Zrinjski coach Karačić openly divides Mostar

Today's matches concluded the BiH Premier Football League, and Travnik secured their stay in the PL BiH with an away win against Borac. Rudar Prijedor played a 1:1 draw at home. The Prijedor team ended their performances this year ingloriously, falling to the second league.

However, besides the matches that decided who would remain in the elite competition, the most interesting match was certainly in Mostar, where Velež and Zrinjski played the city derby at the Vrapčići stadium.

Velež defeated the team of Zrinjski, this year's champion, 1:0 in this match, which had no result significance, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

After the match, Zrinjski's coach Branko Karačić made a scandalous statement, dissatisfied with the refereeing, stating that the referee succumbed to the pressure that the derby brings. Besides unnecessarily commenting on the referee's decisions, Karačić shocked the citizens of BiH by saying that they are returning to "their Mostar because they are the champions" to celebrate the title.

Karačić clearly meant the western part of Mostar with this statement, further stirring passions in the city, which is already known as a "case city," writes Patria.

Even the BHT1 journalist was confused, and after this statement, the broadcast of the match was concluded. Sports venues should certainly not be places where national tensions are ignited, so we now rightly ask if the leaders of the Football Association of BiH will make a statement.

Karačić was born in Vinkovci, Republic of Croatia. He is a former Croatian footballer. In his coaching career, he managed the teams of Zagreb, Osijek, Slaven Belupo, Cibalia, Slavonac, Šibenik, Osijek, and Široki Brijeg. He has been at the helm of Zrinjski since last year.