On June 11, 2026, coinciding with the UN International Day of Play and the start of the FIFA World Cup, an Event on “Football and Sports Diplomacy” was held at the Faculty of Law in Rijeka. The event constitutes the second and final part of the traditional 9th Rijeka Day of Sports Law, Sports Policies and Sports Diplomacy and also marks May 25, which the UN has designated as the International Day of Football.
The event was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of the Republic of Croatia, Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, and the City of Rijeka. The program was opened by the project head, Assoc. Prof. Vanja Smokvina, with welcoming remarks from the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof. Dario Đerđa, Zorislav Srebrić, Senior Advisor to the President of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS); and Boris Milanović, representing Primorje-Gorski Kotar County.
The event was divided into two parts.
The first part was dedicated to the presentation of the book “Pod svojim bojama: Početci hrvatske nogometne reprezentacije” (Under Our Own Colors: The Beginnings of the Croatian National Football Team), authors Hrvoje Gržina, Vladimir Iveta, and Marijo Stipančević. The book was presented by one of the authors, Vladimir Iveta—Deputy General Secretary of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) and a member of the Institute of of Sports Law, Sports Policies, and Sports Diplomacy of the faculty of Law in Rijeka.
The second part focused on footballers from Rijeka who have been an important part of the national team since its very begging. Saša Peršon played in the initial matches in 1990; Elvis Brajković was part of the squad that competed in the team’s first major tournament, the 1996 UEFA European Championship; and Daniel Šarić played a key role in the team that competed at the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Finally, given that the championship is being held on the North American continent, the best ambassador was Damir Kreilach, a legendary player and captain for the MLS (North America’s professional soccer league) clubs Real Salt Lake and Vancouver Whitecaps. The main topic was athletes as sports ambassadors.
The Event was organized by the Institute of Sports Law, Sports Policyies, and Sports Diplomacy at the Faculty of Law in Rijeka and the University of Rijeka Sports Centre, with the Croatian Football Federation as partner.
The Event was organised within the scope of the project „NEMUS: (In)visible minorities in sports: promoting equality, inclusion, rights and equity” (uniri-iz-25-113), funded by European Union – NextGenerationEU via the Croatian National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026, in conjunction with the University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law Programme Financing. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them. The Event had the media coverage by:
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