(), commonly referred to as (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. They compete in the Croatian Football League (HNL), the top tier of Croatian football. They are the most successful club in Croatian football, having won twenty-six league titles, eighteen Croatian Cups, еight Croatian Super Cups, and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The club has spent its entire existence in top flight, having been members of the Yugoslav First League from 1946 to 1991 and Prva HNL from 1992.
They entered the Yugoslav First League in its inaugural 1946–47 season, finishing as runners-up. In their second season in Yugoslav top flight in 1947–48 they finished as Yugoslav champions, which was their first major trophy. The club won three more league titles and seven Yugoslav Cups. Upon the independence of Croatia, the club joined the Croatian football league system in 1991. Dinamo are, to date, the only Croatian club to win a European trophy, having won the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by defeating Leeds United in the final. They also finished runners-up in the same competition in 1963 when they lost to Valencia.
The club was known as from 1991 to 1993 and Croatia Zagreb from 1994 to 2000. They won five league titles and participated in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League group stages carrying that name. The team's traditional colour is royal blue, which has been replaced for European matches in recent times with the darker navy blue. The club's biggest rivals are Hajduk Split, jointly contesting the "Eternal Derby". Their youth academy, Dinamo Zagreb Academy, is the club's primary development program.
History Foundation of Građanski (1911–45)
In 1911, when Croatia was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Građanski was founded in Zagreb by Andrija Mutafelija and a few of his friends in response to rumors that a football club that was meant to play in the Hungarian football league (as opposed to the Croatian Sports Union) was about to be established. Građanski was therefore founded as a multi-sports club with a distinctly Croatian identity intended to cater to citizens of Zagreb, with sections dedicated to football, handball and cycling. At first they used grounds in Zagreb's neighbourhoods of Tuškanac, Martinovka, Kanal and Maksimir, until they built their own stadium at Koturaška street, which was officially opened in 1924 by Stjepan Radić, a prominent Croatian politician.
Internationally, the club went on several successful tours – on one of these, in 1923 in Spain, Građanski beat Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao. The club often toured to Austria and Hungary and played friendly matches with top local sides. In 1936, they went on tour to England where they adopted the WM formation which helped them win the 1936–1937 Yugoslav championship. Márton Bukovi, who started using the formation as Građanski manager in 1936, introduced it to Hungary in the late 1940s and later modified it into the now famous WW system which brought the Hungary national team to the final game of the 1954 World Cup.
The club competed in the Mitropa Cup, the first European international club competition, on three occasions – in 1928, 1937 and 1940. In 1928, Građanski were knocked out in the two-legged quarterfinal by Viktoria Žižkov of Czechoslovakia with 4–8 on aggregate. Nine years later, Građanski exited early again after suffering a 1–6 aggregate loss to Genova 1893 FBC. In 1940, they beat the Hungarian side Újpest FC (5–0 on aggregate) in the quarterfinal, only to be defeated by Rapid Bucharest in the semifinal. Both legs ended without goals, so a playoff game in Subotica was held, which ended 1–1. Rapid progressed to the final on a coin toss, but the final game (against Ferencváros) was never played because of the outbreak of World War II.
Having been invaded and occupied by the Nazi Germany in 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was dissolved and sports competitions in the nation were suspended. An exception to this was the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) which, as an Axis member, enjoyed peace and so the NDH continued to hold national competitions featuring prominent Croatian clubs. Four of these seasons were started (1941, 1941–42, 1942–43 and 1943–44) but only the second and third editions were finished, with Građanski winning the 1942–43 season.
When the war ended in 1945, the club was disbanded by the new communist government (along with city rivals HAŠK and Concordia Zagreb) and its archives were destroyed in retribution for competing in the wartime football league. The club's last official game was a 2–2 draw against HAŠK on 10 April 1945, just before both clubs were disbanded.
Dissolution of Građanski and establishment of Dinamo (1945–66) In the immediate aftermath of World War II, Građanski was disbanded (along with city rivals HAŠK and Concordia Zagreb) by a decree issued by the communist authorities in June 1945. On 9 June 1945, just three days after Građanski was disbanded, a new sports society called FD Dinamo () was founded. Soon after the initial meeting, the football section was formed with Ico Hitrec as the chairman, and some old players and administration members of Građanski (Jerko Šimić, Rudolf Sabljak, Otto Hofman, Franjo Staroveški, Slavko Bobnar, Zvonimir Stanković) becoming administration members of the club of which some of them later became presidents. The newly established Dinamo took over Građanski's colors and nickname, inherited its pre-war fan base, and in 1969 even adopted a badge strongly resembling Građanski's. Many Građanski's most notable players continued their career at Dinamo upon its formation (including Franjo Wölfl, August Lešnik, Zvonimir Cimermančić, Branko Pleše, Milan Antolković, Mirko Kokotović, Ivica Reiss, Emil Urch and later Ivan Jazbinšek) as well as their coach Márton Bukovi, physiotherapist Franjo Žlof and a significant number of juniors. First generation of Dinamo's youth team was coached by Građanski's former goalkeeper Maks Mihelčić who also took the role of a goalkeeping coach. In the first few years, the club played their home matches at Građanski's old ground, Stadion Koturaška, before moving to a new stadium built on place of HAŠK's former ground in Maksimir.
Following its formation, the club entered Yugoslav First League in its inaugural 1946–47 season and finished runners-up, five points behind champions Partizan. In the following 1947–48 season, Dinamo won their first trophy after winning the Yugoslav championship with five points ahead of Hajduk Split and Partizan. In the 1951 season, the club finished runners-up again, but compensated with their first Yugoslav Cup title after defeating Vojvodina 4–0 in the two–legged final. Dinamo later added three more cup titles (in 1960, 1963 and 1965) and two championship wins (in 1953–54 and 1957–58). In addition, they were also cup runners–up on three occasions (in 1950, 1964 and 1966). Dinamo first entered European competitions in the preliminary round of the 1958–59 European Cup, but were knocked out by the Czechoslovak side Dukla Prague. The club then had some success in the 1960–61 European Cup Winners' Cup, as they managed to reach the semi-finals where they lost to Italian side Fiorentina. They have also competed in the 1961–62 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, but failed to progress beyond the second round in which they were knocked out by Barcelona. However, in the 1962–63 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Dinamo managed to reach the final, but lost 4–1 on aggregate to Spanish side Valencia. In the 1963–64 European Cup Winners' Cup, they made an early exit in the first round after a defeat to Scottish side Celtic. During this period, many of Dinamo's star players were also integral part of the Yugoslavia national team, including Željko Čajkovski, Zlatko Škorić, Krasnodar Rora, Denijal Pirić, Dražan Jerković, Ivica Horvat, Slaven Zambata and Rudolf Belin.
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1966–67)
Three Yugoslav clubs went on to participate in the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, but they were knocked–out early in the competition, excluding Dinamo, who went on to become the first ever Yugoslavia team that won a European competition. In the first round, Dinamo played against Spartak Brno and after the aggregate score was level at 2–2, a coin was flipped in order to determine the winner. Dinamo was through to the second round, where they were drawn against Scottish side Dunfermline. For the first time in the history of the Cup, the away goals rule were introduced, which helped Dinamo qualify for the third round after the aggregate score was 4–4 (2–0 at home and 2–4 away). On their road to finals, they defeated Romanian side Dinamo Piteşti, Italian powerhouse Juventus and German side Eintracht Frankfurt. In the finals the club was drawn to play its first match at Maksimir against Leeds United. Dinamo won 2–0 in front of the 33 thousand fans with Marijan Čerček and Krasnodar Rora scoring, which was enough to secure the title as the match at Elland Road finished 0–0. The final matches were attended by the then president of FIFA, Sir Stanley Rous, who handed the trophy to Dinamo's captain and top goalscorer Slaven Zambata.
Post–European success era (1967–91) Dinamo closed the successful 1960s with Yugoslav Cup title in the 1969 and quarterfinals of the 1969–70 Cup Winners' Cup competition. Unfortunately, the success did not follow the club to the new decade, as they failed to win a single trophy throughout the 1970s. The club participated in three more seasons of Inter-Cities Fairs Cup before it was replaced with the UEFA Cup, but failed to make any impact. Dinamo took part of the initial UEFA Cup season, but lost in the second round of the competition to Rapid Wien on the away goals rule. The club entered the UEFA Cup on seven more occasions (in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1992), but never repeated its success from the '60s.
The 1978–79 Yugoslav Championship both Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb finished the season on 50 points, but Hajduk won the championship having the better goal difference. However, there was a controversy in the first round when Rijeka defeated Dinamo 2–1 at Kantrida. Dinamo claimed that Edmond Tomić, who joined Rijeka that season from Lirija, didn't serve a one-match suspension following two yellow cards received while playing for his former club. They appealed and after two months it has been decided to award the match 3–0 to Dinamo. After several appeals from both sides, in spring 1979 Football Association of Yugoslavia ruled in favour of Rijeka. The case was brought to Employment Appeal Tribunal, which four years later ruled Dinamo as champions. The injustice was never corrected as Dinamo never received recognition from Football Association of Yugoslavia nor Hajduk who simply ignored the judgement. This is still often seen by Dinamo's fans as another evidence of mistreatment of their club by Yugoslav football authorities and as hypocrisy of their rivals - Hajduk.
Finally, at the beginning of the 1980s, Dinamo won their sixth Yugoslav Cup title, defeating Red Star Belgrade 2–1 on aggregate. They then qualified for the 1980–81 Cup Winners' Cup but lost in the first round to Benfica. In 1982, Dinamo sealed their fourth Yugoslav championship and in 1983 won their seventh Yugoslav Cup, the club's last trophy as a part of the SFR Yugoslavia. After Benfica, another Portuguese club sealed Dinamo's European season, this time in 1982–83 European Cup when they lost to Sporting CP. They played in 1983–84 Cup Winners' Cup season and were eliminated, again, by Portuguese side Porto. The club did not have any success in the second part of the 1980s, save for two consecutive second-place finishes in the Yugoslav championship in 1989 and 1990.
Croatia Zagreb era (1991–2000)