Sports Clubs / Ultras: Dinamo Zagreb - Bad Blue Boys

Dinamo Zagreb is the most successful team in Croatian football, and hence one of the most supported clubs in the country. As a result of this, they have developed their own group of ultras who came to be known as the "Bad Blue Boys" (BBB).

The group was founded in 1986, with the group's official site saying that the name of the group was actually inspired by the 1983 film Bad Boys. As the groups started growing in popularity, it started appearing in many different parts of Yugoslavia and then independent Croatia. During the home matches, they normally stay in the north stand of the Stadion Maksimir.

The BBB have a rather long history of hooliganism, with both UEFA and Croatian bodies of football having to implement disciplinary actions on them as a result of several violent occasions. Perhaps the biggest occasions that the BBB respond to are the matches against rivals Hajduk Split.

In a documentary made about the BBB, Sasa Podgorelec (a Zagreb film director) claimed that they knew that they wanted Croatian independence when others were too afraid to say so. Another Zagreb journalist, Andrej Krickovic, claimed that the Bad Blue Boys had offered their support to what would become Croatia's first president (and a nationalist leader) Franjo Tudman. It is rare to find a group of ultras with no political background, and the BBB are no exception to that rule.

Despite the constant fines and bans against the Bad Blue Boys, they are still praised from all corners for their support during Dinamo Zagreb's matches. Even when they were 4-0 down in the 2008 UEFA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur, they continued to support their team. A passionate group with some rough patches, the BBB are certainly one of Europe's most passionate supporter groups.

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