Even though cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, people traditionally connect it to the UK, the USA, Australia, and India, so it might come as a surprise that Zagreb has its cricket team as well.
The island of Vis has had more than 200 years of cricket playing tradition, due to the fact that the British Navy was stationed here during the Napoleonic Wars, so the soldiers played cricket to pass the time.
In addition to Vis, there is a cricket club in Split, and Hrvatski sokol Cricket Club in Zagreb, founded in 2000.
The players are of different nationalities, mostly descendants of Croatian immigrants from diaspora, so there are Brits, Australians and New Zealanders playing cricket in Zagreb. The club has participated in international tournaments, and international teams have played matches in Zagreb as well.
The club joined the Austrian League in 2001, with home games being played in Austria as well because there was no adequate playing field in Croatia until 2002.
