Croatia national under-21 football team

Croatia Under-21

Nickname(s)

Mladi Vatreni ("The Young Blazers")

Association

Croatian Football Federation

Head coach

Nenad Gračan

Most caps

Tomislav Bušić (29)

Top scorer

Tomislav Bušić (13)

First colours

Second colours

First international

Croatia 0–0 Italy

13 February 1993, friendly

Biggest win

Croatia 6–1 Bosnia and Herzegovina

Osijek, 5 September 1997, qual. EC

Biggest defeat

Spain 6–0 Croatia

Alicante, 10 September 2012, qual. EC

UEFA U-21 Championship

Appearances

2 (first in 2000)

Best result

Group stage (2000, 2004)

The Croatia national under-21 football team, also known as Croatia under-21(s) or Croatia U21(s), is a youth association football national team which represents Croatia at this age level and is a feeder team for the Croatia national football team.

This team is for Croatian players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old. Also in existence are teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under 17s. As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the U21s, senior side and again for the U21s, as Ivan Rakitić and Nikola Kalinić have done recently. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level and another at senior level (providing the player is eligible). For example, Ivan Rakitić is a former Switzerland U21 player who later became a Croatia international.

The under-21 age category came into existence with the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976. The Croatia U21 team was formed following Croatia's independence from SFR Yugoslavia in 1991 and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation (from 1976 to 1990 Croatian players played for Yugoslavia U21). A goalless draw in a friendly against Italy played on 13 February 1992 was Croatia U21s' first result.

Competition history

As a European U21 team, Croatia compete for the European U21 Championship, with the finals held every odd-numbered year, formerly even-numbered years. There is no U21 World Cup, although there is an U20 World Cup. Since the Croatian Football Federation was recognised by UEFA in June 1993, in the middle of the two-year European Championship cycle, Croatia U21s began their first competitive campaign in 1994, in which they tried to qualify for the 1996 finals. They eventually finished fourth in a six-team group, with five wins out of ten games and four points behind group winners Italy.

They failed to qualify for the next tournament in 1998, but then managed to win their first qualification for the 2000 tournament. However, they finished bottom of a four-team group in the group stage, losing to Netherlands and Czech Republic and drawing with Spain.

In their next five campaigns Croatia U21 managed to qualify for the finals only one more time (for the 2004 finals), but again they failed to progress past the group stage. They came close to qualifying for the 2002 and 2006 tournaments, as they had reached the qualification playoff round, but did not progress further.

UEFA U-21 Championship record

UEFA U-21 Championship record									UEFA U-21 Championship Qualification record							Manager
Year	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1996	Did not qualify								10	5	2	3	13	12	+1	Martin Novoselac
1998	Did not qualify								8	4	0	4	13	9	+4	Ivo Šušak
2000	Group stage	3	0	1	2	4	6	−2	10	7	2	1	28	9	+19	Ivo Šušak
2002	Did not qualify								8	3	4	1	10	7	+3	Martin Novoselac
2004	Group stage	3	0	1	2	3	5	−2	8	4	2	2	11	5	+6	Martin Novoselac
2006	Did not qualify								12	8	1	3	16	11	+5	Slaven Bilić
2007									2	0	0	2	2	4	−2	Dražen Ladić
2009									10	7	1	2	20	12	+8	Dražen Ladić
2011									10	5	2	3	18	15	+3	Dražen Ladić
2013									8	2	1	5	7	16	−9	Ivo Šušak
2015									10	6	1	3	22	9	+13	Niko Kovač; Nenad Gračan
2017									10	6	2	2	24	11	+13	Nenad Gračan
Total	2/12	6	0	2	4	7	11	−4	106	57	18	31	184	120	+64

Recent results

Date	Competition	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers
26 March 2015	Friendly	Sesvete, Croatia	Montenegro	3 – 1	Perica 74', Mišić 85', Krovinović 86'
30 March 2015	Friendly	Athens, Greece	Greece	2 – 0	Rog 40', Pašalić 69'
3 September 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Koprivnica, Croatia	Georgia	1 – 0	Milić 23'
7 September 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Tartu, Estonia	Estonia	4 – 0	Milić 22', Pašalić 35', 66' (pen.), Radošević 80'
7 October 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Serravalle, San Marino	San Marino	3 – 0	Marić 7', 32', Pašalić 12'
12 October 2015	Friendly	Zaprešić, Croatia	Russia	3 – 4	Radošević 64' (pen.), 78' (pen.), Dangubić 90'
11 November 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Šibenik, Croatia	San Marino	4 – 0	Battistini 12' (o.g.), Milić 44', Perić 47', Pjaca 51'
17 November 2015	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Rijeka, Croatia	Spain	2 – 3	Pašalić 64', Radošević 81' (pen.)
24 March 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Burgos, Spain	Spain	3 – 0	Ćaleta-Car 36', Perica 42', 48'
28 March 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Zaprešić, Croatia	Estonia	2 – 1	Pavičić 5', Perica 41'
1 September 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	Koprivnica, Croatia	Sweden
6 September 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Georgia	Georgia
10 October 2016	2017 UEFA U-21 qualification	TBD, Sweden	Sweden

Current squad

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Dominik Livaković	(1995-01-09) 9 January 1995	12	0	Dinamo Zagreb
1GK	Mirko Marić	(1996-01-03) 3 January 1996	0	0	Lechia Gdańsk
1GK	Josip Posavec	(1996-03-10) 10 March 1996	0	0	Palermo

2DF	Karlo Bartolec	(1995-04-20) 20 April 1995	2	0	Lokomotiva
2DF	Antonio Milić	(1994-03-10) 10 March 1994	13	3	Oostende
2DF	Jozo Šimunović	(1994-08-04) 4 August 1994	9	1	Celtic
2DF	Tin Jedvaj	(1995-11-28) 28 November 1995	5	1	Bayer Leverkusen
2DF	Luka Capan	(1995-04-06) 6 April 1995	6	0	Lokomotiva
2DF	Duje Ćaleta-Car	(1996-09-17) 17 September 1996	7	2	Red Bull Salzburg
2DF	Dino Mikanović	(1994-05-07) 7 May 1994	1	0	Aarhus
2DF	Dino Perić	(1994-07-12) 12 July 1994	4	0	Lokomotiva

3MF	Josip Radošević	(1994-04-03) 3 April 1994			Napoli
3MF	Marko Rog	(1995-07-19) 19 July 1995			Napoli
3MF	Filip Krovinović	(1995-08-29) 29 August 1995			Rio Ave
3MF	Petar Boćkaj	(1996-07-23) 23 July 1996			Inter Zaprešić
3MF	Ante Ćorić	(1997-04-14) 14 April 1997			Dinamo Zagreb
3MF	Petar Brlek	(1994-01-24) 24 January 1994			Wisła Kraków
3MF	Domagoj Pavičić	(1994-03-09) 9 March 1994			Dinamo Zagreb
3MF	Fran Tudor	(1995-09-27) 27 September 1995			Hajduk Split
3MF	Ivan Fiolić	(1996-04-29) 29 April 1996			Dinamo Zagreb

4FW	Stipe Perica	(1995-07-07) 7 July 1995			Udinese
3MF	Marko Kolar	(1995-07-31) 31 July 1995			Inter Zaprešić

Recent call-ups

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club
1GK	Marko Mikulić	(1994-01-30) 30 January 1994	Dinamo Zagreb

2DF	Denis Kolinger	(1994-01-04) 4 January 1994	Zagreb
2DF	Filip Benković	(1997-06-13) 13 June 1997	Dinamo Zagreb
2DF	Frane Ikić	(1994-06-19) 19 June 1994	Rijeka
2DF	Anton Krešić	(1996-01-29) 29 January 1996	Atalanta
2DF	Ricardo Bagadur	(1995-09-16) 16 September 1995	Fiorentina

3MF	Mario Pašalić (captain)	(1995-02-09) 9 February 1995	Milan
3MF	Nikola Vlašić	(1997-10-04) 4 October 1997	Hajduk Split
3MF	Andrija Balić	(1997-08-11) 11 August 1997	Udinese
3MF	Mateo Kovačić	(1994-05-06) 6 May 1994	Real Madrid
3MF	Alen Halilović	(1996-06-18) 18 June 1996	Hamburg
3MF	Mirko Marić	(1995-05-16) 16 May 1995	Lokomotiva
3MF	Josip Mišić	(1994-06-28) 28 June 1994	Rijeka
3MF	Ante Roguljić	(1996-03-11) 11 March 1996	Admira Wacker Mödling
3MF	Bernardo Matić	(1994-05-27) 27 May 1994	Zagreb

4FW	Tomislav Kiš	(1994-04-04) 4 April 1994	Cercle Brugge
4FW	Marko Dugandžić	(1994-04-07) 7 April 1994	Ternana
4FW	Robert Murić	(1996-03-12) 12 March 1996	Ajax
4FW	Marko Pjaca	(1995-05-06) 6 May 1995	Juventus

Past squads

References

External links

Under-21 at UEFA.com
U-23/U-21 Tournaments at the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website
Croatia youth teams players' statistics at the Croatian Football Federation website

National under-21 football teams of Europe (UEFA)

Active	Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark England Estonia Faroe Islands Finland France Georgia Germany Gibraltar Greece Hungary Iceland Israel Italy Kazakhstan Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Montenegro Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Russia San Marino Scotland Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine Wales

Defunct	Czechoslovakia East Germany USSR Yugoslavia

Football in Croatia

Croatian Football Federation (HNS)

National teams	Croatia U21 U20 U19 U18 U17 Women's

League system	Men's: 1. HNL 2. HNL 3. HNL 1.ŽNL Women's: 1. HNLŽ

Domestic cups	Croatian Football Cup Super Cup Women's Cup

Seasons	1992 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Records List of clubs List of venues International players Men Women

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