Wednesday, 7 December 2022

FIFA Disciplinary Committee Confirms Croatia's Fine for Fan Taunts at Milan Borjan

December 7, 2022 - The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has confirmed Croatia's fine for fan taunts at Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan in their second-round Group F match at the World Cup on November 27, 2022. 

The disciplinary committee of the International Football Federation (FIFA) fined the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) 50,000 Swiss francs for the behavior of some fans at the 2022 World Cup match against Canada in Qatar.

During the match, some Croatia fans insulted the Canada goalkeeper Milan Borjan, who has Serbian roots and had previously made inappropriate statements about the Homeland War and being born in Krajina, not Croatia, back in 1987. A poster with offensive content referencing his leaving Croatia also appeared in the stands.

"The Croatian Football Federation was fined 50,000 Swiss francs for violating Article 16 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code (use of words and objects to convey a message that is not appropriate for a sporting event) in connection with the behavior of Croatia fans during the match against Canada," FIFA announced.

The Football Federations of Serbia and Saudi Arabia were also fined.

Serbia was fined 20,000 Swiss francs for "violations of Article 11 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and Article 4 of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Regulations about the flag displayed in the dressing room after the match against Brazil," they said.

Namely, after the match against Brazil, a flag was hung in Serbia's dressing room with a map of Kosovo painted in the colors of the Serbian flag, with the slogan: "No surrender."

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation has been fined 15,000 Swiss francs twice for misconduct by players who earned six yellow cards during matches against Argentina and Mexico.

Source: HRT

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Wednesday, 30 November 2022

Canadian Goalkeeper Croatia Row: His Grandmother Speaks

November the 30th, 2022 - Canada's goalkeeper Milan Borjan caused an intense reaction during the Canada-Croatia match (during which Croatia really f*cked Canada, by the way, Mr. Herdman) with his comments about Croatia and ''Krajina''. Croatian fans launched a wave of anger (and literal physical items) at Borjan, who otherwise plays for Crvena Zvezda (Red Star) Belgrade.

Croatian football fans aren't the only people Borjan has managed to upset with his statement about being ''born in Krajina, not in Croatia'', and his own grandmother, Stefica Borjan (83) has come out and said in no uncertain terms ''Jebala ga Krajina'' which you'll no doubt be able to quite easily translate and save me the job.

As Mirovina writes, Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan isn't the most popular person in Croatia at this moment in time, he's apparently even less popular with his own grandmother, 83-year-old Stefica Borjan, who came out and commented on the extremely controversial statement he made about his birthplace and his performance at the World Cup as the Canadian goalkeeper in the recent match against Croatia.

After the convincing victory of the incredible Croatian national team over Canada (4-1), apart from Croatia's talented goal scorers themselves, the hottest topic was Canadian goalkeeper Milan Borjan. During the match, Croatian fans threw all kinds of things at him from the stands, and he responded by raising three of his fingers at them. Look up the historical meaning of that and just why it's so insulting to do to a Croat.

Although he pointed out after the match that the Croatian players behaved like ''gentlemen'', the public will definitely not forget his statement from a few years ago. Journalists once asked him how he would describe himself, as a Serb born in Croatia who plays for Canada.

''Big mistake. I wasn't born in Croatia. I was born in Krajina, Dalmatia, it was a Serbian place. When I describe myself, I say I'm from Serbia, should I say Dalmatia, but I feel like a Canadian,'' was his answer. We're not sure Borjan's strong point is geography, but that's another matter for another time.

Stefica Borjan is far from thrilled with his performance and she's made zero effort to hide it

After the match, fans somehow got hold of Borjan's mobile phone number and sent him around 2,500 rather, erm... inappropriate messages. During that time, the Dnevnik Nova TV team visited the village close to Drnis in inland Dalmatia where his grandmother, Stefica Borjan, lives.

''Listen, I'm a little angry about all this. He should have done a little better,'' she said.

She didn't seem to be very enthusiastic about the fact that her grandson conceded four goals against the Croatian team. Let's remember that Kramaric scored twice, as did Livaja and Majer.

''Well, it is what it is, what am I going to do with him? Is it my fault?'' Stefica threw up her hands and asked.

"Nobody hates anyone"

She also commented on his controversial statements about being born in Krajina. Borjan could also quite easily take his grandmother's message as an insult.

''He didn't say anything in particular. He only said that he was born in Knin and that he loves, as he says, Krajina. F*ck his Krajina. I was immediately angry about that, that he'd mention Krajina, and his grandmother is Croatian, his father is half Serbian and half Croatian,'' said 83-year-old Stefica Borjan for Nova TV.

Despite the wave of fury that her grandson caused with his odd statements, she claims that there is no hatred in the Borjan family to speak of, for anyone.

''Oh no, no. Nobody hates anyone, nobody despises anyone,'' concluded the grandmother of the Canadian goalkeeper of Serbian origin who was born in Croatia. Not in Krajina.

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