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Football fans, specifically fan associations (navijačke udruge), are sometimes depicted as stereotypical of Balkan 'mentality', drawing on associations with violence, organised crime and examples of 'primitive' behaviour and attitudes at football matches. In this paper, I argue that the drawing of such associations may explored in terms of a nesting intra-orientalism, whereby non-European 'others' are constructed at different levels typically within a state, rather than projected outside to other geographical regions or states. On the basis of my experience as a member of an ultra-left fan association in Zagreb, I explore several characteristics of ultras' group participation -focusing on what they referred to as the 'supporters' world' (navijački svijet) and ultras' culture (ultras kultura). I label three characteristics that also define the wider contemporary 'everyday geopolitics' in the Balkans at present. On the basis of these three characteristics, I evaluate the hypothesis of a nesting 'intra-orientalism' and the ideological purposes it may serve.

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This conceptual introduction seeks to frame and provide a context for the following special issue on "Football from below in SouthEastern Europe". The special issue focus on fan activism and protest aims to understand, theorize and interpret the efforts of football fans both visible as (sub-)political actors in public space and/or as collectives engaged in experiments with new forms of club ownership and direct/participatory democracy. This introduction first details various features of the SouthEastern European context, before exploring how the texts relate to each other in terms of fan, activist and academic positionalities. Following this, one dimension to the concept of protest 'from below'-namely that of a strict 'people/politics' (narod/politika) opposition-is explained and critiqued. Finally, thematic gaps within the special issue are identified and possible areas for future research are discussed.