Sport

December 27, 2020 - The European Football Federation (UEFA) has ranked the most successful clubs in the European Cup/Champions League from 1955 to 2020. Dinamo and Hajduk fall into the top 80.  As expected, at the top is Real Madrid, which has been European champion 13 times (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018) with a total of 607 points. The German giant Bayern Munich holds the second spot with 495 points, while Barcelona is in third place with 459 points. In the top 5 are Manchester United (380) and Juventus (361). They are followed…

December 27, 2020 - The famous 'Red Slope' (Crveni spust) on Sljeme officially received the green light for the Audi FIS Ski World Cup "Snow Queen Trophy" 2021. HRT reports that this was confirmed today by Emmanuel Couder, director of the FIS World Cup for technical disciplines for men, who checked the quality of the Sljeme slalom track, mandatory for all organizers of FIS World Cup races. Thanks to the efforts of the organizers and employees of the Sljeme ski resort in charge of preparing the track, the Red Slope this year was ready for FIS control at the beginning of…

December 23, 2020 - As Lovre Kalinic returns to Hajduk, reflections of an Aston Villa fan on buying Croatian. It has been exactly 40 years since that memorable season, the last time Aston Villa were League Champions, 12 years before the Premier League was even thought of.  As an impressionable 10-year old, I went to as many games as I could with my father, starting with a 1-2 away win against Leeds at Elland Road.  We weren't expecting much from the season, but it turned out to be amazing.  We were very rarely outside the top two all season,…

December 23, 2020 - As 2020 comes to a close, Croatia national team coach Zlatko Dalic interviews with FIFA about a hopefully bright year ahead.  Croatia national team coach Zlatko Dalic interviewed for the official website of the International Football Federation, FIFA, in which he commented on the turbulent world of football in 2020 and announced the challenging 2021 for the 'Vatreni,' which is just around the corner. FIFA introduced Dalic by remembering Croatia's fairy tale at the 2018 World Cup, where they lost in the final to France. A lot has changed since then.  With Mario Mandzukic, Danijel Subasic,…

December 22, 2020 - Lovre Kalinic is back at Poljud! The experienced 30-year-old goalkeeper will come to Hajduk Split on loan from Aston Villa until June 30, 2021. Kalinic started his goalkeeping career at Hajduk at the age of nine and moved through all the younger age categories at the club. As a senior for Hajduk, he played seven first-league seasons, making a total of 134 official appearances. He left Hajduk in December 2016 for Ghent, Belgium, where he was in goal for two seasons, after which he moved to Aston Villa. He spent the first half of 2020 on loan…

December 22, 2020 - Yesterday, the City of Porec announced a tender for constructing the first phase of the football camp in Porec, one of the largest investments in sports in the past few years. The works are expected to open in mid-February 2021. As reported from the City of Poreč, a football camp is being built to replace previous activities on the old football field in the city. The football camp will be used for training/school and preparatory activities of all ages of the Poreč Football Club "Jadran," as well as other football clubs' activities as needed and interested.…

December 22, 2020 - At the end of the year, the Croatian Olympic Committee (COC) traditionally concludes with selecting the most successful athletes and trainers and awards special recognitions to deserving people in sport. HRT reports that in the COVID-19 pandemic year, the picture of Croatian sport also looked significantly different from previous years because epidemiological measures affected the delays and cancellations of competitions and the training processes of athletes. COC's data revealed that out of the planned 1,089 competitions, only 230 (21 percent) were held in 2020. That is why the traditional celebration of the Great Day of Croatian Sports…

ZAGREB, Dec 21, 2020 - After being welcomed at Zagreb airport, the bronze medallist national women's handball team was received at the National and University Library by President Zoran Milanovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, and Tourism and Sports Minister Nikolina Brnjac. Milanovic underscored that the handball team played intelligently. "If I were to compare that to Greek mythology, you would be something between Odysseus and Achilles. Neither the strongest nor the biggest but the best. You had against you Cyclopses who underestimated you. I noticed that that bothered you a lot. Considering I know the Danes, that doesn't surprise…

December 21, 2020 - Nikola Vlasic has been named the footballer of the year in Russia in the country's largest sports selection, divided into four categories. Index.hr reports that the winner is decided by the votes of the 16 most prominent Russian coaches, 16 most distinguished sports directors and managers, 16 journalists of the most prestigious Russian sports portal, Sport Express, and readers of the same portal. This is the greatest individual achievement for the Croatian footballer in his career so far.  The last Croatian to receive a similar award in a European league is Darijo Srna, who was awarded by…

December 21, 2020 - If there is one thing Croatians know how to do best, it's singing and celebrating sports victories. Our Croatia women's handball bronze medalists couldn't help but continue the tradition at the European Championships, even tempting two gold medalists from the Norway squad to join along for a Croatian sports anthem.  The Croatia women's handball team were the best sports surprise of the year, winning the bronze medal at the European Championships in Denmark after beating the hosts 25-19 (11-11) in the match for third place in Herning.  This is the first medal in the history of…