Dubai: Fifa may have warned World Cup broadcasters not to keep scanning the crowd for attractive women this week, but in Croatian president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, they will have to make an exception.
The 50-year-old unconventional head of state has been an unwitting star of the show so far, there for all of Croatia’s games, and even breaking protocol by donning her team’s red-and-white checked shirt and celebrating with players in the locker room after matches.
Championing a down-to-earth style of leadership, she has also deployed her own brand of football diplomacy by gifting her fellow dignitaries personalised Croatia shirts.
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Recipients include; Vladimir Putin, Theresa May and Donald Trump, with Emmanuel Macron thought to be next on her list for a shirt swap after Sunday’s World Cup final against France in Moscow.
“I go for the final not only as a politician or president but as a passionate fan of Croatian football, someone who played football in childhood,” she said. “I feel extremely excited, I don’t know how I will wait until Sunday.”
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Led by the former Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic, Croatia have already surpassed their previous best which was a third-place finish on their debut in 1998.
“Regardless of Sunday’s result, which I believe will be a victory, we are winners,” she added of Croatia, who after Uruguay, would be the smallest side to win a World Cup.
“I hope for fair play and a good atmosphere. I’m not good at predicting the result, the result is not important, only that it is a victory.”
As well as striking good looks that once had her confused for US model and wife of rapper Ice T, Coco Austin, in a bikini — the mother of two is also her country’s first female president. She speaks eight languages and has a doctorate in international relations from the University of Zagreb.
