On 13 May 1990, a Yugoslav First League match between Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade became one of the most politically explosive football riots in modern European history. Around 3,000 Red Star supporters, known as the Delije, traveled to Zagreb for a match watched by an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people. The fixture was already a bitter rivalry, but it unfolded only days after Croatia's first multiparty elections in nearly half a century, in which Franjo Tuđman's Croatian Democratic Union won power amid rapidly intensifying Serbian and Croatian nationalism. The Delije were led by Željko Ražnatović, better known as Arkan, a Serbian nationalist wanted in several European countries for robbery and murder who would later command the Serb Volunteer Guard during the Yugoslav Wars.
Hours before kickoff, street clashes had already broken out. Inside Maksimir Stadium, stones were reportedly thrown toward the visiting section, after which Delije supporters tore apart advertising boards and seats and attacked Dinamo fans while chanting Serbian nationalist slogans, including threats against Tuđman. Police initially used batons and tear gas but were accused afterward of tolerating the visiting supporters' early violence, allowing the confrontation to escalate. Dinamo's Bad Blue Boys broke through barriers and stormed the pitch, while police reinforcements arrived with armored vehicles, water cannons, and additional riot squads. The stadium was set partially ablaze, and the disorder lasted for more than an hour. More than sixty people were wounded, including victims who were stabbed, shot, or exposed to tear gas.
The most enduring image came when Dinamo captain Zvonimir Boban kicked police officer Refik Ahmetović, an ethnic Bosniak, after Boban believed the officer was mistreating a Dinamo supporter. Bad Blue Boys fans then formed a human shield around the player. Boban was suspended for six months by the Football Association of Yugoslavia, missed the 1990 FIFA World Cup, and faced criminal charges, although Ahmetović later publicly forgave him. In Croatia, the kick became a symbol of resistance to Belgrade and helped turn Boban into a national hero; in Serbia, it cemented his nationalist reputation. The riot badly damaged the already fragile Yugoslav football system, and within two seasons Croatia and Slovenia had left the Yugoslav league structure as Yugoslavia itself disintegrated.
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