Hooligans in Nike sneakers

Ivan Bogdanov, 29, is probably the most famous football hooligan at the moment. He's the guy who was on almost every picture from the Italy-Serbia football match, which should have been played on Wednesday, 12 October in Genoa. He was the (unofficial) leader of Serbian hooligans who demolished some of the city centre and then lit flares in the stadium. The match was abandoned after seven minutes when the Serbian supporters threw flares on the pitch and into the home supporters' section.

The violence in football is intolerable, but this blog is not a place to discuss possible reasons for the hooliganism.

Cover of Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport


After the match, the mighty Ivan was caught by the police. Officers found him during the search that went on through the night. He was hiding under the bonnet of one of the coaches waiting to take the fans back to Serbia.

I found one thing interesting, though. The guy was wearing black clothes and black balaclava, but white Nike sneakers. Quite a contrast, isn’t it ;)

Ivan Bogdanov (left) wears white Nike sneakers (photo by ANSA, source: www.ansa.it)


Unintentional product placement? Yes. And bad luck for Nike!


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6 Comments

  3. You have a point there Erik:) However not all hooligans wear Nike. Nike is quite popular in Serbia, on my visit to Guča, where people from all over Serbia come to listen to the brass bands, practically everybody was wearing Nike.
    However on my trip to Greece this summer I noticed, that everybody wears Puma downthere, very little Nike and Adidas for instance.

  4. You’re right. I’m not suggesting that hooligans wear Nike sneakers.
    Somehow I would expect them to wear boots (e.g. Dr. Martens).

  5. I can tell why theyre not wearing DrMartens #firsthandexperience :) FRA:SLO at the Stade d’ France (the game that ended 5:0) – each of Slovenian fans with the formentioned shoe had to put them off due to safety reasons. So if you are wearing sneakers, at least you keep ’em on the feet:)