Successful first Croatian edition of Simposar: sports legends marked Novigrad
From 11 to 13 May 2026, Novigrad hosted the first Croatian edition of the international sports symposium Simposar Croatia 2026, an event that brought to Istria a series of prominent names from regional sport, coaches, selectors, former players, sports doctors, federation representatives and media professionals. According to the announcement by the organizers and the tourist platform Colours of Istria, the program was held at the Aminess Vival Maestral Hotel and the Novigrad-Cittanova Centre for Events and Culture, and was conceived as a combination of expert discussions, conversations about sports leadership, a film program and meetings of people who shape the sports scene in the region. Zlatko Dalić, Ivica Tucak, Matjaž Kek, Igor Bišćan, Nenad Bjelica, Željko Pavličević, Željko Jerkov, Damir Skomina, Joško Jeličić, Predrag Pašić, Haris Škoro and other participants whose experiences opened topics from national-team football to the psychology of winners held the central place in the program.
The first Croatian edition of Simposar also had broader destination significance because Novigrad, along with the professional program, was presented as a place suitable for sports, business and event meetings. According to a report by Glas Istre, the event gathered numerous well-known names from the regional sports and coaching scene at the Aminess Vival Maestral Hotel, and the arrival of Zlatko Dalić, the current selector of the Croatian national football team, aroused special interest. For visitors who, after such events, wish to extend their stay in Istria, accommodation offers in Novigrad naturally also suggest themselves, but the emphasis of the event remained on sports content, the exchange of experiences and discussion about the challenges of elite sport.
Opening dedicated to Ćiro Blažević and the sporting legacy
The program was ceremonially opened at Novigrad’s CMIK with a screening of the documentary film “Ćiro – The Never Told Story” by Sabahudin Topalbećirević. According to the event announcement on the Colours of Istria website, the opening was scheduled for 11 May at 6:30 p.m., and admission to the screening was free. The film was an introduction to an evening dedicated to Miroslav Ćiro Blažević, a coach whose public and sporting influence surpassed results on the field and who, in collective memory, remained connected with the idea of leadership, emotion, charisma and his relationship with players.
The evening about Blažević was conceived not only as a remembrance of a coaching biography, but also as a conversation about why certain sporting authorities leave a mark on several generations. In that context, the panel “Ćiro’s Legacy – A Leader Who Changed Generations” was held, and the participants spoke about the influence Blažević had on football, the public and sports culture in the region. The original program particularly emphasized that Zlatko Dalić also spoke about the importance of Blažević’s legacy, a figure often associated in Croatian football with the continuity of national-team success and the ability to lead a team under the pressure of major competitions.
Discussion on the road to the 2026 World Cup
The second day of Simposar was focused on expert panels at the Aminess Vival Maestral Hotel. One of the main discussions dealt with the organization and challenges of major competitions, with a special emphasis on the road to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. According to the report by Glas Istre, alongside Zlatko Dalić, representatives of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Association, Darko Ljubojević, and former national-team player Elvir Bolić took part in that panel, while the moderator was Sabahudin Topalbećirević.
The discussion opened the question of logistics, pressure, continuity of results and the functioning of national federations ahead of a tournament that, in terms of format and organizational scope, will be the largest in the history of the competition. According to official FIFA information, the 2026 World Cup will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America, and the final tournament will include 48 national teams for the first time. Precisely such an expanded format further emphasizes the importance of planning, preparation, communication within the staff and the ability to adapt to different conditions of travel, accommodation, training and matches.
For national-team football, this means that competitive success can increasingly less be interpreted only through the quality of the players. In the modern environment, the selector and the federation must manage public expectations, media pressure, the players’ health condition, club workloads and short periods of time in which a functional team is created. Dalić’s participation in such a discussion was especially notable because he is a selector who led the Croatian national team through the most successful period of its recent history, and his current mandate, according to earlier announcements by the Croatian Football Federation and reports by HRT, covers the cycle until the end of the 2026 World Cup.
Club and national team between player development and results pressure
One of the discussions that attracted attention dealt with the relationship between club and national-team football. According to the report by Glas Istre, the panel “Club and National Team: Where Is a Player Built Today?” brought together Matjaž Kek, Milovan Rajevac and Igor Bišćan, moderated by Joško Jeličić. The topic opened the question of the development of young footballers, the relationship between club work and national-team needs, and changes in players’ attitudes toward the national jersey compared with earlier periods.
According to the same report, the participants spoke about how the national team once represented the pinnacle of a career, while today’s professional football is strongly influenced by the market, transfers, contractual obligations and an increasingly dense competition calendar. Clubs work with players every day, have the possibility of long-term monitoring and building automatisms, while national teams often have to create a clear tactical picture and emotional connection in just a few days. In that space, football knowledge, communication, psychology and the ability to make decisions without much room for error intertwine.
Leadership under pressure: the coach as communicator and decision-maker
An important part of the program was dedicated to leadership in football, a topic that went beyond purely tactical discussions. According to Glas Istre, Nenad Bjelica, Zoran Zekić, Damir Skomina and Ivica Tucak took part in the panel “Leadership in Football: Decisions, Pressure and Authority”, while the moderator was Rade Bogdanović. The participants spoke about making decisions under pressure, the relationship with players and the media, and the importance of authority and communication in leading a team.
The particularity of such a panel lay in bringing together different sporting and professional perspectives. Bjelica and Zekić brought the experience of football coaches who face the imperative of results on a daily basis, Skomina the perspective of a long-time football referee accustomed to making decisions in seconds, and Tucak the experience of a selector in a sport in which the rhythm of the match, team discipline and psychological stability are decisive. Such a combination enabled a discussion about authority as a combination of knowledge, consistency, communication and the ability to maintain calm in crisis moments.
Talent, system and athlete health as the foundation of long-term development
The afternoon part of the program opened questions that are not always visible in the foreground of sports reports, but determine the long-term quality of the sports system. According to the original text and the report by Glas Istre, Joško Jeličić, Predrag Pašić, Haris Škoro and Rade Bogdanović spoke about sporting talent and the system. The discussion focused on the relationship between talent, work, infrastructure, expert leadership and the reality of modern football in which early selection and the market value of players often create strong pressure on young athletes.
Such a topic is especially important in a region that continuously produces top individuals, but often faces the question of how to turn talent into a sustainable system. Individual successes may attract attention, but long-term development requires expert work with young people, stable clubs, quality coaches, medical support and an environment in which results in younger categories are not the only measure of progress. According to the original text, prof. dr. Rusmir Mesihović and dr. Ivan Rakovac spoke about the importance of health in elite sport, with an emphasis on injury prevention and care for athletes’ health.
The winning mentality from the experience of Tucak, Pavličević and Jerkov
The final part of the professional program was dedicated to mental strength and a winning mentality. According to the original text, Ivica Tucak, Željko Pavličević and Željko Jerkov spoke on this topic, recalling their greatest victories and career experiences. According to the report by Glas Istre, the final panel “The Winning Mentality” brought messages about discipline, character and mental strength, values that in elite sport often decide in moments when physical preparation and technical quality are equal.
In such a context, Tucak was one of the most interesting interlocutors because, as the long-time selector of the Croatian national water polo team, he has experience leading a team through competitions in which decisions are made in a small number of attacks, details and psychological reactions. Pavličević and Jerkov brought a basketball perspective, from a sport with a strong tradition in the region and in which the winning mentality is often built through the relationship between the individual and the collective. Their testimonies showed that a top result does not arise only from talent, but from repetition, discipline, readiness to take responsibility and the ability to turn pressure into performance.
Novigrad as host of regional sports dialogue
The hosting of the first Croatian edition of Simposar also had a clear local dimension. Matko Branković, public relations manager of Aminess Hotels & Resorts, stated that Novigrad and Aminess were proud of their role as hosts of an event that celebrates excellence and togetherness in sport. According to his statement from the original text, the energy brought by Dalić and the other sports greats was felt throughout the city, and the hosts particularly highlighted the combination of the professional program and relaxed socializing by the sea.
Such a statement fits into the broader trend of connecting sports events, business meetings and destination presentation. During Simposar, Novigrad gained visibility not only as a tourist destination but also as a space for professional meetings, conferences and thematic events outside purely summer holidays. According to the official announcement by Colours of Istria, the program included lectures by international experts, interviews with sports greats, panel discussions, workshops, award ceremonies, film premieres and opportunities to connect with people from the industry in a Mediterranean setting.
For the city and the tourism sector, such events have value because they rely on content, and not only on seasonality. A sports symposium can attract participants, media and guests who experience the destination through the program, meetings and professional interest. That is why the unobtrusive mention of accommodation for event visitors in this context is justified, but it must not overshadow the fact that the central value of the event lay in the discussion about sport and the experiences of people who marked the regional scene.
Simposar arrived from Sarajevo to Istria
Simposar is a project that Sabahudin Topalbećirević launched in 2011 in Sarajevo. According to the official Simposar website, the initial idea was to gather sports professionals, analysts and athletes to discuss the future of sport in the region and to create recommendations and collaborations that can help sports workers. Over the years, the event grew into a regional platform in which numerous well-known names from football, basketball, water polo and other sports took part.
Topalbećirević emphasized in a statement from the original text that he was satisfied with the response and energy in Novigrad and that Simposar once again confirmed that dialogue among experts is important for the progress of sport. He assessed that the concentration of knowledge and sporting greats in one place shows that a step forward was made by bringing the project to Croatia, with the conviction that this is the beginning of a new story in Istria. This statement shows that the organizers do not see the Croatian edition as an isolated event, but as a possible continuation of the regional platform in a new environment.
According to the official Simposar website, over the years the project has gathered athletes, coaches, experts, media and decision-makers, and its goal from the beginning has been a conversation about sport as a social and developmental value. Precisely that idea was also visible in Novigrad, where the program did not remain at the level of a ceremonial gathering of famous people, but opened topics concerning the future of sport: how to develop players, how to lead a team, how to preserve athletes’ health, how to handle pressure and how to turn great sports stories into knowledge available to new generations.
Sponsors and significance of the first edition in Croatia
According to the original text and the announcement by Colours of Istria, Simposar Croatia 2026 was held under the patronage of Aminess Hotels & Resorts, the City of Novigrad-Cittanova, the Novigrad-Cittanova Tourist Board and the Istria County Tourist Board. Such institutional and destination support is important for an event that seeks to position itself outside the usual conference format, especially because sports symposia of this type depend on a combination of professional reputation, organizational infrastructure and local openness toward a larger number of participants.
The first Croatian edition of Simposar thus connected several levels: sports knowledge, regional networking, homage to Ćiro Blažević, discussion about the 2026 World Cup, debates on club and national-team football, topics of athlete health and mental preparation, and the promotion of Novigrad as host. According to available reports, the event fulfilled the organizers’ basic intention: to gather people who have gone through different paths in sport and to enable their experiences to be heard in conversation, and not only through a result or a short statement after a match.
For Novigrad, it was an event that, over several days, connected the sports public, the hotel sector, local institutions and an audience interested in stories from behind the scenes of elite sport. For Simposar, it was an entry into the Croatian space and confirmation that the format, launched in Sarajevo, can function in another environment as well. The continuation of such cooperation, as announced by the hosts and organizers, could further strengthen Istria’s position as a place where sports content can be connected with professional, business and public dialogue.
Sources:
- Glas Istre – report from the first Croatian edition of Simposar in Novigrad and overview of the panels held on 12 May 2026 (link)
- Colours of Istria – official announcement of the Simposar 2026 event in Novigrad, with locations, dates, participants and sponsors (link)
- Simposar – official description of the project, its founding in 2011 in Sarajevo and the regional role of the sports symposium (link)
- FIFA – official information about the 2026 World Cup, hosts, format and competition schedule (link)
- HRT / Hina – report on the extension of Zlatko Dalić’s cooperation with the Croatian Football Federation until the cycle that includes the 2026 World Cup (link)
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