On Tuesday night in Belgrade a football game started, but it did not end. The Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania was abandoned in the first half after a drone carrying the insignia of so-called “Greater Albania” descended on to the pitch, sparking a mass brawl including both sets of players, stewards and fans.
The scenes were quite remarkable. There were players fighting each other, one of them being hit with a plastic chair by one of numerous supporters who invaded the pitch, flares and various missiles thrown from the stands. And within all that there was one familiar face and to see that face was almost as shocking as the rest of the mayhem. He did not actually do that much, but he certainly caught the attention of the media worldwide.
His name is Ivan Bogdanov and he last made the news one October night in 2010, sitting on a fence with a balaclava covering his face, his body covered in tattoos, wire cutter in his hands. That night he was slicing open the fence separating Serbian supporters from their Italian hosts in Genoa’s Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, during another abandoned European qualifier.
By far the most striking thing about him was his calmness while doing it. He did not seem to fear the police or care for the consequences, he even kept urging other fans to take part in the violent act, obviously calculated to provoke the game to be stopped.
Later on we found out that the incident had been prepared long in advance, that Bogdanov and his friends arrived in Genoa three days ahead of the game and that – a few hours before kick-off – they somehow got on to the Serbian team bus and confronted the goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic, who moved from Red Star (the club Bogdanov supports) to their bitter rivals Partizan a couple of months earlier.
Many theories followed on who was actually behind the incidents and what the real motives were. Serbian ultras, especially those who follow Red Star, are both numerous and well organised but they rarely follow their national team. Even if some of them appear at a game, they are obliged to act as individuals and deny any involvement of their particular firms. On the fence in Genoa, however, Bogdanov was wearing a T-shirt with his firm’s logo, which was quite unusual.
Traditional rivalry between the nation’s biggest clubs was quickly abandoned as a motive, in favour of a wider political or crime-related context. Media speculated that both Bogdanov and his friends had been paid to stop the game in Genoa, but could not agree on the exact reason why or who would be behind it.
Some of them were looking for connections with right-wing extremists in Serbia, who wanted to prevent the country from joining the EU while others implied that it was another attempt at overthrowing the unpopular Serbian FA president, Tomislav Karadzic. Yet another theory involves a grey area where organised crime and football go side by side, with a former informal football agent being suspected of “protecting his turf”. As it often is in the Balkans, it is highly questionable whether we will ever find out the truth.
After the Genoa incident Bogdanov was kept in an Italian prison for several months, before being transferred to Serbia, where another prison term was awaiting him for a separate incident. Nearly two and a half years after the game in Italy he was finally released. In most European countries getting involved in such a high-profile football-related incident would have meant a long stadium ban – probably for life – but things like that just do not happen in Serbia. Bogdanov was back in the stands at the very next game after his release, and a month later he was pictured leading the Red Star supporters during Belgrade’s “Eternal derby”.
His exploits in Italy had brought him recognition on the terraces and only three months after his release, he was on TV again. Red Star played Chornomorets Odessa in a Europa League qualifier, and a small riot began in the away stand after a controversial penalty decision.
The Ukrainian police quickly managed to get the situation under control, but most of the people watching the game in Serbia could not help but notice Bogdanov was there. “How on earth did he get to Ukraine?” was the most popular comments on one of Serbia’s top websites. And then came the Albania game and there Bogdanov was again.
However, this actually felt a little bit different – and if there was one good thing to come out of the awful scenes on Tuesday it was that the Serbian public seemed to turn against him. There was less of the “yes, but they started it” nonsense and more of a condemnation of his presence not only in the stands but on the pitch as well.
There was a public outcry on Twitter and Facebook with the vast majority of people shocked to see that Bogdanov had been allowed to enter any game at all, and to think that four years after Genoa he would take part in ruining an international game was met with almost unanimous disgust.
That is a great step forward for a society having huge difficulties accepting its own problems. It is hoped the media will follow suit. Giving him nicknames such as “Ivan the Terrible” or “The Beast of Genoa” played to his advantage and only increased his reputation among his peers. The man who until that night in Italy had not been a name even among his fellow Red Star supporters turned into a worldwide celebrity, gaining support and admiration from many quarters, even becoming the face of an international ultras movement.
Now, however, it is hoped the tide has turned and the Serbian FA and government will act. It will be a long journey but it is a journey best started by dealing with problems such as Ivan Bogdanov. Over to you then, the Serbian FA and government.
Vladimir Novakovic is sports editor at b92.net
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