GNK Dinamo Zagreb Academy, also known as Hitrec-Kacian (), are the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. The academy was founded on 27 December 1967. There are a total of ten age categories within the academy, 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 Luka Modrić (; born 9 September 1985) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Croatia national team. He plays mainly as a central midfielder, but can also play as an attack ...

Vedran Ćorluka Vedran Ćorluka (; born 5 February 1986) is a Croatian football coach and former player who played as a centre-back. He is an assistant to Zlatko Dalić in the Croatia national team. Ćorluka graduated from the Dinamo Zagreb Youth Academy, ...

Eduardo Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footbal ...

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Early in his career, he was part of the Red Star Belgrade team that won three Yugoslav First League titles and ...

and

Zvonimir Boban Zvonimir "Zvone" Boban (; born 8 October 1968) is a Croatian former footballer who currently works at UEFA as the Chief of Football. Boban played as a midfielder and was usually deployed as an attacking midfielder. He played most of his professi ...

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 Márton Bukovi (10 December 1903 – 2 February 1985) was a Hungarian association football player and manager. After playing for Ferencvárosi TC, FC Sète and Hungary he became a coach, most notably with Građanski Zagreb, MTK Hungária, O ...

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 Mirko Kokotović (; 15 April 1913 – 15 November 1988) was a Bosnian/Croatian footballer who played international football for both the Croatian and Royal Yugoslavian national teams. Club career He became national champion of the Kingdom of Yu ...

. 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 Dražan Jerković (; 6 August 1936 – 9 December 2008) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional football manager and player. His professional playing career spanned from 1954 to 1966, during which he played for Dinamo Zagreb and AA La Gantoise. ...

, 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 Vladimir Čonč (13 January 1928 – 15 October 2012) was a Croatian footballer. Club career He played for several clubs from Zagreb, including Građanski, NK Poštar and Lokomotiva, but is best remembered for his eight-year spell with Dina ...

, Ivan Đalma Marković, Mirko Belić, Rudolf Cvek and

Zdenko Kobešćak Zdenko is a male given name of Slovak, Slovene or Croatian origin. It is the Slavic version of the name Sidonius (meaning ''of Sidon''). Other explanation are given as coming from the slavic term '' zidati'', meaning to build or to create or '' ...

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 FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

** Winner (1): 2018 *

Manchester United Premier Cup The Manchester United Premier Cup is a global youth football tournament that was established by Nike in 1993. History The tournament was established by Nike in 1993 as the Nike Premier Cup and featured 624 teams from 15 European countries. Th ...

** Winner (1): 2012–13 *

Premier League International Cup The Premier League International Cup is an English football competition for U23 players from across Europe. It was designed to provide players in English Category One academies with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European ...

** Runners-up (1): 2018–19 *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

** Quarterfinals (2): 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Kvarnerska rivijera Kvarnerska Rivijera is one of the oldest youth football tournaments in the world, first played in 1953. The tournament is organised by HNK Rijeka, a Croatian football club, and attracts clubs from across Europe and other continents. It is held eac ...

** 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 HNL may refer to: * Croatian Football League (''Hrvatska nogometna liga''), the top level of the Croatian football league system * Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, IATA airport code HNL, in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States * ''Hindustan Newsp ...

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

Eduardo da Silva Eduardo Alves da Silva (, ; born 25 February 1983), commonly known as Eduardo and sometimes nicknamed Dudu, is a former professional footballer. Capable of playing any forward position, he started as a striker, but was deployed mostly as a w ...

Niko Kranjčar Niko Kranjčar (; born 13 August 1984) is a Croatian former professional footballer. He primarily played as an attacking midfielder, but could also operate as a winger or second striker. As of 5 May 2021, he works as an assistant to Josip Šimu ...

Dejan Lovren Dejan Lovren (; born 5 July 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Russian Premier League club Zenit Saint Petersburg and the Croatia national team. Lovren began his career at Dinamo Zagreb before moving to ...

Milan Badelj Milan Badelj (; born 25 February 1989) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Genoa. He was a member of the Croatian squad that finished runners-up in the 2018 FIFA World Cup as well as part of the country's sq ...

, Ivan Kelava,

Mateo Kovačić Mateo Kovačić (; born 6 May 1994) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Chelsea and the Croatia national team. He is usually deployed in a central or box-to-box role, but can play in deeper po ...

and

Šime Vrsaljko Šime Vrsaljko (; born 10 January 1992) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a full-back for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Croatian national team. Vrsaljko made his debut for Croatia in 2011 and went on to represent his ...

Notable academy graduates

Igor Bišćan Igor Bišćan (; born 4 May 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Croatia national under-21 team. In his playing career, he was a versatile player and could play almost every position in th ...

Tomislav Butina Tomislav Butina (; born 30 March 1974) is a Croatian former footballer who played as goalkeeper for Dinamo Zagreb, Club Brugge and Olympiacos. He was also capped 28 times for the Croatia national team in the period from 2001 to 2006, and was me ...

Joško Gvardiol Joško Gvardiol (; born 23 January 2002) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and the Croatia national team. Gvardiol plays as a centre-back, though he has often been utilized as a left-b ...

Alen Halilović Alen Halilović (; born 18 June 1996) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Croatian SuperSport HNL club Rijeka. As the Prva HNL's youngest ever goalscorer (until May 2021) and the youngest ever debuta ...

* Ivan Kelava *

Andrej Kramarić Andrej Kramarić (; born 19 June 1991) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for Bundesliga club 1899 Hoffenheim and the Croatia national team. Kramarić started his football career in his hometow ...

Jerko Leko Jerko Leko (born 9 April 1980) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of the second-tier Druga HNL club Jarun. He primarily played as a central midfielder, but could also operate as a right one, ...

Zvonimir Soldo Zvonimir Soldo (born 2 November 1967) is a Croatian football manager and a former player. During his playing career, he mostly played as defensive midfielder. Club career Early career After studying law for six semesters at the University of Za ...

Dario Šimić Dario Šimić (; born 12 November 1975) is a Croatian former footballer. Šimić was a versatile defender who played as full-back, sweeper or centre back; a physical and hard-tackling defender, he was known in particular for his strength and ...

Dino Drpić Dino Drpić (born 26 May 1981) is a Croatian professional footballer who last played for Savski Marof. A product of Dinamo Zagreb Academy, Drpić turned professional in 2000 and went on to spend nine years with the club. Club career Drpić ros ...

UEFA Youth League record

Players

GNK Dinamo Zagreb II

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinamo Zagreb Academy 1967 establishments in Croatia

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

Premier League International Cup UEFA Youth League teams