Thompson Concert Dominates Croatia Handball Homecoming

The news in Croatian

1. reprezentacija  (f.)
   sportska ili državna momčad koja predstavlja neku zemlju na natjecanjima ↩︎
2. brončan
   koji je od bronce ili je treći po redu, nakon zlatnog i srebrnog ↩︎
3. medalja  (f.)
   mali okrugli metalni znak koji se dodjeljuje za uspjeh u sportu ili nekom drugom području ↩︎
4. nastup  (m.)
   pojava ili izvođenje neke osobe ili skupine pred publikom ↩︎
5. vlada  (f.)
   skupina najviših državnih dužnosnika koji upravljaju državom ↩︎
6. politika  (f.)
   aktivnosti i odluke koje se tiču upravljanja državom ili društvom ↩︎

Translation

Text comprehension

Question 1: Why did thousands of fans gather at Ban Jelačić Square in Zagreb?

Question 2: What was the disagreement between the City of Zagreb and the Croatian government about?

Vocabulary

Croatian	English
reprezentacija  (f.)	national team
brončan	bronze
medalja  (f.)	medal
nastup  (m.)	performance
vlada  (f.)	government
politika  (f.)	politics

Read the full story

The Croatian men’s handball team returned to Zagreb as European Championship bronze medallists, but their official homecoming on Ban Jelačić Square became as much a political event as a sporting celebration.

Thousands of fans filled the main square to welcome the team after they secured third place at the tournament held in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The crowd waved Croatian flags, lit flares and sang well-known patriotic songs while waiting for the players’ bus to arrive.

The players were greeted on stage by loud applause. Members of the coaching and medical staff were introduced first, followed by head coach Dagur Sigurdsson and the squad. The national anthem “Lijepa naša” was performed, and captain Ivan Martinović thanked supporters, calling them “a miracle” and dedicating the medal to the fans.

The musical programme had been central to the controversy. According to both government statements and city officials, the handballers strongly wished to hear Marko Perković Thompson, a nationalist rock singer whose songs they had celebrated with during the tournament. His track “Ako ne znaš što je bilo” has become an unofficial anthem of this team.

Initially, the City of Zagreb and the Croatian Handball Federation agreed on a city-organised reception. The plan included performances by fan favourites Zaprešić Boysi and the band Hrvatske ruže, who were due to sing “Ako ne znaš što je bilo”. City officials emphasised that this showed they did not oppose patriotic songs.

The dispute started when, on the eve of the event, the federation relayed a new request: the players wanted Thompson himself to perform. Mayor Tomislav Tomašević refused, citing a decision of the City Assembly which asks the administration to prevent the use of the World War II salute “Za dom spremni” at public events authorised by the city. He argued that Thompson had ignored this rule at a concert in Zagreb Arena in December, where he reportedly opened a song with the banned slogan.

After the city declined to approve a reception including Thompson, the Croatian Handball Federation cancelled the original city event. The next morning, the national government announced that it would itself organise a welcome ceremony on the same square, in cooperation with the federation, and in line with the team’s musical wishes.

This raised questions about legal competences. Zagreb’s mayor accused the government of an “attack by the state on the City of Zagreb” and claimed a breach of the constitutional autonomy of local self-government. He also criticised what he called “institutional violence” and argued that the central authorities were using sport to push a particular political and ideological narrative.

The government strongly rejected those accusations. Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that the state stepped in only after the city had effectively withdrawn from the reception, insisting that the bronze medal belongs to the Croatian national team, not to a city team. He described the handballers’ homecoming as a national event which should not depend solely on local political decisions.

Plenković argued that the planned playlist was in line with the city’s own rules, emphasising that only “uncontroversial” songs had been agreed and that it was wrong to assume that Thompson’s presence must automatically mean a breach of the City Assembly’s decision. Government representatives also stated they believed nothing unlawful had been done and that the cabinet had the authority to ensure a reception “worthy of the athletes’ achievement”.

Other national political actors reacted differently. President Zoran Milanović described the government’s move as unconstitutional and illegal, calling it a “pirate act” without legal basis. He criticised police behaviour towards city inspectors on the square, framing the whole episode as a dangerous precedent for the rule of law and a way of deepening divisions among citizens.

Within the governing coalition, the conservative party Domovinski pokret (Homeland Movement) argued that current legislation is unclear. While criticising the mayor and accusing him of treating Zagreb as a “state within a state”, they also announced that they would push for new laws to ensure that local authorities cannot block events they see as being of national importance, including homecomings for successful national teams.

Political analysts offered contrasting evaluations. Some commentators said that the homecoming is clearly a national ceremony and should not be limited by local authorities, warning that, by the same logic, a city could even block events such as military parades or national holidays on its territory. Others focused on the role of the Croatian Handball Federation, arguing that by insisting on a specific singer and not respecting the earlier agreement with the city, the federation had allowed the national team’s success to become a tool in broader political and cultural conflicts.

During the event itself, the musical programme followed the players’ wishes. After performances by Zaprešić Boysi and speeches from the team, Thompson appeared on stage together with Hrvatske ruže. They sang “Ako ne znaš što je bilo” and other songs popular among the players, such as “Moj Ivane”, “Ravnoteža”, “Geni kameni”, “Dolazak Hrvata” and “Lijepa li si”. The concert ended with the song “Prijatelji”, after which the singer and the team posed for a group photograph. According to on‑the‑ground reports, slogans such as “Za dom spremni” appeared on some placards in the crowd, but were not used from the stage.

Not everyone on the square agreed with the choice of headliner. Members of the civic initiative “Ujedinjeni protiv fašizma” (United Against Fascism) unfurled a large banner reading “Ujedinjeni protiv fašizma” from a nearby building while Thompson was performing. In statements to the media, they said they opposed what they saw as the normalisation of Ustaša symbolism, historical revisionism and political polarisation through state‑sponsored events. They also criticised what they described as the government’s disregard for local decisions and the use of sport and music to shift society further to the right.

The debate around the reception has highlighted deeper tensions in Croatian public life: disagreements over the legacy of the Second World War, the role of nationalist symbols, the limits of local versus central power, and the extent to which sporting successes should be linked with any particular political or ideological message.

For the players and most fans on the square, the focus appeared to remain on celebrating a new medal for Croatian handball. For many politicians, activists and commentators, however, the event has become a reference point in ongoing discussions about democracy, memory and identity in contemporary Croatia.

Info: ‘Croatian Learner News’ is a service from ‘Let’s Learn Croatian’, a language school dedicated to teaching Croatian through a range of online Croatian classes. We provide structured courses to support learners at different levels in developing their language skills.