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.[1] 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) After the
SFR Yugoslavia was dissolved, Dinamo took part in creating the
Prva HNL and the initial season was played in
1992. The same year, the club controversially changed its name to
HAŠK Građanski, and another name change followed in 1993, when the club was renamed to
Croatia Zagreb. The name change was widely seen as a political move by the leadership of then
newly independent Croatia, with the goal of distancing the club from its communist past. As the name change was also never accepted by their supporters, the club renamed themselves back to Dinamo on 14 February 2000. As Croatia Zagreb, the club won six league titles, of which five were won in a row from
1996 to
2000. During this period, the club also won the
Croatian Cup four times. In the late 1990s, the club played two consecutive seasons in the
UEFA Champions League group stage. In the
1998–99 season, they were drawn in a group with
Ajax,
Olympiacos and
Porto. After disappointing performances in the first three matches, in which they managed to draw against Ajax at home and lost their away matches against Olympiacos and Porto, they performed well in the remaining three matches, beating Porto at home and Ajax away, as well as drawing Olympiacos at home. However, they failed to advance to the quarter-finals as the second-placed team behind Olympiacos. In the
1999–2000 season, they were drawn in a group with
defending champions Manchester United,
Marseille and
Sturm Graz, but managed only a fourth-place finish in the group with two draws and one win. They most notably held Manchester United to a goalless draw at
Old Trafford in their opening Champions League match that season. The club also competed in two consecutive seasons of
UEFA Cup—in
1996, they were knocked out in the
qualifying round, while in the
1997, they managed to reach the
third round, losing to
Atlético Madrid 2–1 on aggregate score.
Dinamo Zagreb era (2000–present) "Golden Era" (2000–15) The club subsequently participated five times in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, in
2000,
2003,
2006,
2007 and
2008. However, they played against
Milan,
Dynamo Kyiv,
Arsenal,
Werder Bremen,
Shakhtar Donetsk and failed to win a single match, losing 6–1 on
aggregate to Milan, 5–1 on aggregate to Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk and Arsenal and 5–3 on aggregate to Werder Bremen. Since the qualifying rounds format changed, Dinamo was unable to get through to the play-off round, losing 3–2 on aggregate to
Red Bull Salzburg in
2009. Before the UEFA Cup group stage phase was introduced, Dinamo's best success in the competition was reaching the second round of the competition on three occasions. They were able to reach the group stages in
2004–05,
2007–08 and
2008–09, but failed to secure qualification to round of 32. UEFA then introduced
Europa League competition which had slightly changed format compared to that of the UEFA Cup. Dinamo was able to qualify for the group stage of the initial
2009–10 Europa League season after beating
Scottish side
Hearts 4–2 on aggregate. In domestic competitions, the club was able to secure five league titles and won the Croatian Cup on six occasions, in addition to four Croatian Supercups. The club has also produced many footballing talents that have represented the
Croatia national team on the international level in the 2000s, most notably
Luka Modrić,
Eduardo,
Vedran Ćorluka,
Niko Kranjčar and
Tomislav Butina. Dinamo once again qualified for the
Europa League in 2010–11, finishing third in group D behind
PAOK and
Villarreal and ahead of
Club Brugge. Dinamo was very close to finishing second after wins against Villarreal at home (2–0) and Club Brugge away (0–2), but failed to win in their last game against PAOK at home (lost 0–1), thus failing to qualify for the next stage. Dinamo managed to reach the group stage of the
Champions League in 2011 after beating
Neftçi Bakı (3–0 at home, 0–0 away),
HJK Helsinki (2–1 away, 1–0 at home) and
Malmö FF (4–1 at home, lost 2–0 away). They were drawn in group D alongside
Real Madrid,
Lyon and
Ajax. Dinamo finished last in the group stage, with a −19 goal difference and 22 total goals conceded. They lost both matches against all teams—Real Madrid (0–1 at home, 2–6 away), Lyon (1–7 at home, 0–2 away) and Ajax (0–2 at home, 0–4 away). The only highlight of the campaign being two late consolation goals in the final match of the group at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the only goals Real Madrid conceded in that group. The following season, Dinamo once again managed to qualify for the Champions League group stage after defeating
Ludogorets Razgrad,
Sheriff Tiraspol and
NK Maribor. They were drawn in
group A alongside
Porto,
Dynamo Kyiv and
Paris Saint-Germain. However, they failed to reach the next stage after recording just one point and a −13
goal difference, with their best result a 1–1 draw with Dynamo Kyiv at the Stadion Maksimir.
Recent years (2015–18) In the
2015–16 Champions League, they defeated
Fola Esch 4–1 (1–1 at home, 3–0 away) in the second qualifying round,
Molde 4–4 (1–1 at home, 3–3 away, winning on away goals) in the third qualifying round, and
Skënderbeu Korçë 6–2 (2–1 away, 4–1 at home) in play-off round, later being drawn into
group F alongside
Bayern Munich,
Arsenal and
Olympiacos, where they notably defeated Arsenal 2–1 at home on 16 September 2015. The club won the domestic double, securing both the league title and the national cup. In the
2016–17 season, Dinamo failed to win the league title for the first time since the
2004–05 season, and also failed to win the cup for the first time since
2014. In the
2016–17 UEFA Champions League, they defeated
Vardar 5–3 (2–1 away, 3–2 at home) in the
second qualifying round,
Dinamo Tbilisi 3–0 (2–0 at home, 1–0 away) and
Red Bull Salzburg (1–1 home, 2–1 away after
extra time). They were drawn in
Group H against
Juventus,
Sevilla and
Lyon. However, the club endured an extremely unsuccessful group campaign, scoring zero goals and conceding fifteen in six matches. The club also failed to win the
league title and the
cup, losing both trophies to
rivals Rijeka. The 2016–17 season was considered by many as one of Dinamo's most unsuccessful seasons in the club's history. In the
2017–18 season, Dinamo agreed a kit deal with German multinational company
Adidas. Their
qualifying campaign for
Europa League began in the
third round, beating Norwegian club
Odds, 2–1 on aggregate (2–1 home, 0–0 away), but were knocked out by Albanian side
Skënderbeu Korçë (1–1 home, 0–0 away, losing on
away goals). The club failed to qualify for European competition for the first time since
2006. The club's
league campaign was successful, going unbeaten for 21 games before losing to rivals
Hajduk Split, but two abysmal performances against
Rijeka and
Lokomotiva caused
Mario Cvitanović to resign from his position as manager.
Nikola Jurčević then took over as manager. However, after a disastrous form in early May, Jurčević was sacked as manager.
Bjelica era (2018–20) After much speculation,
Nenad Bjelica, who was recently released from his previous club
Lech Poznań, took over as manager of the club. Dinamo won the
2017–18 Prva HNL title, and won the
2017–18 Croatian Cup, beating
Hajduk in the
final. On 6 June 2018, the former
executive director and
advisor of the club,
Zdravko Mamić, was sentenced to a six-and-a-half-year
prison sentence for
corruption. On the same day, the club released a statement on their official website, in which they claimed that they were "shocked" with the
verdict, also claiming that they "firmly believe" that Zdravko Mamić and the others who were sentenced are innocent. In the
2018–19 UEFA Europa League, Dinamo qualified for the
knockout phase, making it the first time in 49 years that the club would play in European competitions in the winter. In the
Round of 32, Dinamo drew Czech side
Viktoria Plzeň, losing 2–1 in the first leg but roaring back to an
aggregate win with a 3–0 home victory. In the Round of 16, Dinamo drew Portuguese side
Benfica, win 1–0 at home in front of 29,704 people. In the second leg game against Benfica, Dinamo conceded 1 goal before going to an
extra time. In extra time, Benfica managed to score two more goals, winning the game 3–0; on aggregate 3–1 and proceeding to the
quarter-finals. Because of Dinamo's success in the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the
Prva HNL reached the 15th place on the
UEFA country coefficient table, which brings two places in the
2020–21 UEFA Champions League qualifying campaign, thus meaning that a half of the Prva HNL will play in European competitions. At the start of the
2019–20 season, Dinamo beat
Saburtalo Tbilisi 5–0 on aggregate in the
second qualifying round,
Ferencváros 5–1 on aggregate in the
third qualifying round and
Rosenborg 3–1 on aggregate in the
play-offs of the
2019–20 UEFA Champions League and securing a
group stage spot once again after three years. The draw concluded that Dinamo will play in the
Group C with
Manchester City,
Shakhtar Donetsk and
Atalanta. Even though Dinamo has been considered as a complete outsider in the group, to the surprise of many, Dinamo beat Atalanta, who finished third in the
previous season of
Serie A, 4–0 at home in Zagreb, which is the highest ever win in the Champions League for Dinamo in the history of the club. However, the club could not qualify for the next round, finishing on the last position in the Champions League group with a win and a loss against Atalanta (4–0, 0–2), two draws against Shakhtar Donetsk (2–2, 3–3) and two losses against Manchester City (0–2, 1–4). On 16 April 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Bjelica announced that he is leaving the club after consultations with the board through mutual agreement.
Second Zoran Mamić era (2020–21) After Bjelica's departure and the short stint of
Igor Jovićević, the club announced that
Zoran Mamić will be appointed as the new manager. After an unsuccessful
2020–21 UEFA Champions League qualifying campaign, Dinamo qualified for the
2020–21 UEFA Europa League, after beating the Estonian club
Flora Tallinn 3–1 in the
play-off round. Dinamo got drawn in the
Group K together with
Feyenoord,
CSKA Moscow and
Wolfsberg. They started their
group stage campaign with two goalless draws against Feyenoord and CSKA Moscow. In the third match of the group stage, Dinamo got their first win with a 1–0 win against Wolfsberg. Afterwards, Dinamo went onto a four-game winning streak after beating Wolfsberg with 3–0, Feyenoord with 2–0 and CSKA Moscow with 3–1, thus reaching the
2020–21 UEFA Europa League Round of 32 undefeated and with only one goal conceded, making them the club with the least goals conceded in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League group stage. As of the 34th minute in their last match in the group stage against CSKA Moscow, Dinamo Zagreb made history by not conceding a single goal for 526 minutes, a record previously held by
Manchester United, which is the longest time span without a goal conceded in all of the
football competitions held by UEFA, including the
UEFA Champions League and the
UEFA Europa League. In the Round of 32, Dinamo got drawn with
Krasnodar, who reached the Round of 32 after being 3rd placed in the
2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage. In the first leg, Dinamo managed to beat Krasnodar away with the score of 3–2, while in the second leg, Dinamo beat Krasnodar with the score of 1–0, thus remaining undefeated in eight games of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League. Dinamo were then drawn to play
Tottenham Hotspur in the
Round of 16. Due to
COVID-19 travel restrictions, Dinamo and Tottenham were forced to reverse the order of ties and thus Dinamo played the first leg away, in which they lost 2–0. In the second leg, however,
Mislav Oršić's
hat-trick, of which the last goal came in
extra time to complete the comeback, sent Dinamo to the
quarter-finals after winning 3–2 on
aggregate. On 15 March, Mamić resigned from the position as club manager and sports director after the verdict of the Osijek Municipal Court was confirmed by the
Supreme Court of Croatia. Mamić and three others (including his older brother
Zdravko) were charged with tax evasion worth 12.2 million
HRK and for siphoning off 116 million
HRK from transfers of players from Dinamo. Assistant coach
Damir Krznar was named Mamić's replacement the same day. Despite this, Dinamo's journey in Europa League ended in the quarter-finals with a 1–3 on aggregate score defeat against
Villarreal. == Honours ==