The Bosnian and Herzegovinian portal “N1” reports that the withdrawal of these national team members is not related to sporting reasons. It is claimed that they experienced political pressure and left the team against their will.
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On Saturday morning, A. Lazić, together with his teammates and coaching staff, left Tuzla by bus for Belgrade. From Nikola Tesla Airport, the national team was supposed to continue their journey to Vilnius.
However, the situation changed even before arriving at the airport. Milorad Dodik, the Serbian president of Aleksandrovac’s “Igokea,” contacted the national team representatives and demanded that A. Lazić leave the team.
It is claimed that he was told that if he remained on the team, he could be dismissed from the “Igokea” club he represents.
A similar situation befell Zoran Petković, who works in the coaching staff of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team and is associated with the “Igokea” club.
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He also left the national team. “Istraga.ba” reports that both he and A. Lazić were threatened with losing their jobs at the club if they remained in the national team.
The reason for such a reaction was reportedly a banner displayed in the stands during the Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Italy match at Tuzla’s “Mejdan” arena, related to the death of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. Dodik himself speaks quite positively about him.
84-year-old R. Mladić was nicknamed the “Butcher of Bosnia” for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian war.
R. Mladić served a life sentence in The Hague. In 2017, he was found guilty of genocide and war crimes committed during the Bosnian war from 1992 to 1995.
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