Change in Croatian sport after the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union on the example of freedom of movement of professional footballers with special emphasis on the entry mobility of foreign nationals to the First Croatian Football

Sloboda kretanja ljudi jedna je od temeljnih sloboda Europske unije koju koriste i sportaši. U radu je prikazana povezanost Europske unije i sporta kroz slobodu kretanja nogometaša kao skupine sportaša koji ponajviše koriste ovu mogućnost. Rad donosi i sažeti prikaz dosadašnje povezanosti Europske unije i sporta te opisuje kako je Europska unija u prošlosti indirektno kroz presude Suda EU utjecala na sport. Republika Hrvatska je pristupanjem EU 1. srpnja 2013. godine postala punopravna članica EU te su samim time njeni građani izjednačeni s ostalim građanima EU. Ovime je došlo i do niza pravnih i ekonomskih promjena koje su utjecale na hrvatski sport i sportaše, a jedna od njih je i da su hrvatski sportaši dobili neograničenu mogućnost kretanja i zapošljavanja u državama članicama EU, budući da su stekli „državljanstvo EU“. Na temelju toga, u radu je prikazano kako se nakon 2013. godine postepeno povećavao broj hrvatskih nogometaša u nizu europskih nogometnih liga. Naglasak ovog rada i istraživanja je stavljen na ulaznu mobilnost stranih nogometaša u 1. HNL prije i nakon ulaska RH u EU. Prikazane su analize broja stranih nogometaša u klubovima 1. HNL od sezone 2011./2012. do 2019./2020., zastupljenost nogometaša iz „trećih zemalja“, a napravljena je i usporedba zastupljenosti stranih nogometaša u 1. HNL s nacionalnim nogometnim ligama država koje su ranije pristupile EU. Rad se dotiče teme ograničenja broja stranaca, indirektne diskriminacije stranih nogometaša od nacionalnih saveza, ali i problema zaštite mladih nogometaša koji su posljedično ugroženi zbog sve veće mobilnosti stranih nogometaša i mogućnosti koje slobodno tržište nudi. Time se otvara prostor za dodatne analize i istraživanja ove tematike.Freedom of movement, as one of the elementary freedoms of the European Union, is often used by athletes. This paper describes the connection between the European Union and sport through the freedom of movement of football players. The paper also provides a brief summary of the current connection between the European Union and sport. It is described how the European Union has indirectly affected sport in the past mainly through judgements of the European Court of Justice. By joining the EU on 1 July 2013, the Republic of Croatia became a full member of the EU, and thus its citizens were equated with other EU citizens. This had led to a number of legal and economic changes that affected Croatian sport and Croatian athletes. The most important change was that Croatian athletes were given unlimited opportunities to move and find employment in EU member states, as they acquired "EU citizenship". Based on that, the paper shows how the number of Croatian football players in European football leagues has gradually increased after 2013. But the emphasis of this paper and research is on the entry mobility of foreign footballers in 1. HNL (Croatian First Football League) before and after the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the EU. The paper contains analyzes of the number of foreign footballers in the clubs of 1. HNL from the season 2011/2012 to season 2019/2020. There is also presented the representation of footballers from "third countries" and a comparison of the numbers of foreign footballers in the 1. HNL with the national football leagues of some countries that have previously joined the EU. The paper also touches on the topic of limiting the number of foreigners, indirect discrimination of foreign footballers by national federations and the problem of protection of young footballers who are consequently endangered due to increasing mobility of foreign footballers. This opens space for additional analysis and research on this topic