Politicians do not care about sports in Bosnia and in Serbia they only do if it suits them for promotional purposes, Serbian football commentator, Milojko Pantic, and Bosnian commentator and sports journalist, Sabahudin Topalbecirevic, told N1 on Wednesday, arguing that sports should not be affected by nationalist politics.

According to Pantic, politicians in the region are involved in sports, but not in a constructive way. He said that nationalist politics prevent the establishment of a regional football league.

“As long as there are nationalist-chauvinistic politicians, hooligans in all of the countries of former Yugoslavia, there is no chance for a regional league,” he said.

When asked who people in Serbia root for when the national teams of neighbouring Bosnia or Croatia are playing, Pantic said that “common people don’t recognise the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but they do Republika Srpska,” referring to Bosnia’s Serb-majority semi-autonomous region.

According to Topalbecirevic, Bosnian Croats in Herzegovina and Bosnian Serbs in Republika Srpska (RS) want to root for Bosnia’s national team but are “confused” due to politics.

“People are confused, they want to root for Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he said, arguing that the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina should “organise a match of the national team in Banja Luka” – the administrative centre of the RS.

According to Topalbecirevic, it should not matter what ethnicity the players belong to in Bosnia’s national team.

“Let 11 Serbs play for Bosnia and Herzegovina – but they must be the best,” he said.

“Let that person from Banja Luka come, let Mate from Siroki Brijeg come, or Ahmed from Sarajevo,” he said, listing traditional Bosniak, Croat and Serb names as hypothetical examples. “I wish for, feel and want to comment on such a Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

Topalbecirevic strongly criticised Bosnia’s Football Association because “the same people have been running it for the past 10 to 15 years.”

He also pointed out that the problem in Bosnia is a lack of coaches for younger generations, so many talented young players leave for other countries seeking success.