{"id":776367,"date":"2026-07-02T21:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/776367\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T21:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T21:54:10","slug":"soccer-player-beaten-up-by-hooligans-denied-asylum-by-federal-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/776367\/","title":{"rendered":"Soccer Player Beaten Up by Hooligans Denied Asylum by Federal Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBojan Andric was badly beaten up by hooligans who were upset by his play and \u201chigh pay\u201d for a Serbian soccer<\/a> club, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit has ruled his experience doesn\u2019t qualify as grounds for asylum in the United States.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ruling in\u00a0Bojan Andric v. Todd Blanche\u00a0is a reminder that while sports and politics are known to mix in European soccer<\/a>, the details of that interaction matter greatly in whether they justify a particular outcome under immigration<\/a> law.<\/p>\n

\n\tWriting for a three-judge panel that also included Circuit Judges Candace Jackson-Akiwumi and Nancy Maldonado, Circuit Judge Ilana Rovner on Monday reasoned that \u201cany harm Andric fears \u2026 stems from personal and performance-related grievances, not from membership in a cognizable group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRovner explained that the beating incident occurred nearly a decade ago. Andric played for\u00a0several clubs<\/a> from 2014 to 2018, including Radni\u010dki 1923. He legally entered the U.S. on a visitor visa and then applied for asylum, a status for individuals who are in the U.S. or at the border and who can\u2019t return to their home country due to persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution. The scope of persecution eligible for asylum is generally limited to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.<\/p>\n

\n\tAndric, who is represented by immigration attorney Godfrey Y. Muwonge, argues for asylum mainly based on suffering past persecution for membership in a social group consisting of \u201cSerbian soccer players who are the victim[s] of violence [from] soccer hooligans who were unsatisfied with their play.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs summarized by Judge Rovner, Andric testified that after a draw with a rival team, members of The Red Devils\u2014an organized group of diehard fans, commonly known in Europe as ultras\u2014\u201cfollowed him home, accused him of poor play, threatened to chase him out of town and beat him until he was unconscious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAndric sustained significant injuries from the attack, including facial burns, a skull hematoma and a concussion. His request for a release from the club was denied, and he was instead transferred to a different club in the same city.<\/p>\n

\n\tHarassment by the Red Devils would continue for over a year because of Andric\u2019s alleged \u201cpoor performance on the field.\u201d He received threatening phone calls from callers telling him they knew where he lived. Andric was physically stalked, too, and he refrained from contacting the police because he \u201cfeared the hooligans were connected to law enforcement.\u201d Even more distressing, Andric was aware that \u201cthese soccer hooligans had nationwide networks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAndric additionally argued for asylum based on what Judge Rovner termed \u201cimputed political opinion.\u201d He reasoned that the hooligans wrongly assumed he had reported them to the police and was \u201canti-hooligan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Andric\u2019s testimony was deemed credible and while his experience was disturbing, his legal argument for asylum failed to convince an immigration law judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals and ultimately the Seventh Circuit.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne reason mentioned in the Seventh Circuit\u2019s order is that \u201ca single beating that left no lasting impairments or limitations on [Andric\u2019s] daily life\u201d was insufficient to establish \u201cpast persecution\u201d under immigration law. Although Andric received threatening phone calls, those calls \u201cwere intended merely to intimidate\u201d him.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe immigration law judge who heard Andric\u2019s case also reasoned that even if he experienced the requisite past persecution, the\u00a0reason\u00a0for the beating and threats doesn\u2019t meet the relevant standard. That\u2019s because the hooligans didn\u2019t target Andric \u201con the basis of a protected ground\u2014either membership in a particular social group or imputed political opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother problem identified by the immigration law judge was that a social group consisting of Serbian soccer players who are victims of violence from soccer hooligans is too fluid. After all, membership in that group \u201cwould fluctuate with game outcomes,\u201d since fans\u2019 animosity would change depending on whether their club won or lost and who played well or poorly. Along those lines, the hooligans were angry with Andric because of his \u201cperformance and his high pay,\u201d which is consistent with\u00a0him\u2014as opposed to any member group\u2014being targeted.<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge Rovner furthered these points by saying that Andric\u2019s concerns are fundamentally about fans being upset with him for fan-related reasons.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe does not claim,\u201d Judge Rovner wrote of Andric, \u201cthat if he returned to professional soccer, and consistently led his team to victory each game, he would still face harm from the hooligans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe also pointed out that former soccer players are \u201cno longer engaged in any activity that would expose them to angry fans.\u201d Whether Andric is a current or former player appears to be a point of contention, as he has told the courts he would like to return to pro play. However, Judge Rovner skeptically wrote \u201che is now in his thirties\u201d and hasn\u2019t played professionally in about a decade. The judge also stressed Andric hasn\u2019t provided evidence \u201cthat the hooligans would hold a decade-long grudge into his retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge Rovner added that if Andric returns to pro soccer and faces threats or violence, that kind of hostility wouldn\u2019t occur because of his membership in a group but rather because of his performances in matches.<\/p>\n

\n\tJudge Rovner acknowledged there are related but unanswered questions that go beyond the ruling, including \u201cto what extent a person must be forced to relinquish a career and profession to avoid persecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAndric acknowledged in court filings that being a pro soccer player is \u201cjust a job\u201d and that any person can stop playing professionally. In that light, Judge Rovner surmised that in some cases a job is just a job. However, in other situations, a career might be \u201cfundamental\u201d to someone\u2019s \u201cpersonhood,\u201d including because of \u201cthe artistic, political, or religious nature of the job\u201d and the non-transferability of related skills.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe broader impact of career loss on asylum, however, will wait for another day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bojan Andric was badly beaten up by hooligans who were upset by his play and \u201chigh pay\u201d for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,29881,4998,6680,561,82],"class_list":["post-776367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-european-soccer","tag-federal-courts","tag-immigration","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}