Spying to get to the World Cup: Bosnia denounces that an Italian soldier was recording their behind-closed-doors training

T he story is like something out of a movie. So much so that it had to be confirmed several times before it could be reported. "It's absolutely true," Endin Causevic, a journalist for 'SportSport', told MARCA. His media outlet 'caught' the Italian EUFOR soldier filming the Bosnian national team's training session in Butmir before the Dragons' security threw him out of the grounds.

With so much at stake, going to a World Cup and the economic and sporting rewards that come with it, it is not surprising that stories and anecdotes of all kinds are presented in the run-up to one of the hottest matches of the year: Bosnia and Herzegovina vs Italy in Zenica. This one, however, takes the cake.

The situation was as follows: Bosnia were training in Butmir waiting to travel, on the eve of the match, to Zenica, 70 kilometers north of Sarajevo. The training session was open to the press (the first 15 minutes), but alarm bells rang when, after that time and in an area where the media had not been stationed, a man continued to record with his mobile phone what was happening during the training of Sergej Barbarez's team. Dressed in a military parka and shorts, the Italy patch stood out on his left shoulder.

The Federation's security was quick to escort the soldier away from the premises. Unlike other more high-profile teams, Bosnia does not have its training center equipped to make it private from prying eyes with canvas or panels. This is something that is sure to change after this incident

A 'spying' incident has sparked an international conflict on a footballing scale. The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Federation has sent a complaint to the EUFOR mission, the European Union mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.