and Red Star, called Delije
(“heroes”), took over the stadium in one of the most brutal football
riots the region had ever seen. Symbolically, their clash expressed
the ethnic tensions reflecting a revival of nationalism in the Balkans.
As elsewhere in the world, football (soccer
to Americans) has both torn people apart and
brought them together. In the Balkans, sports
help to shed light on the past and ongoing
struggles of the region. The war in the former
Yugoslavia lasted nearly a decade. What previously
had been one entity now comprises
eight countries—with Montenegro and Kosovo
emerging as the newest independent republics.
Given the region’s past, could football reconcile
former factions and reverse the Balkans’
negative image abroad? Could, for instance, a
World Cup 2030 organized in southeast Europe
make a difference? Though this vision has challenges,
the resulting benefits are even greater.
Emerging out of decades of conflict, the Balkans
are still characterized by negative perceptions:
violence, crime, nationalism, and hate. And
football continues to reveal misperceptions and
political divergence in the region.
Hooliganism and nationalism have been
nurtured in the stadiums of the Balkans.
Partizan Belgrade was disqualified from the
UEFA Cup 2007/2008, after violence broke
out among the fans in Mostar, Bosnia and
Herzegovina. In September 2009, a French
fan of Toulouse died from attacks by hooligans
in Belgrade. In October 2010, the Italy
vs. Serbia EURO 2012 qualifying match in
Genoa was cancelled due to riots. In February
2011, Serbia’s president Boris Tadić publicly
acknowledged that hooliganism is a security
problem and asked for a stop to the violence.
Additionally, according to the 2010 Gallup
Balkan Monitor survey, more than 40 percent of
people in the region regard at least one of their
neighbors as hostile. One notable example is
Macedonia’s dispute with Greece over its official
name, which has heightened nationalistic
frictions. The stadiums in Skopje and Athens
are arenas for hostilities, where both Greek
and Macedonian flags burn when the opposing
teams meet.
Another notable example occurred during the
Euro qualifying matches in Albania, when fans
of Albanian descent from across the Balkans
gathered in the stadium to express their feelings
of national unity. When the Albanian and Greek
teams played, fans covered the stadium with a
large Albanian red-black, double-headed eagle
SIPA NEWS 29