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In the beginning of next year, Croatia will play against Serbia in the qualification round for the soccer world championship 2014 in Brasilia. The game will take place at 22.03.2013 in Zagreb and since I'm in the city for sightseeing around this date, I was thinking about attending this soccer match.

However, I'm not really sure if this is a good idea. Soccer games between Serbia and Croatia have a history of violence and racism. In the last days, the relationship between these two countries got even worse because the two Croatian generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac were found not guilty for their suspected war crimes during the war in the Balkans.

Considering the difficult relations between these two countries, I'm asking myself if it is relatively safe to attend a soccer game as a tourist? By safe I mean if there is any realistic danger that I will get into situations concerning violence, crime or racism?

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  • On 22.03 the game will take place in Zagreb, not in Belgrade
    – Dirty-flow
    Nov 20 '12 at 13:14
  • Yes, I mixed it up - Thanks for the clarification.
    – RoflcoptrException
    Nov 20 '12 at 13:42
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    Relations on a civic level were not at all bad between Croatia and Serbia but the latest development unfortunately changed this quite drastically. At that time it will not only be dangerous at the football match but also in the streets of host cities. Take care even if not going to the game and don't be on the streets after the game...
    – rlab
    Nov 20 '12 at 13:43
  • It is safe if you have a ticket. Away fans are banned from attending
    – user4587
    Feb 21 '13 at 19:09
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    I am from capital of Croatia, today tickets went to distribution, 20 000, and it was sold in a few minutes. If we had a stadium for 200 000 people it would be still full. You are not going to see that game, but you don't want to miss watching the game outside of stadium or somewhere in fans corner. You havent seen anything like that before. Trust me. If you need any help tell me, I will gladly help you. I live 10 min by foot from stadium. Don't listen this stories, we are not canibals. You will see immidiatly when you come.
    – user4595
    Feb 22 '13 at 0:45
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In Wikipedia there is a page about the relations between Croatia and Serbia

For the first time in history, Serbia as an independent country will be represented by its national team against the Croatian team on March 22, 2013 in qualification group A of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. For the safety of the lives of those attending the next two matches in 2013, the football federations of Serbia and Croatia will cooperate to ban foreign guests from coming to the stadiums at which the two games will take place.

So I think it's not possible to attend this game. And even if's allowed, it's not a good idea. There will be a lot of police, but it will be still dangerous on and around the stadium

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