Berlin: The World Cup organising committee in Germany apologised on Wednesday after it accidentally printed a handbook for volunteers showing Croatia’s communist-era flag.

Instead of the flag the Balkan nation adopted after the break-up of Yugoslavia, consisting of three horizontal red, white and blue stripes and a shield of red and blue checks, the guide had the old flag with a red communist star in the centre, committee spokesman Jens Grittner said. “Of course this is immensely regrettable,” said Grittner.

“The first edition of the publication in the cities of Munich, Berlin and Dortmund actually contained mistakes. However, fewer than 2,000 copies were affected.”

The guidebook flags for Spain, Ecuador and Saudia Arabia also contained mistakes.