Croatia national under-19 football team

Croatia Under-19

Association	Hrvatski Nogometni Savez
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Dinko Jeličić
FIFA code	CRO
Home colours Away colours
U-19 European Championship
Appearances	3 (First in 1998)
Best result	Third place

The Croatia national under-19 football team represents Croatia in international football at this age level and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia.

The current head coach is Dinko Jeličić. Most players play in their club's youth academy or reserve team.

Competition history

Prior to 1990 Croatian players played for the Yugoslavia Under-18 team. Although the Croatian team was formed in the early 1990s after the breakup of Yugoslavia, the Under-18 team had to wait for UEFA to officially accept Croatian Football Federation's membership bid in order to be included in UEFA-governed competitions. Croatia's membership was accepted in June 1993 and the first continental competition Croatia under-18 team took part in was the qualification for 1994 European Under-18 Championship. In 2001 UEFA changed the player eligibility dates and from 2002 onwards the continental championship is known as UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. The tournament is held every year and serves as the qualifying tournament for FIFA U-20 World Cup which is held every two years.

As of 2009, Croatia Under-18/19 team managed to qualify for European championship on two occasions (in 1998 and 2000). In 1998 they won third place which earned them a place at the 1999 U-20 World Cup, their only U-20 World Cup appearance up to date (after finishing second in their group and reaching Round of 16, they were knocked out of the tournament after a 0–4 defeat against Brazil). Croatia's best scorer was Zvonimir Deranja with two goals, and the team won the FIFA Fair Play Award.^[1]

UEFA U-18/19 European Championship record

UEFA U-18/19 European Championship record										UEFA U-18/19 Championship Qualification record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1994	Did not qualify									4	2	1	1	12	4	+8
1995										2	0	0	2	1	9	−8
1996										2	1	0	1	3	4	−1
1997										4	2	1	1	7	1	+6
1998	Third place	4	2	1	1	8	5	+3		4	3	1	0	14	1	+13
1999	Did not qualify									5	4	0	1	16	8	+8
2000	Group stage	3	0	0	3	3	8	−5		4	4	0	0	10	1	+9
2001	Did not qualify									2	1	0	1	2	3	−1
2002										3	2	0	1	6	4	+2
2003										3	1	1	1	2	2	0
2004										6	5	0	1	13	4	+9
2005										6	2	1	3	11	10	+1
2006										6	3	2	1	13	6	+7
2007										6	3	3	0	13	6	+7
2008										6	3	2	1	11	7	+4
2009										3	1	1	1	7	6	+1
2010	Semi-finals	4	1	1	2	7	4	+3		6	6	0	0	12	2	+10
2011	Did not qualify									6	2	1	3	8	10	−2
2012	Qualification in progress									3	2	1	0	8	2	+6
Total		11	3	2	6	18	17	+1		81	47	15	19	169	90	+79

Recent results

Friendly matches

4 October 2011	Czech Republic	2 – 2	Croatia	Stadion Soukeník, Sezimovo Ústí
16:00	Habusta  57' Kunc  77'	Report	Pajač  30', 75'	Referee: Milan Makovička (Czech Republic)

6 October 2011	Czech Republic	3 – 2	Croatia	Stadion FK Rašelina Soběslav, Soběslav
11:00	Sýkora Kunc Houska	Report	Čolak  19', 47'

19 October 2011	Croatia	2 – 0	Luxembourg	Stadion Žuknica, Kostrena
15:30	Pajač  30' (pen.) Alvir  72'	Report		Referee: Marin Vidulin (Croatia)

2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship (qualifying round)

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Croatia	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7
Netherlands	3	2	1	0	5	0	+5	7
Finland	3	1	0	2	6	8	−2	3
Moldova	3	0	0	3	2	11	−9	0

10 November 2011	Croatia	4 – 2	Finland	De Bataven, Gendt
17:00	Livaja  3', 36' Rebić  11' Miškić  90+3'	Report	Hatakka  5' Väyrynen  44'	Referee: Liran Liany (Israel)

12 November 2011	Moldova	0 – 4	Croatia	VIOD, Doetinchem
15:00		Report	Jelavić  24', 27', 50' Čolak  79'	Referee: Alexander Kostadinov (Bulgaria)

15 November 2011	Croatia	0 – 0	Netherlands	De Bataven, Gendt
19:00		Report	Pröpper  70'	Referee: Liran Liany (Israel)

Players

Latest squad

The following is the list of players called up by manager Dinko Jeličić for the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification round, which was held in a tournament format from 10 to 15 November 2011 in Netherlands.

Caps and goals listed refer to Croatia U19 team only, and are correct as of the last competitive match against Netherlands U19 held on 15 November 2011.

#	Name	Date of Birth (Age)	Club	Caps	Goals	Debut
Goalkeepers
1	Simon Sluga	17 March 1993 (1993-03-17) (age 18)	Juventus Primavera	3	0	v.  Portugal, 29 May 2011
12	Oliver Zelenika	14 May 1993 (1993-05-14) (age 18)	Dinamo Zagreb	3	0	v.  Luxembourg, 19 October 2011
Defenders
2	Toni Gorupec	4 July 1993 (1993-07-04) (age 18)	Radnik Sesvete	14	0	v.  Montenegro, 15 September 2010
5	Niko Datković	21 April 1993 (1993-04-21) (age 18)	Rijeka	4	0	v.  Luxembourg, 19 October 2011
6	Josip Čalušić	11 October 1993 (1993-10-11) (age 18)	Radnik Sesvete	6	0	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011
Midfielders
3	Ivan Aleksić	6 March 1993 (1993-03-06) (age 18)	Osijek	4	0	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011
4	Filip Mrzljak (c)	16 April 1993 (1993-04-16) (age 18)	Radnik Sesvete	11	0	v.  Montenegro, 15 September 2010
7	Marko Pajač	11 May 1993 (1993-05-11) (age 18)	Varaždin	5	3	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011
8	Ivan Močinić	30 April 1993 (1993-04-30) (age 18)	Rijeka	6	0	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011
10	Mateo Kovačić	6 May 1994 (1994-05-06) (age 17)	Dinamo Zagreb	2	0	v.  Finland, 10 November 2011
13	Dario Čanađija	17 April 1994 (1994-04-17) (age 17)	Slaven Belupo	6	0	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011
14	Dino Špehar	8 February 1994 (1994-02-08) (age 17)	Dinamo Zagreb	2	0	v.  Moldova, 12 November 2011
16	Danijel Miškić	11 October 1993 (1993-10-11) (age 18)	Radnik Sesvete	4	1	v.  Czech Republic, 3 March 2011
17	Josip Radošević	3 April 1994 (1994-04-03) (age 17)	Hajduk Split	4	0	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011
Forwards
9	Antonio Mirko Čolak	17 September 1993 (1993-09-17) (age 18)	Karlsruher	6	4	v.  Republic of Ireland, 8 February 2011
11	Ante Rebić	21 September 1993 (1993-09-21) (age 18)	RNK Split	2	1	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011
15	Marko Livaja	26 August 1993 (1993-08-26) (age 18)	Cesena	5	2	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011
18	Mario Jelavić	20 August 1993 (1993-08-20) (age 18)	Hajduk Split	5	3	v.  Czech Republic, 4 October 2011

Past squads

• 1999 FIFA U-20 World Championship squad
• 2010 UEFA U-19 European Championship squad

See also

• Croatia national football team
• Croatia national under-21 football team
• Croatia national under-17 football team
• UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship

References

1. ^ "FIFA World Youth Championship Nigeria 1999". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/tournaments/archive/tournament=104/edition=191313/index.html. Retrieved 6 October 2009. 

External links

• European Under-19 Championship official website at UEFA.com
• Youth team news at the Croatian FA official website (Croatian)
• Appearance stats for all youth selections at the Croatian FA official website (Croatian)