Croatia excludes a former player from the World Cup of Ukraine

Croatia expelled former player Ognjen Vukojevic from his World Cup delegation on Monday to make a pro-Ukrainian video with defender Domagoj Vida

The Croatian Football Federation and Vida apologized for the video posted after the victory of the team The video shows Vida, who scored against Russia, shouting "glory to Ukraine" before Vukojevic adds "this win is for Dynamo and the l 39; Ukraine … go to Croatia ". Both Vida and Vukojevic have already played for Ukrainian club Dynamo Kiev, and Vukojevic is now a scout.

The video irritated many social media users in Russia, which has tense relations with Ukraine and annexed the Crimean peninsula. Some Russians have said that they would encourage Croatia in their first World Cup semi-final match since 1998.

FIFA rules prevent players from taking political action at the FIFA World Cup world.

The Croatian federation said in a statement that Vukojevic, who was also a former Spartak Moscow player, had been a member of the team as an observer but that his world champion titles had been removed.

"We do not want to be a burden to our team before the extremely important World Cup semifinal match, when peace is the most necessary thing," Vukojevic told HRT.

Vukojevic said that he intended to present this video as a personal greeting to Ukrainian friends, and not as a political statement. "However, I understand that my statements can be interpreted differently," he said. "For this reason, I am sorry – and I apologize to the Russian public, they perceived my statements like this. I am very proud of the success of Croatia at the World Cup and I wish the best of luck to the boys "

The Croatian team refused to allow players Mario Mandzukic and Andrej Kramaric to answer questions about the controversy at Monday's press conference.

A spokesman for the team, talking about the video, said that Vida was sorry. the government accuses Russia of arming pro-Russian separatists who control part of the east of the country, and supporting separatist groups with military forces.

Vukojevic was appointed last year as a scout for Dynamo. included being part of the Croatian team for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.