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										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

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Dominik Livaković	9 January 1995	12	0	Dinamo Zagreb
	GK	Mirko Marić	3 January 1996	0	0	Lechia Gdańsk
	GK	Josip Posavec	10 March 1996	0	0	Palermo
	DF	Karlo Bartolec	20 April 1995	2	0	Lokomotiva
	DF	Antonio Milić	10 March 1994	13	3	Oostende
	DF	Jozo Šimunović	4 August 1994	9	1	Celtic
	DF	Tin Jedvaj	28 November 1995	5	1	Bayer Leverkusen
	DF	Luka Capan	6 April 1995	6	0	Lokomotiva
	DF	Duje Ćaleta-Car	17 September 1996	7	2	Red Bull Salzburg
	DF	Dino Mikanović	7 May 1994	1	0	Aarhus
	DF	Dino Perić	12 July 1994	4	0	Lokomotiva
	MF	Josip Radošević	3 April 1994			Napoli
	MF	Marko Rog	19 July 1995			Napoli
	MF	Filip Krovinović	29 August 1995			Rio Ave
	MF	Petar Boćkaj	23 July 1996			Inter Zaprešić
	MF	Ante Ćorić	14 April 1997			Dinamo Zagreb
	MF	Petar Brlek	24 January 1994			Wisła Kraków
	MF	Domagoj Pavičić	9 March 1994			Dinamo Zagreb
	MF	Fran Tudor	27 September 1995			Hajduk Split
	MF	Ivan Fiolić	29 April 1996			Dinamo Zagreb
	FW	Stipe Perica	7 July 1995			Udinese
	MF	Marko Kolar	31 July 1995			Inter Zaprešić

Recent call-ups

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Marko Mikulić	30 January 1994			Dinamo Zagreb
	DF	Denis Kolinger	4 January 1994			Zagreb
	DF	Filip Benković	13 June 1997			Dinamo Zagreb
	DF	Frane Ikić	19 June 1994			Rijeka
	DF	Anton Krešić	29 January 1996			Atalanta
	DF	Ricardo Bagadur	16 September 1995			Fiorentina
	MF	Mario Pašalić (captain)	9 February 1995			Milan
	MF	Nikola Vlašić	4 October 1997			Hajduk Split
	MF	Andrija Balić	11 August 1997			Udinese
	MF	Mateo Kovačić	6 May 1994			Real Madrid
	MF	Alen Halilović	18 June 1996			Hamburg
	MF	Mirko Marić	16 May 1995			Lokomotiva
	MF	Josip Mišić	28 June 1994			Rijeka
	MF	Ante Roguljić	11 March 1996			Admira Wacker Mödling
	MF	Bernardo Matić	27 May 1994			Zagreb
	FW	Tomislav Kiš	4 April 1994			Cercle Brugge
	FW	Marko Dugandžić	7 April 1994			Ternana
	FW	Robert Murić	12 March 1996			Ajax
	FW	Marko Pjaca	6 May 1995			Juventus

Past squads

• 2000 UEFA European Under-21 European Championship squad
• 2004 UEFA European Under-21 European Championship squad

See also

• Croatia national football team
• Croatia U19 national football team
• Croatia U17 national football team
• UEFA U21 European Championship

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