The Swiss threatened him with death just because he chose to play for Croatia, he sent his national to the World semifinal (Photo) tonight.

Ivan Rakic is shining in the World Cup with Croatia, but he could easily be part of the cell representative, as he is born and raised in Switzerland, writes Periscope.

Rakic's father is from Sikirevci, a town in Croatia, his mother is from a Croatian family, but grew up in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina. They moved to Switzerland during the mid-1980s. Rakic was born in March 1988 in Mohlin, a Swiss city of about 10,000 people.

Rakic had begun his career at Mojilin-Riburg in 1992, then 1995, he passes to Basel where he stayed for 10 years and then continues his career at Schalke.

After Germany he moved to Spain to Seville, where he stayed three seasons, and in 2014 he moved to Barcelona.

The 30-year-old was submitted to all the years of Switzerland's national group, but when the invitation came to him from Croatia in 2007, he did not think twice and decided to represent the country from which his parents came.

On the day he had accepted the offer to play for Croatia, Rakic and his family experienced true horror.

Rakic's family accepted many death threats, their home destroyed by the Swiss.

It was a scandal. It was a very strange thing. He became famous in Switzerland. Everyone was talking about the incident,” says Eva Tedesco, Swiss journalist of the '20 Minuten' to Bleacher Report.

The Swiss refused to accept his decision. They said, "Oh, he grew up here, his entire career and soccer education got him here. He played for all Swiss age groups and now because of the money, he decides to play for Croatia.

I don't know if that's true, but Ivan told me he didn't get money. The reaction was terrible. His parents were threatened with death. They couldn't get out after all the people are talking bad things,”.

Ivan Rakic qualified Croatia in the semifinals tonight after marking crucial penalties against Russia. /Periscope/