The miracle of Croatia

Rohit Mahajan in Chandigarh 

A country of 41 lakh people reaching the football World Cup final is surprising news, but Croatia has been a very surprising country in the world of sport. Croatia won five gold, three silver and two bronze medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics; they had won five medals, including three gold, at the 2012 London Olympics.

Croatia reaching the World Cup final is staggering, but they produced a bigger miracle in the World Cup of 1998, reaching the semifinals and ending up third — merely three years after the country emerged victorious from the civil war that splintered Yugoslavia into Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and  Slovenia. In fact, it was only in 1998 that Croatia's territory was fully restored to it. 

Football had a role to play in the struggle for freedom. In 1990, a riot at a football match in Zagreb in unified Yugoslavia hardened passions of Croats against the dominant Serbs. The Croat team of Dinamo Zagreb was pitted against the Serb team of Red Star Belgrade. The Croat fans suffered at the hands of a Yugoslav police force dominated by Serbs. Tensions rose — in another football match the same year, between teams from the Croatian city of Split and the Serb city of Belgrade, Croatian fans burned the Yugoslav flag, raising chants proclaiming the freedom of Croatia.

Sporting nation

Croatia declared its independence in 1991. It inherited the communist-era enthusiasm for sport, which was valued for health and propaganda benefits. A 2011 study recorded that 4,00,000 Croat people were active in sports — that's 10 per cent of the total population. All this adds up very well. Croatia has won a total of 15 gold in Summer and Winter Olympics. Goran Ivanisevic is their most famous tennis player, current world No. 5 Marin Cilic is also Croatian, and the tennis team has been a Davis Cup winner. Croatia has also contributed a number of stars to NBA basketball.

Though sporting infrastructure is inadequate by Western standards, they have long-standing coaching and scouting systems in place in football. The club Dinamo Zagreb has 13 representatives in the Croatian squad of 22 at the World Cup. It continues to churn out top-class players. Two key players, Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric, play for Spain's top clubs, as does another midfielder, Mateo Kovacic. Mario Mandzukic and Ivan Perisic play in Italy, Domagoj Vida in Turkey, and Danijel Subasic plays for Monaco. Croatian football players are highly prized. 

Croatia may rank 125th in the world in population, but in the world of sport, it has been a strong power right from its independence.