Red Star fans display Ratko Mladic tifo before Partizan Belgrade derby

Red Star Belgrade fans displayed a giant tifo depicting convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic just before Sunday's 2-1 derby victory over Partizan in the Serbian SuperLiga. The gesture reignites the debate around the glorification of figures linked to the Balkan wars in Serbian football and comes only a month after UEFA fined the club for a near-identical incident.

• Red Star beat Partizan 2-1 in the top flight of Serbian football.
• Ultras displayed a tifo featuring the face of Ratko Mladic, a war criminal sentenced to life in prison.
• Mladic died in August in a United Nations prison and was buried in Belgrade on Monday.
• UEFA already fined Red Star 90,000 euros this season for a similar tribute to Mladic.
• The club's social media accounts shared a video of the tifo along with a saluting emoji.

A repeated tribute putting Red Star back under the spotlight

This is not the first time this season that Red Star's hardcore supporters have staged such a display. A month ago, during a Europa League match against Czech side Viktoria Plzen, fans raised a banner commemorating the former Bosnian Serb general. UEFA responded with a fine of 90,000 euros, applying its zero-tolerance policy towards any expression that glorifies violence or figures convicted of crimes against humanity.

The latest episode, unfolding at the Belgrade derby, amplifies the controversy. Red Star and Partizan share one of the most politically charged rivalries in European football, and every gesture in the stands carries weight far beyond the sporting result. The match ended 2-1 in favour of the red-and-whites.

Ratko Mladic, the 'Butcher of Bosnia' still dividing Serbia

Ratko Mladic died in August 2024 in a United Nations prison in The Hague, where he had been serving a life sentence since 2017. International courts found him guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role as commander of Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia.

Under his command, Bosnian Serb troops carried out the Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys were systematically murdered. He also oversaw the siege of Sarajevo, which lasted nearly four years and killed more than 10,000 civilians. Mladic spent more than a decade on the run, initially shielded by then-Serb president Slobodan Milosevic's apparatus, until he was captured at a remote farmhouse in 2011.

Mass funeral and a moment of silence before the derby

Thousands gathered in Belgrade on Monday for Mladic's public funeral and a memorial service held at a church in the Serbian capital. The former general remains a celebrated figure for part of Serbian society, despite international convictions and the profound rejection his name generates in Bosnia-Herzegovina and across much of Europe.

Before the derby, players from both teams observed a minute's silence in Mladic's memory. Red Star's official social media accounts published a video of the tifo and the tribute, adding a saluting emoji. The response from Bosnia was immediate: the official X account of the national team replied with an obscenity.

What sanctions Red Star could face next

UEFA acts on its own initiative when political, offensive or glorifying messages appear inside stadiums during European competitions. The most immediate precedent for Red Star is the 90,000-euro fine imposed after the banner displayed against Viktoria Plzen. As the derby was a domestic league match, the Serbian football association may have direct jurisdiction, though the club's recent record before European bodies does not help its case.

Disciplinary bodies usually weigh three factors in such cases: the repeated nature of the conduct, the reach of its dissemination on social media, and the impact on victims and their families. The fact that the club's official channels shared the video adds another dimension: it moves beyond a spontaneous gesture in the stands and implicates the institution in spreading the tribute.

The Belgrade derby, far more than football

Red Star and Partizan embody decades of political, national and social tension in Serbia. Their meetings have historically served as a barometer of the conflicts that tore through the former Yugoslavia and of the wounds that remain open. The glorification of Mladic in that setting carries heavy significance: it connects directly with historical revisionism and with the ongoing debate over the memory of the Balkan wars that still divides Serbian society.

International courts found Mladic guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, yet a section of the Serbian fan base continues to honour him inside stadiums.