(Newswire.net— July 8, 2018) — In a dramatic game on Saturday, Croatia defeated the Russian national soccer team after a penalty shootout. Beside better play, Croatia demonstrated more stamina and fighting spirit after more than two hours on the field and rightfully claimed victory.
But Domagoj Vida, the Croatian player who scored twice in his team’s World Cup quarterfinal win against Russia, demonstrated a bit more than just a healthy competitive spirit adding a political comment praising Ukraine that has nothing to do with the game, but has serious issues with Russia.
With former squadmate Ognjen Vukojevic, Vida recorded a video in which he chanted “Slava Ukraini” (Glory to Ukraine). The slogan was originally chanted by anti-Russian Ukrainian nationalists during and after the 2014 Maidan coup after which Russia annexed Crimea.
“It was a joke,” Vida later told Russian news reporters. “This victory is for Croatia. No politics,” Vida told Sports.ru. Asked if he was worried Russians might not understand the joke, the Croatian player acted surprised. “Why wouldn’t they,” he said. “I like Russian people. It was just a joke,” Vida continued explaining that since he played for Ukraine’s soccer team Dynamo Kyiv from 2012 to 2018 before moving to Besiktas, he has many friends in Ukraine.
Former chess megastar and opposition leader Garry Kasparov has used Croatia’s dramatic win over Russia at the FIFA World Cup to promote his political views. Congratulating the Croatian team for winning the game, Kasparov wished “the free world” the same stamina in the ‘fight’ against the Russian president as the Croatians showed on the field.
Mixing sport and politics is inevitable especially in competitions of such magnitude as the FIFA World Cup. A week ago, when two Swiss players marked their win over Serbia with an ‘Albanian eagle’ salute, showing their support for the breakaway region of Kosovo, which Serbia, Russia, Spain and many other countries don’t recognize as an independent state. It is recognized by the United States, though, which Kosovo Albanians see as patrons.
FIFA subsequently fined Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri, both of whom share an ethnic Albanian descent, an equivalent of $10,000 each which is considered a symbolic fine for displaying political messages on the field. On the same day, FIFA fined the Serbian Football Association $54,700 for fans displaying discriminatory banners and throwing objects during the game against Switzerland.
Shaqiri has Switzerland citizenship but he clearly showed for which country he would rather play as he marked his right shoe with the flag of the breakaway region Kosovo. The Swiss flag remains on the less dominant left foot since Shaqiri is right-handed. The message was clear – he plays for Switzerland but scores for Kosovo and Albania. Switzerland was eliminated from the World Cup 2018 competition in their next game against Sweden which was considered no match for Switzerland’s team. Some experts claim that Switzerland lost because Shaqiri and Xhaka already reached their primary objective, to score against Serbia.
The Polish Football Association was fined $10,100 and given a warning by FIFA’s disciplinary committee on Saturday for a discriminatory banner during Senegal’s 2-1 win over Poland in Moscow, ABC News reports. The Serbian Footbal Association demanded explanation from FIFA why they get five times more to pay compared to the Polish Association for the same conduct, but so far the FIFA stayed silent.
The FIFA Disciplinary Committee fined the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) over $70,000 for violating media and marketing rules at the World Cup in Russia, the FIFA press service said on Thursday. Croatian team members were seen with unauthorized beverages, the Ozujsko beer, which is an official sponsor of Croatian national soccer team.
That fine over the non-authorized beverages is approximately 7 times the fine FIFA hit the Russian FA with after Russian fans unfurled a neo-Nazi banner at a match against Uruguay earlier in the tournament.