Embittered Croatian Fans Ignore World Cup Win

While the Croatian media reported that about a million people watched Croatia's national football team beat Nigeria 2-0 in Russia last Saturday, football fans on the streets, in pubs and in Russia are not nearly so united - with many of them boycotting the games out of continued anger with the country's football federation, the HNS.

Juraj Vrdoljak, a commentator on Telesport, a leading Croatian sports website, said this phenomenon has been going on for years now.

"Fans are boycotting the national team because they refuse to have any emotional connection with players who it is proven were ... part of a corrupted system and who, by doing so, have cast a shadow over their undoubted talent," Vrdoljak told BIRN.

"Fan groups are practising a sort of a quiet boycott of the World Cup in Russia ... and this is also being practised by ordinary football fans," Vrdoljak added.

Although the World Cup plays a great role in the everyday lives of many Croats, some of these disappointed fans are not fainthearted in their quiet rebellion.

Despite the temptation of handsome profits, some Croatian cafe and restaurant owners are even refusing to broadcast the games in their venues.

The daily newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija reported on the owner of one such restaurant in the Dalmatian town of Makarska who has vowed not to screen the games.

"I will boycott the World Football Championship for as long as the ruling clique in the HNS does not end up in jail," this owner told the newspaper.

Some of these alienated fans, including some Croatians living in Dublin in Ireland, have hung banners attacking the HNS and even say they hope the national team loses.

"May you all lose!" was the bitter message written the day before the...