Croatia’s Marko Livaja: from a concrete pitch with a step to the World Cup

Marko Livaja leads an attack during a game on the seafront pitch at Zvoncac in Split. Photograph: Fedja Klaric

Three months ago Split hosted a different kind of World Cup. The game was football – well, sort of – but the matches were played on a bit of concrete squeezed between the seafront and the Zvoncac swimming pool that is home to Jadran, the 1992 and 1993 European water polo champions.

The ball was oddly small, the goals completely disproportionate, as if put on their side with tall posts and a short crossbar. And in the middle of the pitch, there was a full-width step, about four inches high. Hence the name of the tournament: Prvenstvo svita u balunu na skalini – the Football On a Step World Cup. The ground itself is called Skalina – the Step.