When Nemanja Vidić stepped out in front of the public in November 2020 to condemn the state of Serbian football, he did so as a former national team defender and Manchester United captain pointing a finger at a rotting system. Serbia had just failed to qualify for the European Football Championship, and Vidić argued openly that executives and agents were bleeding the sport dry for personal profit at the expense of infrastructure and integrity. Behind closed doors, however, the reaction was not an administrative counter-argument or a press release. It was an alleged campaign of targeted violence and surveillance.
Newly revealed investigative reporting from OCCRP and KRIK, drawing on decrypted messages extracted from the defunct Sky ECC platform, exposes how Slaviša Kokeza—then-president of the Football Association of Serbia (FSS)—responded to the dissent with paranoia and criminal leverage. Operating under an alias identified by law enforcement as Federer,
Kokeza allegedly mobilized associates connected to football hooligans and underground figures to suppress Vidić and silence supporting voices across the national team.
The text exchanges chart an alarming escalation from political anxiety to concrete operational planning. Fearing that Vidić intended to strip him of his administrative post, Kokeza communicated explicit instructions to his inner circle. According to the leaked transcripts, Kokeza directed that the legendary center-back be warned to stay away from the association or he will end up in a ditch,
adding that if he pursued leadership ambitions or spoke out again, he would be going to the cemetery.
In another exchange, Kokeza reportedly urged contacts to threaten the safety of Vidić's family.
The logistics quickly crossed international borders. Because Vidić was living in Milan at the time, Kokeza’s network sought out local muscle. An associate reported finding serious guys
—referring to Calabrians in Milan—and later confirmed to the FSS president that surveillance had been established: We put a tracker on his car. In Milan.
Kokeza explicitly noted the financial backing required for the intimidation: We need to give some money, if possible, for them to physically threaten him, to scare him that they could kill him.
An interlocutor replied, Pressure him so he gets scared and stops talking shit. So he never interferes with the association again.
Vidić was not the only target in the crosshairs. When former national team players Nemanja Matić, Danko Lazović, and Dragan Mrđa publicly backed Vidić's open letter, Kokeza’s rage expanded. He wrote that he needed help eliminating Vidić, Lazović, and Matić,
while an associate suggested that at least one of the supporting players needs to be beaten
to ensure they understood they could lose their heads.
Names floated in the chats included notorious football hooligan Slobodan Milutinović, widely known as Sniper.
Despite the advanced state of the planning—complete with operatives locating targets by early December 2020—the operation was ultimately put on hold. On December 1, Kokeza instructed his contact to wait, writing, It must not happen at the same time. There will be an uproar in the media. It has to be one by one.
Days later, on December 7, he ordered the plan suspended entirely until a face-to-face meeting could occur. The scheme was never reactivated; Kokeza resigned from his post months later as political and media winds shifted.
Vidić confirmed to reporters that he had been entirely unaware of the plot while it was unfolding and had never received a warning from Serbian state security. This is devastating — for society, for all of us,
Vidić said. The greatest responsibility lies with the police, the judiciary, the prosecution, and the people who put individuals like that in positions of power.
Kokeza declined to answer questions from journalists, and Serbian prosecutors stated that Kokeza had never been the subject of an official criminal investigation regarding the matter.
Sources
These sources formed the evidence pack for this article. Links open the original publisher; inclusion does not imply endorsement.
- inview.today original
- occrp.org original
- Bethan Moss , Foreign News Reporter original
- Bethan Moss , Foreign News Reporter original
- Aiden Daries original
- Andy Mitten original
