Olimpija fans get ready to celebrate: the Green Dragons will celebrate 35. anniversary of the Ljubljana Festival, a spectacle in the centre of Ljubljana
Most loyal fans
Olimpija
, fan group
Green Dragons
are those fans who, during their 35 years of existence, have faced major changes in the world of fans, in the way clubs operate and in the way competitions are organised. To their great delight, on the very day of their jubilee, Olimpija Football Club is also getting its first taste of a competitive European autumn, which the Dragons will add a lot of variety to.
The date of the group’s formation is the match with Pristina, played at the legendary Bežigrad Stadium. The Green Dragons banner was premiered there, with fans from Zasavje, united with the Ljubljana fan faction, behind it. Well, the Dragons’ fan story goes back even further, with the initial chants appearing at matches earlier, but formally and historically they consider the match against Pristina as the birth of their 2. October 1988.
Since then, the world of fans has changed. After fan “duels” with the fan groups of the former Yugoslavia (Delije, Bad Blue Boys, Grobari, Torcida, Manijaki, Armada, Horde of Evil and others), Dragons were soon part of the growing domestic independence fan scene after the break-up of the common state. The initial shock of the change of competitions got them back on track after a few weeks’ break and soon they were cheering on home turf and facing European competitions.
Of course, the formal formation risked more and more organisation and networking, and this is what the Dragons are still doing now. The anniversary of the conference league will be celebrated on the group’s official birthday.
On the evening of 2 October, the next in a series of pyrotechnic shows is set to take place. All future, current and former members, as well as all supporters of the club and fans of Olimpija and true Ljubljanaers are invited to the Ljubljana city centre this evening. On Monday, there will be the big pyrotechnic spectacle with a torch that Ljubljanaers are used to at the band’s birthday parties, but this time in a different way. Ljubljana’s city centre will be turned green on Monday evening as the celebrations continue with the first group stage match of the European competitions for Olimpija. On Thursday, they will celebrate their birthday again in a historic match against Bratislava Slovan, and they are inviting all visitors to come to the stadium an hour before kick-off. And for the weekend, they are organising an in-house Green Night event on Saturday, which you can find out more about on social media.
The celebrations do not end at the end of the first week of October, but continue in November, when Olimpija first hosts one of the most pleasant surprises of this year’s European season, the Faroese champions Klaksvik. The Ljubljana audience already knows that these are no exiots. Klaksvik knocked out the Swedish champion Häcken and the Norwegian champion Molde this year. Yes, but the match with Klaksvik 9. November will not be the only one, it is clear, as the Dragons traditionally celebrate the anniversary at home derbies. As the last match of the anniversary celebrations, they will stage a spectacle in their home derby against Mura on 11 November this year. “Be part of the green spectacles in the stadiums and in the city. On Monday, it starts in earnest,” say the fans of Olimpija.
