The riot, occurring weeks after Croatia's first multi-party elections, symbolized the deepening ethnic and political tensions preceding the Yugoslav Wars.
Key Facts
- Date
- 13 May 1990
- Venue
- Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb
- Wounded
- Over 60 people
- Home supporters
- Bad Blue Boys (Dinamo Zagreb)
- Away supporters
- Delije (Red Star Belgrade)
- Weeks after Croatian elections
- First multi-party elections in ~50 years
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Croatia had just held its first multi-party elections in nearly fifty years, with parties favouring Croatian independence winning a majority. Deep ethnic and national tensions between Croats and Serbs within SFR Yugoslavia were escalating sharply, and the football match between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade became a flashpoint for these broader political antagonisms.
On 13 May 1990, a football match at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb descended into a large-scale riot between Dinamo Zagreb's supporters, the Bad Blue Boys, and Red Star Belgrade's supporters, the Delije. Fighting spread across the stadium and pitch, resulting in over sixty people wounded, including some stabbed, shot, or poisoned by tear gas.
The riot became one of the most symbolic preludes to the collapse of Yugoslavia, widely regarded as an early violent expression of the ethnic conflict that would escalate into the Yugoslav Wars beginning in 1991. It entered collective memory in Croatia as a marker of national tension and the breakdown of the Yugoslav federation.
Political Outcome
Over sixty people wounded; the riot became a symbol of ethnic tension and the impending dissolution of Yugoslavia.
SFR Yugoslavia with Croatian multi-party elections just concluded
Heightened ethnic conflict foreshadowing Croatian independence and the Yugoslav Wars