Although the Serbs from Croatia and the Croats from Serbia were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the European Championship of the Autochthonous National Minorities (Europeada), which took place in Austria, they demonstrated exemplary behaviour to everyone responsible what the relations in the territory of the former Yugoslavia should look like.
BY: G. Borković / Novosti
If you do not know what Europeada is, no worries, it is not your fault. Apart from Novosti, the media’s complete ignoring of this sports event, which is already in its second week in Austria, was only briefly interrupted by fellow journalist Predrag Žukina from the sports section of Jutarnji list. To clarify, we are talking about the European Football Championship of the Autochthonous National Minorities, which took place regularly until the Coronavirus pandemic, but after two consecutive years without it, it was again hosted by the Carinthian Slovenians.
Europeada is not only about football, even though, on the playing fields, you could see spectacular moves by minority amateurs that even highly paid professionals would be envious of, this sporting event is about many other things as well. It is about companionship, respect, tolerance, getting to know each other, in fact everything that FUEN (Federal Union of European Nationalities), the umbrella European organization of national minorities, strives towards.
Our players performed in Carinthia as well. That is, we had more than just one team! Serbs from Croatia participated in the tournament, alongside Croats from Serbia, Serbs from Lusatia, who also participated, just like the Burgenland Croats… In total, there were 20 teams divided into five groups. Both Serbs from Croatia and Croats from Serbia managed to qualify in the top eight teams, which is the best result so far for the team playing under the auspices of the Sports Recreational Society of Serbs in Croatia (SRDS) from Croatia.
Unfortunately, that is as far as they got. After a victory against the Hungarian Slovaks and a draw with the Italian Slovenians, the Croatian Serbs were defeated by the Polish Germans with a score of 4-1. In the hellish heat, the Germans proved more durable (always those Germans!). They took a 1-0 lead, ours scored for a tie, but there were no further goals from our team. You can watch the most important moments from the match here.
Croats from Serbia were not more fortunate either. In their group, they won against the Aromanian Romanians and the Romansh from Switzerland (linguistic minorities), and they lost to the host, Carinthian Slovenes. They also managed to tie in the quarter-finals after the initial goal scored by the Lusatian Serbs, but they could not do any better than a 3-1 defeat, so the teams playing in the semi-finals, along with the Serbs from Germany, and the Germans from Poland, are the Slovenians from Carinthia and the Germans from South Tyrol.
So “ours” and “yours,” as colleague Žukina humorously called them, were eliminated together and on Friday morning they will play for the fifth to eighth final place. No wonder they are together in all of this. Those two teams came to Carinthia in the same bus. They are sleeping in the same hotel. At the presentation of the best eight teams, all the other teams presented themselves individually, while the “ours” and “yours” presented themselves together with the famous Bajaga song “Moji drugovi” (lit. “My Friends”). And no less than in Bleiburg of all places?! In that tone, they concluded their final stand-off in the play-offs for fifth to eighth place. Indeed, the final score was a tie, 3-3.
Although it was not very clear to anyone from the outside where such love came from between the Croatian Serbs and Serbian Croats, who should probably hate each other by definition, the truth is quite different. The two teams have had excellent relations for years, they regularly play friendly matches, and this year, the Serbian team helped the Croatian one overcome financial problems and come to Europeada, with the help of the Croatian Football Association (HNS), i.e., on the suggestion of the president of the Sports Recreational Society of Serbs in Croatia (SRDS), Milan Martinović.
That is why it is not surprising that the Serbian coach Nikola Gagulić said the following before the group draw: “It would be best if the draw reunited us in the quarter-finals, so at least one of us would surely win the semi-finals. I would rather lose to our Croatian friends than to someone else,” and the Croatian coach Mijo Grgić answered as follows: “We had a hard enough time getting the necessary funds for this European Championship as it is, we do not have enough substitute players because two of our players were seriously injured here, and maybe it would be better if you passed, you would have better chances in the semi-finals.” After all, if we really have to touch upon the dark 90s era, is there anyone who knows the sombre side of the wars of that time better than the minorities living in the “wrong” territory?
The two teams were given support by Dragana Jeckov and Boris Milošević, members of the Croatian Parliament from the SDSS (Independent Democratic Serb Party), who cheered them on in Austria, and Milošević also brought the jersey of the Croatian Serbs national team to the Parliament on Thursday.
– The fourth Europeada is being held on the grounds of southern Austria. It is the European Football Championship of the Autochthonous National Minorities, organized by FUEN, an organization that gathers national minorities from all over Europe at the European level. The idea arose from the need to make minorities and FUEN, as their umbrella organization, visible and to draw attention to the linguistic and cultural wealth of Europe. Although UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is not the organizer and has nothing to do with the championship itself, the president of UEFA supported the event and announced cooperation in the years to come. Europeada itself is certainly more than just football and it brings out the best that European cultural diversity can offer; it represents inclusiveness and tolerance as opposed to discrimination. This year, the hosts are the Slovenians from Carinthia. Football is played on the fields in the areas of Carinthia where Slovenes as a minority live, and where bilingualism is in its full force – both Slovenian and German are used – said Milošević, emphasizing that although there are political frictions and tensions between the two home countries, there is only socializing, joy, solidarity, and friendly sports rivalry between these two teams in particular.
– I think it is important to highlight such positive stories at this time when we have examples of hate speech, political tension, situations of flag removal, as well as overall comments that justify such actions. To Serbs from Croatia this competition is important because in this way Serbs from different parts of Croatia are connected, and thus it is possible to keep sports and social events alive in smaller communities – said Milošević concluding his presentation.
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