"I wish to apologise to the Serbs and explain to them that I did not mean to insult the Serbian people. I respect your people very much. I have no reason to curry favour with anyone, but that's how it is. I respect the Serbs and I apologise to anyone who may have been offended by my words. I have more friends in Serbia than all the Croatian government ministers together," Mamic said in an interview with the Belgrade tabloid Informer.

When reminded that his statement had drawn strong condemnation in Croatia, he said: "What I did absolutely deserves condemnation. What I said was inappropriate and there is no place for such language in civilised communication."

Mamic, however, did not regret what he had said about Minister Jovanovic.

"I regret the way I said it, but not the gist of what I said about Zeljko Jovanovic. The man has been in this position a little less than 15 months and has done nothing but condemn. He terrorises Croatian athletes, but most of all he has been attacking the Croatian Football Federation and Dinamo," he said.

Mamic believes that this incident will not affect the atmosphere ahead of a Croatia-Serbia World Cup qualifying match, which is scheduled for this Friday in Zagreb. "Everyone wants this match to pass in the best possible way. (...) It is possible that there will be verbal clashes on the terraces, but they should not be regarded as a war between Croatia and Serbia, but part of the general atmosphere at sporting events."

Mamic was released on March 16 after spending a night in police custody following accusations that the day before, speaking in a radio interview, he had insulted Minister Jovanovic on ethnic grounds and demonstrated intolerance and hatred towards Serbs.