http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1113172.html The Croatian Football Federation is behind a campaign aimed at whipping up its national team's fans before games by using fascist slogans, the British newspaper The Sun reported Tuesday.
Songs by popular rocker Marko Perkovic that glorify the Holocaust and the Croatian slaughter of Serbs are played at Croatia's home matches, the report said, adding that the songs are blasted at full volume to crank up intimidation levels inside Zagreb's 40,000 capacity Maksimir Stadium.
Perkovic is better known by his nickname Thompson - the machinegun he used in the Balkans war in the 1990s.
Advertisement
Football's world and European governing bodies FIFA and UEFA have repeatedly probed Croatia in the past over claims of fans' Nazi chants.
The report in The Sun, published ahead of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier between England and Croatia in London - at which around 8,000 Croatian fans are expected to be in attendance - said that Croatian soccer authorities have made no attempt to curb the fascist displays.
The paper said the tactic was most recently used to stir up the 30,000 fans who attended the team's home game against Belarus last Saturday.
However, the report added that Perkovic's songs were not played at a 2007 home match against Israel, won by Croatia, for fear it would cause offense.