Arbitration Commission of the Peace Conference on Yugoslavia
On 20 November 1991 Lord Carrington asked: "Can the internal boundaries between Croatia and Serbia and between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia be regarded as frontiers in terms of public international law?" Applying the principle of "uti possidetis juris", the commission concluded on 11 January 1992, "The boundaries between Croatia and Serbia, between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, and possibly other adjacent independent states may not be altered except by agreement freely arrived at... Except where otherwise agreed, the former boundaries become frontiers protected by international law".
Croatia–Serbia relations
Rivalries between Croatian and Serbian football contenders became especially famous to the world in the early 1990s, starting with the historic Dinamo Zagreb–Red Star Belgrade riot, which emphasized in some peoples' eyes the breakup of Yugoslavia. The Croatian national football team and the Yugoslav national football team played on only a few occasions—the first being in 1999 for UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying Group 8. Nevertheless, the rivalry between the two teams has been described as one of fiercest in the world. Fourteen years later, for the first time in history, Serbia as an independent country played against the Croatian team on 22 March 2013 in qualification group A of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The match, which Croatia won 2–0, was closely followed around the world. The football federations of Serbia and Croatia agreed to ban foreign guests fans at the two games because of security concerns. Later, Croatia drew Serbia 1-1 in Belgrade which meant Serbia was eliminated. During the match, Miralem Sulejmani, who was in a goal scoring opportunity, was knocked down by a tactical tackle from Josip Šimunić for which he was given a red card.