Croatia slams Platini after his letter on hooliganism

ZAGREB - Agence France-Presse

Croatian government criticizes Platini after his letter on hooliganism. AFP photo

The Croatian government slammed UEFA president Michel Platini on March 10 over his “inappropriate” letter to Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic in which he urged the Balkan country to tackle hooliganism. 
“We regard this form of address... as diplomatically inappropriate,” read a letter to Platini signed by Croatia’s interior and sports ministers.

Last month, Platini urged Croatia and Serbia to tackle hooliganism ahead of the high-risk March 22 World Cup qualifier, the first meeting between the two sides as independent nations since the bloody war in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

In his letter, Platini also called Milanovic and his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic to organize an urgent meeting with UEFA officials to discuss ways to uproot violence in football in the two former Yugoslav republics.

UEFA has fined both football federations several times for violence and racist behavior shown by hardcore football fans.