The 2018–19 season is Dinamo Zagreb's 28th season in the Croatian First Division and 106th year in existence as a football club. The season covers the period from 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.
Dinamo will be defending their title as league champions, as well as their title as cup winners. They will also compete in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League, entering the second qualifying round.
The club's manager is Nenad Bjelica, who will be in his first full-season with the club.
Review
Preseason On 23 June, Dinamo played their first friendly match of the pre-season, beating Macedonian side Rabotnički Skoplje, winning 4–0, with Mario Šitum (2), Dino Perić and Antonio Marin scoring the goals. Five days later, on 28 June, Dinamo played Azerbaijani side Qabala, winning 2–0, with Ivan Šunjić and Antonio Marin scoring the goals. The following players officially joined the club: Emir Dilaver (from Lech Poznań), Damian Kądzior (from Górnik Zabrze), Marin Leovac (from PAOK) and Mislav Oršić (from Uslan Hyundai), Lovro Majer (from feeder-club NK Lokomotiva) and Kévin Théophile-Catherine (from AS Saint-Étienne). The following players left the club: Borna Sosa (to Stuttgart), Ante Ćorić (to Roma) and El Arabi Hillal Soudani (to Nottingham Forrest) and the club will earn a combined €18m from their transfers. On 3 July, Dinamo trashed Austria Klagenfurt in a 6–1 win; with Armin Hodžić, Ivan Šunjić, Izet Hajrović, Filip Benković, Luka Menalo and Amer Gojak scoring one goal each. A day later, on 4 July, Dinamo beat Triglav 4–0 with Mario Šitum, Ivan Fiolić, Dani Olmo and Mario Budimir scoring the goals. Three days later, on 7 July, Dinamo beat Polish side Cracovia following Kamil Pestka's own goal in the 90th minute of the game. On 18 July, Dinamo drew 0–0 with feeder-team Sesvete. This was followed by a 2–1 away win over Varaždin in the last friendly game of the season, with goals from Armin Hodžić and Dino Perić, on 20 July.
July On 24 July, in the first leg of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League second qualifying phase, Dinamo beat Israeli club Hapoel Be'er Sheva by a scoreline of 5–0, despite media outlets calling Dinamo the underdogs of the match, as Hapoel had reached a historic 3–2 win over Inter Milan in the UEFA Europa League just two years prior. Dinamo won with goals coming from Izet Hajrović, Mislav Oršić, Arijan Ademi (2) and Armin Hodžić, taking a 5–0 lead into the second leg. On 28 July, in the first league match of the season, Dinamo drew 1–1 with Rudeš, initially going 0–1 down following Sadegh Moharrami's own goal, but a late equalizing goal from Dino Perić was enough to prevent defeat. In the second leg of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions second qualifying phase against Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Dinamo went 0–2 down by half-time, following a goal from John Ogu and Petar Stojanović's own goal. Dinamo eventually managed to draw the game 2–2 with goals from Mario Budimir and Izet Hajrović, confirming Dinamo's advancement into the next stage of the tournament qualifying phase.
August
On 3 August, Dinamo beat Istra 1961 by a scoreline of 3–0; with two goals from Mario Gavranović and one goal from Marin Leovac. On 7 August, Dinamo beat Kazakhstani champions Astana in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, winning 2–0 with goals from Mario Budimir and Dani Olmo, despite being considered underdogs prior to the match. On 9 August, Dinamo Zagreb confirmed that Filip Benković signed for Premier League club Leicester City, in a fee in the region of £13m.
Squad information
First-team squad
Transfers
Transfers in
Start DatePositionNameAgeTypeNotesFeeSource 1 July 2018CB Emir Dilaver27 Transfer (from Lech Poznań)Permanent transfer. €1,500,000 1 July 2018LW Mislav Oršić25 Transfer (from Ulsan Hyundai FC) €1,500,000 1 July 2018LB Marin Leovac26 Transfer (from P.A.O.K.) €500,000 1 July 2018CM Damian Kądzior26 Transfer (from Górnik Zabrze) €500,000 1 July 2018AM Lovro Majer20 Transfer (from NK Lokomotiva) €2,500,000 1 July 2018CB Kévin Théophile-Catherine28 Transfer (from AS Saint-Étienne) FreeTotal€6,500,000
Transfers out
Start DatePositionNameAgeTypeNotesFeeSource 1 July 2018LB Borna Sosa20 Transfer (to Stuttgart)Permanent transfer. €8,000,000 1 July 2018AM Ante Ćorić21 Transfer (to Roma) €6,000,0001 July 2018RW El Arabi Hillal Soudani30Transfer (to Nottingham Forrest)€2,300,0009 August 2018CB Filip Benković21Transfer (to Leicester City)€14,000,000Total€30,300,000
Loans out Start DatePositionNameAgeTypeNotesFeeSource 9 August 2018GK Adrian Šemper20 Transfer (to Chievo)One-year deal. N/ATotalN/A
Transfer summary
Friendlies
Preseason
Competitions
Overall
Overview
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |- !rowspan=2|Competition !colspan=8|Record |- ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! |- | Prva HNL
| Croatian Cup
| UEFA Champions League
| UEFA Europa League
! Total
Prva HNL
Table
Summary
By matchday
Matches
Croatian Cup
UEFA Champions League
Second qualifying round
Third qualifying round
Play-off round
UEFA Europa League
Group stage Group D
Knockout phase
Round of 32
Round of 16
Statistics
Appearances
Goalscorers NameLeagueCupEuropeTotal99LWMislav Oršić6251321CFBruno Petković912127AMDani Olmo8131211CFMario Gavranović912128RWIzet Hajrović406109STMario Budimir512892RWDamian Kadzior62085DMArijan Ademi202414AMAmer Gojak20249CFKomnen Andrić400413CBAmir Rrahmani300327DMNikola Moro300331CBMarko Lešković200215CFArmin Hodžić101255CBDino Perić200234DMIvan Šunjić011216LWMario Šitum200222LBMarin Leovac200228CBKévin Théophile-Catherine10013LBMario Musa100166CBEmir Dilaver001120LWIyayi Atiemwen100110AMLovro Majer1001
Clean sheets NameLeagueCupEuropeTotal1GKDanijel Zagorac1023
Disciplinary record No. Pos. Name League Cup Europe Total 15CF Armin Hodžić1000001019AM Ivan Fiolić1000001031CB Marko Lešković1000001034CM Ivan Šunjić100000108RW Izet Hajrović0000202014AM Amer Gojak0000202030RB Petar Stojanović000020205DM Arijan Ademi0000101022LB Marin Leovac00001010Total400080120
Sponsorship
Lana Group (front shirt sponsors) Ban Tours Coca-Cola Euroherc VIP Hrvatski Telekom Mlinar Ožujsko Cammeo Franck adidas (kit manufacturers)
References