Croatia’s World Cup success remains clouded by corruption scandal
Croatia are the feel-good story of World Cup, but on-pitch success shouldn’t distract from the ongoing political cloud surrounding the team.
The definitive image of Croatia’s World Cup run so far is that of captain Luka Modric stepping up to take his penalty in the shootout against Denmark. Only minutes before, the Real Madrid midfielder had missed another spot kick to win the game in extra time. In dispatching his penalty straight down the middle, Modric demonstrated the underrated aspects of this Croatian outfit. An ability to put things that have happened in the past behind them and focus on the present.
A lot has happened in Croatian soccer since Vatreni set out on the road to Russia, with a long history of corruption within the Croatian soccer federation coming to the fore in the last 12 months, further alienating fans who are already angry after decades of misbehavior.
The root of this corruption is federation vice president and Dinamo Zagreb president Zdravko Mamic. A Dinamo fan, Mamic has been steadily gaining power in Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatian Football Federation since 1993. Since gaining the presidency at Zagreb and the vice presidency in the Croatian federation, he has used the club and the federation for financial gain, actions which have made him the most hated man in Croatian soccer.
Despite only holding the role of vice president, Mamic is seen as the real controlling force of the sport. Through his position at Dinamo and the federation, Mamic ensures the most promising talents in Croatian soccer must agree personal deals with him if they wish to succeed. The deals ensure the player must share half their earnings with Mamic for the rest of their careers. In many cases, these players were represented by Mamic’s son, Mario, whose client list included high profile internationals such as Modric, Mario Manduzkic and Matteo Kovacic.
Mamic has also used his influence to get certain Dinamo players he wants to sell selected for national team duty, even if such selections come at the cost of results. When Zagreb receive an offer for a player, Mamic ensures a clause in their contract entitles them to half the transfer fee, before said player sends the money back to Mamic.
Few players refuse Mamic’s offers and those who do often live to regret it. Andrej Kramacic is one such player who refused Mamic’s approaches and it nearly ruined his career. Kramacic was benched at Dinamo Zagreb if he showed the slightest sign of bad form. When he returned from loan after an impressive spell with Lokomotiva, coaches selected other players over him. When Kramacic tried to leave Dinamo, the club rejected offers from clubs from abroad.
Kramacic eventually went public with his grievances with the club in 2013 and forced a move away. Since then his career has slowly recovered with the 23-year-old featuring for the national side in Russia. For fans, he has become something of a hero and furthered some sections’ hatred for players who made deals with Mamic.
Mamic and his brother were arrested in 2015 on corruption charges and were sentenced to six-and-half-year and four-year sentences respectively. The guilty verdict has dragged both Modric and Dejan Lovren into court cases, with Modric accused of perjury and Lovren accused of false testimony. Both could face jail time if found guilty.
These legal proceedings have been hanging over the Croatian camp for three years now. Croatian hooligans have purposely attempted to cause trouble at Croatia games to ruin the reputation of the Croatian federation in Europe and expose Mamic’s doings internationally. In 2016, Croatia fans threw flares on the pitch during a match against Turkey.
It seemed to have a real effect on the national team. They disappointed at Euro 2016 and were largely unimpressive during the World Cup qualifiers, scoring just 15 goals through the whole campaign and finishing second in the group behind Iceland. This was largely blamed on the manager Ante Cacic, who was chosen by Davor Suker mainly because he was a yes man. Cacic was ousted in September and current manager Zlatko Dalic was hired. Dalic has made his name coaching Saudi Arabia and his only previous experience in Croatian football was with the U-21s as assistant coach.
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Nonetheless, Dalic has managed to keep his squad’s attention away from the problems off the pitch and ensured the team crossed the finishing line with an easy World Cup qualifying playoff win over Greece. With the arrest of Mamic, it’s tempting to suggest the chaos and corruption surrounding the national team is finally subsiding and that this World Cup run symbolizes a new dawn for Croatian soccer. Unfortunately, we’re still a long way from that. Fans are still persisting with their boycotts of the World Cup and though Mamic is gone, there is still a lot of deep-rooted corruption within Croatian soccer.
In a interview following Croatia 2-0 win over Nigeria, Croatian journalist Juraj Vrdoljak said that the “deeply-rooted corrupt system that Mamic had set up can continue to function in a metastasising form, even if it is formally beheaded.
“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.”
Croatia could reach the semifinal for just the second time in their history with a win over Russia on Saturday. Such an achievement would normally ensure legendary status for the team and their manager. In the case of this generation, a generation which contains Croatia’s greatest ever player in Modric, according to Ivan Rackitic, it’s unlikely their success on the pitch will ever distract from what they’ve done off it.