In the
spring of 1911 when Croatia still
was a part of Austria-Hungary. Not happy with it's
status and position over the years Croats were always
looking for ways how to express their wish for
independence and it's national
feelings. Football was just one of them. In the April of
1911 the talk on the town was
that a new Hungarian football club was
to be formed in Zagreb and that it was
supposed to be a member of Hungarian Football
Association even though all other Zagreb's football
clubs were members of Croatian Sports Association which
was formed in 1909. As the opposition
among Croat sports people grew the feeling was that it's
time for another football club to be established in
Zagreb ahead of the Hungarian one.
The result was 1. HŠK Gradjanski Zagreb (Prvi
Hrvatski Gradjanski Športski Klub Zagreb - First
Croatian Citizen's Sports Club Zagreb) was formed on April
26 1911. by Andrija Mutafelija and a group of
friends in a Tavern at Petar Preradović Square.
At first the colors of the jerseys the
players wore were orange with yellow collar and then up
to the year 1918, the jerseys
had blue and yellow stripes. After the World War
I the all blue was chosen to be the Club's main color.
The Club played its first game on 21.05.1911. and
the young and
unexperienced players lost to
HAŠK Zagreb reserve team 1-5.
Almost two months after formation Gradjanski won its
first game, on 25.6.1911. vs Croatia 6-1. Next year
first Croatian & Slavonian Championship was played at
HAŠK Zagreb's stadium in Maksimir and participants from
Zagreb were: HAŠK, 1.HŠK Gradjanski, HŠK Concordia,
Croatia and Zagreb.
BETWEEN TWO WORLD
WARS
In the
1920's & 1930's the Club played
in the league of Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later named
Kingdom of Yugoslavia), participated well in
MITROPA CUP and played numerous friendly games (notably
a 1-0 away win vs Barcelona in 1923, 0-0 home draw with
Brazil in 1934, 5-1 home win vs Liverpool FC and away
draw with Hearts 4-4 in 1936.).
After the end of Kingdom of
Yugoslavia in 1941 and during WWII Gradjanski played in
League of Independence State of
Croatia that existed from
1941-1945.In Independence State
of Croatia, Dinamo won 2 domestic titles and 1 Cup.
Between two World Wars under Građanski name, Dinamo was
most successful Yugoslavian club with 5 domestic
championships, before being banned on 19. May 1945. due
to the countries new communist regime
which transformed Građanski
into Dinamo,
installed a new board, loyal to communist
regime. Those were the Club's
hardest times in history. The Club's
archives were burned by communist government and new
club was formed on 9. of June 1945,
by the name ofNK Dinamo Zagreb (name
was suggested by Ivica Medarić ex-Gradjanski and HAŠK
Zagreb player). NK Dinamo Zagreb continued
to play at Građanski's
stadium in Koturaška Street, from 1945 until 1948 when
they moved to Maksimir.
Although the new regime tried to
show Dinamo as a completely new
club, they didn’t manage tohide
the identical identity of Građanski and Dinamo.
Not only that club kept recognizable town, spirit, but
also blue color, similar logo, manager, majority of
players and practically all
supporters. Dinamo and Građanski are the
same club, which due to historical events several
of times where forced to name
changes.
Legendary Hungarian coach Marton Bukovi stayed and
continued coaching at NK Dinamo Zagreb as did most of
the Građanski players of that era, Antolković, Belošević,
Cimermančić, Jazbinšek, Kokotović, Lešnik, Medarić,
Pleše, Reiss, Urch, Wölfl and juniors Bučar, Čonč,
Ferković, Gereš, Kukec, Martinec and Režek. Players that
joined the newly formed
Dinamo from the other dissolved
Zagreb club HAŠK, were
Nikola Duković, Željko Čajkovski, Ratko Kacian, Drago
Lojen and Svetozar Peričić. Some Građanski players (Stjepan
Bobek, Miroslav Brozović, Franjo Glaser, Florijan
Matekalo, Franjo Šoštarić) were forced to play for newly
formed army club Partizan Belgrade, together with
players from other Zagreb's clubs and rest of Croatia
(Zlatko Čajkovski, Franjo Rupnik, Vladimir Firm and Jozo
Krnić).
POSTWAR
PERIOD
Taking
talents mainly form Croatia and Herzegovina, Dinamo
continued the road of Građanski.
Togheter with Hajduk Split, and Serbian clubs Crvena
Zvezda (Red Star) and Partizan Belgrade they were known
as the "Great Four". Dinamo was considered a Croatian
club, the red and white checkboard on the crest was a
symbol of the silent but persistent
Croatian opposition of the constant
Serbian try to dominate the "united country". Cheering
for Dinamo ment being pround of your origins and being
loyal to Croatia so perhaps in the future the Croatians
finally could leave in independence.Hajduk on the other hand
was Yugoslavian while Crvena
Zvezda Serbian and Partizan military. In postwar
Yugoslavia, Dinamo won 4 Yugoslavian First League
trophies, 7 Yugoslavian Cups, 1 Fairs/Uefa Cup and 1
Balkan Cup.
Dinamo showed it's power by
winning second Yugoslavian postwar Championship in 1948
and Yugoslavian Cup in 1951. The
50’s were also successful years, I which Dinamo was
champions twice, while
championship in 1951 escapedin a
bizarre way, in spite of being 5
points ahead of Crvena Zvezda
with only 3 matches left.
The Club also shined in several friendly
matches both before and after WWII,with establishing of European
club’s Cup in mid-50’s Dinamo started to realize its own
remarkable potential on the
international stage. During the
60’s Dinamo achieved excellent results in European
competitions. They reached
the Semi finals of European
Champion Club’s Cup (now Champions League) in 1961,
Fairs/Uefa Cup final in 1963, and four years later
winning the same Cup by defeating English
side Leeds United in the final.
Beside internationals achievements, especially
the successful 60’s brought 4 victories and 2
finals in Yugoslavian Cup, but in domestic championship
the Club was 5 times runners-up.
The 70’s were poor years for
Dinamo, with only 1 trophy (Balkan Cup), two defeats in
the Yugoslavian Cup final vs.
Hajduk and twice runners up in the
Yugoslavian First League. In spite of trophies
absents, Dinamo’s popularity was huge and
the Modri(Blues)
were regularly on top of average stadium attendance.
Dinamo came closest to wining the league
title was 1978/1979, with
Vlatko Marković as coach. Indeed, by valid rules club
won most points, but the corrupt
Yugoslav Football
Association made it's own rules
and gave the
title to Hajduk. The FA
rejected to
recognize 2 points from the
clash with HNK Rijeka, which
Dinamo won 2-1.Infirst
round ofthe same
season, playing with suspended Edmond Tomić. In line
with rules, the FA firstly
registered the match with 3-0
to Dinamo, but then
in spring 1979 cancelled own decision and enabled
Hajduk to become champions due to better goal difference.
Three years after
the scandal, Dinamo finally won
it's 4th YugoslavLeague
title.In 1981/82
the team
was lead by legendary Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević,
later Croatian National team manager, who brought
winning spirit to Maksimir.
During that, Dinamo had 42.000
fan members, by these criteria second
largest in Europe, behind unreachable Barcelona.
Unfortunately, "Ćiro's" magic
didn’t last long and was sufficient only for one more
Yugoslavian Cup, 1983. After that achievement, next
several seasons Dinamo spent
below places which leads to European competitions,
returning on top of Yugoslavian football before
the break upof Yugoslavia, when twice in row
endingrunners-up.
From end of Second World War until break of SFR
Yugoslavia., Zagreb Blue’s won 4
championships and 7 Cups.
CROATIAN INDEPENDENCE
From
Croatian independence in 1991 and Dinamo
become the absolute best club in
the country, most successful in
the territory of Former
Yugoslavia and one of the
strongest in the Balkans.
The club controversially changed its name to
HAŠK-Građanski in 1992, and another name change followed
in 1993, when the club was renamed to NK
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
entire country from its communist
past. The name chance was never accepted,
espacially not by the Bad Blue Boys (Dinamo's hardcore
firm). After their seven long years of struggle to get
the name back on February 14 2000 Dinamo, the one who never stepped down from
their banners officially returned to Maksimir.
Only on two occations in modern
Croatia theClub
finishedchampionship below third
place, 1992 and 2005. Out of the 11
first seasons Dinamo played in the final of the Croatian
Cup 10 times. Since the start of the 1.HNL Dinamo
has won 10 League titles and 8 Cups.
Period
between 1966 and 2000 was particularly successful, when
the Modri won 5 championships in
a row and also
3 Cups, and second golden period is just in
course, Dinamo now has 3
consecutive titles.
In 1.HNL Dinamo achieved some amazing
records that will be hard to
beat. With manager Otto Barić in 1996/97
finishing the league with 81 points from maximum
90 points, 21 points more than
archrival Hajduk, but 10 years
later of that achievement, with Branko Ivanković
as manager, the Club recorded
a even more impressive result,
90 points from max
of 99 points with 30 victories in 33 games.
From the 14th round in
the 2006/07
season until 8. Round in the
2007/08 season Dinamo recorded 28
straight wins. Between March 2006
and February 2008, the Club manage to
29 consecutive wins on
home pitch. With such achievements, last years Dinamo is
statistically most successful team in European football.
On international stage modri achieve many notable
results, including 5:0 victories over Partizan and
Grasshoppers (both in 1997), over
Celtic 3:0 (1998), FC Porto 3:1 (1998), Ajax 1:0 (1998)
and 3:2 (2007) and 0:0 vs. Manchester United
on Old Trafford (1999). Two
times Dinamo played in theUEFA Champions League group stage
(1998 and 1999) and twice in the group
stage of the Uefa Cup (2004 and 2007).
