The Croatian Soccer Report Story
After Croatia’s historic 3-2 victory at Wembley in November 2007, denying England Euro 2008 qualification, CroatianSoccerReport.com (CSR) launched, an English-language blog following Croatian soccer.
Originally just a hobby and ‘labor of love’, CSR quickly grew into a legitimate news source. In July 2010, CSR was granted an exclusive interview with Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp, who announced his want for Croatian goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa at White Hart Lane. Redknapp also revealed that Croatians were the best ‘lads’ he had ever coached. The story was picked up by dozens of media outlets worldwide, officially putting CSR on the global soccer map.
CSR’s style of lightening the mood during an interview and getting to know the interviewee on a more personal level has become a staple of the site’s journalistic arsenal. Immediately after the Redknapp interview, CSR got the Tottenham manager to wear their Crottenham Hotspur shirt in front of hundreds of adoring fans, recorded Croatian president Josipović talking about mafia in Croatian soccer and discovered that Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut is in fact Croatian, although born in Australia.
With ESPN’s 30 for 30 episode ‘Once Brothers’ such a hit, CSR gained access to numerous NBA locker rooms getting basketball stars Andrew Bogut, Jason Kidd, Luis Scola, Steve Nash and Marc Gasol to comment on the inspiration Dražen Petrović gave to them and the trail he blazed for international players.
The hobby project quickly grew popular over night in the worldwide Croatian community, where fans of all ages could come and speak their minds on what they love- Croatian soccer.
In the summer of 2011, CroatianSports.com was launched to broaden the spectrum of Croatian sports in the English language. The website is still going strong on their mission of ‘Uniting Croatian Fans Around the World’.
Thank you for visiting CroatianSports.com and taking us one step closer to globally uniting Croatian sports fans. We encourage any feedback!