An investigative report published by the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), in partnership with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), has revealed that the former president of the Football Association of Serbia (FSS), Slaviša Kokeza, used the encrypted communication network Sky ECC to orchestrate physical intimidation and violent attacks against former Manchester United captain and Serbian football icon Nemanja Vidić.
The leaked logs from 2020 and early 2021 detail a concerted effort by Kokeza—who used the alias “Federer” on the platform—to mobilize organized criminal figures and radical soccer hooligan factions in Belgrade and Milan, Italy. According to intercepted logs, the explicit objective was to force Vidić to withdraw his public criticisms of the FSS leadership.
The most alarming directive intercepted from Kokeza’s communication threads targeted Vidić’s survival if he persisted:
“If he doesn’t give up on the association, he goes to the cemetery.”
Retaliation Against Public Criticism and Institutional Fear
The tension erupted in November 2020 after Nemanja Vidić published an open letter heavily condemning Kokeza and the FSS management for systematic failures, following the Serbian national team’s failure to qualify for the European Championship.
Fearing that Vidić’s massive public support would cost him his presidential seat, Kokeza coordinated with multiple underworld figures to track down and assault Vidić, alongside other critical football figures like former player Danko Lazović.
The encrypted records expose Kokeza’s calculated approach to pacing the physical assaults to mitigate political fallout:
Paced Physical Violence:“They must not go at the same time [the beatings of the footballers]. It will cause a frenzy in the media. It has to be done one by one,” Kokeza explicitly ordered his subordinates.
International Surveillance: Logs show that criminal associates operating under the alias “Felix” told Kokeza that they had tracked Vidić to Italy and attached a tracking device to his vehicle in Milan.
Ruling Party Infighting and Underworld Collusion
Beyond the personal threats against Vidić, the Sky ECC leak exposes deep fractures within the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), where Kokeza was a highly prominent member. The messages reveal a bitter rivalry between Kokeza and Andrej Vučić, the brother of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
Kokeza complained to Red Star Belgrade hooligan representatives that Andrej Vučić was intentionally exposing his flaws to the President to force his resignation, stating, “Andrej detests me because I do not fulfill his wishes.”
Furthermore, the KRIK investigation highlights the fluid lines between state authorities and soccer hooligan syndicates. The leaked communications detail an incident where President Aleksandar Vučić met directly with Red Star hooligan representative Stevan Sojić, reportedly showing him wiretapped police recordings of their own conversations to demonstrate what law enforcement knew.
“When You Place a Street Thug in Power” — Vidić Responds
When presented with portions of the investigative findings by KRIK journalists at his residence, Nemanja Vidić stated he was entirely unsurprised by the lengths to which Kokeza went, noting that friends had previously warned him to monitor his personal safety.
“I only met Kokeza once and never had contact with him, but I knew exactly who he was,” Vidić told KRIK. “When you place a street thug in a position of power, he views everything through a street lens. Intimidation, fear, beatings, or worse are their standard methods. But my core message remains the same—the entire system is broken.”
Vidić strongly condemned the utter failure of state institutions, expressing profound alarm that neither the police nor intelligence agencies ever warned him that his life was in active jeopardy.
Slaviša Kokeza abruptly resigned from his post as FSS President in March 2021 amid separate state investigations. He subsequently fled Serbia and established a logistics enterprise in New York. Despite the severe criminal nature of the plots exposed via the Sky ECC network, no criminal indictments have been filed against Kokeza by Serbian prosecutors.
