Igor Štimac

Croatia’s achievement in coming 3rd at the 1998 World Cup in France was staggering. A nation barely established took on and beat the world’s powerhouse nations, coming within a whisker of lifting the trophy. But, this is much more than just a story about a talented football team, it is the tale of a nation emerging from the wreckage of the Balkan war and the disintegration of Yugoslavia to stand proudly as an independent country on football’s grandest stage.

Short stories about Fabjan, Luka, Fran, about Vis, Bajda, the fifties... About the crisis, the first cup, the year 1971, about the golden generation, the eighties, the nineties, about Torcida... The story of FC Hajduk Split and its 100 years.

Story about the last Yugoslavian national soccer cup final, held on May 8, 1991. The match proudly remembered by fans of Croatian side NK Hajduk who defeated Serbian FC Red Star on the eve of subsequent civil war.

Croatian War of Independence narrated trough the experiences of the players of the National Soccer Team who won the third place during the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in France. Their victory delivered joy to a war­torn population and it is the highest achievement of a post­Yugoslavian nation in soccer competitions.