Croatia's president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic warmed the heart of many at the World Cup but who is she?
As the final whistle went off at the Luzhniki Stadium on Sunday, July 15, the camera panned the VIP section for the world to see Croatia’s president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron hugging each other.
Grabar-Kitarović was later a trending topic on Twitter as users fell in love with the manner with which she hugged both Croatia and France players after the World Cup final.
She had warmed heart when she was filmed hugging all the Croatian players in the dressing room after their penalty shootout win over Denmark in the quarterfinals.
For Africans and Nigerians who are used to old and conventional presidents, Grabar-Kitarović is a breath of fresh air and something to be desired for their countries.
“It's only good to see females interested in football and she is not a bad looking president, back home we are used to old presidents, its good to use, even the French President, very young man, brought luck to the team. This is what we want to see, you can see bright future, not old people that never want to go away,” Super Eagles legend Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha said after the game on SuperSport.
While Croatia impressed us with their resilience on their way to the final, their president grabbed our attention.
These are five things you should know about her.
1. Grabar-Kitarović was elected as President of Croatia in 2015. At the age of 47, she was the first woman and the youngest person to assume the presidency.
She beat incumbent President Ivo Josipović to win the election.
2. A practising Roman Catholic, she has been married since 1996 and has two children with her husband Jakov Kitarovic.
3. Her first child, Katarina (born on 23 April 2001) is a professional figure skater and Croatia's national junior champion.
4. She speaks seven languages. She speaks Croatian, English, Spanish and Portuguese fluently while she has basic understanding of German, French and Italian.
5. Before she became president, Grabar-Kitarovic served in several political positions. She was an adviser in the Foreign Ministry where she later became the head. She also served as a minister and later an ambassador.