sport
This Is the World Cup Too: Stories More Incredible Than Football Itself
Behind the goals, trophies and legendary champions lie stories that have shaped the history of the FIFA World Cup just as profoundly as the matches themselves. From political pressure and controversial decisions to human tragedies, collecting crazes and moments that became part of popular culture, these are the stories that prove the World Cup has always been much more than a football tournament.
Banja Luka, You Don’t Expect: A City of Unusual Sports
Banja Luka is football. Banja Luka is a handball. Banja Luka is involved in boxing and basketball, too. But Banja Luka is also home to lesser-known and unusual sports such as fencing, sport climbing, and Chinese martial arts - the discipline the world first came to know through Bruce Lee as kung fu.
Stojan Vranješ for HEDONIST: Goals Are My Fuel
The English often say that goals are like double-decker buses - you wait and wait, and then several arrive at once. Few understand that better than Stojan Vranješ, who recently made his 300th appearance for FK Borac Banja Luka. One of the most decorated footballers ever to come from the city on the Vrbas River, Vranješ won four Bosnian Premier League titles with the red-and-blue side.
Why Novak Doesn’t Need Applause
Some athletes grow on applause. And then there are those rare ones who do not depend on it. Novak Djokovic belongs to that second, almost forgotten kind, the kind that no longer seeks validation from the outside because it has long since found balance within.
Gone with the Wind: Has Sport Lost Its Soul?
At the end of the promenade, near Ciglana and Vitanova Bara, right by the large bend where the Danube forms whirlpools capable of spinning the boats of careless fishermen for hours, lies Ledine. It is a meadow where a small-sided football tournament is held every sunny Sunday, and where, every other day, rain or shine, muddy kids from the surrounding alleyways chase a ball day and night.
