 Stadiums provided space where footballers and spectators could challenge the status quo of the regime, and served as the backdrop to violent clashes of incompatible nationalist visions.With the death of Tito a decade earlier, the federation managed to stay united until the democratic elections were introduced, in which many of the politicians opted for forming parties with ethnical platforms, instead of ideological ones.This, along with the rise of nationalism, inevitably led to the break-up of the Yugoslav federation.