This must be the good news story of the weekend of sports in Croatia. Heavy snow had been falling for days in western Croatia and the first division match between NK Osijek and Inter Zaprešić, the last game before the winter break, looked like being called off due to piles of snow on the pitch.

However, the fans of Osijek had different plans. Determined to rescue the match the fans turned up at the stadium at 7.00am and started to clear the pitch. There was no doubt that the game would have been called off if the fans and volunteers hadn’t spun into action.

And the club jumped on the action and offered fans 25 Kunas an hour to clear the snow off the pitch as well as free tickets for the game. From the early morning hours until 1.00pm tons and tons of snow were taken off the pitch. In fact, the fans of Osijek, the so called Kohorta, decided to show some Christmas spirit and instead of accepting the club’s offer of payment they asked for the money to be donated to charity.

With the pitch cleaned the game went ahead and the players of Osijek repaid their fans hard work by beating Inter Zaprešić 6 – 0 and moved up to second in the league table.

One of the Christmas traditions in Croatia is the growing of wheat on the run-up to the big day. Known as Božićna pšenica, or Christmas Wheat, the wheat is normally planted on the 4th of December, St, Barbara’s Day, and is left to grow up until the holiday period.

The wheat seeds are placed in a round bowl and sometimes decorated with red, white and blue ribbons. It's believed that the taller the wheat grows, the more prosperous the coming year will be. This tradition dates back to times when agriculture was the main economic activity and is connected with fertility cult.

Homes around the country will already be full of Christmas Wheat as the festive season draws ever closer.

Cork Airport is celebrating the Christmas period with a giveaway of flights and today Dubrovnik is on the menu. Win a pair of return tickets from Cork to Dubrovnik with Aer Lingus but you’ll have to get your skates on as the competition ends today.

It’s easy to enter just follow this link to the Instagram account of Cork Airport and follow the rules.

To win simply: Like the post, tag two friends in the comments section and screenshot the post or our story and share in your story.

As Cork Airport announced “Good luck everyone! Winner announced tomorrow morning.”

Winter is coming! Snow has fallen in the wider Dubrovnik region for the first time this winter with the highest peaks of Konavle looking like a Christmas scene.

The Konavle Fire Brigade confirmed that last night at around 6.00pm snow fell in the Konavle region and even settled on the higher ground.

The summit of the Sniježnice Mountain, the highest mountain in the south of Croatia, standing at 1,234 metres in height now has a dusting of snow on its peak and brings an Alpine feel to Konavle.

The children of Župa showed the real Christmas spirit today in Mlini when they took part in a special humanitarian action to raise money for needy families- The action, names “Have a heart for others,” saw young people of Župa sell Christmas treats, such as decorations and cakes, that they had made themselves.

Starting at 3.00pm this afternoon the sale was very well attended by the local community with one festive shopper commenting that “It is such a nice idea and I love to see people coming together at this time of the year, this is the true spirit of Christmas.”

In addition to the Christmas gifts and decorations with festive messages visitors could also try some traditional Christmas foods and drinks. The special Christmas action was organised by the parish of St. Ilar in Mlini.

Do you really understand the festive traditions in Croatia through the Christmas period?

Take our Christmas quiz and see (and maybe learn) how much you know about Croatians and their festive traditions.

The governor of the Croatian National Bank, Boris Vujčić, announced that Croatia will soon send a letter of intent regarding the introduction of the euro as the official currency.

"The first step to entry into ERM II is the sending of a letter of intent to enter the ERM II exchange rate mechanism and this will be sent relatively quickly. In addition to the formal disclosure of intent to enter the exchange rate mechanism, all activities planned to make Croatia become credible as a candidate for the exchange rate mechanism need to be carried out. Entrance to ERM II could probably be about a year after the letter's intentions, so sometime in 2020," Vujčić said in a conversation for the Croatian newspaper Vecernji List.

He added that "There are no formal criteria for entry into ERM II, but current members of the European area must accept Croatia as a good candidate. The only additional request for entry into the exchange rate mechanism is to join so-called close co-operation with the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).”

Although there is no official date when Croatia will adopt the Euro and ditch the Kuna it is widely believed that this will happen between 2021 and 2023.

Christmas in Croatia is a time to bring out the traditional recipe books and respect the past generations. Angel Wings, or Kroštule in Croatian, are a typical sweet delight served though the festive period and they are extremely easy to make and very tasty.

This sweet pastry is made from dough and twisted into thin ribbons and sprinkled powdered sugar. Follow our Kroštule recipe and make your own Croatian Christmas treats this holiday season.

Ingredients for Angel Wings

For approximately 25

o 1½ cups plain flour
o ¼ tsp salt
o 3 egg yolks
o 1 tsp caster sugar
o 1 tbsp sour cream
o 2 tbsp rakija
o 1 tsp vanilla paste
o 1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
o Cooking oil, for frying
o 2 tbsp icing sugar

Just follow these steps

Place the flour onto a work surface, sprinkle with the salt and form a well in the centre.

Place the egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of caster sugar, sour cream, rakija, vanilla and lemon rind into a bowl and mix with a fork and pour into the flour well.

Mix ingredients together with your fingers.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth.

Roll with a rolling pin and then cut the strips into pieces 15cm long and 2 cm wide. If you have a crimped pair of scissors or cutters it’s even better.

Place strips gently into the preheated oil and cook on both sides until golden brown.

Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with icing sugar and hey presto you have kroštule.

Bon appetite or dobar tek!