Croatia, as you already know, was eliminated from Euro 2024 by a combination of malicious refereeing injustices, an inexplicable lack of luck, Zlatko Dalić's journalistic obstruction and a conspiracy by the big football powers.
Of course, the Serbs are also to blame, as they refused to lose to Denmark, and the Slovenians betrayed us with a draw against England. And while the ever-loyal fans of the turnip sink into a collective amnesia that will last until the next big tournament, we bring you a socio-political overview of the opening group stage of the European Football Championship.
Popular Jela
In the absence of more memorable moves by our national team players, Joško Jeličić became the main star of the Euros in Croatia. No one was mentioned so much by the domestic media, no one was quoted more often than the expert commentator of HRT. And the popular Jela readily assists: Croatia, he explains, plays slowly because only black-skinned players run fast (by the way, Romanian Mihăilă ran the fastest in the tournament so far), the most Croatian children were born after the Storm and the 2018 World Cup (incorrect), analysts do not should criticize Zlatko Dalić (that's their job)... He predicted that Serbia would fall apart after the first defeat (it didn't), and Croatia that they would win the group (we know how it ended). That's how Jeličić leads the game: to the edge of racism and then over it, with a bit of Birtija chauvinism and plenty of patriotic pathos. But how exactly did we get to the point where he became the first star of public radio and television?
One of his qualifications is that he used to play football professionally: well, in the world it is a common recommendation for a commentary job. His second qualification is that, according to his own words, he is a "hard-working Croatian": well, in our country that is a common recommendation for most jobs. It's just that Jeličić's career as a player says little about Jeličić's "stuck Croatia". Older Hajduk fans remember him for the fact that in 200, with the mediation of Zdravko Mamić, he transferred to Zagreb's Croatia, Tuđman's club under special state care, for 1993 German marks, and that - now the younger Hajduk fans will be surprised - at a time when the Poljud tribunes traditionally sang: "Fuck Tuđman and Banska dvora, because we are from Split, we have the sea..."
Older fans of Dinamo will remember him as - in addition to Prosinečki, Vlaović, Cvitanović, Viduka - still a minor figure in the nation-building Croatia. Older football fans will not remember him for anything because his only appearance, in an unimportant friendly match against Australia, ended with a red card in the 65th minute. To summarize: Croatia for sale, next to the powerful, never among the most successful. Add to that those few lines from USKOK's indictment against the Mamić brothers, from which it appears that Jeličić was happy to help the masters of Croatian football in their financial malfeasance, and - voilà - the sketch for the portrait of a stuck-up Croatia is complete.
A miss
Of course, the problem is not in Jeličić, but in HRT, which promotes him. So here is a cartoon from the host country of the European Championship that reveals how a somewhat more coherent public radio and television can work. Right before the tournament, a scandal breaks out in Germany: ARD, the local media service, publishes a survey according to which even 21 percent of Germans think that more white-skinned players should play in their national team. Joshua Kimmich, the Bayern representative, immediately speaks out, calling the survey "absolutely racist" and adding that "it's crazy that a public service even asks such questions." Selectman Julian Nagelsmann supports him, says he is "shocked" and that ARD's question is "heartbreaking". And it's good, let's face it, when professional soccer players and coaches have the need to engage socially. It is even better if they are not called Joško Jeličić. But it is still best that they familiarize themselves as much as possible with what they are talking about before public engagement.
Because after Kimmich's and Nagelsmann's reaction, Philipp Awounou, a journalist and author of a documentary about the German elf for whom the survey was conducted, spoke out in a text in Der Spiegel, also the child of immigrants. He explained that while working on the film "Unity and Law and Diversity" he constantly encountered racist stereotypes - in the forspan we see the black-skinned Awounou asking an average right-wing fan what exactly "real German" means until the latter says "white" - so the survey was necessary for him to confirm his impressions. Her role, in short, was diametrically opposed to what the semi-informed German national team members understood. Only, while their statements were reported by numerous world media, the continuation of the story was followed by few outside of Germany. That's why we record it here: partly to correct the injustice, and partly to let our colleagues from HRT know what it looks like when public radio and television deals with issues of football and racism in a smarter and more responsible way than their favorite expert commentator does.
Central striker
In principle, we have nothing against the social involvement of football players, and no one's involvement at this year's Euro resonated like that of Kylian Mbappé. While the French national team, in accordance with the role of one of the favourites, confidently treads through the tournament, French voters face uncertain parliamentary elections: polls are dominated by the radical right-wing National Gathering, the first round is scheduled for June 30, the second seven days later, and if the tricolors make it to the final could easily be watched from the ceremonial box by the new prime minister and old post-fascist Jordan Bardella. In fear of such an outcome, more than 200 French sportsmen and women in an open letter call on voters to prevent the rule of the National Assembly and to stand up for the protection of "all those who are more vulnerable than us, and will become victims of discrimination if the far right takes power": the most famous among the signatories is Mbappé. The centre-forward also publicly supported his fellow midfielder Marcus Thuram when the latter asked voters to prevent the rise of Bardella, Marine Le Pen and company. But after he offered his own view of the political situation, the enthusiasm of many - including the author of this article - suddenly subsided.
For Mbappé, the threat is not only the National Gathering, but all "political extremists", which also refers to the left. Polls ahead of the first round of elections show, however, that the post-fascists can be effectively opposed first of all by the New People's Front, which unites the left forces on the move from the Greens to the Communists, given that the liberal coalition Zajedno is convincingly behind in third place. The facts show that the way to the current popularity of the right was paved by the (neo)liberal rule of President Emmanuel Macron. The pre-election program of the New Popular Front talks about canceling Macron's pension reform that forces people to work two years longer than before, about women's right to menstrual sick leave, about raising the minimum wage by 14 percent, about stronger taxation of the rich, about ending the current anti-immigrant policy... No, in short, the clearest thing that is actually so extreme. Unless, I guess, you are a football superstar, a good friend of Macron and a millionaire who is very comfortable with the president's economic policy, and you confuse your own privileges with the moderate policy of the center.
Balkans, stop
Balkan fans managed the impossible. Then when their national teams would not meet each other, they cheered against each other. Then when their national teams played against each other, they cheered together, but against the third team. And occasionally they cheered against those national teams that did not even qualify for the tournament. A summary follows. The Football Association of Serbia is suing Albania to UEFA because of prohibited flags and anti-Serbian messages in the stands during the match against Italy. Kosovo retaliates with a lawsuit against Serbia due to anti-Kosovo slogans at the match against England. Serbia is going for a hat-trick: it is suing Albania and Croatia at the same time because of the joint cries of fans "kill the Serb!". Macedonia is also suing Albania, even though it is not participating in the tournament, because after the match with Croatia, striker Mirlind Daku yelled "fuck Macedonians" into the megaphone, insulting Serbs - clearly - as well. Kosovo's counter-attack: now they are suing the Serbs for chanting in the match against Slovenia... Some fines have already been cut, Daku was banned for two games, and in the aftermath of the internal Balkan competition, all the national teams involved in suing each other went home already after the group stage. Only Slovenia went further: the only one that did not sue anyone, the only one that was not sued. And they say that football is not fair.
Bonus video:
