On May 1st, the BBC ran an article on “What is Croatia’s secret to sporting success?,” putting Croatia’s past achievements in soccer, handball and water polo, amongst other sports, into scope. Although the British outlet focused on soccer for the 4.4 million person populated Balkan state, the timing of the article sent this quasi-journalist’s cynical ‘spidey-sense’ into action. Croatia currently sit fourth in the world in the FIFA rankings. Most of us diehard fans on this website agree that the rankings are anything but accurate, but they still are what we must go off of.
I mean, how can a team that hasn’t made it out of the group stage in any major tournament since 2008 be ranked fourth in the world? It just doesn’t make sense.
You don’t have to remind any Croatian on this planet that we have the ‘pound for pound’ best athletes in the world. After Croatia’s 1998 third place World Cup finish, the tiny country that could kept on going, winning water polo and Olympic gold, and even the 2005 Davis Cup in tennis. My question is: why this article now?
Is is that Croatia is finally receiving the recognition it deserves in the sporting world, or better yet, does England have to justify how a smaller country, such as Croatia, is higher than them in the world rankings?
At one point in the rce to the end of season atp finals we had Ancic and Ljubicic in the top 10 and Ancic was the stndby player at the tourney, quite amazing if u think about it
@ Timmo
“Remember the Croats were some of the few that were able to defeat the mongol horde.”
That’s right, Croatians often formed the first line of defense protecting continental Europe. They were the gatekeepers of Christendom and European Civilization. Croatians successfully repelled Barbarian hordes and stopped Ottoman advances.
If it wasn’t for us, the Ottomans and other Barbarians would have over-run Europe, sacking cities slaughtering thousands. So we saved the Europeans’ asses countless times.
@Ivica
Thank you for posting. Interesting stats especially compared to the other countries.
@Luka
Here’s a list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height
You can click on the ‘Average Male Height’ column to sort the details on provided data table, and Croatia ranks as number 6 in the World (based on the data they’ve collected).
However, the “Dinaric Alps” is captured separately, and that ranks FIRST by a significant margin.
All nations that follow the Dinaric Alps on the rankings are the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Kind of a coincidence, no? 🙂
@Matesic
Pseudo in like that Jews weren’t 75% of the Soviet Commissioners that murder millions and millions of people.
@ dannyj
LOL!
That’s makes the most sense out of all this pseudo science posts.
That gene is like the Hrvati Hulk.
Need to ground it for the common good.
It’s all the ćevapčići
@ Ivica
Do you have the stats for the average height for Croatia vs these Scandinavian countries and other European countries? If you do please post it.
not to mention alot of croats, including myself have a “rage” gene
I’m 5’9 and whenever I go to Croatian functions, I feel like I’m the main character in the Little Couple (my wife is even taller than I am, especially in heels). My best friends are 6’8, 6’5 and 6’3. It took me a long time to realize that I’m the only normal one and that everyone else is freakishly tall.
this is so ironic. ive been telling my american friends for several years about this same subject ,originally written by an irish newspaper years ago, on why such a tiny country can be so successful in all sports. the brits are running late. viva sarma !
im 6’2 and im good at both tennis and soccer so i must be hrvati ! (^__^)
@ IvicA
I agree with some of your points. Regarding Indians, their climate and geography is not conducive to athletic development. Half the time its monsoon season, and the other half its 110 deg. heat. Unlike Croatians, they had the benefit of a large population, so only part of them went to war. Today, they also have a higher poverty rate than Croatia.
I agree that having the Halpogroup-1 gene and being tall help. However I think the decisive factor is our survival of centuries of battle and harsh conditions. This was Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest” at its essence.
Not only did they have to be strong to survive, but they also had to have tenacity and guile. And these mental attributes were passed down as well. Modric for instance, is not tall at 5’9 and he’s our best player. But he’s agile, full of spirit and tenacity.
No matter the size of the Croatian, they all pack quite a punch. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here.
djokovic is as classy as my cunt
For all you history buffs, yes, it’s probably true that one of the reasons for our physical superiority in sports could be due to the fact that historically we were always in battle (we are, in fact, at the crossroads of Europe). This generally weeds out the weak as they are likely not going to survive in such an environment.
But you also have to remember that there are many other places in the world that suffered from things like famine and war. India is STILL dealing with this, yet I can’t even think of a single Indian athlete that played basketball or football professionally (despite the billions and billions of Indians that existed around the world).
I think the main reason is due to the fact that Croatia and BiH contains the highest concentration of European genes in the world and they (much like the Scandanavians and Dutch) contain the highest amounts of Halpogroup-I gene.
The gene originated in Scandanavia/Netherlands, but during an Ice Age there was a mass emigration of large populations of these people to the Adriatic. The one thing I noticed about Croats, along with the Dutch, Danish, Swedes, etc is that EVERYONE is freakishly tall.
The odd distribution of this Haplogroup-I is shown in the this heatmap of Europe:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_I_(Y-DNA)
Genetically, Croats have much more in common with the Dutch/Scandanavian than they do with Slavs.
@ Stipe
Come on man, you know better than that.
Just because Croatia hasn’t had a top-3 player since Ivanisevic and Ljubicic, those two alone are more than what 90 percent of the world has achieved. You also have to take into consideration that Croatia always seems to have a few guys in the top-100 in the world at all times. We may have been hibernating these past few years, but we’ve still had around 2 or 3 players in the top-100 rankings in recent years (Cilic, Karlovic, Dodig).
So, if we do the math…Croatia is consistently representing 2.5% of the world’s top-100 list.
This coming from a country that represents less than 0.057% of the world’s population.
So, even in our weaker sport of tennis, we are still punching 44 times above our weight.
After producing 13 NBA players (on par with Spain) and a multitude of Euroleague stars….don’t get me started on basketball. 🙂
bilo:
sure u arent just a jewburger?
Remember the Croats were some of the few that were able to defeat the mongol horde. There are storm clouds brewing in Europe. I have faith in her tribes that they will rise up and secure our future. Maybe the next generation of kids but it will happen. We as Croats need to stay alert and when this storm breaks we need tomake our move on that shit hole called Bosna and return her to the realm.
All this is true…I lie, cheat, and steal as much as I can every day, while looking honest, and trustworthy, to make money….
Must just be my survival instincts!
croatia @ antwerp brings up a good point. read through the history of croatia, and you will never see much in the way of peace. today’s people are the survivors of 1000 years of war, hardship, and attempted dominance by other powers who swarmed the croatian people from every side. i assumed it there were many elements through out that history that would make it tough for the weaker to survive
Iggy, not sure if you have this yet but if you don’t you will love it:
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Djokovic… Giant Douche!
u make me feel bad for being a sissy cvsa lol
@ Elvis
“The Dinaric race is hardy, ruthless, and stubborn.” That just about sums it up, I would also add Clever.
My friend, an American, wrote a paper on Croatians’ strength and will to survive. For centuries our people endured war and famine. Our strongest ancestors, both physically and mentally were the ones that survived.
Had they been cowards, Croatians would not exist today. We would have been like the Phoenicians, extinct, swallowed up by history.
That is why Croatian land is literally soiled with the Blood of our ancestors. We must never forget how long they fought, and how long they stood. Thus, I took it upon myself to learn our language and learn our history.
what year was that in ziva ?
Last time we had a decent team in hoops was during the Eurobasket in Serbia. We got screwed against Spain in the knockout game (we also choked away a good lead as well). That was the last time we had a team with decent talent and good chemistry that could compete for a medal. Last thing the organizers wanted was for Cro to play in a medal game and then have to deal with the serb fans.
hey remember that time serbs werent cunts ?
YEH NEITHER DO I
when was the last time we were good i dunno but of course i remember ’92 in barca
Niki Pilic = jugo
Djokovic…….mother is from Vinkovci
@jm……another reason for the decline of Cro basketball is the coaching. The serbs were considered better basketball coaches. If you go back to the Jugoplastika teams of the last 80s and early 90s, they were led by a serb.
Regarding Saric…..he lost an entire season this year because of his contract situation. By the time he started playing, over the half the season was gone. I’m curious to see what happens with him. He is a very nice player, but not athletic enough as his NBA counterparts will be. His shooting will need to improve or else we are looking at another Ricky Rubio when he comes over. All hype about his all around play, but not being able to hit the outside hsot will limit him.
serbs remind me of things
LIKE WHEN WE SMASHED THEM IN MAKSIMIR !!
@ stipe
hey stipe check out this link for the list of foreign players to have played in the nba. our basketball has been down for sometime (perhaps cause of disruption of youth programs with the war), but croatia has still produced a huge amount of nba players relative to its size. if you combine serbia, croatia, and slovenia they would have by far produced the most nba players from abroad and even more when you take into account population
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign_NBA_players
I don’t let Serbs remind me of a damn thing, and Djokovic is a giant douche!
I think a lot of it comes down to our combative nature. Generations of it! We’re fighters through, and through.
Bogut BEASTED last night !
Need to get the Kosarku poppin agian.
I hope Saric represents and Hezonja matures more at Barca.
Niki Pilic coached Djoko in a key time in his development.
I feel Croatia has a communal spirit that allows us to excell in team sports. Need to invest in our people more to cultivate our natural talents.
If surma is good imagine how good SARMA is.
The Dinaric race is hardy, ruthless, and stubborn. Thats why.
Just read the article. We are good in a lot of sports, but the guy who wrote says were good in b-ball and tennis? C’mon, when was the last time we had a reallllllly good b-ball team? As is comes to tennis, the cetnicks have the upper-hand in that. I don’t care tho, Djokovic is a classy dude
The article is one in a series of articles written by the BBC focused on Croatia ahead of Croatia’s entry into the EU on July 1st 2013.
The page which aggregates this article and all other can be found at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/croatiadirect
If you are going to write about Croatia in general, surely the small country’s sporting prowess needs to be one.
I’m often reminded by Serbs that until such time as we win either the World Cup or the Euros, we’re never going to be seen as a truly great footballing team by the rest of the world.
Maybe they’ve got a point, but for overall consistent sporting achievements and rankings across a vast range of sports over the last 20 years compared to size of population, I don’t think any other country can compare.
Not sure if the BBC feels it has to justify how a smaller country is above England in the FIFA rankings. It’s more about the fact that most people in the UK never get to hear about the repka or in fact any national team from what they still call “eastern Europe” unless Croatia are either playing England or else it’s just for a fortnight every two years at the Euros or the world cup finals.
My next door neighbour works with the guy who wrote the article on the BBC website, so I’m going to try and find out more about why it got written.
It’s all in the diet, SURMA!
yeah read this article via the facebook link
GUYS REMEMBER WHEN WE SMASHED SERBIA ????
man it feels so good down my pants