December 14, 2020 - The 15th round of the Croatian First League was held on December 12 and 13, 2020. This round featured an exciting derby at Rujevica, which saw Rijeka and Dinamo draw, while Osijek and Hajduk suffered two heavy away defeats. 

Gorica v. Osijek (4:1)

Gorica and Osijek opened the 15th round on Saturday, December 12, 2020, in Velika Gorica. 

Dieye was the first to score for Gorica in the 13th minute for the 1:0 lead, which was the result going into halftime. An equalizer by Mierez in the 49th gave Osijek hope before Kalik scored two goals for Gorica in the 54th and. 65th for 3:1. Mitrovic scored the final goal of the game in the 77th minute for the final 4:1 result.  

Gorica is currently in 3rd place with 26 points, while Osijek is in 2nd with 30. 

Varazdin v. Hajduk (4:2) 

Varazdin and Hajduk met on Saturday, December 12, 2020, in Varazdin. 

Posavec was the first to score for Gorica in the 4th minute for the early lead. Grgec increased Varazdin's lead in the 32nd minute for 2:0 at the half. Senic increased Varazdin's lead further in the 58th minute for 3:0. It wasn't until the 72nd minute that Caktas gave some hope to Hajduk for 3:1 and scored another goal five minutes later for 3:2. However, a final minute goal by Obregon locked in Varazdin's 4:2 victory. 

Varazdin is currently in 9th place with 12 points, while Hajduk is in 5th with 17. 

Lokomotiva v. Slaven Belupo (2:1)

Lokomotiva and Slaven Belupo met on Sunday, December 13, 2020, in Zagreb. 

Prce put Belupo in the lead in the 38th minute for 0:1 at the half, though a quick equalizer at the start of the second by Tuci made it 1:1 in the 51st. Ibrahim put Lokomotiva in the lead with a goal in the 72nd minute for 2:1, which was the final result of the match. 

Lokomotiva is currently in 8th place with 12 points, while Belupo is in 6th with 17. 

Rijeka v. Dinamo (2:2)

Rijeka and Dinamo closed out the 15th round on Sunday, December 13, 2020, at Rujevica. 

Dinamo took the very early lead with a goal by Ivanusec in the 1st minute of play for 0:1 Dinamo. Galovic equalized for Rijeka in the 28th minute, before Menalo put Rijeka in the lead in the 35th for 2:1 at the half. Lauristen scored Dinamo's equalizer in the 82nd minute for 2:2. which was the final score of the match. 

Rijeka is currently in 4th place with 20 points, while Dinamo is in first place with 30. 

The 15th round match between Sibenik and Istria in 1961, which was to be played on Sunday, December 13 at 3 pm at Šubićevac, was postponed due to players infected with COVID-19 on both teams.

"After testing the complete teams of HNK Sibenik and NK Istra 1961 on December 3, coronavirus was confirmed in a large number of players in both clubs. Since the players have to be in isolation for at least ten days, it was impossible to play the 15th round match at the previously scheduled time," announced Sibenik.

Sibenik and Istra 1961 should also meet in the Cup at Šubićevac, which has been moved a day forward and is scheduled for December 15 at 3 pm.

You can see the full HNL table HERE.

To read more about coronavirus in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

December 13, 2020 - Former Croatia national team coach Otto Baric has died from COVID-19 at KB Dubrava. He was 87 years old.

The former football coach was at Dubrava Hospital for seven days. As Index.hr was told, Baric was recovering well but struggled with complications from the virus over the last few days. 

Otto Baric was born in Einskappel, Austria, on June 19, 1933. As a football player, "Her Otto," as he was called, played for Metalac and Lokomotiva, and after the end of his playing career, he became coach of Lokomotiva.

Otto Baric led as many as 14 clubs and three national teams in his rich coaching career. He achieved his greatest club success with Rapid Vienna and Casino Salzburg (now Red Bull Salzburg). With Rapid, he won 10 domestic trophies, while in 1985, he played in the Cup Winners' Cup final and was defeated by Everton 3:1.

With Casino Salzburg, he won two Austrian trophies, and in Europe, he was close to winning the competition in 1994. In the Uefa Cup final, Inter Milan was better in two matches.

Towards the end of his coaching career, Baric led three national teams. He was the Austria coach from 1999 to 2001 and took over Croatia in 2002 after the World Cup in South Korea and Japan. After additional qualifications against Slovenia, he took the national team to the European Championships in Portugal, where Croatia was in a group with England, France, and Switzerland.

He recorded two draws against Switzerland (0:0) and France (2:2), while in the last round at Luz Stadium in Lisbon, Croatia lost to England 4:2. Zlatko Kranjčar replaced Baric on the national team bench. 

At the end of his coaching career, Baric led Albania from 2006 to 2007.

More info soon...

Source: Index.hr, HNS

To read more about coronavirus in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, Dec 13, 2020 - The number of tourists staying in commercial accommodation in October this year was at 17% of the figures for October 2019 while overnight stays were at 20% of last year's figures for that month, which makes October one of the months with the poorest results in 2020, marked by the coronavirus pandemic.

Figures from the national statistical office show that 184,500 tourists stayed in commercial accommodation facilities in October this year, generating 618,000 overnight stays, down 82.8% and 79.9% respectively from October 2019.

Greater decline rates were recorded in April and May (97% and 99% respectively) and a more marked drop was also reported in March (a 70% decrease in overnight stays).

The statistics also show that foreign visitors accounted for most or 406,800 overnight stays, a drop of 85% compared to October 2019. The number of foreign visitors dropped even more, by 90% from October 2019, to 88,800.

Figures for domestic tourists dropped less, by 47.3% to 95,800 visitors, and they generated 211,000 overnight stays in commercial accommodation units, a drop of 45.4%.

As for foreign guests, Germans were again the most loyal visitors, with 131,000 overnight stays or 32.2% of all foreign overnight stays.

They were followed, but with much lower shares in the total number of overnight stays, of 8% and less, by visitors from the United States, Slovenia, Austria, Poland, France, the Czech Republic and Italy. They, too, came in smaller numbers and generated fewer overnight stays than in October 2019.

Istria County recorded the most overnight stays, 156,000, accounting for 25.3% of total overnight stays in October.

Physical indicators for October have also affected results in commercial accommodation in the first ten months of the year, which saw 6.9 million tourists and 40.3 million overnight stays, which are decreases of 63.6% and 55% respectively compared to the same period of 2019.

According to type of accommodation, rooms, apartments and holiday houses accounted for slightly less than a half of all overnight stays, or 277,000, a drop of 68.4% from last year's October.

Hotels saw a bigger drop, of 87.4%, reporting 220,000 overnight stays.

ZAGREB, Dec 13, 2020 - Croatian airports have reported sharp declines in the numbers of passengers and flights and the amounts of cargo handled in the first 11 months of 2020 as a result of the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, related travel restrictions and lower demand for air travel.

Statistics posted on the airports' websites show that all the airports have been in the red since March, with slightly higher turnovers from June to the end of September, but still considerably lower than in the same months of 2019.

The country's largest airport, Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman Airport, registered 883,300 passengers in the first 11 months of 2020, compared with 3.4 million in the same period of 2019, and operated 20,100 flights, against 45,000 last year.

In November 2020 alone, Zagreb Airport was used by 42,700 passengers, or 83% fewer than in November 2019, the number of flights was halved, to slightly over 1,500, and 857 tonnes of cargo was handled, compared with 1,000 tonnes in November 2019.

Split Airport recorded 665,700 passengers in the January-November period of this year, compared with 3.3 million in the corresponding period of last year. In November alone, slightly over 8,000 passengers used this airport, a decrease of 82% in relation to the same month of 2019.

Split Airport's website, as well as that of Dubrovnik Airport, did not provide data on flights and cargo. Dubrovnik Airport served 325,800 passengers in the first 11 months of this year, down from 2.9 million in the same period of last year. In November alone, it registered slightly over 4,000 passengers, compared with 57,000 in November 2019.

Zadar Airport logged 119,800 passengers in January-November 2020, compared with 798,700 in the same period of 2019. In November alone, it recorded 417 passengers, or 89.2% fewer than in November last year. Just like in November 2019, this November the airport did not handle any cargo and operated 79 aircraft, a decrease of 65.3%.

Rijeka Airport stood out from other airports in that it operated 53.8% more aircraft this November than last year, or 200 against 130 in November 2019. In the 11 months of this year their number was 3,200, or 1,700 fewer than in the corresponding period of 2019.

The three remaining airports - Osijek, Pula and Brac - did not provide relevant data on their websites.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 13th of December, 2020, a group of Croatian scientists and doctors have stated in an open letter to the public on Sunday that without the coronavirus vaccination, the ongoing epidemic would not go away, stressing that they were convinced by rigorous scientific testing that all of the currently approved vaccines would be effective and safe.

''Based on rigorous pre-vaccine testing, and according to the strict rules of the medical and scientific community and regulatory agencies, we're confident that all of the approved COVID-19 vaccines will be effective and safe and that the risk of their serious side effects will be to be reduced to a minimum,'' pointed out the signatories of the letter, among whom is the Croatian scientist Ivan Djikic, who has been especially vocal during the pandemic.

Croatian scientists and doctors have warned that without vaccination, and without additionally respecting the proper epidemiological measures, this pandemic will not disappear, but will consequently last longer and cause additional human and economic losses for Croatia's residents.

''Proper vaccination provides protection against infection for individuals, and vaccination of the population can lead to the creation of collective immunity. For these reasons, but also for the lack of more effective therapy, we consider vaccination against COVID-19 to be the best way to protect people,'' the statement said.

The risk of serious side effects from the vaccine is immeasurably less than the risk of developing complications as a result of the coronavirus infection.

Croatian scientists and doctors, as well as those from abroad, have stated that the new coronavirus is potentially very dangerous and is highly contagious, and that the risk of serious side effects from vaccination is immeasurably lower than the risk of complications due to COVID-19 for each age group.

''A lot of people are undecided whether or not to get vaccinated because of the possible side effects. It's important to understand that the vaccine activates the immune system and teaches it to recognise the virus in a safe way. Therefore, it acts as a fake infection, which helps build immunity against SARS-COV-2, but it can also cause some transient discomfort,'' they explained.

This group of Croatian scientists also say that vaccines for the novel coronavirus have been developed faster than any other vaccine in the world, and that they understand the level of public interest in them and the questions that are being asked about it. However, they state that their trust in these currently developed vaccines is based on the extensive results of scientific tests, and that the vaccines that will be used in Croatia are tested and approved according to the strictest safety criteria of the European Union.

Vaccine administration is continuously monitored by regulatory authorities.

Many side effects such as local redness, fever and fatigue are actually very normal consequences after each vaccination as this is an effect of the expected activation of the immune system, but they aren't considered to be more severe side effects than usual, the scientists explain.

''To reduce the risk of serious side effects to an absolute minimum, extensive and rigorously controlled clinical studies are being conducted on tens of thousands of volunteers,” they say. They add that even after the vaccine is approved, the use of the vaccine is then continuously monitored by regulatory bodies, and in the event of more serious side effects, vaccination is limited or suspended.

At the end of the statement, they pointed out that as scientists and members of the healthcare community, they unanimously support and recommend the official Vaccination Programme in Croatia, according to a harmonised schedule and priorities, in order to protect human life from possible serious consequences of the disease.

The statement was signed by the following Croatian scientists: Ana Barac, Ivan Djikic, Magdalena Grce, Danka Grcevic, Stipan Jonjic, Vanda Juranic Lisnic, Tomislav Kelava, Vladimir Krajinovic, Astrid Krmpotic, Pero Lucin, Kresimir Luetic, Igor Mezic, Bojan Polic, Iskra Pusic, Kristijan Ramadan , Ivana Novak Nakir, Marija Santini, Vlatko Silobrcic, Mihaela Skobe, Sasa Srica, Ivana Smit, Igor Stagljar, Tihomir Stefanec, Janos Terzic, Andrej Trampuz, Boris Ujevic, Sinisa Volarevic, Domagoj Vucic, Oliver Vugrek and Felix Wensveen.

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December 13, 2020 - The third Split Gastroadvent Sunday honored news portal journalists at Chops Grill, focusing on how the Mediterranean diet can help you recover the senses damaged by COVID-19. 

The loss of taste and smell from COVID-19 is particularly pronounced. Although it is not uncommon for upper respiratory tract infections to affect our senses of smell and taste, it is precisely a symptom of COVID-19,  which attracts a great deal of attention. The average prevalence of odor loss is about 41%, while taste loss is about 38%.

It is known that people recognize four tastes: salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. In the middle of 2000, the fifth sense was confirmed, which Japanese scientists named umami - a pleasant taste. Science confirms that umami produces sodium glutamate, and it is found naturally in fish.

Loss of taste and smell is certainly uncomfortable, and to activate the olfactory nerves, most experts recommend "smell training." Even better, the Mediterranean diet contributes to the recovery of the senses damaged by viral infections.

Fish products are a good source of zinc (Zn), a micronutrient of great importance that has a beneficial effect on the metabolism of macronutrients and carbohydrates and protein synthesis. The role of Zn in the protection of cells from oxidative stress and the normal function of the immune system is significant. It is imperative to consume enough fish, oysters, crabs, tuna, and shellfish.

As 2020 marks the jubilee 10th anniversary of recognizing the Mediterranean diet, this year's theme pays great attention to the sea. The Mediterranean Sea boasts about 2.5 million km² and connects all countries of the original Mediterranean diet.

Following this theme, this year's Gastroadvent wreath is also dedicated to the sea and its preservation. The seafoam wreath symbolically and literally simulates the sea world and is created from discarded trash and plastic. The Mediterranean diet theme inspired prominent sculptor Nives Čičin Šain to send a message artistically: “Let's preserve our sea and the life in it that feeds many with its beauty."

As this Advent Sunday was held at Chops Grill Steak & Seafood, chef Ivan Nikolić, prepared simple and quick 'to-go' dishes to adapt to Croatia's current epidemiological measures. Namely, the menu items presented today included a croissant with scrambled eggs & salmon, Grana Padano, and scallions, a croissant with scrambled eggs & bacon, rocket, Grana Padano and a special sauce, and an egg burger with sriracha mayo, scallions, and cheese, which are all available for locals to pick up at Chops' 'to-go' window and enjoy while walking around the city until 3 pm every day. 

Chops also prepared monkfish in shrimp sauce with macaroni. 

The fish of the Adriatic Sea was presented by partner Gastro Ribarnica Brač, which makes fish more accessible through regular campaigns, and with its professionalism, guarantee safety, availability, and originality. The Amare brand, which focuses on "love from the sea," combines hand-cleaned meat of Adriatic shrimp, which is synonymous with quality and an indispensable food for restaurants and households, as well as marinated shrimp, marinated anchovies, and salted anchovies. Their novelty is the first burgers made of Adriatic shrimp and scampi, which have achieved notable success on the market. On the wings of this success, the idea for a burger made of Adriatic fish was created, more precisely, of four types of white fish and two types of bluefish.

Along with domestic fish during the holiday season, at Centaurus d.o.o., you can get an excellent "Premium" cod (Bakalar).

Ecology and competence in gastronomy and tourism are the future projects of the Split School of Tourism and Hospitality. Under the leadership of director Ivo Bilić, the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management Split has been appointed the Regional Center of Competence in Tourism in the summer of 2018.

The regional center of competence in the tourism and hospitality sector is the name of a long-term project of the Tourist Catering School Split and partners.

The idea of creating a Regional Competence Center (hereinafter: RCC) arose as a need to improve human resources in tourism, and this school has been in development for about 10 years. Seven years ago, a model of the center was presented at the Ministry of Tourism, originally as an idea for the development of quality schools in tourism. The initial model was for Split-Dalmatia County with about 15 schools (mostly in Croatia) that educate for at least one of the occupations in the tourism and hospitality sector (there are about 100 schools in Croatia). The main goal was (and remains) that students have better exit competencies upon completion of education and uniform in all schools. The important role of the RCC is to connect with the local community, and it will be manifested through two goals:

1) Projects with kindergartens and primary schools in creating habits among young people and encouraging reflection on tourism, and on the other hand as promoting our professions,

2) Participation in local (regional) events, creating habits among the population about the benefits and importance of caring for the guest-tourist. 

This year's Gastroadvent also features Mediterranean Food - MD.net, a project funded by the European program Interreg Mediterranean, worth 3.7 million EUR, and implemented by the Public Institution RERA S.D. for the coordination and development of Split-Dalmatia County. The project involves 14 project partners from 9 countries in the Mediterranean, aiming to popularize the Mediterranean diet. The main goal of the project is to strengthen research in this area following the UNESCO Convention on Mediterranean Nutrition, to raise the quality of food and life in 9 project partner countries, as well as promote the Mediterranean diet, which is recognized as the gold standard of proper nutrition, as well as its far-reaching beneficial effects on health.

This time, the "Braća Radić“ school from Kaštel Štafilić presented 100% raw natural energy bars, made of broad beans, dried figs, grapes, carob, almonds, lemon, dates, and olive oil. The vegan energy bars are gluten-free and are made without any added sugar or preservatives. They are high in energy, soluble fibers and micronutrients, and plant proteins! 

All products presented at Gastroadvent will be evaluated, and the best will go to international competition in Seville, Spain next year.

Per epidemiological measures, all to-go food items were individually packed by Chops for us to enjoy at home.

We were even given Probiotic packets by M.E.V. Feller to stay healthy! 

Split Gastroadvent is held every Advent Sunday at a new location, honoring a different group of journalists. 

To read more about lifestyle in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on December the 13th, 2020 - Croatian Epidemiologist Goranka Petrovic from the Croatian Institute of Public Health commented on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in Croatia for N1 and explained what exactly the statistical data that the National Civil Protection Headquarters publishes every day means.

Despite new anti-epidemic measures to prevent the virus from spreading, the numbers are still not falling...

"How successful the measures will be depends on how well we all adhere to those measures. It's to be expected that in fifteen days to three weeks we'll notice a significant drop in the number of newly infected people and that we will break this growing curve. As far as hospitalizsd and fatal outcomes are concerned, unfortunately we have to wait even longer for improvements in terms of reduction because they always come later,'' explained Goranka Petrovic.

"We have a large increase in new infections, and the share of deaths is continuously around 1.4-1.5 percent. If we divide the percentage of those 4,000 to 4,500 infected people, we get that number of 60-70 deaths,'' she added.

Goranka Petrovic stated that for some people, recovery from the novel coronavirus can take several months.

"Coronavirus, in severe forms, also affects younger people who don't have any underlying or chronic diseases. Fortunately, this tends not to end in death. However, they also end up being placed on oxygen, and can even end up on a respirator and require mechanical ventilation. Their recovery takes some time. There's more and more talk about this post-covid condition, which is also present in younger people who need a couple of months to recover from the severe form of the disease they had,'' said Goranka Petrovic, going on to state what sort of issues these people face.

"They have this feeling of weakness, general exhaustion, muscle and joint pain, sometimes fever, and what is worrying is that some of the people who had milder forms of the disease had changes in both the central nervous system and in the heart.

“A large number of patients, about 80 percent of them, have very mild clinical pictures, and the remaining 20 percent ​​have extremely severe clinical pictures. These severe clinical pictures don't appear immediately at the onset of the first symptoms of the illness but in the second week, and are largely attributed to the immune response to the virus. When these complications occur, these people are usually not contagious, but the immune system overreacts, and disorders are created that lead to the collapse of the general condition of the body,'' explained Goranka Petrovic.

She added that it isn't possible to predict who will have a more severe clinical illness, but the elderly and those with some chronic diseases are generally at greater risk.

Goranka Petrovic also referred to the figures that the National Civil Protection Headquarters publishes every day and explained in detail how they calculate the share of new positives in the number of infected people.

"We continuously monitor the number of newly infected people who were tested that day. If we add people who were previously tested and were positive and have now for some reason been tested again and counted there among the number of active infections, then that share would fall to about 20 percent. If we look only at people who are positive for the first time, then unfortunately that percentage has been over 30 percent for weeks, most often around 35 percent,'' she explained.

How should we all behave during the festive period?

Speaking about the upcoming festivities, Goranka Petrovic pointed out that it is necessary to adhere to the anti-epidemic measures during that time due to the unfavourable epidemiological situation.

"We're entering a very unfavourable period now, considering that the Christmas period is coming, which traditionally represents a time when we spend a lot more time together. Unfortunately, we're now in such a bad epidemiological situation that such things are simply ruled out,'' she stated.

Petrovic also gave some instructions on how to behave in the coming days if we want to visit someone who is at risk during the Christmas period.

''The best thing we can do is reduce the number of contacts during the upcoming Christmas period and limit ourselves to our own social bubbles where we choose a few people who have approximately the same risk of exposure and not have contact with other people. If we decide to visit someone we haven’t seen in a long time, the ECDC recommends that we put ourselves in voluntary quarantine for 10 to 14 days beforehand, that we have no risky contacts and after that quarantine, provided we don’t develop any symptoms, we then visit that person. We need to be aware that this may be the last visit for that person if we choose to visit them and are unknowingly infected with the novel coronavirus,'' she warned.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been some conflicting views on how much masks protect us from the coronavirus.

“Even if a person gets sick, the amount of virus they will receive is smaller if masks are worn and they're therefore more likely to have a milder form of the disease than if no masks are worn. The mask definitely reduces the amount of virus in the circulation among people wearing them,'' concluded Goranka Petrovic.

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ZAGREB, Dec 13, 2020 - The Constitutional Court rejected the lawsuit by former prime minister and Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Ivo Sanader in the Planinska case, due to which he is serving a six-year prison sentence.

With this decision all legal means of challenging the verdict before national courts have been exhausted.

The verdict in the Planinska case, in which Sanader was charged with receiving a commission of HRK 17.5 million after the state bought a building in Zagreb's Planinska Street from the company of former HDZ MP and butchers chain owner Stjepan Fiolic during his term as prime minister, was handed down by Zagreb County Court in 2017 and upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2019.

The Supreme Court increased Sanader's sentence to six years in prison, after which the former prime minister was sent to Zagreb's Remetinec jail.

In the trial, Fiolic admitted that he brought HRK 10 million and another one million euros (approx. HRK 17.5 million in total) to Sanader's home in a cardboard box. The property of Fiolic's company was purchased by the regional development ministry, led by former minister Petar Cobankovic, who made a plea bargain with the prosecution before trail and was sentenced to one in year in prison. He did not go to prison but did community service.

Apart from them, the trial chamber in this case also convicted Mladen Mlinarevic, for whom it established that he inflated the value of the building in Zagreb's Planinska Street owned by Fiolic before it was purchased by Cobankovic's ministry.

In the rejected constitutional complaint, Sanader repeated that he was a victim of political persecution and that Fiolic and Cobankovic had reached agreements with the prosecution and received lighter sentences. In the complaint, Sanader called Cobankovic a "false witness" who spoke in court as instructed by the prosecution.

He also claimed that the equality of arms principle had been violated as several criminal proceedings had been conducted against him at the same time. In addition to the constitutional complaint, he also filed a motion to delay enforcement procedures and to postpone his imprisonment.

In the meantime, in November, Sanader was sentenced in a retrial to eight years in prison and ordered to return HRK 16 million in the Fimi Media case, after the non-final verdict from 2013 was quashed by the Supreme Court.

Sanader is also waiting for the Supreme Court's decisions on several more non-final verdicts. He has been sentenced pending appeal to six years for taking a bribe from the Hungarian energy group MOL, and MOL CEO Zsolt Hernadi was sentenced to two years in prison. If the verdict becomes final, Sanader will have to return €5 million to the state.

He has also been sentenced pending appeal for taking a kickback from the Austrian Hypo bank, and he has been acquitted pending appeal for the sale of electricity from the HEP provider to a company owned by Rober Jezic at prices below the market price.