Croatia hosted several major sport competitions, including the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship, the 2007 World Table Tennis Championships, the 2000 World Rowing Championships, the 1987 Summer Universiade, the 1979 Mediterranean Games and several European Championships. The governing sports authority in the country is the Croatian Olympic Committee (), founded on 10 September 1991 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee since 17 January 1992, in time to permit the Croatian athletes to appear at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France representing the newly independent nation for the first time at the Olympic Games.
Sports
Croatia
Croatia | Sports
Football The Prva HNL football league attracts the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the country. Association football Association football, handball, etc
which cities in croatia are famous for their protective walls and forts
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Dubrovnik
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in which country is this state located in ?
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Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context.
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which country is this city located in ?
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Croatia
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how is the weather in this country ?
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Moderately warm and rainy continental climate
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what is the capital of the country ?
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Zagreb
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does the country play any sports ?
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Yes. There are more than 400,000 active sportspeople there
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any major sports they are famous for ?
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Since independence Croatia has been a fairly successful sporting country. The most popular team sports have been association football (soccer). The Croatian Football Federation (), with more than 118,000 registered players, is the largest sporting association in the country. Other popular sports are handball, basketball and to some extent water polo. The most popular sports played mainly by individuals are tennis, skiing, swimming, and to some extent table tennis and chess. The nation's arenas are primarily used for handball and basketball games.
Culture of Croatia | Sports
There are more than 400,000 active sportspeople in Croatia. Out of that number, 277,000 are members of sports associations and nearly 4,000 are members of chess and contract bridge associations. Association football is the most popular sport. The Croatian Football Federation (), with more than 118,000 registered players, is the largest sporting association in the country. The Prva HNL football league attracts the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the country. In season 2010–11, it attracted 458,746 spectators. Croatian athletes competing at international events since Croatian independence in 1991 won 44 Olympic medals, including 15 gold medals—at the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics in handball, 2000 Summer Olympics in weightlifting, 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics in alpine skiing, 2012 Summer Olympics in discus throw, trap shooting, and water polo, and in 2016 Summer Olympics in shooting, rowing, discus throw, sailing and javelin throw.
Croatia | Sports
This is a partial list of famous Croatian sportspeople.
List of Croatian sportspeople | Introduction
Slaven Bilić, Aljoša Asanović, Igor Tudor, and Stipe Pletikosa are some of the famous Split natives who started their careers at Hajduk. Basketball is also popular, and the city basketball club, KK Split (Jugoplastika Split), holds the record of winning the Euroleague three consecutive times (1989–1991), with notable players like Toni Kukoč and Dino Rađa both of whom are Split natives. Former WWE wrestler and WWE Hall of Fame member Josip Peruzović, better known as Nikolai Volkoff, was born in Split. Split's most famous tennis players are the retired 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanišević, Mario Ančić (""Super Mario""), Nikola Pilić and Željko Franulović.
Split, Croatia | Sports
Sport in Croatia has significant role in Croatian culture, and many local sports clubs as well as the Croatian national squads enjoy strong followings in the country. The most enduring sport by far in Croatia is football, and is played on amateur and professional levels amongst all age groups across the entire country. Several other major team sports are handball, basketball and water polo, with clubs in all parts of Croatia. Ice hockey is another popular team sport, namely in the Croatian interior. The most popular individual sports in Croatia are tennis, alpine skiing, and swimming, and to some extent table tennis and chess.
Sport in Croatia | Introduction
Ana Konjuh, a young tennis player, new superstar to some.
Sport in Croatia | Individual sports
In 2006 she won Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year. Her elder brother Ivica Kostelić was the 2003 World Champion in slalom and the Men's Overall Champion at the 2011 Alpine Skiing World Cup, and as of 14 February 2014 is a four-time Winter Olympic silver medalist himself. Blanka Vlašić is the best-known Croatian track and field athlete; she specialises in the high jump. She is 2007 and 2009 World Champion. Blanka is also 2008 World Indoor Champion, 2008 Olympic silver medalist and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist. Her personal best is (which is only 1 cm less than the world record) set in Zagreb on August 31, 2009.
Sport in Croatia | Individual sports
Sportsmen are traditionally held in high regard in Split, and the city is famous for producing many champions. The most popular sports in Split are football (soccer), tennis, basketball, swimming, rowing, sailing, waterpolo, athletics, and handball. Residents of Split prefer to call their city as "The sportiest city in the world". The main football (soccer) club is HNK Hajduk, one of the most popular clubs in Croatia supported by a large fan association known as Torcida Split, while RNK Split is the city's second club. Torcida Split is the oldest fan group in Europe est. 1950. The largest football stadium is the Poljud Stadium (HNK Hajduk's ground), with around 35,000 capacity (55,000 prior to the renovation to an all-seater).
Split, Croatia | Sports
Various amateur sport games are popular in Croatia, notably picigin.
Sport in Croatia | Introduction
Croatia hosted several major sport competitions, including the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship, the 2007 World Table Tennis Championships, the 2000 World Rowing Championships, the 1987 Summer Universiade, the 1979 Mediterranean Games and several European Championships. The governing sports authority in the country is the Croatian Olympic Committee (), founded on 10 September 1991 and recognised by the International Olympic Committee since 17 January 1992, in time to permit the Croatian athletes to appear at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France representing the newly independent nation for the first time at the Olympic Games.
Croatia | Sports
Franjo Bučar (1866–1946) is widely considered to be the father of modern Croatian sport. He founded the Croatian Sports Association in 1909 within what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bučar introduced a multitude of mainstream sports in Croatia, such as football, alpine skiing, ice skating and ice hockey, as well as gymnastics and fencing. The Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport, the Republic of Croatia's highest award in the development of sport, is named in his honor. With the exception of the years during the World War Two Independent State of Croatia, Croatian club and national teams first represented the Republic of Croatia at the start of the 1990s, with the formation of the Croatian national football team and its first match against the United States in 1990.
Sport in Croatia | History
The oldest basketball club in Bosnia and Herzegovina, KK Borac, was founded in Banja Luka in 1947. The most successful sportspeoples born on the territory of present-day Republika Srpska are football players Tomislav Knez, Velimir Sombolac (1960 Olympics Champions) and Mehmed Baždarević (1976 Olympics Bronze medalist); handball players Đorđe Lavrnić, Milorad Karalić, Nebojša Popović (1972 Olympics Champions) and Zlatan Arnautović (1984 Olympics Champion); basketball players Ratko Radovanović (1980 Olympics Champion) and Slađana Golić (1988 Olympics Silver medalist); boxers Anton Josipović (1984 Olympics Champion), Slobodan Kačar (1980 Olympics Champion) and Tadija Kačar (1976 Olympics Silver medalist), table tennis player Jasna Fazlić (1988 Olympics Bronze medalist).
Republika Srpska | Sport
Some of Croatia's more successful national teams include:
Sport in Croatia | National sports teams
He is considered a crucial part of the vanguard to the present-day mass influx of European players into the NBA and he was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was voted the best European Basketball player in history, by players at the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket.
Sport in Croatia | Basketball
National organizations and leagues exist in Croatia for most popular sports. Some of these include:
Sport in Croatia | Sports and leagues
The Croatia national basketball team has won a silver medal at the 1992 Olympic basketball tournament, bronze medal at the 1994 World Championship and bronze medals at EuroBasket 1993 and EuroBasket 1995. Croatian basketball clubs were EuroLeague champions five times: KK Split three times (1989, 1990 and 1991) and KK Cibona in 1985 and 1986. Croatian basketball players such as Krešimir Ćosić, Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč were amongst the first foreign players to succeed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States. One of the most notable Croatian basketballers was Dražen Petrović, who died in a car accident in June 1993.
Sport in Croatia | Basketball
Over the next 12 years, he would rise through the ranks of the world's best players and become one of the largest sport celebrities in his native Yugoslavia.
Ilija Lupulesku | Introduction
Notably successful Croatian female tennis players include: Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Iva Majoli.
Women's professional sports | Croatia
Football is the most popular sport in Croatia, and is governed by the Croatian Football Federation. The Prva HNL is the top division of the country's football league system, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Druga HNL. Dinamo Zagreb is the country's most successful football club and the 2019 champion, with 20 total championships, followed by Hajduk Split with 6 championships (last one in 2005). The rivalry between these two clubs is known as the Eternal Derby in Croatia, with the two clubs combining to win all but one of the 20 championships ever contested in the league's history.
Sport in Croatia | Association football
Croatia has hosted many international sporting events. Until 1992 Croatia hosted the events as a part of Yugoslavia.
Sport in Croatia | Hostings of international sporting events
Although not having won titles, some of Croatia's basketball legends originated there. In early 1980s known players were Mlađan Tudor, Josip Puljiz and Bjelajac. The most famous players who were playing in "Dalvin" are Croatian national team players Dino Rađa, Josip Vranković and Ante Grgurević.
KK Dalvin | Famous players and coaches
In addition, Croatian athletes won 16 gold medals at world championships, including four in athletics at the World Championships in Athletics held in 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2017, one in handball at the 2003 World Men's Handball Championship, two in water polo at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships and 2017 World Aquatics Championships, one in rowing at the 2010 World Rowing Championships, six in alpine skiing at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships held in 2003 and 2005 and two at the World Taekwondo Championships in 2011 and 2007. Croatian athletes also won Davis cup in 2005 and 2018. The Croatian national football team came in third in 1998 and second in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Croatia | Sports
A famous sports town, Šibenik is the hometown of many successful athletes such as: Aleksandar and Dražen Petrović, Perica Bukić, Ivica Žurić, Predrag, Veselinka and Dario Šarić, Vanda Baranović-Urukalo, Danira Nakić, Nik Slavica, Miro Bilan, Dražan Jerković, Petar Nadoveza, Krasnodar Rora, Dean Računica, Mladen Pralija, Ante Rukavina, Duje Ćaleta-Car, Mile Nakić, Franko Nakić, Siniša Belamarić, Renato Vrbičić, Ivica Tucak, Andrija Komadina, Miro Jurić, Antonio Petković, Neven Spahija, Antonija Sandrić, Mate Maleš, Stipe Bralić and many others.
Šibenik | Sports
Football in Croatia, called "nogomet", is the most popular sport in the country and is led by the Croatian Football Federation. It is played in four official components; the domestic league consists of three hierarchical echelons, and a single national team represents the entire state. The first Croat clubs were founded prior to the First World War and participated in the Yugoslavian league structure after Croatia became a part of Yugoslavia following the war. From 1940 to 1944, nineteen friendly matches were played by a Croatia national side representing the Second World War-era puppet states of the Banovina of Croatia and Independent State of Croatia.
Football in Croatia | Introduction
Antun Stipančić was born in Duga Resa, a small industrial town in central Croatia's Karlovac County (at the time of his birth, and until summer-autumn 1991, Croatia was one of six republics constituting Yugoslavia). His family of five — father Ivan, a janitor at the football club, mother Franca and two younger brothers, Marijan and Ivica — had a difficult time trying to make ends meet. They lived in very modest circumstances in a damp apartment located at the football (soccer) playground which shared its location with the hall of the Table Tennis Club (TTC) "Duga Resa". At the end of the 1950s, a group of sport enthusiasts led by Josip Trupković, Josip Stojković and Dragutin Vrana brought inspiration to the little-noted town and its young people with a new sport - table tennis.
Antun Stipančić | Early years
Athletics Bosnia and Herzegovina has produced many prominent athletes, including members of the Yugoslav national team before Bosnia and Herzegovina's independence. The nation's most notable track and field athlete since independence is runner Amel Tuka, who took the bronze medal in the 800 metres at the 2015 World Athletics Championships and the silver medal in the 800 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships. Football (soccer) Football is the most popular sport in B&H. It dates from 1903 but its popularity grew significantly after World War II. In the pre-independence era Sarajevo (1967 and 1984) and Željezničar (1972) both won the Yugoslavian Championship title.
Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Popular sports
The most popular sport in the Kingdom was association football. The Yugoslav Football Association was founded in Zagreb in 1919. It was based in Zagreb until the 6 January Dictatorship, when the association was moved to Belgrade. From 1923, a national championship was held annually. The national team played its first match at the 1920 Summer Olympics. It also participated in the inaugural FIFA World Cup, finishing fourth. Other popular sports included water polo, which was dominated nationally by the Croatian side VK Jug. The Kingdom participated at the Olympic Games from 1920 until 1936. During this time, the country won eight medals, all in gymnastics and six of these were won by Leon Štukelj, a Slovene who was the most nominated gymnast of that time.
Kingdom of Yugoslavia | Sport
Sports have also been a contributor to famous Czechs especially tennis, football, hockey, and athletics:
Czechs | Sports
VK Jug from Dubrovnik and VK Jadran from Split are both three time European champions, while POŠK, also from Split, is a European champion from 1999.
Sport in Croatia | Water polo
Historically, Croatia has been a prolific nation in handball, both in the success of its club handball, as well as with the achievements of the Croatian national squad. At the start of the 2nd half of the 20th century, RK Bjelovar dominated Croatian handball, and in the 1970s won five Yugoslav league championships. In 1972 RK Bjelovar won the EHF Champions League, Europe's greatest handball competition, and reached the final the following year. A smaller city, Bjelovar's reign of successes can be likened to that of the storied Vince Lombardi–era Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, as the town of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the smallest NFL market in the United States, brought home five league championships in the 1960s.
Sport in Croatia | Team handball
He is now Head Coach of the Yorkshire Under 20 County side which has won numerous English National County Championships and coaches professionally at the Doncaster club in England. His family originated from the Island of Korčula.
Croatia national rugby union team | Famous players
The most popular sports by far are football and basketball. Basketball became especially popular with the success in the late 20th and early 21st centuries of KK Budućnost, both in Regional and European competitions. Football in Podgorica has a long tradition associated with Budućnost. World-famous players Predrag Mijatović and Dejan Savićević were born in Podgorica and made their debut in that team. The club FK Zeta from the Podgorica suburb of Golubovci has also reached the former first league of Serbia and Montenegro. These clubs, along with Sutjeska from Nikšić, usually compete with each other for leading position in the First League of Montenegro.
Podgorica | Sports
This is a list of historical and living Bosniaks (of Bosnia or the Bosnian diaspora) who are famous or notable sportspeople.
List of Bosniak sportspeople | Introduction
Sport in Republika Srpska is managed by the entity's Ministry of Youth, Family, and Sport. The most popular sports in the entity include basketball, football, and volleyball. The most popular football club, and generally the largest sports organization, is FK Borac Banja Luka. FK Borac has, especially with regard to the former Yugoslavia, experienced considerable success: it won the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2011, the Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup in 2010, the Yugoslav Cup in 1988, and the Central European Cup in 1992, its last year. Other popular football clubs include FK Rudar Prijedor, FK Radnik Bijeljina, and FK Leotar, though these clubs face a considerable loss of talent to larger clubs of Serbia, Croatia, and the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo.
Republika Srpska | Sport
Rugby union in pre-independence Croatia was a moderately popular sport, but due to its recent international successes, it is gaining more recognition. Some people date the start of Croatian rugby to 17 January 1954 when the Mladost team from Zagreb was formed to become Croatia's first Rugby Club. Croatian sides competed in the Rugby Championship of Yugoslavia, which ran from 1957–1991. Croatia was something of a centre of rugby union in Yugoslavia before it gained its independence. The biggest rugby "scrum" in the world was made on 14 Oct 2007, in Croatia, with over 200 players of all categories from Croatian rugby club Nada, for a Millennium Photo.
Sport in Croatia | Rugby union
He was one of the most renowned personalities in the history of the competition, earning him the nickname "the golden left hand of Croatian sport". A table tennis child prodigy who was proclaimed "Best Croatian Sportsman" in 1975, he was National Championship winner numerous times, three times European Champion in doubles, World Champion in men's doubles in 1979 (Stipančić–Šurbek), and World Championship silver medalist in singles in 1975.
Antun Stipančić | Table Tennis career
By far the most popular club in the country is Hajduk (Split)
Football in Croatia | Teams
Sports in Croatia
Outline of Croatia | Sports in Croatia
The sport is also very popular on the eastern side of the Adriatic, especially in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the sport is known in Serbo-Croatian as ' ('playing '') or ' (colloquially also '). In Slovenia the sport is known as ' or colloquially 'playing '', or ' (from Italian ' and Venetian "", meaning 'balls').
Bocce | Geographical spread
Is gaining popularity mainly due to the University of Zagreb. Four teams currently play out of Zagreb and one out of Slavonski Brod whilst a team from Graz in Austria also competes in the CEAFL. Topper in FIFA 2018 .
Sport in Croatia | Australian Rules Football
It also hosts music events. Arena Zagreb was finished in 2008. The 16,500-seat arena hosted the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship. The Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall seats 5,400 people. Alongside the hall is the high glass Cibona Tower. Sports Park Mladost, situated on the embankment of the Sava river, has an Olympic-size swimming pool, smaller indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a sunbathing terrace, 16 tennis courts as well as basketball, volleyball, handball, football and field hockey courts. A volleyball sports hall is within the park. Sports and Recreational Center Šalata, located in Šalata, only a couple hundred meters from the Jelačić Square, is most attractive for tennis players.
Zagreb | Recreation and sports
Sportnet.hr is a Croatian sports news website. It was launched in 2000 and covers sports news from both Croatia and the rest of the world. It is considered the largest and most detailed sports news website in Croatia and the region as well, primarily covering the country's most popular sports such as football, basketball, handball, tennis, water sports and winter sports. Owner is Mariposa Negra. The site's editor-in-chief is Tomislav Pacak.
Sportnet.hr | Introduction
Introduced at the start of the 20th century, ice hockey became one of Croatia's first organized and federated sports, with Franjo Bučar's founding of the "Association for Skating and Ice Hockey", the precursor to the modern Croatian Ice Hockey Federation. From the late 1930s until Croatia's independence, Croatian ice hockey clubs competed in the Yugoslav Hockey League, with Croatia's most successful club KHL Medveščak Zagreb winning the championship three consecutive times from 1988 to 1990. Ice hockey is particularly popular in the interior regions of Croatia's Pannonia, Slavonia, Zagreb and Zagorje, where winters are as cold as in more prolific hockey nations such as Slovakia and Czechia.
Sport in Croatia | Ice hockey
Apatin has a rich history in sports. Željko Rebrača is by far the most famous athlete from this area, but in the past, Apatin has had athletes represent Yugoslavia (and now Serbia) on the international stage. Today, some of the well known professional sports clubs are:
Apatin | Sport
Since 1992, Slovenian sportspeople have won 40 Olympic medals, including seven gold medals, and 22 Paralympic medals with four golds. Individual sports are also very popular in Slovenia, including tennis and mountaineering, which are two of the most widespread sporting activities in Slovenia. Several Slovenian extreme and endurance sportsmen have gained an international reputation, including the mountaineer Tomaž Humar, the mountain skier Davo Karničar, the ultramarathon swimmer Martin Strel and the ultracyclist Jure Robič. Past and current winter sports Slovenian champions include Alpine skiers, such as Mateja Svet, Bojan Križaj, Ilka Štuhec and double olympic gold medalist Tina Maze, the cross-country skier Petra Majdič, and ski jumpers, such as Primož Peterka and Peter Prevc.
Slovenia | Sports
Croatia competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's sixth consecutive appearance at the Summer Olympics. The Croatian Olympic Committee (, "HOO") sent the nation's largest delegation to the Games. A total of 108 athletes, 64 men and 44 women, competed in 17 sports. Women's basketball, men's water polo, and handball were the only team-based sports in which Croatia had its representation in these Olympic Games. Among the sports played by athletes, Croatia also marked its Olympic debut in judo and fencing. Croatian athletes featured two sets of twins (taekwondo jins Lucija and Ana Zaninović, and Greco-Roman wrestlers Neven and Nenad Žugaj).
Croatia at the 2012 Summer Olympics | Introduction
His Golden Glove remains the biggest trophy in the history of Croatian heavyweight boxing, and he was named the Croatian sportsperson of the year twice. He was also distinctive for his Mohawk hairstyle, which led to a later nickname "Irokez" (Croatian for Iroquois).
Željko Mavrović | Honors
Marina Erakovic was also born in Split.
Split, Croatia | Sports
Table tennis player and Olympic silver medalist Zoran Primorac became the first Croatian athlete to participate in seven Olympic Games as an individual athlete (his first appearance competed under the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia), and was also the oldest athlete of the team, at age 43. Venio Losert, captain of the men's handball team, was appointed by the committee to carry the nation's flag at the opening ceremony.
Croatia at the 2012 Summer Olympics | Introduction
Špansko is famous for its football club NK Špansko, which was very successful in the 1980s and 1990s. Famous Coatian female handball player Klaudija Bubalo attended Ante Kovačić Elementary school, where she started playing handball at physical education classes. Vedran Zrnić attended the same school as well.
Špansko | Sport
In 1957, he was awarded the Sportske novosti Croatian Sportsman of the Year. At the 1959 Mediterranean Games he won a gold medal. On the club level he was a long-time member of Croatian waterpolo club "Jug" from Dubrovnik, multiple national champion.
Hrvoje Kačić | Introduction
Derventa is known throughout the region for its tradition of handball excellence, creating many great players as well as having a very successful club given that it is such a small city.
Derventa | Sports
Prelog is considered the hometown of motorcycle speedway in Croatia, as the local speedway club was one of the country's first organised clubs in the sport. There are more than 20 different sports clubs in the town and its wider area, with the most popular sports including football, tennis, basketball, table tennis, handball, etc. There is also a small airfield for powered hang gliders on the shores of the Drava, as well as a small marina on Lake Dubrava nearby, with the lake also being a popular destination for anglers.
Prelog, Croatia | Sports and recreation
Award winners in both categories are collectively referred to as the "Golden Roll" ("Zlatna lista"). The current award is considered one of the most prestigious Croatian national sporting awards, along with the annual awards handed out by the Croatian Olympic Committee. In 1990 the categories for Men's Sports Team of the Year ("Momčad godine") and Women's Sports Team of the Year ("Ekipa godine") for notable achievements in team sports were introduced.
Sportske novosti awards | History
Kozarska Dubica has an old tradition in sports that dates back to the early 20th century. In the 1930s, Kozarska Dubica established a football club named SK Una. After World War II, Kozarska Dubica had an upsurge of different sport organizations. In 1962 the handball club Borac was established. On February 11, 1973, the basketball club BK Una was created. In 1982 the Karate Club Knešpolje was founded. Even today the different sports remain an important part of Kozarska Dubica. There are both male and female teams for handball. Also there are a couple of karate clubs and chess clubs.
Dubica, Bosnia-Herzegovina | Sports
Sport in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia had significant role in its culture and society. Team sports such as football, basketball, handball, volleyball and water polo had the biggest popularity. Of individual sports the most popular were tennis, athletics, alpine skiing, swimming, table tennis, ski jumping, chess... Yugoslavia made its debut at the Summer Olympics in 1920. Until its break up in 1992, it competed in 16 Summer and 14 Winter Olympic games and won a total of 87 medals in various summer and winter sports. Yugoslavia hosted its first and the only Winter Olympic games in 1984 in Sarajevo when Jure Franko won country's first Winter Olympic medal, silver in alpine skiing.
Sport in Yugoslavia | Introduction
The Croatia national water polo team won gold medals in the 2007 and 2017 World Championships, and bronze medals in the 2009 and 2011 World Championships. The team also won gold at the 2012 and silver at the 1996 and 2016 Summer Olympics, as well as gold at the 2010 and silvers in the 1999 and 2003 European Championships. Croatian water polo clubs were 13 times LEN Champions League champions. HAVK Mladost from Zagreb is a seven time European champion (1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1990, 1991 and 1996) and was awarded the title "Best Club of the 20th Century" by the LEN.
Sport in Croatia | Water polo
The Croatian Sports Association was formed in 1909 with Franjo Bučar as its president. While Austria-Hungary had competed in the modern Olympics since the inaugural games in 1896, the Austrian Olympic Committee and Hungarian Olympic Committee held the exclusive right to send their athletes to the games. The association organized a national football league in 1912.
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia | Sports
SFR Yugoslavia Croatia Albania Argentina
Toronto Croatia | Notable players
The Croatian Olympic Committee (, "HOO") fielded a team of 87 athletes, 68 men and 19 women, across eighteen sports at the Games; it was the nation's fourth-largest delegation sent to the Olympics, but the smallest since 2004. More than 50 percent of the men's side competed in traditional team sports, with the water polo players looking to defend their Olympic title from the London Games four years earlier. Track and field accounted for the largest number of athletes on the squad by an individual-based sport, with 10 entries. There was a single competitor each in diving, judo, table tennis, weightlifting, and wrestling.
Croatia at the 2016 Summer Olympics | Competitors
Marko Marin is a German player of Serbian ethnicity. Cican Stanković is an Austrian player of Serbian ethnicity.
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Sport
The former Yugoslav national football team included a number of Bosnian players, such as Josip Katalinski, Dušan Bajević, Miroslav Blažević, Ivica Osim, Safet Sušić, and Mirsad Fazlagić.
Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Popular sports
The city is known for its sports facilities, including soccer, tennis and basketball, as well as the biggest aquatic centre in the country, which hosted the 2003 Men's European Water Polo Championship (along with Ljubljana, hosting the women's competition). The annual "Teden Mladih" (Youth Week) festival and Carniola Festival are very popular.
Kranj | Culture
Sport activities in Ćuprija are developed. Thanks to many athletes and coaches (such as Vera Nikolić, Dragan Zdravković, Snežana Jolović-Pajkić, Zora Antić -Tomecić, Miroslav Pavlović, Vladan Đorđević, Dušan Košutić, Vlada Jovanović, Ljiljana Šušnjar and Aleksandar Petrović etc.) Ćuprija was well known as "the Athletics town". Beside athletic, soccer (football in Europe), basketball, handball, tennis and volleyball are extremely popular sports in Ćuprija. Ćuprija's football club "Morava" was founded in 1918 and is currently competing in Pomoravsko-Timočka football zone. It has its own stadium with a capacity of 10,000 sport fans. In Ćuprija, there could be found a dance club for those who love to dance.
Ćuprija | Sports
Serbs are known for their sporting achievements, and have produced a number of talented athletes. The Hungarian citizen Momčilo Tapavica was the first Slav and Serb to win an Olympic medal, in the 1896 Summer Olympics. Over the years Serbia has been home to many internationally successful football players such as Dragan Džajić (officially recognized as "the best Serbian footballer of all times" by Football Association of Serbia; 1968 Ballon d'Or third place) and more recent likes of Dejan Stanković (Serbia's most capped player), Nemanja Vidić (Premier League Player of the Season and member of FIFPro World XI, Branislav Ivanović and Nemanja Matić.
Serbs | Sport
It was a complete success in organization and results. It was a top show, with "Europe's Top Twelve" in Zagreb's Trešnjevka sport hall... and Tova was in the leading role! He broke all the barriers and won the trophy which was presented to him by Reno Vinek, the editor of "Sportske Novosti".
Antun Stipančić | High points of career as a professional player
Three football clubs are situated in Ferizaj: KF Ferizaj, KF Çeliku and KF Vizioni. Ferizaj is a center for sports especially for handball; it has one team in the top league – KH Kastrioti. Handball and volleyball are clearly the most famous sports of the city. The successes of Kastrioti in the Yugoslavian league is still a pride for its citizens.
Ferizaj | Sport
Notable athletes include Primož Kozmus, Jolanda Čeplak, Matic Osovnikar, Martina Ratej, Brigita Bukovec, Britta Bilač, Borut Bilač, Gregor Cankar, Sonja Roman, Brigita Langerholc, Helena Javornik, Alenka Bikar, Rožle Prezelj and Boštjan Buč.
Sport in Slovenia | Athletics
Nikola Tesla and Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin are world-known scientists. Another accomplished Serbian-American scientist, Miodrag Radulovački, was named the 2010 Inventor of the Year at the University of Illinois for producing a dozen potential therapies for sleep apnea. Hall of fame basketball player, Pete Maravich (1947–1988) is listed among the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. Sasha Knezev: is a Serbian American filmmaker known for American Addict, American Addict 2, Fragments of Daniela and Welcome to San Pedro. Predrag Radosavljević is a renowned former Serbian-American soccer player and famous for scoring a goal against then-ranking no.1 team Brazil to help the United States defeated Brazil for the first time with a 1–0 win in 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Serbian Americans | Notable people
The most prominently known local sports team is basketball team KK Igokea based in Aleksandrovac. KK Igokea is regular competitor in the regional Adriatic League and one of the two teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina that played in EuroCup. The local football club, FK Laktaši, plays in the Second League of Republika Srpska.
Laktaši | Sport
Rugby union in pre-independence Croatia was a moderately popular sport, but due to its recent international successes, it is gaining more recognition.
Rugby union in Croatia | History
HAŠK was founded as a multi-sports club in November 1903 by nine Zagreb students (August Adam, Dragutin Albrecht, Petar Čerlek, Vjekoslav Jurković, Marko Kostrenčić, Krešimir Miskić, Oskar Mohr, Lav Wodwarška and Hinko Würth) who are today seen as pioneers of organized sports at the University of Zagreb. The club's purpose was to popularize sports among Croatian students, as well as to counter the ongoing magyarization of Croatian public life, since Croatia was at the time part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The club's colours were red, white and golden, chosen to represent the colours of Croatian provinces. At first, the club had sections for fencing, ice-skating, skiing, sledding and sports shooting, but ever since football was introduced in the spring of 1904, it became the most popular and well-known department of the club.
HAŠK | Early days
Zagreb is home to numerous sports and recreational centres. Recreational Sports Center Jarun, situated on Jarun Lake in the southwest of the city, has fine shingle beaches, a world-class regatta course, a jogging lane around the lake, several restaurants, many night clubs and a discothèque. Its sports and recreation opportunities include swimming, sunbathing, waterskiing, angling and other water sports, but also beach volleyball, football, basketball, handball, table tennis, and mini-golf. Dom Sportova, a sport centre in northern Trešnjevka features six halls. The largest two have seating capacity of 5,000 and 3,100 people, respectively. This centre is used for basketball, handball, volleyball, hockey, gymnastics, tennis, etc.
Zagreb | Recreation and sports
Žarko Domljan, the first Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, was born in Imotski. The famous poet Tin Ujević spent part of his childhood in Imotski. Politician, poet and Croatian dissident Vlado Gotovac was born and spent his early years in Imotski. The town itself is home to Croatian league football club NK Imotski. There are other individuals born in Imotski to have made their names known outside of the local region. In the world of entertainment, there is the singer Neda Ukraden and film director Antun Vrdoljak. Sports stars include female tennis player Silvija Talaja and footballers Zvonimir Boban, Ante Rebić, Tomislav Bušić and Ivan Gudelj.
Imotski | Notable people
In 1989 received AVNOJ award, the highest Yugoslav award. In 2007 received Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport as Yearly Award, while in 2012 Award for Life Achievement. In 2012 was the recipient of Order of Duke Branimir in Croatia, while in 2018 of by the Italian National Olympic Committee. In 2012 he retired from coaching and became sports director of the Croatian Water Polo Federation until late 2013 when he became the coach of the Brazil men's national team to lead them through the 2016 Summer Olympics. Since mid-2018 is coach of Italian water polo club Pro Recco.
Ratko Rudić | Introduction
Football is the most popular sport, both in terms of participants and spectators, in Zagreb. Zagreb has several of Croatia's significant football clubs.
Football in Zagreb | Introduction
By that time Građanski had ceased to exist, although Stjepan Bobek, who initially played for Građanski 1943–1945 before switching to newly formed Partizan after the war, was a key player of the national team at both 1950 and 1954 World Cups and at the 1948 and 1952 Olympic tournaments. The following is a list of Građanski players who earned at least one cap for Kingdom of Yugoslavia national team while playing at the club in the period from 1920 to 1941. Appearances and goals are taken from Football Association of Serbia database, and represent players' career totals. During WW2 the fascist Independent State of Croatia fielded its own FIFA-registered national team which played a total of 15 friendlies between 1941 and 1944.
HŠK Građanski Zagreb | Notable players
Croatia competed at the Olympic Games for the first time as an independent nation in 1992, and has participated in every Games since then. The National Olympic Committee for Croatia is the Croatian Olympic Committee, which was created in 1991 and recognized in 1993. Croatian athletes have won thirty-three medals at the Summer Olympic Games, including multiple gold medals by the men's handball team in 1996 and 2004, as well as discus-thrower Sandra Perković in 2012 and 2016. At the Winter Olympic Games, Janica Kostelić won six medals (four gold) between 2002 and 2006, her brother Ivica won four silver medals (in 2006, 2010 and 2014), and Jakov Fak won a bronze in 2010.
Croatia at the Olympics | Introduction
At the following 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympic Games, he got the silver medal after Croatia lost to the USA in the men's final against "The Dream Team", while playing for the senior Croatian national team.
Stojko Vranković | Croatia (after independence)
The "Sports Academy" pilot project started in the year 2008. Many Croatian sportsmen/women are PAR students. such as: Ana Jelušić (skiing), Matea Ferk (skiing), Ivan Mance (football), Sandro Sukno (waterpolo), Luka Marić (football), Ivana Kalebić (volleyball), Ivan Krapić (waterpolo), Ronald Rodić (basketball), Luka Tandara (handball) Timna Tičić (tennis), Natko Rački (football manager) and many more.
Business School PAR | Professional sportmen/women students
Croatia has qualified four athletes for singles table tennis events. Based on his ITTF world rankings as of 16 May 2011 Zoran Primorac has qualified for the men's event.
Croatia at the 2012 Summer Olympics | Table tennis
The earliest record of football in Croatia dates from 1873, when English construction workers played the game in Rijeka. The first known football match involving local population was played in 1880 in Županja, between English workers of The Oak Extract Company and local youths. The sport was further popularized in Croatia by Franjo Bučar in the 1890s. Its Croatian name, "nogomet", was coined by the linguist Slavko Rutzner Radmilović in 1893 or 1894. The name was accepted into Slovenian as well. The earliest clubs were founded before World War I – HAŠK and PNIŠK in 1903, Hajduk and Građanski in 1911, etc.
Football in Croatia | History
Notable Slovenian tennis players include Grega Žemlja, Katarina Srebotnik, Blaž Kavčič, Polona Hercog, Maša Zec Peškirič and Nastja Kolar.
Sport in Slovenia | Tennis
During World War II Mihalić represented the Independent State of Croatia. He won several international competitions, set five national records and was named Croatian Sportsman of the Year three times. Mihalić used his top athlete status to avoid being drafted and declined membership in the Ustasha party by saying he was "apolitical". His first athletics coach Milčo Dobrin, who as a Jew had to wear a Star of David was barred from attending competitions. Later Dobrin managed to escape to Venezuela through Switzerland. Following WWII Mihalić ran for the newly formed Mladost athletics club from 1945 to 1947, of which he was a co-founder.
Franjo Mihalić | Entry into athletics
So far, he participated in six world paralympic championships, six European championships, three Balkans game events and four paralympic games. As already mentioned, Miloš´s specialty is F12 category javelin. In 2016. Miloš has been retired from professional athletics sport. The most important Grlica's achievements in competitions are: Miloš Grlica has been declared the best sportsman of the city of Beograd consecutively in 2003, 2004, 2005. and 2007. He has also been declared the sportsman of the year 2004. and 2005. of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. Grlica is the bearer of the National Sport Merits Award and had received the May Award of the Serbian Sport Union.
Miloš Grlica | Introduction
Nenad Perunicic, Predrag Perunicic, Boban Knezevic, Goran Cmiljanic ( www.rkskipper.com ), Radan Rovcanin
RK Pljevlja | Famous players
The club's football stadium, modern by pre-war standards, is now in ruin. Among Warszawianka's most famous sportspeople, one can single out: Aleksander Szenajch (athletics) – 1924 Olympics in Paris, Janusz Kusociński (athletics) – 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles (a track and field event is held annually in his honor), Janusz Kalbarczyk (speedskating) – 1936 Olympics Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Emil Ochra (fencing) – 1960 and 1964 Olympics; and Stanisław Baran, a football player.
KS Warszawianka | History
The American entertainment and lifestyle magazine, "Muze", featured her as one of the 2012 Summer Olympics most amazing athletes, and her appearance in London attracted coverage in a similar vein from "Russia Today", the "New England Sports Network", and Serbian newspaper "Blic". Croatian media also noted a tweet by the NBA player, Nate Robinson, who, after watching Sandrić in the Croatia vs. Czech Republic game, commented that she "might be the most beautiful woman basketball player ever to lace up some sneakers".
Antonija Sandrić | Biography
One of the most popular sports in Mostar is football. The two most successful teams are HŠK Zrinjski and FK Velež. FK Velež won the Yugoslav Cup in 1981 and in 1986, which was one of the most significant accomplishments this club has achieved. Since the Bosnian War, each club has generally been supported by a particular ethnic group (Velež for the Bosniaks and Zrinjski for the Croats). The matches between the two clubs are some of the country's most intense matches. Since the start of the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, HŠK Zrinjski has won six championships. In basketball, HKK Zrinjski Mostar competes at the nation's highest level while the Zrinjski banner also represents the city in the top handball league.
Mostar | Sports
His brothers, Tomislav (born 1985) and Ivan (born 1990) are also basketball players and have all played in the Croatia national basketball team youth selections.
Marko Ramljak | Personal life
Table tennis player and Olympic silver medalist Zoran Primorac became the first Croatian to participate in five Olympic Games as an individual athlete (his first appearance competed under the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Former Bosnian athlete and discus thrower Dragan Mustapić served as the team captain and oldest member of the team at age 41, while backstroke swimmer Sanja Jovanović was youngest at age 17. Three-time Olympic water polo player and two-time medalist Dubravko Šimenc was appointed by the committee to become the nation's flag bearer in the opening ceremony. Croatia left Athens with a total of five medals (one gold, two silver, and two bronze), being considered as the nation's most successful Olympics in history based on the overall medal tally.
Croatia at the 2004 Summer Olympics | Introduction
Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport () is the highest recognition that Republic of Croatia gives for extraordinary achievements and contributions of remarkable meaning for the development of sport in Croatia. This award has been given since 1991. It came as successor of awards of SR Croatia: "Majska nagrada fizičke kulture" and "Republička nagrada fizičke kulture". This award is given to professional and public workers in the area of sport, sportsmen, legal and physical entities the perform sports activity, as well as other entities whose work is meritorious for the development of sport.
Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport | Introduction
Športska dvorana Gospino polje (, ) is a multi-purpose indoor sports arena located in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The arena hosts basketball, including occasional Croatian national team matches and basketball club KK Dubrovnik. It has also hosted international futsal qualifiers.
Športska dvorana Gospino polje | Introduction
2002–2004, 2015–2016, President of the Croatian Basketball Federation 20??–20??, President of KK Gorica
Ivan Šuker | Sports career
Except football, Sport Club Gorštak is active in the other sports, too. Part of Society are basketball , volleyball and table-tennis teams. Their basketball club ("KK Gorštak") produced one of the greatest Montenegrin players - Vlado Šćepanović, who was born in Kolašin.
FK Gorštak | Other sports
He was also a regular Croatia national basketball team player.
Lukša Andrić | Croatian national team
This is the birth town of popular Croatian footballer Zvonimir Soldo, who works in Cologne in Germany.
Služanj | Sports
After the war, most of the prominent Yugoslavian clubs, including clubs in Croatia, were dissolved and replaced with new sides by Marshal Tito's Communist regime. Today, club football in Croatia is dominated by Hajduk Split, HNK Rijeka and Dinamo Zagreb. Since independence, the country has produced a string of players who have performed well in many of Europe's most highly regarded leagues and who took the national team to third place at the 1998 World Cup and the final at the 2018 World Cup.
Football in Croatia | Introduction
HAŠK Mladost ("Mladost" - lit. "Youth") is an academic sports society from Zagreb, Croatia, sponsored by the University of Zagreb. Clubs named Mladost exist in athletics, field hockey, judo, basketball, bowling on ice and asphalt, fencing, volleyball, swimming, rugby, synchronised swimming, skiing, ice-hockey, ice skating, table tennis, archery, chess, tennis, water polo and rowing. Probably the most renowned sections are water polo, swimming, volleyball, rowing and in more recent times ice hockey. The water polo club Mladost often wins the Croatian championships and competes in the European club championships, while the swimming club regularly organizes international swimming events. It should be stated that HAVK Mladost (water polo section of HAŠK Mladost) is one of the most successful clubs in the history of European championships in that sport.
Mladost (sports society) | Introduction
"Sportske novosti" was founded in 1945 and it first began awarding the "Yugoslav Sportsman of the Year" and "Yugoslav Sportswoman of the Year" awards in 1950 for greatest achievements in Yugoslav sports. The award, one of several Yugoslav national-level sporting awards, was given every year between 1950 and 1990, when it was discontinued due to the breakup of Yugoslavia. In 1952, the newspaper had launched a parallel award for Croatian athletes which honored best sporting achievements by sportsmen and sportswomen hailing from SR Croatia (1952–90) and later independent Croatia (1990–present). Winners of both the defunct Yugoslav awards and the present-day Croatian awards are selected through a poll of sports journalists from around the country who are members of the Croatian Association of Sports Journalists ("Hrvatski zbor sportskih novinara"), which was itself established in 1949.
Sportske novosti awards | History