The Croatianational under-21 football team, also known as Croatia under-21 or Croatia U21, is a youth association footballnational 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, 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. 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. 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, 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.
Statistics include official FIFA-recognized matches only.
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Croatia U-21 squad since the beginning of 2018 and are still eligible for selection. ;Notes
BOLDED = Players who have already played in the senior team.
INJ = Not part of the [|current squad] due to injury.
WD = Withdrew from the current squad due to injury.
RET = Retired before the latest call-up but still eligible for selection.
Past squads
2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squad
2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squad
2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship squad
Statistics
Managers
The following table provides a summary of the complete record of each Croatia manager including their results regarding European Under-21 Championship. Last updated: Greece vs Croatia, 13 November 2017. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.
Most appearances
#
Name
Croatia career
Caps
Goals
Ref.
1
Tomislav Vranjić
2002–2005
26
0
2
Tomislav Bušić
2005–2008
25
12
3
Josip Tadić
2005–2008
22
5
4
Ivan Leko
1994–2000
21
5
4
Mato Jajalo
2007–2010
21
4
6
Tomo Šokota
1997–2000
19
10
6
Dejan Lovren
2007–2010
19
3
6
Davor Vugrinec
1994–1997
19
3
6
Mario Lučić
2002–2004
19
2
6
Domagoj Vida
2007–2010
19
2
6
Dario Smoje
1997–2000
19
1
6
Mario Carević
2001–2004
19
0
6
Luka Vučko
2004–2006
19
0
Last updated: England vs Croatia, 24 June 2019. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.
