At the beginning of July, a week before the new season opened in Serbia, Red Star Belgrade went to a final preparatory game.
But it was not just a friendly game, but an event with a distinct political tone.
In the stadium in Sochi, the Russian champion Zenit St. Petersburg and the Serbian champion Red Star Belgrade faced off in a game that was entitled "The meeting of the champions".
The common denominator for both clubs appeared on the shirts of the 22 players: the sponsor - "Gazprom".
After Russia launched an attack on Ukraine in late February, the sports world sided with Ukraine.
UEFA decided to suspend the national teams of Russia from all international events, including the World Cup qualifiers, and the Russian teams were suspended from participating in the European Cups. In Western Europe, they renounced any connection with Russia. The management of Schalke 04, the German luxury club, announced the cancellation of the adoption contract with Gazprom immediately .
Russia's national gas company has been the main sponsor of Schalke since 2007 and the current contract was until 2025. Schalke, who played in the second division last season, received 9 million euros from Gazprom each year, while promotion to the first division was worth 15 million euros.
Schalke returned to the first division - but without the Russian money.
UEFA itself also had a fat advertising contract with Gazprom. The European confederation received 40 million euros from it every year since 2012. This contract was also canceled.
But in one club outside of Russia, no one thought to boycott Gazprom.
Red Star Belgrade, of course.
In 2010, the luxury club was in debt of 25 million euros and on the verge of bankruptcy, so much so that the fans started collecting donations.
This was the moment when Gazprom entered the picture, and since then it is the star's main sponsor and pays about 5 million euros every year.
The company's name appears on the players' shirts and in the stands of the stadium.
But as mentioned it is much more than money.
Serbia has always had warm relations with Russia, and even now, when almost the whole world condemns Russia for what it is doing in Ukraine, the Serbs remain loyal to the old ally.
Aleksandar Vucic, the president of Serbia, said that the country does not intend to participate in the sanctions on Russia.
In May, after a conversation with Vladimir Putin, he announced a new three-year contract for the supply of gas from Russia.
The Kochav fans in the home stadium, photo: the Red Star, the official website
Support from Lazio too
Vucic is trying to walk a tightrope, as Serbia is trying to enter the European Union, which is totally pro-Ukraine and supports sanctions.
The European Union warned Serbia that it would "pay a price", but the Serbs did not change their position.
The pro-Russian sentiment does not only exist among the board members, who of course also have financial interests - this feeling is also very strong among the fans.
This was reflected in the songs played in the stands of the stadium praising the Russian army, and in the Russian flags waved by members of the famous ultras group "Daliya" ("Heroes" in Serbian).
The Red Star Belgrade fans, who are proud to be Serbian nationalists, have not forgotten or forgiven the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, which led to the final breakup of Yugoslavia and the end of the war in the Balkans, even though the bombings came after the criminal massacres committed by the Serbs in Bosnia and Kosovo. Star fans.
Zeliko Reznatovich, aka Arkan, was the leader of "Dahlia" in his youth.
Shortly before the civil war broke out, Arakan founded a private military unit, "Arkan's Tigers", whose members were the fans of the star who cheered him on in the stands, and now they did so in military uniforms and with weapons.
Their uniforms were proudly emblazoned with the emblem of the Red Star of Belgrade.
On the match against Makabija u Beogradu, our fans spremaju novi spectacle!
It is necessary to give all the fans, we hope that the stadium will be filled with a certain color of the shirt - east and west red colors, north and south blue!
Let's go ceo stadium!
Za slavu naše Crvene zvezde!
🔴⚪#fkcz pic.twitter.com/6CczgZhgoY
— FK Crvena zvezda (@crvenazvezdafk) August 14, 2022
The "Tigers" committed massacres, mainly of Muslims in the territories of Bosnia, which was then still under the control of Belgrade.
These are hundreds of men, women and children who were murdered.
And there were also quite a few cases of rape of women.
Arkan was murdered on January 15, 2000 in Belgrade.
Two weeks later, when Lazio hosted Bari, their fans at the Olimpico waved a banner with the inscription: "Honor to the Arakan Tiger", which caused a huge uproar in Italy.
As far as the Lazio fans are concerned, they expressed support for their two Serbian players, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Diane Stankovic - the one who currently coaches Red Star Belgrade, who will play tomorrow evening against Maccabi Haifa.
Mihailovich, now the coach of Bologna, was a personal friend of Arkan, who also helped him at the beginning of his career.
He was 22 years old when he won the European Champions Cup with Red Star, before moving to Roma.
Stankovic joined Red Star when he was 14 years old and played in the senior team for three years, until he was sold in 1998 to Lazio.
He was too young to connect with Arkan, and unlike Mihailovic never spoke out about him.
More than 20 years after Arkan's death, these dark stories have almost been forgotten, but politics never left the stands of the Reiko Mitic Stadium in Belgrade, known as "Marcana", where Maccabi Haifa will play next week.
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