Dear WSC
I’m assuming the Ruud Gullit who recently defended himself working for a dictator by saying he wasn’t interested in politics (Caucasus calling, WSC 292) to be the same one who dedicated his 1987 European Player of the Year to Nelson Mandela. I realise people’s opinions can change over 20 years, but I’m just curious as to what made him decide he wasn’t bothered about injustice anymore.
John Chapman, Sheffield
Search: 'Bosnia-Herzegovina'
Stories
The latest split in the former Yugoslavia was the result of a vote rather than conflict, mercifully, with football playing its part in urging people to vote for independence, as Djordje Nikolic explains
Soon UEFA will have a 53rd member, Montenegro. The entity officially known as the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro lasted only three years; from 1992 to 2003 the two republics had formed what was left of Yugoslavia. In May the voters in Montenegro decided, narrowly, for independence. In the next few months they will become the sixth separate country created from what was Yugoslavia. Given the closeness of the referendum, it’s even possible that football influenced the outcome.
Few World Cup qualifiers can have been more politically charged than October's visit of Serbia & Montenegro to Bosnia-Herzegovina, as Djordje Nikolic reports
Nine years have passed since the end of the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Apparently it’s not long enough to hold a football game against the former compatriots, now neighbours, Serbia & Montenegro under normal conditions.