The best football country you've never heard of
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Published 2024-06-13
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As the European football championship football tournament starts in June, the usual countries are favorites; France, England, Germany and Spain. But Europe used to have another favorite; Yugoslavia. For more than 40 years, the communist country used football to keep its population united and elevate itself onto the national stage. By the late 80s, it was considered one of the strongest football sides in Europe when it suddenly and violently disappeared.
Special thanks to Dennis Gudasic, Executive Director of Lokomotiva Zagreb Football Club.
Correction:
01:30 Voice over misguidedly says Yugoslavia is between Europe and Asia, when it should say it is in south and central Europe. I apologize for the mistake.
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All Comments (21)
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"Between Europe and Asia"? Its not Khazakstan. Its firmly in Europe. Its west of greece, right next to Itali.
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Grown men here will cry for two things: their team winning a game and remembering the war.
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The team that replaced Yugoslavia at the Euros in 1992, Denmark, ended up winning it.
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Luka and Jokic, arguably the two best basketball players in the world right now, both are from former Yugoslav countries
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Correction 1:30 - Apologies for the language here. I should have said "this region lies in south and central Europe". We will do better next time, thanks everyone for watching. - Sam
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A good random fact is that Dejan Stankovic, a legenday defender for Inter Milan, is the only football player to have played 3 different world cups with 3 different countries. Yugoslavia, Serbia Montenegro and then Serbia. Which is something incredible!
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My entire families generation is from Yugoslavia. Growing up I can tell you firsthand that this team was national gold not just in football but in basketball too. Thank you for bringing this to light!
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I really liked the sport Yogoslavian system: lots of infrastructure, free sport for everyone from 3 to 18 years old, and not just football: they were strong even in other sports.
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"Lying between Europe and Asia..." That's some "Grade A: American Geography" lesson for you there!
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Hajduk Split was Titos favorite. Partisan was team form by Army and took name also stadium is Yugoslavian National Army (YNA) is name of stadium. Rest really nice tbh
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Peak Vidic and young Modric in the same team would've been special
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For anyone interested in learning more: The podcast Remembering Yugoslavia has a great episode on Yugoslavia and football called The Name of the Game: Yugoslav Football.
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Recently visited Croatia with my family. Beautiful country with a rich history
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As a half Croatian with a huge interest in the sport politics of Yugoslavia, I have to say this video was awesome. Great execution, very in depth and awesome profiling of the key people involved in the war and national team. Great work.
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Love the editing style! I think the behind-the-scenes into After Effect is really cool.
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You can add Vardar, as we won Handball Champions League twice in three years. And Macedonia has the best handball goal scorer in Kire Lazarov, holding the World Cup best goal scorer record with 92. In addition to the successes the national teams of Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia have on the International Finals Tournaments.
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Lots of Yugoslavs moved to western Europe since the 70s and especially during the 90s and once there, their children has in many cases become very successful in football, and other sports as well.
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As a Croatian its always been bafflingto me to go to different countries and find they don't have a court for football/basketball/handball/whatever around every other corner and even if they do I don't see kids playing there. We used to meet up at 7/8pm every night in summer as kids in front of the church and play sports! Realizing there's people that don't get decent at a sport and do it even up to their fourties' and late fifties is insane to me 😂😂 I don't know what I would do without playing basketball every week at least once. It's such a cultural phenomenon. There's not one Croatian boy I know that doesn't want to and enjoys playing football with his friends EVERY DAY in summer. Plus the ocean. We swim constantly. We move and run and jump constantly. We compete (probably daddy issues but fuck that 😂)!
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Great video, but failling to mention Tadej Pogacar and Primosz Roglic is a crime!
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I've been watching since your first video, and wow, each one just keeps getting better and better! Keep up the amazing work! 🎉
