Split priest Don Ante Zderic criticized the Croatian football coach on his Facebook profile Zlatko Dalić and his frequent association of religious concepts with football.
“No, faith does not lead to victory in the World Cup, but to eternal salvation and seeing God’s glory.”
“The sacralization of sports and the national team leads to a mythologically colored view of sports competition, which, instead of objective and professional judgment, leads to subjectivization and irrationalization. This, in the end, leads to ecstasy in victory, and in defeat to the renunciation of yesterday’s idols.”
“Football is not a compensation for national historical traumas or a material for cheap political populism. We are not the ‘craziest’ nor a fan hit. We are ordinary, like everyone else. As soon as the World Cup ends and the poor tourist season due to the astronomically high prices in Croatia, we will once again talk about Ustashas, partisans and similar topics. Because, as a society, we are immature in everything.”
“No, God and Our Lady are not rooting for Croatia at the World Cup, we are not a nation chosen from heaven, and a football coach is not a life coach, nor should it be. Let’s return sport to the athletes,” Don Ante Žderić wrote on his Facebook profile.
