GNK Dinamo Zagreb Academy

History

The first junior team was formed in 1945 and the coach was the famous Građanski Zagreb goalkeeper Maks Mihelčić. Soon after that, Márton Bukovi joined the youth squad as an expert coach, but left after two years following his disappointment with the disbanding of Građanski. The junior team won a treble in 1950 (Zagreb's, Croatian and Yugoslav championships) under the leadership of Mirko Kokotović.

In 1952 Branko Horvatek started training one of the best junior generations the club ever had. Some of the famous players that played in that generation were Dražan Jerković, Mladen Košćak, Marijan Kolonić and Mladen Klobučar. The decision to form the youth academy Hitrec-Kacian was brought on 27 December 1967 with Horvatek being elected as its first director. Apart from him, many other famous Croatian coaches worked with the generation that was very successful in the period of 1972-1974 in Yugoslav junior competitions. Some of them include: Zorislav Srebrić, Marko Jurić, Pero Dujmović, Vladimir Čonč, Ivan Đalma Marković, Mirko Belić, Rudolf Cvek and Zdenko Kobešćak.

Honours

Domestics

;Croatian football league system

• Croatian U-19 Prva HNL

  • Winner (10): 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2018, 2019

• Croatian U-17 Prva HNL

  • Winner (17): 1992, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

• Croatian U-15 Prva HNL

  • Winner (10): 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017

• Croatian Cup U-19

  • Winner (7): 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2013

• Croatian Cup U-17

  • Winner (4): 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

• Croatian Cup U-15

  • Winner (3): 2015, 2016, 2018

;Yugoslav football league system

• Yugoslav Championship U-19

  • Winner (5): 1950, 1955, 1972, 1973, 1974

• Croatian Championship U-19

  • Winner (17): 1950, 1951, 1954, 1955, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986

• Croatian Championship U-17

  • Winner (2): 1959, 1985

• Yugoslav Cup U-19

  • Winner (2): 1967, 1973

• Croatian Cup U-19

  • Winner (5): 1963, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1978

Internationals

• FIFA Youth Cup
  • Winner (1): 2018
• Manchester United Premier Cup
  • Winner (1): 2012–13
• Premier League International Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2018–19
• UEFA Youth League
  • Quarterfinals (2): 2018–19, 2019–20
• Kvarnerska rivijera
  • Winner (9): 1961, 1967, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1999, 2008, 2019
• International Nereo Rocco Tournament
  • Winner (2): 2002, 2009

Modern times

After the formation of HNL in 1991. Dinamo youth teams play important role with 6 U19 and 9 U17 titles (as of 2010). Since the mid-2000s Dinamo's youth academy is considered one of the best in Europe with their teams winning notable international tournaments. Some of the former Dinamo youth players include Croatian internationals Vedran Ćorluka, Luka Modrić, Eduardo da Silva, Niko Kranjčar, Dejan Lovren, Milan Badelj, Ivan Kelava, Mateo Kovačić and Šime Vrsaljko.

Notable academy graduates

• Croatia Milan Badelj
• Croatia Igor Bišćan
• Croatia Zvonimir Boban
• Croatia Tomislav Butina
• Croatia Vedran Ćorluka
• Croatia Eduardo
• Croatia Joško Gvardiol
• Croatia Alen Halilović
• Croatia Ivan Kelava
• Croatia Mateo Kovačić
• Croatia Andrej Kramarić
• Croatia Niko Kranjčar
• Croatia Jerko Leko
• Croatia Dejan Lovren
• Croatia Luka Modrić
• Croatia Robert Prosinečki
• Croatia Zvonimir Soldo
• Croatia Dario Šimić
• Croatia Šime Vrsaljko
• Croatia Dino Drpić

UEFA Youth League record

Players

GNK Dinamo Zagreb II

References

References

1. "Natjecanja po uzrastima". Dinamo Zagreb.
2. "Football school info". Dinamo Zagreb.
3. "prvaci". HNL.
4. "news". Dinamo Zagreb.
5. Match originally finished 0–2 in favour of Dinamo Zagreb, but was awarded by UEFA as 3–0 win for Anderlecht due to Dinamo Zagreb fielding suspended player [[Matija Fintić]].
6. (29 February 2016). "UEFA rejects Valencia penalty shootout protest after Chelsea youth game". ESPN FC.
7. "Druga Momčad {{!}} Dinamo Zagreb".