Croatia national under-21 football team

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.

Croatia Under-21
Nickname(s)Mladi Vatreni (The Young Blazers)
AssociationCroatian Football Federation
Head coachIgor Bišćan
CaptainNikola Moro
Most capsTomislav Bušić (29)
Top scorerTomislav Bušić (12)
First colours
Second colours
First international
 Croatia 0–0 Italy 
13 February 1993
Biggest win
 Croatia 10–0 San Marino 
Zagreb, 8 October 2020
Biggest defeat
 Spain 6–0 Croatia 
Alicante, 10 September 2012
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances3 (first in 2000)
Best resultGroup stage (2000, 2004, 2019)

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. On October 15th 2018 the team had qualified for their first major tournament since 2004 by beating San Marino 4–0. They topped the group with twenty-five points and were among the top few for most goals forward throughout the entire qualifying campaign. The youth team will now compete in the 2019 Under-21 European Championship in Italy & San Marino next June.

UEFA U-21 Championship record
UEFA U-21 Championship record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Squad Position Pld W D L GF GA Manager
1996 Did not qualify 4/6 10 5 2 3 13 12 Martin Novoselac
1998 3/5 8 4 0 4 13 9 Ivo Šušak
2000 Group stage 4/4 3 0 1 2 4 6 Squad 1/5 10 7 2 1 28 9 Ivo Šušak
2002 Did not qualify 2/4OFF 8 3 4 1 10 7 Martin Novoselac
2004 Group stage 4/4 3 0 1 2 3 5 Squad 1/4 8 4 2 2 11 5 Martin Novoselac
2006 Did not qualify 1/6OFF 12 8 1 3 16 11 Slaven Bilić
2007 3/3 2 0 0 2 2 4 Dražen Ladić
2009 2/6 10 7 1 2 20 12 Dražen Ladić
2011 1/5OFF 10 5 2 3 18 15 Dražen Ladić
2013 4/5 8 2 1 5 7 16 Ivo Šušak
2015 1/5OFF 10 6 1 3 22 9 Niko Kovač / Nenad Gračan
2017 3/6 10 6 2 2 24 11 Nenad Gračan
2019 Group stage 4/4 3 0 1 2 4 8 Squad 1/6 10 8 1 1 31 5 Nenad Gračan
2021 Qualificated 2/610622377 Nenad Gračan / Igor Bišćan
Total Group stage 9 0 3 6 11 19 126 71 21 34 252 132
Notes
  • OFF = Lost in play-offs.

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification
Main article: 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 4
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Czech Republic 10 6 3 1 20 4 +16 21 Final tournament — 0–0 0–0 1–1 2–0 6–0
2  Croatia 10 6 2 2 37 7 +30 20 1–2 — 1–2 5–0 7–0 10–0
3  Scotland 10 5 3 2 16 5 +11 18 2–0 2–2 — 0–1 0–0 2–0
4  Greece 10 5 1 4 10 11 −1 16 0–2 0–1 1–0 — 1–0 5–0
5  Lithuania 10 3 1 6 9 15 −6 10 0–1 1–3 0–1 2–0 — 3–0
6  San Marino 10 0 0 10 0 50 −50 0 0–6 0–7 0–7 0–1 0–3 —
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Recent results

2019
14 November UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualification Lithuania  1–3  Croatia Vilnius, Lithuania
17:30 CET
(18:30 EET)
Report
Stadium: LFF Stadium
Attendance: 243
Referee: Kristoffer Hagenes (Norway)
18 November UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualification Croatia  1–2  Czech Republic Velika Gorica, Croatia
18:00 CET
Report
Stadium: Stadion Radnik
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)

2020
3 September UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualification Croatia  5–0  Greece Varaždin, Croatia
19:00 CEST
Report Stadium: Stadion Varteks
Attendance: 0
Referee: Marco Di Bello (Italy)
7 September UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualification Czech Republic  0–0  Croatia České Budějovice, Czech Republic
18:00 CEST Report Stadium: Stadion Střelecký ostrov
Attendance: 0
Referee: Ivaylo Stoyanov (Bulgaria)
8 October UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualification Croatia  10–0  San Marino Zagreb, Croatia
18:00 CEST
Report Stadium: Stadion Kranjčevićeva
Referee: Ivar Orri Kristjansson (Iceland)
13 October UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualification Greece  0–1  Croatia Athens, Greece
16:00 CEST
(17:00 EEST)		 Report
Stadium: Leoforos Alexandras Stadium
Attendance: 0
Referee: José Luis Munuera Montero (Spain)
12 November UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualification Scotland  2–2  Croatia Edinburgh, Scotland
16:00 CET
(15:00 GMT)
Report
Stadium: Tynecastle Park
Referee: Michael Fabbri (Italy)
17 November UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualification Croatia  7–0  Lithuania Pula, Croatia
17:00 CET
Report Stadium: Stadion Aldo Drosina
Referee: Ian McNabb (Northern Ireland)

Players

Current squad

The following is the list of players for the UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021 qualifying fixtures against  Scotland on 12 November 2020 and  Lithuania on 17 November 2020.
Caps and goals as of 17 November 2020 after match against  Lithuania; only matches as FIFA member are included.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Adrian Šemper (1998-01-12) 12 January 1998 11 0 ChievoVerona
1GK Dominik Kotarski (2000-02-10) 10 February 2000 2 0 Ajax
1GK Ivan Nevistić (1998-07-31) 31 July 1998 1 0 Rijeka
2DF Borna Sosa (1998-01-21) 21 January 1998 19 0 VfB Stuttgart
2DF Boško Šutalo (2000-01-01) 1 January 2000 10 1 Atalanta
2DF Marin Šverko (1998-02-04) 4 February 1998 8 1 Saarbrücken
2DF Martin Erlić (1998-01-24) 24 January 1998 4 0 Spezia
2DF Joško Gvardiol (2002-01-23) 23 January 2002 5 1 Dinamo Zagreb
2DF David Čolina (2000-07-19) 19 July 2000 4 0 Hajduk Split
2DF Bruno Bogojević (1998-06-29) 29 June 1998 3 0 Slaven Belupo
2DF Krešimir Krizmanić (2000-07-03) 3 July 2000 2 0 Gorica
2DF Mario Vušković (2001-11-16) 16 November 2001 2 0 Hajduk Split
2DF Daniel Štefulj (1999-11-08) 8 November 1999 1 0 Rijeka
3MF Luka Ivanušec (1998-11-26) 26 November 1998 24 8 Dinamo Zagreb
3MF Nikola Moro (1998-03-12) 12 March 1998 20 5 Dynamo Moscow
3MF Lovro Majer (1998-01-17) 17 January 1998 16 5 Dinamo Zagreb
3MF Kristijan Bistrović (1998-04-09) 9 April 1998 14 4 Kasımpaşa
3MF Darko Nejašmić (1999-01-25) 25 January 1999 8 2 Hajduk Split
3MF Ivan Lepinjica (1999-07-09) 9 July 1999 5 0 Rijeka
3MF Neven Đurasek (1998-08-15) 15 August 1998 4 1 Varaždin
3MF Bartol Franjić (2000-01-14) 14 January 2000 1 0 Dinamo Zagreb
3MF Marko Đira (1999-05-05) 5 May 1999 0 0 Lokomotiva
4FW Sandro Kulenović (1999-12-04) 4 December 1999 13 6 Rijeka
4FW Petar Musa (1998-03-04) 4 March 1998 8 4 Slavia Prague
4FW Dario Špikić (1999-03-22) 22 March 1999 6 2 Gorica
4FW Ivan Dolček (2000-04-24) 24 April 2000 6 0 Hajduk Split
4FW Marko Divković (1999-06-30) 30 June 1999 1 0 DAC Dunajská Streda
4FW Matej Vuk (2000-06-10) 10 June 2000 1 0 Istra 1961
4FW Josip Mitrović (2000-06-11) 11 June 2000 0 0 Gorica
4FW Dion Drena Beljo (2002-03-01) 1 March 2002 0 0 Osijek

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Croatia squad in the last 12 months and are still eligible for selection.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
DF Krešimir Krizmanić (2000-07-03) 3 July 2000 1 0 Gorica v.  San Marino, 8 October 2020
DF Branimir Kalaica (1998-06-01) 1 June 1998 9 1 Benfica v.  Scotland, 27 March 2020
DF Vinko Soldo (1998-02-15) 15 February 1998 4 2 Slaven Belupo v.  Scotland, 27 March 2020
DF Domagoj Bradarić (1999-12-10) 10 December 1999 10 0 Lille v.  Czech Republic, 18 November 2019
MF Mihael Žaper (1998-08-11) 11 August 1998 5 0 Osijek v.  San Marino, 8 October 2020
MF Tonio Teklić (1999-09-09) 9 September 1999 0 0 Hajduk Split v.  Scotland, 27 March 2020
MF Ante Palaversa (2000-04-06) 6 April 2000 0 0 Getafe v.  Scotland, 27 March 2020
FW Dario Vizinger (1998-06-06) 6 June 1998 3 1 Wolfsberg v.  Scotland, 12 November 2020
FW Mario Ćuže (1999-04-24) 24 April 1999 8 0 SC Dnipro-1 v.  Greece, 13 October 2020
FW Ivan Posavec (1998-07-05) 5 July 1998 5 2 Varaždin v.  Scotland, 27 March 2020
FW Leon Kreković (2000-05-07) 7 May 2000 0 0 Hajduk Split v.  Scotland, 27 March 2020
FW Josip Brekalo (1998-06-23) 23 June 1998 17 9 VfL Wolfsburg v.  Czech Republic, 18 November 2019
FW Antonio Marin (2001-01-09) 9 January 2001 5 0 Monza v.  Czech Republic, 18 November 2019
Key
  • INJ = Injured.
  • WD = Withdrew from the current squad.
  • SUS = Suspended from participating.
  • RET = Retired after latest call-up.
  • U21 = Joined the Croatia U21 team instead.

Personnel

Current technical staff
Position Name
Head coach Igor Bišćan
Assistant coaches Ante Tomić
Renato Pilipović
Goalkeeping coach Hrvoje Sunara
Fitness coaches Ivan Krakan
Vedran Naglić
Technical director Josip Tomaško
Analyst Nikola Buzadžić

Past squads

Statistics

Managers

The following table provides a summary of the complete record of each Croatia manager including their results regarding European Under-21 Championship.

Key: Pld–games played, W–games won, D–games drawn; L–games lost, %–win percentage
Bilić is one of two former U-21 managers who later coached Croatia's senior team
Manager Croatia tenure Pld W D L Win % Major competitions
Martin Novoselac 1994–1996
2000–2004		 1996 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2002 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2004 European Championship – Group stage
Ivo Šušak 1997–2000
2011–2013		 1998 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2000 European Championship – Group stage
2013 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Slaven Bilić 2004–2006 20 11 3 6 055.0 2006 European Championship – Play-offs
Aljoša Asanović (c) 2005 1 0 0 1 000.0 2006 European Championship – Failed to qualify[1]
Ivica Grnja (c) 2005 1 0 0 1 000.0 2006 European Championship – Failed to qualify[2]
Marijan Brnčić (c)[3] 2005 1 0 1 0 000.0 —
Dražen Ladić 2006–2011 32 20 6 6 062.50 2007 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2009 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2011 European Championship – Failed to qualify
Niko Kovač 2013 7 5 0 2 071.4 —
Nenad Gračan 2013–2019 41 21 9 11 051.2 2015 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2017 European Championship – Failed to qualify
2019 European Championship – Group stage
Igor Bišćan 2019– 10 7 2 1 070.0 2021 European Championship – Qualified
Totals

Last updated: Croatia vs Lithuania, 17 November 2020. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Most capped players
Before joining the senior team Vida played 19 matches for the U-21 team
# Name Croatia career Caps Goals
1 Tomislav Vranjić 2002–2005 26 0
2 Tomislav Bušić 2005–2008 25 12
3 Luka Ivanušec 2017– 24 8
4 Josip Tadić 2005–2008 22 5
5 Ivan Leko 1994–2000 21 5
Mato Jajalo 2007–2010 21 4
7 Nikola Moro 2017– 20 5
8 Tomo Šokota 1997–2000 19 10
Nikola Vlašić 2015–2019 19 7
Dejan Lovren 2007–2010 19 3
Davor Vugrinec 1994–1997 19 3
Mario Lučić 2002–2004 19 2
Domagoj Vida 2007–2010 19 2
Dario Smoje 1997–2000 19 1
Mario Carević 2001–2004 19 0
Luka Vučko 2004–2006 19 0
Borna Sosa 2017– 19 0

Last updated: Croatia vs. Lithuania, 17 November 2020

Source: Croatian Football Federation

Top goalscorers
Brozović scored 7 goals for the U-21 team before he was promoted to the senior team
# Name Croatia career Goals Caps
1 Tomislav Bušić 2005–2008 12 25
2 Tomo Šokota 1997–2000 10 19
3 Josip Brekalo 2016– 9 17
4 Stipe Perica 2013–2016 8 12
Eduardo da Silva 2004–2005 8 12
Luka Ivanušec 2017– 8 24
7 Marcelo Brozović 2011–2014 7 13
Nikola Vlašić 2015–2019 7 19
9 Ante Rukavina 2007–2008 6 9
Sandro Kulenović 2019– 6 13
Mario Pašalić 2014–2016 6 14
Mihael Mikić 1999–2001 6 15

Last updated: Croatia vs. Lithuania, 17 November 2020

Source: Croatian Football Federation

See also

References
  1. He coached the U-21 team during the first play-off to 2006 European Championship lost 1:3 to Serbia HNS: Serbia-Croatia 3:1, 2005
  2. He coached the U-21 team during the second play-off to 2006 European Championship lost 1:2 to Serbia HNS: Croatia-Serbia 1:2, 2005
  3. As a temporary manager he coached the U-21 team during the friendly 1:1 draw against Italy HNS: Croatia-Italy 1:1, 2005
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