September 8: Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda faces intense criticism after the club and its supporters publicly honored war criminal Ratko Mladic during Sunday’s derby against rivals Partizan Belgrade.
During the match, the Crvena Zvezda ultras presented a huge tifo in tribute to the missing Serbian general. The club itself joined the commemoration by holding a moment of silence before kick-off and sharing a video of the tribute on its official X account.
Mladic died at the age of 84 in a United Nations prison in August. His funeral took place in Belgrade on Monday 7 September and drew thousands of nationalist supporters to the streets of the Serbian capital to pay their respects.
In 2017, the International Criminal Court sentenced Mladic to life in prison for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1992-1995 conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
He was convicted for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, as well as the siege of Sarajevo, which claimed more than 10,000 lives. Despite his conviction, Mladic remains a revered figure among Serbian nationalists, who form a core part of Crvena Zvezda’s extreme fan base.
This latest incident comes shortly after European football’s governing body UEFA fined Red Star Belgrade €90,000 for “racist and/or discriminatory behaviour” and “conveying a message that is not fit for a sporting event”. This sanction was imposed after fans displayed a banner celebrating Mladic during a UEFA Europa League match against Czech club FC Viktoria Plzen.
Contact the writer of this story, Alexander Krassimirov, at (email protected)