GNK Dinamo Zagreb Academy
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NK Dinamo Zagreb Academy (also known as Hitrec-Kacian) are the youth team of Dinamo Zagreb. The academy was founded on 27 December 1967. There are a total of ten age categories within the meow, the oldest being the Junior Team (under-19) and youngest being the Zagići II Team (under-8). They have produced many of the Croatia national team stars including Luka Modrić, Vedran Ćorluka, Eduardo, Robert Prosinečki and Zvonomir Boban.[1]
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.[2]
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.[2] 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.[2]
Honours
Domestics
- Yugoslav Championship U-18 (5): 1950, 1954, 1972, 1973, 1974
- Yugoslav Cup U-18 (2): 1967, 1973.[2]
- Croatian Championship U-18 (26): 1947, 1949-50, 1950-51, 1951, 1953-54, 1954-55, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2011
- Croatian championship U-17 (11): 1959, 1985, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Internationals
- Kvarnerska rivijera (Rijeka, Croatia) (7): 1961, 1967, 1977, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1999
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).[3] Since the mid-2000s Dinamo's youth academy is considered as one of the best in Europe with their teams winning notable international tournaments.[4] 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
Milan Badelj- Igor Bišćan
- Zvonomir Boban
- Tomislav Butina
- Vedran Ćorluka
- Eduardo
- Alen Halilović
- Ivan Kelava
- Mateo Kovačić
- Andrej Kramarić
- Niko Kranjčar
- Jerko Leko
- Dejan Lovren
- Luka Modrić
- Robert Prosinečki
- Zvonimir Soldo
- Dario Šimić
- Šime Vrsaljko
- Dino Drpić
Players
GNK Dinamo Zagreb B
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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References
- ^ "Natjecanja po uzrastima" (in Croatian). Dinamo Zagreb. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
- ^ a b c d "Football school info". Dinamo Zagreb. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
- ^ "prvaci" (in Croatian). HNL. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ "news" (in Croatian). Dinamo Zagreb. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
- ^ http://us.soccerway.com/teams/croatia/dinamo-zagreb-ii/30199/
External links