An in-depth investigation conducted by iMEdD delved into numerous public channels and social media profiles to uncover the connections between organized fans from Croatia, Ukraine, and Greece, as well as their affiliations with far-right ideologies. We had everything arranged —plane tickets, hotel, fixers, stadium accreditations— except for the meeting with the key people we wanted to meet in Zagreb.
We sent the source a message on Viber the morning before we flew to Zagreb. Petar replied that he was expecting the message and asked where we were staying in Zagreb. He gave a digital laugh when he read about the Esplanade Hotel, next to the train station. We put our phones in flight mode. That same evening we landed in the Croatian capital, the city of BBB. He was a sturdy something-year-old with a strong handshake.
Groups of young people were having fun around us in the crowded pub, without the slightest suspicion of the unknown world that was slowly opening up in front of us. It was impossible to make a recording in there so we went out with Nikola on the street. Nikola was something of a buffer zone for the two unknown Greeks who had travelled to Zagreb and were asking about the BBB.
He was really part of the Ultras movement. In fact, he was much closer to us than to many of the Greeks who talked about his death. BBB were founded in and are among the most hardcore hooligans in Europe. Members of the first generation of the group fought against the Serbs in the first half of the s. In the following years, BBB took on everyone —the president of the team, the football federation, the president of Croatia himself.
Petar asked to meet us at the hotel. They were two active members of BBB. They were well dressed, between 30 and 35 years of age. They agreed that it would be better to go into the room. We opened the window and turned the two desk chairs to face each other. The two BBB members denied that the group is a neo-Nazi incubator. We paid with blood our separation from Yugoslavia. Who attacked us? However, there are many videos and photos of Nazi salutes and fascist symbols in the BBB stands.
