Croatian Football Federation (HNS) president Davor Suker said in a statement on Saturday that Zdravko Mamic, the Dinamo club executive director, and a member of the federation's executive board, had made "a gross mistake" and done huge damage to himself and football in Croatia with his latest verbal outburst.
Following the latest scandal involving Mamic, known for his verbal outbursts, Suker said in his statement that Mamic had done everything contrary to the efforts of the governing body of association football in Croatia to make the best possible preparations for the forthcoming qualifier between Croatia's and Serbia's national teams for the World Football Championship. The first fixture is scheduled for 22 March in Zagreb.
Suker used this occasion to apologise to the Croatian government and the UEFA chief Michel Platini over the developments following an act of making public Platini's letter to the Zoran Milanovic cabinet regarding Croatia's efforts to deal with hooliganism in football.
Suker apologises for the HNS behaviour when having launched a public debate with the government over the matter, underlining that the intention of the new HNS leadership was not to make this problem bigger but to try highlight this issue.
"Today, a week ahead of the Croatia-Serbia match, I call on the Croatian public, and particularly on spectator at the (Zagreb) stadium, to support our national football team and to help them to win a victory in the spirit of fair-play and full respect and without any incident," Suker writes in his letter.
