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| Nickname | MladiVatreni (The Young Blazers) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Croatian Football Federation (HNS) | ||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Mladen IvančićSergej Milivojević | ||
| Mostcaps | Alen Maras (14) | ||
| Top scorer | Ahmad Sharbini (7) | ||
| FIFA code | CRO | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Slovenia 0–1Croatia  (Brežice, Slovenia; 22 September 1994) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
 Hungary 0–6Croatia (Hungary; 5 September 1995) Croatia 6-0Italy  (Umag, Croatia; 15 March 2006) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Brazil 4–0Croatia (Calabar, Nigeria; 14 April 1999) Slovenia 4–0Croatia (Brežice, Slovenia; 4 April 2006) Croatia 0–4Serbia  (Županja, Croatia; 22 May 2012) | |||
| FIFA U-20 World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 3 (first in1999) | ||
| Best result | Round of 16 (1999,2013) | ||
| Website | hns-cff.hr | ||
TheCroatia national under-20 football team representsCroatia in internationalfootball matches for players aged 20 or under. It is governed by theCroatian Football Federation, the governing body forfootball in Croatia. It is a member ofUEFA in Europe andFIFA in global competitions. The team's colours reference two national symbols: theCroatian checkerboard and thecountry's tricolour. They are colloquially referred to as theMladi vatreni ('Young Blazers'). So far, theMladi vatreni qualified for threeFIFA U-20 World Cups, namely in1999,2011 and2013. The team's greatest accomplishment is passing the group stage at the 1999 and 2013 tournaments.
The U20 team is the de factoU19 of the previous year, and it acts mainly as a feeder team for theU21s and provides further international development for youth players. The team qualifies for the FIFA U-20 World Cup based on the success of the U19 at theUEFA European Under-19 Championship.
The U20 national team was formed in 1994. The first match was played against the team ofAustrian regionStyria, and the first match against FIFA member was againstItaly on 8 February 1995.
Croatia managed to qualify for1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup. That was the second appearance from the Croatian football team in the FIFA competition, afterA team appeared onFIFA World Cup in France in 1998. They passed the group, then lost toBrazil by 4–0 in Round of 16.
On 24 July 2010, after trashingPortugal 5–0 in2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship group game, Croatia qualified for the semi-final. Also, it secured a spot in2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup inColombia.
Another good performance by the U19 team at2012 championship saw Croatia qualifying for theWorld Cup, this time held inTurkey in2013.
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Win Draw Loss Fixture
v
Qatar| 30 May 2025 (2025-05-30)Friendly | Croatia | 3–0 | Qatar | Čakovec, Croatia |
| 19:15 | Report | Stadium:Stadion SRC Mladost |
v
China| 1 June 2023 (2023-06-01)Friendly | Croatia | 1–1 | China | Velika Gorica, Croatia |
| Report |
| Stadium:Stadion Radnik |
v China| 3 June 2023 (2023-06-03)Friendly | Croatia | 4–1 | China | Velika Gorica, Croatia |
| 17:30 | Report |
| Stadium:Stadion Radnik |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Ognjen Vukojević |
| Assistant coaches | Mato NeretljakMario Carević |
| Goalkeeping coach | Marjan Mrmić |
| Fitness coach | Ivan Krakan |
| Physiotherapists | Ivan Halambek |
| Doctors | Goran Madžarac |
| Chief instructor | Petar Krpan |
| Team manager | Denis Lukša |
The following is the squad named for friendly matches againstChina played on 1 and 3 June 2023.[1]
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1GK | Franko Kolić | (2003-02-07)7 February 2003 (age 23) | 4 | 0 |  Posušje | |
| 1GK | Mislav Zadro | (2003-04-22)22 April 2003 (age 22) | 2 | 0 |  Aris Limassol | |
| 1GK | Filip Kovačević | (2002-03-22)22 March 2002 (age 23) | 1 | 0 | Cibalia | |
| 2DF | Mateo Lisica | (2003-07-09)9 July 2003 (age 22) | 2 | 0 | Istra 1961 | |
| 2DF | Moris Valinčić | (2002-11-17)17 November 2002 (age 23) | 2 | 0 | Istra 1961 | |
| 2DF | Vicko Ševelj | (2000-09-19)19 September 2000 (age 25) | 5 | 1 | Radomlje | |
| 2DF | Roko Jureškin | (2000-09-29)29 September 2000 (age 25) | 5 | 0 | Pisa | |
| 2DF | Krešimir Krizmanić | (2000-07-03)3 July 2000 (age 25) | 2 | 0 | Gorica | |
| 2DF | Maro Katinić | (2004-04-13)13 April 2004 (age 21) | 1 | 0 | Bravo | |
| 2DF | Ivan Smolčić | (2000-08-17)17 August 2000 (age 25) | 2 | 0 | Rijeka | |
| 2DF | Niko Galešić | (2001-03-26)26 March 2001 (age 24) | 6 | 0 | Rijeka | |
| 2DF | Luka Jelenić | (2000-05-24)24 May 2000 (age 25) | 1 | 0 | Varaždin | |
| 2DF | Nikola Soldo | (2001-01-25)25 January 2001 (age 25) | 2 | 0 |  1. FC Kaiserslautern | |
| 3MF | Ante Palaversa | (2000-04-06)6 April 2000 (age 25) | 4 | 0 |  Troyes | |
| 3MF | Ivan Ćubelić | (2003-06-02)2 June 2003 (age 22) | 1 | 0 | Hajduk Split | |
| 3MF | Luka Stojković | (2003-10-28)28 October 2003 (age 22) | 4 | 1 | Dinamo Zagreb | |
| 3MF | Adrian Liber | (2001-01-09)9 January 2001 (age 25) | 4 | 0 | Rijeka | |
| 3MF | Leon Belcar | (2002-01-04)4 January 2002 (age 24) | 6 | 0 | Varaždin | |
| 3MF | Niko Janković | (2001-08-25)25 August 2001 (age 24) | 1 | 0 | Rijeka | |
| 4FW | Silvio Goričan | (2000-02-27)27 February 2000 (age 25) | 3 | 0 | Lokomotiva Zagreb | |
| 4FW | Ante Crnac | (2003-12-17)17 December 2003 (age 22) | 3 | 0 |  Raków Częstochowa | |
| 4FW | Karlo Špeljak | (2003-03-14)14 March 2003 (age 22) | 5 | 0 | Celje | |
| 4FW | Bartol Barišić | (2003-01-01)1 January 2003 (age 23) | 5 | 0 |  DAC Dunajská Streda | |
| 4FW | Michele Šego | (2000-08-05)5 August 2000 (age 25) | 8 | 1 | Varaždin | |
| 4FW | Denis Bušnja | (2000-04-14)14 April 2000 (age 25) | 4 | 2 | Rijeka | |
Winners Runners-up Third place Tournament hosted
Croatian under-20 team played most of its matches competing in a regional cup called Mirop Cup, also known as Cup Alpe-Adria, with groups ofSlovenia, Hungary, Italy,Slovakia and teams of some Austrian andHungarian regions. Croatia won that cup three times in a row, in 1994, 1995 and 1996, and ever after.
| FIFA U-20 World Cup | Qualification | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Host | Round | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Squad | Pos. | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | |
| 1977 to1991 | Part of Yugoslavia | Part of Yugoslavia | |||||||||||||||
| 1993 |  Australia | Not a UEFA member | Not a UEFA member | ||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Qatar | Did not qualify | SeeCroatia national under-19 football team | ||||||||||||||
| 1997 |  Malaysia | ||||||||||||||||
| 1999 |  Nigeria | Round of 16 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 6 | Squad | ||||||||
| 2001 |  Argentina | Did not qualify | |||||||||||||||
| 2003 |  United Arab Emirates | ||||||||||||||||
| 2005 |  Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||
| 2007 |  Canada | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009 |  Egypt | ||||||||||||||||
| 2011 |  Colombia | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 8 | Squad | ||||||||
| 2013 |  Turkey | Round of 16 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Squad | ||||||||
| 2015 |  New Zealand | Did not qualify | |||||||||||||||
| 2017 |  South Korea | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Poland | ||||||||||||||||
| 2021 |  Indonesia | Cancelled | |||||||||||||||
| 2023 | Argentina | Did not qualify | |||||||||||||||
| 2025 |  Chile | ||||||||||||||||
| 2027 |  Azerbaijan Uzbekistan | To be determined | |||||||||||||||
| Total | Round of 16 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 18 | — | |||||||||
| National teams | |
|---|---|
| League system | |
| Domestic cups | |
| Seasons | |
| |
| |
The following table shows Croatia's head-to-head record in theFIFA U-20 World Cup.
| Opponent | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | 000.00 |
| Brazil | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | −4 | 000.00 |
| Chile | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 000.00 |
 Ghana | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 000.00 |
 Guatemala | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 000.00 |
 Kazakhstan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 100.00 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 100.00 |
| Nigeria | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 000.00 |
 Saudi Arabia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 000.00 |
 Uruguay | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 100.00 |
| Uzbekistan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 000.00 |
| Total | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 18 | −6 | 027.27 |
