The chilling phrase "Direction Potocari," uttered by former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic as his forces advanced on Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, has resurfaced in a disturbing context, this time echoing from the stands of a Belgrade football stadium. The words, a grim harbinger of the genocide that unfolded in the days that followed, were adopted by fans of the Serbian football club Red Star Belgrade on Sunday to honor Mladic, a convicted war criminal who died in The Hague while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The football match, a highly anticipated derby between Red Star and city rivals Partizan, saw supporters of Red Star unveil a giant image of Mladic and observe a minute of silence in his memory. This overt tribute occurred just days after the European football governing body, UEFA, fined Red Star a substantial 98,250 euros (approximately $114,100) for a banner displayed during a previous European competition match. That banner, which read "General, eternal glory and thanks," was dedicated to Mladic and was unfurled by the club’s ultras during a Europa League playoff in Plzen, Czech Republic.
The UEFA sanctions also included a ban preventing Red Star supporters from traveling to the club’s next two away European fixtures, scheduled for Lugano, Switzerland, and Ghent, Belgium. This is not the first instance of Red Star fans expressing support for Mladic during international matches; similar messages were displayed during a Europa League tie against Belarusian club BATE Borisov nine years prior, indicating a persistent pattern of glorification.
A "Shameful Event" in Belgrade’s Marakana Stadium
Slobodan Georgiev, news director at TV Nova S in Serbia, described the minute of silence at Belgrade’s iconic Marakana stadium as a significant escalation, marking a qualitative shift rather than a mere repetition of past behavior. He characterized the official tribute to a convicted war criminal as unprecedentedly shameful for the stadium. Georgiev condemned the use of the slogan "Pravac Potocari," stating it could not be justified, although he anticipated attempts to rationalize it.
Georgiev placed this incident within a broader historical context, asserting that football terraces in Serbia have long served as conduits for nationalist and extremist ideologies. He argued that since the breakup of Yugoslavia, these spaces have functioned as recruitment grounds for paramilitary formations, a role that has persisted in various forms. "The worst messages have always travelled through the terraces," Georgiev stated, "everything the authorities didn’t dare say themselves, they most often said through the stands, as they did… at the Red Star-Partizan match."
Tributes from Both Sides of the Belgrade Derby
The "eternal derby" between Red Star and Partizan, however, was marked by more than just Red Star’s controversial display. Supporters of Partizan, known as the Grobari, also paid homage to Mladic. Just a week earlier, on August 31, during a Serbian Super Liga match against OFK Beograd, Partizan’s hardcore fans raised a banner reading "General, thank you," with Mladic’s flag prominently displayed for the entire match.
Georgiev views these fan groups not as independent entities but as instruments manipulated by the state. He contends that state security services and associated criminal groups have historically controlled these fan bases, deploying them for various clandestine purposes. "The state, through its secret services and through criminal groups, has always managed these groups and used them for the worst tasks: mobilization in war, crime in peacetime, and delivering the ugliest political messages," Georgiev explained. He pointed to a stand that boasts of its founding by Željko Ražnatović Arkan, a notorious Serbian paramilitary leader, and openly praises Ratko Mladic without facing legal repercussions, as indicative of a deeply problematic dynamic. Arkan, before his assassination in 2000, was closely linked to Red Star’s hardcore fan base, the Delije, and is widely reported to have been instrumental in their organization.
Deeply Ingrained Issues in Serbian Football Culture
Sasa Djordjevic, a senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), echoes Georgiev’s observations regarding the continuity of these issues, tracing their roots back to the late 1980s. He highlights the entanglement of football hooliganism, nationalism, and politics in Serbia, which became particularly pronounced during and after the dissolution of former Yugoslavia. Djordjevic explained that certain elements within the hooligan scene have been exploited as a political "rent-a-mob," with group leaders often benefiting from political protection or business opportunities.
What concerns Djordjevic most is the potential for such incidents to become normalized, rather than being perceived as serious manifestations of hate speech. "Incidents like those that occurred at Marakana last night risk being perceived as routine rather than serious manifestations of hate speech," he stated. "Public debate has nearly vanished, and society seems increasingly desensitized to violence and hate speech in stadiums. When such behavior starts to feel normal, it may be the clearest indication that the issue has become deeply ingrained."
Ivana Jeremic, an editor at the Balkan Insight publication, elaborated on why sports venues have become such potent platforms for these messages. "Stadiums have long ceased to be merely sporting arenas – they are fertile ground for sending messages that can’t be spoken publicly, or that come wrapped in a softer form," she said. Jeremic noted that matches involving Partizan, Red Star, and the national team are particularly prone to such displays.
The political connections, she added, are an open secret. "The political connections between the fans leading the stands and those in power are something of a public secret, with a number of documented examples of direct influence," Jeremic asserted. "What we hear or see on the terraces could hardly happen without some form of ‘permission’ from the authorities. When it comes to Mladic, we’ve seen a rise in such messages in recent days. Red Star’s fans, as well as the club itself, are currently perceived as a mouthpiece of the government."
Adding further weight to these concerns, a Serbian government plane transported Mladic’s body from The Hague to Belgrade for burial on Thursday, where it was received with military honors, a gesture that has drawn widespread criticism.
The Path from Terraces to Paramilitary Structures
Djordjevic elaborated on the mechanisms linking football fan culture to paramilitary structures, a phenomenon that intensified during the Yugoslav wars. "During the breakup of Yugoslavia, football stadiums became spaces for nationalist mobilization, and for some young men the step from organized football violence to paramilitary structures was short," he explained. These hooligan groups, he noted, cultivate loyalty, hierarchy, a readiness for violence, and rapid mobilization to advance extremist views that extend beyond the realm of sports fandom.
While this convergence of football, nationalism, and violence is not unique to Serbia, Djordjevic highlighted that it is particularly acute there. Research by GI-TOC examining 122 fan groups found 78 identified as ultras, with 21 combining violent hooliganism with links to extreme politics. "The most problematic situation was in Serbia, followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina," Djordjevic reported, while cautioning against overgeneralization and the use of terms like "terrorism." He emphasized that the evidence points to specific groups or individuals linked to violent extremism and paramilitary structures, rather than supporter groups as a whole.
UEFA’s disciplinary action against Red Star detailed a multi-layered penalty: a 50,000-euro ($58,000) fine for transmitting an unfit message, an 8,250-euro ($9,580) fine for team misconduct, and the activation of a previously suspended sanction for racist conduct. This suspended stadium ban was converted into a one-match traveling ban, conditionally extended for two years.
However, Djordjevic pointed out that such financial penalties on paper often fail to reach those directly responsible. "The problem is that fines imposed on clubs do not necessarily affect those responsible for the incidents," he stated. "If hooligans remain untouched, financial penalties can become simply another cost of doing business rather than a tool for changing behavior." He suggested that clubs respond more effectively when sanctions are certain, substantial, and consistently enforced, noting that such enforcement has been more evident in basketball than in football.
Ultimately, Djordjevic argued, the gap lies not in a lack of rules but in their enforcement. "Serbia already has a solid legal framework," he concluded. "The real issue is enforcement. Sanctions need to be applied quickly, consistently, and without exceptions, both to clubs and to individuals responsible for violence and hate speech." The continued glorification of war criminals within the football sphere suggests a deep-seated challenge that extends far beyond the boundaries of the game itself.
