Croatian
sport enjoys international prestige and respect thanks largely to a
series of sporting achievements dating back to earlier years, but
also to the smooth blending of Croatia into the World Olympic
movement as an independent community.
Croatia is country, like most of the
Eastern European countries, that gives a great importance to sport
and sports activities. Dating back from the beginning of last
century, Croatian man and women are involved in various sport
activities. There are various sport clubs all over Croatia, in small
as well as larger places, towns and cities.
Best known sportsman and sportwomen
from Croatia are Goran Ivanisevic (photo) the Wimbledon winner,
Janica and Ivica Kostelic - skiing champions, Croatian Handball
Team, as well as Croatian Basketball and football ( soccer) teams (
just to mention few...)
Like
most of the world, Croatians are football crazy. They also follow
basketball pretty fervently (ever since the late, great Drazen
Petrovic made a big splash in the NBA) and, believe it or not, they
like kickboxing too, since they have one of the world’s best in
Mirko Filipovic.
But soccer is still the king of
Croatian sport.
Split’s team, Hajduk, has been around since 1911 and is one of the
country’s most successful clubs. They won Yugoslav championships
many times over the years and became Croatian champions in ’92, ’94
and ’95 and ’01 Zagreb’s soccer team is called Dinamo and their
supporters are known as the Bad Blue Boys. They play at Maksimir
Stadium, just outside the main city
Croatia is the only country in the
world with no mountain above 2,000 meters (though with probably the
most beautiful mountain in Europe - VELEBIT) and with world’s top
skier -
Janica Kostelic.
Drazen Petrovic (you can see his
beautiful monument in the Olympic park in Lausanne, Switzerland),
elected the world’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. He was very
popular throughout Europe.
Croatia is an important European team
and won third place in the 1998 World Championship in France. Many
Croatian football stars, such as Zvonimir Boban, Alen Boksic and
Davor Suker, who used to play for other European teams.
Probably the earliest known description of a sporting event in
Croatia is from the 18th century (1764). It referred to the regatta
of two fishing boats representing the cities of Split and Makarska,
from an islet near Milna on the island of Brac to the Split harbour.
It was the Makaran boat that triumphed!
The first international football
(soccer) match where Croatia participated with its national name had
been held in 1907 (with Czechia). The Croatian Sporting Union was
founded in Zagreb in 1909.
The oldest Croatian soccer club is
Backa, founded in Subotica in Backa in 1901, playing in the then
Croatian league. It is also the oldest soccer club in this part of
Europe.
Croatian Sport Links:
We also collected some
sport links for various croatian sport websites for you to further
explore. Some of the clubs are larger, some are just small clubs.
There are some official sport info for various Croatian sport
association.
Taekwon-do club "DAN-GUN"
(Tae Kwon Do klub "DAN-GUN") - Official "DAN-GUN" homepage.
Contains information on club’s activities, members, trainers,
competitions and achievements.
Croatian
Like
most of the world, Croatians are football crazy. They also follow
basketball pretty fervently (ever since the late, great Drazen
Petrovic made a big splash in the NBA) and, believe it or not, they
like kickboxing too, since they have one of the world’s best in
Mirko Filipovic.
