Modrić unites and divides a nation

World Cup star still due in court charged with perjury

by James Montague in Zagreb
WORLD SOCCER, September 2018

As soon as the day had broken, rain fell heavily and steadily in Zagreb. But that didn’t matter. Tens of thousands of people still streamed into Ban Jelacic Square six hours before kick-off. A stage and a big screen had been set up, as it had all through Croatia’s incredible run in the 2018 World Cup.

Big crowds had greeted Croatia’s victory against the hosts Russia, on penalties, in the quarter-finals, and even more arrived for the semi-final comeback against England, celebrating wildly with flares and smoke bombs. But this would be the biggest and the most important. This, after all, was the World Cup Final. 

The bars and cafes that surround the capital’s main square were full of fans who had come not just from around the country but from across the world. The diaspora, many of whom were children when they left the country during the ruinous Yugoslav Wars of the early 1990s, had returned from Australia, Germany, Austria and beyond. All were draped in scarves and the iconic red-and-white check found on Croatia’s flag.

“As soon as we beat England I was like, right, I’m getting a ticket,” said Chris Nadj, a 27-year-old plumber from Australia, who was singing songs with hundreds of others in the main square. He had flown 27 hours to be here, paying £1,750 for a ticket.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” continued Nadj, as fans let off smoke bombs nearby. “How could I miss this?”

Many had travelled from Germany, which took a large number of Croats on a guest-worker programme in the 1970s. “It was my duty to come,” said Zvonimir Barisic, who was born in Germany and had travelled to Zagreb with his wife and two children.

“We just had to come. We will write history if we win or not.” Half the family wore Luka Modrić’s name on the back of their Croatian national-team jerseys. “He is a legend,” added Barisic.

In fact, Modrić’s name was everywhere – something that a month earlier would have been unthinkable for most Croats.

The country’s football team has long been seen as an important symbol of national unity, ever since Croatia’s first post-independence president, Franjo Tudjman, attached huge political importance to their appearance at the 1998 World Cup, just three years after the end of the Croatian War of Independence. Croatia made it to the semi-finals, where they lost to France, but the defeat was seen as a victory in helping cement a collective identity at home, as well as securing the fledgling nation’s place in the wider world. 

Before this summer’s World Cup, however, the national team was doing the opposite; dividing rather than uniting the country, with a corruption scandal managing to poison the relationship between the team, its players and the public at large. 

The scandal centred around Zdravko Mamić, who for years had effectively controlled Croatia’s biggest club, Dinamo Zagreb, and especially the transfers of some of its best players to big European clubs. His influence spread to the Croatian Football Federation and even politics, with the country’s president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic – whose presence at Croatia games in Russia gave her international fame – admitting that Mamić had helped sponsor some of her election campaign. 

But Mamić’s web of corruption started to unravel when former Croatian international Eduardo Da Silva sued him and exposed his practice of signing young players to unfair and ruinous contracts. 

Mamić, it emerged, had been taking a cut of any signing-on fees, while players were obliged to pay a percentage of their wages to him until the end of their careers. Eventually Mamić was taken to court and convicted of tax offences connected to the skimming of player’s contracts. 

The trial was moved from Zagreb, where he was connected to several judges, to the city of Osijek, and at the centre of proceedings was Real Madrid star Modrić. During last year’s trial it emerged that, of the £10 million the midfielder was due as a signing-on fee when he joined Tottenham Hotspur in 2008, Modrić received £1.7m. The rest went to Mamić. 

Modric, however, changed his statement to the police and when presented with his statement in court he said: “That...that I’ve never said...that it...that...that it was drawn up afterwards. 

“I told you then that I couldn’t remember when it had been done.” 

The whole thing aired on TV and Modrić was widely mocked and disparaged for it. In March he was charged with perjury and still faces a five-year prison sentence. Mamić was found guilty and sentenced to six years but absconded before he could be taken to jail and is currently on the run in neighbouring Bosnia. 

Modrić, who won his fourth Champions League title in May and can lay claim to being Croatia’s greatest-ever player, became a public hate figure. When the tournament began, some Croatia fans even wore shirts with one of Modrić’s now much-derided answers from that trial printed on the back: “I don’t remember.” 

According to Juraj Vrdoljak, a columnist with Croatian website Telesport: “Modrić was the most divisive figure in Croatian football. On the one hand he is the symbol of this run, on the other hand he epitomises the whole thing with Mamić. 

“People see he can use his power and status to change things. Instead, he joined forces with the man who ran his career. 

“He had a chance to turn things over but stuck with him.” 

Mamić’s trial had ramifications far outside sport and seemed to represent an intractable corruption at the heart of a heavily divided Croatian society that joined the European Union in 2007 but has yet to see many material benefits. 

Since independence, the country has lost almost 10 per cent of its population as its young people flee to Germany or Austria for a better life. But the memories and anger of that trial faded as Croatia battled through the World Cup in Russia; through a tough group stage, where they demolished Argentina 3-0, and then beat Denmark on penalties in the knockout stage. Modrić’s name returned to the back of many fan’s shirts, too. 

“Modrić is not just a hero here; he is like a God,” said Mislav Dusic, a Croatian who lives in Austria, shouting over loud chanting in a bar on the edge of the square where hundreds of people were singing “Lijepa lisi” (you are beautiful), an anthem by ultra-nationalist Croatian singer Thompson. 

An hour before kick-off the rain stopped, rock music began on a stage set up in the square and the sun emerged. 

Every space of the square was filled as rock stars and pop singers belted out patriotic tunes. Soon, the crowd was silenced as France took the lead, before exploding in to life with flares and smoke bombs as they equalised shortly afterwards. But as the game ebbed away, resignation and pride were all they had left. After the final whistle, when France had won 4-2, the crowd cheered and applauded their players. There was no anger or recrimination. 

“We didn’t give up,” said Dinko Regula, a former professional water polo player watching in a bar just off the square nearby. “Even if you are small, but play with your heart, you can make anything happen. Modrić is the hero, but let’s see, let’s cool down.” 

Croatia, added Regula, needed more justice, not less. Even being a star player for Real Madrid should not, he believed, give you immunity from that. “This is the message for the politicians,” he said, as a procession of cars blared their horns in celebration behind him. 

“Look at this. Look what we can do. Together we could move mountains.” 

The next day half a million people descended on the streets of Zagreb, an incredible number given that Croatia’s total population is four million. Part of the city was shut down as the team bus made a slow journey to Ban Jelacic Square, where the players were presented as heroes. 

But it wasn’t quite the moment of catharsis and unity it could have been. They were joined on stage by the singer Thompson, who gained his notoriety by singing ultra-nationalist songs during and after the Croatian War of Independence. 

One of his famous hits begins with the chant “Za dom spremni”, a chant used by the Ustase – Croatia’s World War Two Nazi-puppet regime who were responsible for the extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jews, Roma and Serbs. 

And while the crowd appeared lukewarm to his appearance, there was no doubting that a significant number of supporters still eulogise the symbols of the Ustase era. The Ustase flag was a regular fixture in the days before and after the Final, and there were several pro-Ustase chants and Nazi-style salutes. 

While there is no doubting that reaching a World Cup Final is an incredible achievement, by itself it will not reform Croatian football and society. In fact, it might provide proof to those in power that their system works. 

“The Mamić influence is still there because the whole system is based on people he installed in the FA,” says Telesport’s Vrdoljak. One example is that of Croatian FA chief executive Damir Vrbanovic, who was sentenced to three years in prison as part of the Mamić trial but was seen next to the Croatian president in the VIP lounge during the World Cup. 

“Just because Mamić is not in Zagreb to manage his system in person doesn’t mean a lot,” adds Vrdoljak. “It’s still the Zdravko Mamić system, it’s still the Zdravko Mamić federation.” 

While Mamić remains on the run, Modrić’s perjury trial is still to come. Many have called for him to be pardoned but many more want justice to prevail, regardless of who he is – although no one believes he will face any jail time. 

“He’ll likely get a suspended sentence,” believes Vrdoljak. “People are still euphoric in a lot ways but the dust is settling down at the moment. 

“The problems are still present and the run to the Final didn’t actually do much to deal with those problems.” 

However it goes there is one thing that everyone can agree on. For a brief few hours one day in July, Croatians were on top of the world. And no one can take that away from them. WS