ZAGREB, May 11, 2020 - Croatian-produced hits will be screened in Zagreb from May 15 to 17 in a parking lot behind the city's Technical Museum, a project launched by two students of the Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art. The project, called "Drive in culture", was launched by Marin Leo Janković and Sabrina Herak Smoković, who together form the production duo SUBMARINE.

Their mission is to remind the public of the importance of art in the current times of crisis, revitalise the cultural sector and encourage the concept of outdoor culture.

The weekend drive-in cinema, which also includes music programmes, marks the start of work on developing a new platform for independent culture, which has been halted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The event is also of a humanitarian nature as visitors are encouraged to donate money for students who have been left without any means of subsistence in the current crisis.

Donations can be made in the period from May 13 to 20. Additional information is available at www.driveinkultura.com.

More film news can be found in the Lifestyle section.

May 11, 2020 - SF Airlines landed at Zagreb's Franjo Tudjman International Airport early Sunday morning on a direct flight from Shanghai and delivered about 86 tons of protective equipment to Croatia needed by the Croatian health system and other services during the coronavirus pandemic.

Sibenik.in reports that this is the seventh and so far the last shipment on direct flights from China to Croatia, the Public Relations Office of the Prime Minister's Office announced.

As pointed out, ensuring the supply of health and other systems with protective equipment is planned to continue with the delivery by land and sea.

About 80 tons of disinfectants and masks that Croatia bought from Sinopharm and about six tons of donations arrived on Sunday's flight.

A valuable donation of mechanical fans, coronavirus tests, and masks and visors from the Alibaba Foundation and the Jack Ma Foundation were delivered on the flight. It is a donation that is part of a series of similar initiatives by the two foundations to provide relief to parts of the world affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The foundations also fund vaccine research and development in China, as well as at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne and Columbia University in New York.

During the summer, donations from MEHECO Clinic for Infectious Diseases "Dr. Fran Mihaljević", Zhejiang Province to Istria County, donations to the Civil Protection Headquarters of the CitizenGO initiative and entrepreneur Mr. Cai Yu, responsible for opening the franchise of the Zagreb Museum of Illusions in Shanghai, were delivered.

Recall, on April 12, a direct flight from Shanghai brought around 60 tons of protective equipment to Zagreb for the Croatian health system and other services fighting the coronavirus pandemic, which was the first shipment of this kind since the outbreak of COVID-19.

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

May 8, 2020 - Korean Air has stopped ticket sales to Zagreb, while Air Transat has pushed back its Zagreb service to July. 

Ex Yu Aviation announced that Korean Air will not resume its seasonal service between Seoul and Zagreb from September 1, and has officially stopped ticket sales. 

This isn’t entirely surprising given the COVID-19 pandemic, as Korean Air will only operate at 20% of its usual international capacity, or only 32 of its 110 international routes (just 146 flights per week). In May, Korean Air is running only 13 routes, or 55 per week. 

Recall, the Seoul-Zagreb service should have resumed in March but was delayed first until June, and then September as the coronavirus spread globally. 

In 2019, Korean Air handled 43,123 passengers on the Seoul-Zagreb service. 

Furthermore, Ex Yu Aviation reports that Canadian carrier Air Transat has delayed its seasonal service between Toronto and Zagreb by a month, until July 2. The airline has plans to fly to Zagreb three times per week until mid-September, and then two times per week until late October. However, nothing is guaranteed. 

Because of COVID-19, the Canadian airline has suspended all services until June 30. 

"These are extraordinary circumstances, when all airlines and travel companies have been forced to temporarily halt or drastically reduce their operations while governments have decided to close their borders. This unprecedented situation is well beyond our control,” Air Transat said in a statement. 

Recall, Air Canada Rouge already suspended its service between Toronto and Zagreb this year.

If you're wondering about how the future of flights to Croatia will look in the post-corona world, TCN caught up with Max Oldorf, COO of the aviation data company, ch-aviation. You can read our interview here.

Need to find the latest Croatia COVID-19 travel advice? When will borders open, flights take off, and tourism finally begin? Check out our overview of what we know at the moment here.

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

The coronavirus pandemic saw numerous stringent measures introduced in Croatia, and now comes the second phase of loosening them gradually. While buses are in operation, only a select few trams in Zagreb have been. ZET made the decision to slow the return to normal for the trams owing not only to the need to be careful in the handling of coronavirus, but because of the damage caused by the Zagreb earthquake.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 4th of May, 2020, in the second phase of the gradual re-normalisation of ZET's tram transportation, tram line 12 will be put back into service as of today, Monday, May the 4th, and line 5 will return to its usual route, ZET announced on Sunday.

Line 12 will operate on the modified route: Ljubljanica - Ulica Grada Vukovara - Držićeva - Šubićeva - Kvaternikov Square - Maksimirska - Dubrava. At the same time, tram line 5 will operate along its usual route from Monday, Prečko - Savska cesta - Ulica Grada Vukovara - Držićeva - Šubićeva - Kvaternikov Square - Maksimirska - Dubrava.

The statement recalls that as of the end of last month, more precisely April the 27th, tram line 3 has been running along the Ljubljanica - Ulica Grada Vukovara - Savišće route, while line 14 has been running from Zapruđe via the Remetinec roundabout to Ljubljanica.

ZET tram lines will continue to operate according to a customised schedule and more detailed information on the routes, lines, tram numbers and the current schedule, as well as any changes when they come in will be available on ZET's official website.

"ZET's expert services, in cooperation with other emergency services, are on the ground every day and are working intensively to ensure that tram traffic and other lines continue to be gradually established," a statement from ZET said.

Make sure to follow our travel page for more. If it's just the Croatian capital you're interested in, give Total Zagreb a follow.

ZAGREB, May 3, 2020 - The opposition parties in the Zagreb City Assembly said on Saturday that Assembly Chairman Drago Prgomet had called a virtual meeting to protect Mayor Milan Bandić from the opposition's questions about the March 22 earthquake and repairing of the damage.

"Chairman of the Assembly Drago Prgomet has called a virtual, online meeting under very strange circumstances. At a time when the restrictions are being eased, when Masses can be held and believers have to be two metres apart from each other, ... we are absolutely certain that a normal, physical meeting of the City Assembly should be held," the leader of the Civil and Liberal Alliance (GLAS), Anka Mrak Taritaš, told reporters.

Mrak Taritaš said that GLAS, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Pensioners' Party (HSU), the left bloc and independent members of the Assembly were against the decision to convene an online meeting because they would not be able to ask questions and get the answers to key issues. She added that Prgomet and the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) did not want the public to know what the mayor should have done, but failed to do in dealing with the consequences of the earthquake.

Mrak Taritaš said that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the HDZ were also responsible. "The central government should have taken charge of the reconstruction of Zagreb, but they are pretending that the earthquake didn't happen," she said.

The SDP member of the City Assembly, Zvane Brumnić, drew attention to higher rates charged by the Cistoca municipal sanitation company and the Gradska Groblja company in charge of municipal cemeteries. "These are the questions the mayor and Prgomet don't want to answer," he said.

The opposition members of the Assembly said they would boycott the online meeting.

Asked to comment on the opposition's demand for a physical meeting of the City Assembly, Mayor Bandić said that a decision on this lay with the City Assembly. "I don't decide that. But let them change this decision if they can and find a bigger venue," he said.

More Zagreb news can be found in the Politics section.

April 24, 2020 - A month after the Zagreb earthquakes of March 22, reflections of a Zagreb resident living with the new reality.

It's been more than a month since the terrible Zagreb earthquake that woke up the city early in the morning of the 22nd March. A month seems like a long time in a crisis, which is why you might think a lot has changed since and things started getting back to normal again. It’s true, some things changed. With dozens of smaller aftershocks, residents of Zagreb became true experts in guessing the exact magnitude of earthquakes. We crashed the Last Quake servers a few times, searching for its aftershocks reports. Just the other day, I thought it was nice to get to the point when I received more notifications from Rain Alert, on a sunny day, than from Last Quake. And then, on the 23rd of April, there was that rumbling sound again and a strong kick. This could be between 3 and 3.5, I thought. And it was true, everybody in the city guessed with ease - a 3.2 earthquake brought back the stress and all of the disturbing thoughts: shouldn’t this be over by now? Remember that year when a stronger one hit 15 days after a pretty big one? Is this still an aftershock… or god forbid a foreshock? I don’t think we’re never going back to normal!

I started off on a lighter note, but there’s nothing light about how we feel here in Zagreb. We might have gained new seismographic superskills since the 5.5. earthquake. Other than that, nothing has really changed. The city and its residents still haven’t received much help.

A few days ago, Zagreb lost the top of the second cathedral spire. The southern one had already fallen during the earthquake. The northern one needed to go because of structural damage. This hurt us again. I’m perfectly aware the spire was dangerous and unsafe. However, I can’t fight the feeling - the moment they took it off, I felt a strange disappointment and I thought how they conveniently erased the damage. They flattened the scar and now you can’t even spot the wound. This will definitively help us forget faster.

People wonder what will happen with the cathedral, when do they plan to renovate it? Great question. It was painful for me as well to watch the top of the second spire being demolished. I’m not sure if I will ever forget the painful feeling of disbelief when I saw the first spire damaged in the earthquake from up close. However, now, a month since the earthquake, with dozens of unsafe schools and student residences, it seems to me there are even better questions out there. Such as, what’s the plan if Croatian students go back to their classrooms before the summer? The real question is, what would happen if Zagreb was struck by this exact same earthquake, without coronavirus lockdown to cover its true damage? Is there some kind of a plan for cases like these in our town, or in other Croatian regions that face the same danger? Without the coronavirus, our daily lives were supposed to continue by now. This is simply not possible for many. Thanks to social distancing, we can’t easily spot other people’s suffering and we simply can’t comprehend the real damage.

In the beginning, there was a lot of talk about just how lucky we are the earthquake happened early in the morning, in the midst of lock-down… The moments of the earthquake are behind us. Today, I dare to think that, what seemed to be a lucky circumstance, turned out to be the worst of luck – for the very city. The incapability of the authorities still isn’t completely exposed. At the same time, the possibilities for corruption and mishandling the consequences are infinite. I wonder who’s the lucky one?

The magnitude of the earthquake was precisely enough to throw hundreds out of their homes, to cause a terrible condition for many buildings, while at the same time, Zagreb is still pretty on the outside. You could walk around certain streets and barely notice that anything happened if you didn’t know about the earthquake. So who’s the lucky one here? People inside these buildings who don’t know what’s more dangerous – to use the staircase or the elevator? The ones who count cracks in the walls instead of sheep before they go to sleep? Real lucky ones. Or the ones placed in student dormitories? Good for them.

Right now, we can’t help but think for a second of a stronger earthquake that would cause all of us to lose our homes. But we just take a deep breath and try to think of something else. There’s a sense of bitterness and helplessness in the air. Art historians and architects are the only ones who still have the strength to try and influence the urgent renovation law. They keep warning about the fact the law doesn’t care about the city. And that it doesn’t even care about its people (the experts are conveniently being accused of putting pretty facades in front of human destinies).

It’s not comfortable to watch the demolition of a part of your cathedral spire. It’s not nice to spot a red sticker with the word “Unusable” on your own primary school. But to tell you the truth, watching the parts of the city fade is something we’re used to. In recent decades, we’ve lost so many parts of our lives through the neglectful actions of the city authorities. I’m not even going to try to explain, but all of the Zagrebers will understand how a single magnolia tree can be worth fighting for, and the desperate feeling when the fight is lost. At least, the top of the cathedral spire wasn’t taken away from us by someone of flesh and blood.

Today, more than a month since the earthquake, that’s the scariest thing. For a moment or two, we feel like we can’t really preserve our city. It’s been slipping through our fingers for a long time now. And the earthquake… it didn’t expose the incompetence of the authorities or anything we didn’t already know. It didn’t destroy the town in its seconds of terror. Just like with the cathedral spire, it just scratched the surface. However, on that 22^nd of March, the earthquake took away the safety of their own home for some people, and gave the tools to accelerate the fading of the city to others.

Many of us can’t stop thinking – what is more ethical? Is it the priority to give people a safe place to live in no matter the cost? Or should the real priority be careful renovation and the respect of heritage and the city’s identity? We torment ourselves with these thoughts and feel guilty no matter which side seems logical at a given moment. It’s good to feel a little guilty because we do carry a part of the blame. But, not all of it. It’s not completely true that we’ve been silent all these years. The residents and the experts expressed their opinion on many dubious decisions very clearly on many occasions. However, despite the public opinion and protests, changes have been made in an arrogant autocratic way.

At the same time, none of us was properly educated about the possibility of earthquakes, and the city didn’t educate or encourage its residents to include static reinforcement when renovating historical buildings. Not a single plan for renovation or taking care of people in the case of an earthquake was made, at least as far as we, the common people, are aware of. And by now, we should now. All we have is information where to gather in case of a truly devastating earthquake and what’s the alternate route in case our bridges collapse. Only some people have that information – those who have really tried to read the difficult-to-understand, impossible-to-notice posters placed in some of the town’s institutions. And what do we do after the earthquake? Not a single word about that. Who could even think that a month after the earthquake of moderate magnitude a part of our fellow residents will still be in student dormitories, and others will still not have the slightest idea of how should life look like in the city center in the following months or years? The truth is, we were unprepared. That’s the reason we managed to crash Last Quake over smaller aftershocks.

I will take a part of the blame for the magnolia tree. I will also accept a part of the blame for many other dubious decisions of the town council in recent years. But, even the slightest suggestion that the residents are to blame for a complete lack of competence shown by the city’s authorities for a completely expected event... I will not accept that. More than a month has passed, it’s time for us to stop having the useless feelings of disbelief and helplessness. We do have a right to expect that both the residents will be taken proper care of, and that each and every corner of the city will be respectfully renovated.

For more coverage of the Zagreb earthquakes, follow the dedicated TCN section.

Iva Silla is the owner of tour agency Secret Zagreb.

April 23, 2020 - TCN is delighted to welcome the legendary Iva Silla from Secret Zagreb to the team. Iva starts with a lovely account on how she started the iconic and innovative agency, and where she is with plans at the moment. Welcome, Number 149! 

It is simply impossible to take Secret Zagreb out of the context of everything that’s going on around us. Just a few weeks ago, this article would probably have a very different note, light and inspiring. Even now, in the midst of the coronavirus craze, I am still irritatingly positive, and I still believe that Croatia needs even more creative products for our future guests. However, I also think that people should be more careful between the dream phase and the creation phase. I’ll admit it, when the revenue dropped to zero and the lock-downs started, for a blink of a second, even I thought of shutting it all down. For a blink of a second. But that blink passed and I’m back working on the new Secret Zagreb for the times after coronavirus. I will answer the title question, but I also wish to acknowledge that this story might have been a good example seven years ago. Today, just like everybody else in the tourism sector, I’m starting Secret Zagreb over again. Despite my previous experience, I simply can’t tell for sure whether it is going to succeed again. Hopefully, I was right all this time, and the key steps to success, no matter the circumstances, are as follow: dream – wake up – start working – dream some more. I’m back to this old recipe.

Just like all the birthday girls and boys these days, Secret Zagreb spent its birthday in isolation. I officially launched the city tours company in April 2013. Unofficially, it existed some years prior to that, in all of the books, sketches, maps, post-its all over my house. I made a sketch of a first ghost tour some 15 years ago but I truly accepted it as a project in 2010, when I started the  Secret Zagreb blog. Very early on, thanks to my blog, I was recognised as one of the “New Faces of Zagreb” in the article of the same in easyJet’s inflight magazine. That felt like a very big success and it still does. In that article, Secret Zagreb found itself in the distinguished company of Broken Relationships Museum, InMusic Festival and Esplanade Hotel. This proved to me that it wasn’t impossible to reach an audience and that Zagreb was on the rise as a tourist destination.

In 2013, I kicked off with two themed tours: Zagreb Ghost Tour (now Ghosts and Dragons Tour) and Sleeping Dragon. As you can imagine, I love myths, legends, mystery and dark tales so those two tours were a logical start. But when it comes to Zagreb, there’s plenty of other things to love. Little by little, I started developing all of my interests and all of the parts of Zagreb that enchant me, into tours. By now, there’s a tour about tragic love stories, steampunk-inspired Zagrebarium, Novi Zagreb tour, Zagreb Christmas Carol, and more. The creation of each and every tour has a lifespan of its own with two most important moments. One of them is when I discover something new that amazes me about my city and makes me feel like I want to share it. The other one is when I suddenly get the feeling a tour is indeed a complete product. It usually happens when it’s already bookable, but a special moment needs to appear out of nowhere to show me that I’m really on the right track.

For example, at the end of 2018, I started the Badass Women of Zagreb tour. It delights me to see that this tour attracts people from all over the globe. However, I didn’t have big expectations - I simply wanted to celebrate the female side of history through what I do well. When I felt the tour was ready, I published it on the Secret Zagreb website. I didn’t build the tour around spectacular stories and unprecedented cases. I simply wanted to show the invisibility of herstory in the streets of this city or any city, and at the same time, the number of amazing women right here in this small country. I wanted to make people think for a second, connect around similar thoughts and memories, identify with some of the heroines. I wanted the visitors to think about their home town and their local badass women. There’s no costume, even though that would be more touristically attractive. Since the whole theme is about special women being true to themselves, there was no point in dressing up another woman as one of them. It’s not designed to be superattractive. Instead, it was meant to be honest and thought-provoking.

People started calling in and arranging private Badass Women of Zagreb tours. It was already active when this special moment happened back in 2018. I talked about Diana Budisavljević, a woman who organised an incredible action to save thousands of children in WWII. She was still a rather unknown personality back in 2018. This injustice was corrected in the meantime, when a powerful movie about her “The Diary of Diana B.” came out. As we talked about her on the tour, a lady approached us and just stood there in awe. When I finished the story, she told us: “I personally knew Diana and every single word you said is more than true. I’ve lived here in Zagreb my whole life, but I have never heard anyone speaking of her. Thank you.”

Our whole group went teary-eyed. That was the exact moment that showed me that meaningful tours should be on the market and as available as can be. I took this as a sign to set the public dates so it could be easily accessible for travelers. And it worked. People started joining and enjoying the stories about incredible Croatian women. It’s not the bestselling tour with dozens of people, but a handful always gathers, and we have a great time together. For me, creating a tour with a strong message, such as the Badass Women, is slightly more fulfilling than creating an entertaining tour. I distinctively remember each and every guest and feel like we’ve shared special moments together.

Behind all of my tours lies the same drive – to show there’s something worth discovering in Zagreb. But let’s not be pathetic, I also love pure fun and games. That’s where Secret Zagreb Quests come into play. Wacky tours with riddles and challenges for visitors are a great choice for families or teams. Gamified activities make for another growing sector, especially in the city break destinations, and I’ve been offering them in Zagreb for 5 years now.

Inspiration for new tours lies where I least expect it and I feel it’s important not to let go. If I feel something would make for a good tour, I have to make time and work on it. As you can see, Secret Zagreb is a set of tours and activities that keeps growing and changing. It brought another unexpected benefit to my life. Ever since I started Secret Zagreb, I was blessed with so many cool collaborations that helped me discover a whole new world. Worlds of artists, creative entrepreneurs, enthusiasts that can bring any idea to life.

That was the short story of Secret Zagreb so far. I’m sure you’re going through this article waiting for another inevitable question to be answered: What’s next?

But you already know my answer: I just don’t know. By now, most of us in the tours and activities sector decided to stop trying to predict the future after coronavirus. When it comes to Secret Zagreb, I decided to focus on those predictions that work best for me and plan ahead according to that. I choose to believe that tourists will slowly start coming back. That micro businesses have the best chance to “hibernate” and survive. We still can’t predict the way travellers will behave once they start travelling again. I have to admit that I worry whether they might decide to limit the time spent with tour guides or any locals that are unnecessary. Only time will tell. As much as I hope that’s not going to happen in the long term, I’m currently developing an app that will enable a self-guided exploration of Secret Zagreb.

In Zagreb, we’re not just facing future consequences of coronavirus, but also of the recent earthquake that will definitely affect Secret Zagreb and other themed tours. Obviously, it will be harder and sometimes even insensitive to stick with the topic of a certain tour when there will be so many questions about the earthquake. I’m already redefining all of my tours and activities, because at the moment, only a few of them can stay as they were in terms of route and content. All of the Secret Zagreb tours will still have to make sense after the disaster. I had to completely erase three of my tours for safety reasons and prolonged construction works, including the Mirogoj – Whispers of Eternity cemetery tour. I’m rethinking the Sleeping Dragon tour and quest. It used to be fun and informative, even educational in terms of possible earthquakes. However, at the moment, it could be insensitive to build a product around the earthquake-related legends. I’m sure there will be new products at the market with the recent earthquake in mind. I’m also sure that our wounded cathedral will be the top attraction until they cover it up with scaffolding. However, I’m not so sure I can personally build stories around such a recent tragedy without guilt feelings. Overall, for this year, it will be very hard to promise a certain itinerary in the city center with the expected amount of renovations.

I’d like to share a few thoughts with anyone who is thinking about visiting Croatia: now that I mentioned the earthquake, don’t let this stop you from coming to Zagreb. Before the coronavirus and the earthquake, that is - just a few weeks ago, my city was an example of the diversity of cultural tourism offer and it was an inspiring example for other destinations.

Most of us, who are involved in creative tourism, are driven by a higher goal, such as the desire to show a lesser-known part of their destination or preserve some rare customs. This is why you will always find us collaborate with each other on various projects, and the more we work together, the more productive and creative each of us gets. As long as our visions and motives align. So many people in Zagreb found new opportunities in the rise of tourist numbers, and so many of us were interconnected through many joint projects. When I look back I can’t believe how much genius content do small businesses create. There’s a huge creative force, and I don’t know what are they all doing right now with this extra time. But I do know that, when we all show up back on the streets, we’re going to be better than ever. Zagreb has been through a lot, but it’s going to be more worth visiting it than ever.

And something to share with anyone who wanted to get involved in creative tourism: I honestly believe a deep change in travel is coming. I hope there will be more people who will choose slow travel over bucket lists. It sounds utopian, but if it happens, it’s worth developing new innovative products. If there’s even the slightest possibility that there will be more people who will prolong their stay in offbeat destinations, we should give them reasons to do that. Now is the time to redefine our offer. When tourists come back, let’s give them a chance to discover the true hearts of our hometowns.

Follow Iva's journey and the post-corona Secret Zagreb on the official website. 

For the latest news from Zagreb, follow the dedicated TCN section. 

April 23, 2020 - A new Zagreb earthquake struck at 09:53, TCN readers report.

Several readers have contacted us to inform us about a new earthquake which hit Zagreb and the wider region at 09:53 today. 

One described it as "Not big. Not long. But strong."

"Cat acting weird which he did last time the big one came."

Preliminary information is that the earthquake was 3.5 in magnitude.

Update: M3.5 #earthquake (#potres) strikes 2 km W of Zagreb - Centar (#Croatia) 43 min ago. https://t.co/of9xx7M2Tz pic.twitter.com/zOZSv3lSCl

— EMSC (@LastQuake) April 23, 2020

This is the moment in the Croatian Parliament when the earthquake struck.

 April 22, 2020 - Former Croatian presidential candidate and acclaimed documentary maker Dario Jurican is back! Bundekfest, Part 1 of his new series 'Let's Steal' is now available with English subtitles thanks to a TCN collaboration.

He ran a brilliant campaign to become the President of Croatia, even changing his name to that of the Mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandic, in the process. Running on a platform of 'Corruption for All', Dario Jurican lit up the campaign, as well as highlighting the realities of how modern Croatia is run. 

And now he is back with a new series called Let's Steal, as previously reported on TCN:

Jurican has released the first episode of his new series ‘Idemo Krast’ or ‘Let’s Steal’ in English, which looks into USKOK's indictments against Milan Bandic and his men. The episodes in Jurican's new series will be released every two weeks.

The first episode focuses on the organization of Bundekfest. Part of the material will be an integral part of the feature film "Kumek", which Jurican has been working on for more than three years. The episodes are short, the first lasting just over seven minutes. 

“In these difficult times, one must prepare for those happy times to come - the blessed times of theft and corruption! Every two weeks, I will present educational films to the people with instructions on how to steal,” Jurican published.

This is the first episode of the mini-series LET'S STEAL! and shows how the business really works in Croatia and that is the reason why is Croatia, with all its potential, relativity poor country. Zagreb's Mayor Milan Bandić is a partner of Prime Minister Plenković.

Today, April 23. is the 66. birthday of the director Michael Moore ;) He would be very pleased to know how our Zagreb "managers" are skilled and that is why I adapted and translated the first episode of Let's steal! and made it available on this YouTube channel. The new episode is coming soon ;)

Supported by: https://www.total-croatia-news.com/

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® © Dario Juričan p.s. Support our work with a donation:

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For the latest news on the crazy world of Dario Jurican, follow the dedicated TCN section.

April 23, 2020 - Igor Jovicevic has been named the new coach of the Croatian champion - Dinamo Zagreb.

Igor Jovicevic will succeed Nenad Bjelica, whose contract was terminated last week, reports HRT.

His greatest career success came just ten days after a great loss, the death of his father, Ceda Jovicevic, who passed away at the age of 68.

"Emotions are mixed. My parents mean a lot to me, losing my dad has left a big mark on me, but I have to deal with it, and my memory will never fade. I am proud of him, of everything he has done in his career and of everything he has given to Dinamo in those 10 years. He is my hero, my idol, and has always been a parameter for me on how to behave and what are the paths of success," said Jovicevic, who has successfully led the young Dinamo team so far.

"This is my childhood dream come true, it is truly an immense joy that I feel, but it also comes with the great responsibility that the first coach has to carry with him. In my younger days, I was one of the fans from the North Stand. First of all, I'm a Dinamo fan. So, before I’m a coach, I’m a fan. I have loved Dinamo since I was a kid, I've been here all my life, my dad brought me to these rooms when I was four years old. And I wanted to be a Dinamo coach; it didn't matter when. Just to be one," he added after signing the contract.

Born in Zagreb, Jovicevic was once the best cadet in Europe. At the age of 17, in the summer of 1991, he signed a contract with Real Madrid, but a severe injury to the cruciate ligaments halted his career.

After that, he played in Japan, Brazil, France, China, Ukraine and ended his playing career again in China with a new knee injury at the age of 32.

After retiring, he began coaching. In June 2014, he became interim head coach and one year later head coach at the Ukrainian Karpaty Lviv. In October 2016, he moved to the Celje bench, and in 2017, he returned to Maksimir.

From the summer of 2017, he led the second Maksimir team as well as the juniors in the UEFA Youth Champions League, where he brought Dinamo to the quarterfinal twice in a row. This year's quarterfinal match against Benfica was postponed due to the pandemic, and in the meantime, Jovicevic moved to the top squad.

Jovicevic will be assisted by Damir Krznar and Alen Peternac, goalkeeping coaches Sandro Zufic, conditioning coaches Ivan Stefanic and Stipe Marina, analyst Vedran Attias, and team manager Marko Kuze.

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