Dinamo Zagreb

Mirko Barišić | manager = Josip Kuže | league = First League |

  season   = 2005-06 |

position = First League, Champions |

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Dinamo is a football club from Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia. Its colour is blue, therefore the team is nicknamed either Plavi or Modri, both meaning The Blues.

History

After WW2 following the rise to power of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, every famous Zagreb football club was disbanded overnight, and a municipal club was formed on June 9 1945. Like other football clubs outside Croatia in Eastern Europe, it was also called by its Communist name Dinamo ("Dynamo"), and all the best and prospective Građanski players immediately joined the newly formed club.

It is often incorrectly associated with HAŠK (Hrvatski akademski športski klub, Translated: Croatian Academic Sports Club), formed on November 6 1903 as a students' club.

Marton Bukovi, the former Građanski manager, continued to work at Dinamo together with masseur Franjo Žlof, also a former Građanski player. Of the HAŠK players that transferred to Dinamo, the regulars in the first team were Ratko Kacian, Željko Čajkovski, Svetozar Peričić and Dragutin Lojen. Only Čajkovski remained in Maksimir for a longer period, for a total 11 years. The newly formed club also took Građanski's blue colours and from 1969 onwards, the club's emblem was very similar to that of Građanski's.

The club changed its name to "HAŠK-Građanski" in 1991, and again to "Croatia Zagreb" in 1993. The name change was widely seen as a political move by newly independent Croatia's leadership with the goal of distancing the club, and the entire country, from its Communist past. However, the name change was not popular with devoted fans, and seven years later, on February 14 2000, the name Dinamo (which never left the Bad Blue Boys' banners) officially returned to Maksimir.

Dinamo played Arsenal FC in the third qualifying round of the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League and lost the first leg 3-0.

Titles

Domestic titles

* 4-time Yugoslav champion (1948, 1952, 1958, 1982)
* 7-time winner of the Yugoslav Cup (1951, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1969, 1980, 1983)
* 8-time Croatian champion (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006)
* 6-time winner of the Croatian Cup (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004)

International titles

* Winner of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1967)
* Finalist of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1963)
* Balkans Cup (1977)

Stadium

Dinamo's home ground is Maksimir Stadium, which is situated in the northeast borough of the city of Zagreb (called Maksimir) next to the famous Maksimir Park (forest) and the Zagreb Zoo. Currently, the stadium has 40.000 seats and is in the process of being expanded.

The Fans - Bad Blue Boys

Although Dinamo has had a large army of followers throughout its history, its first organized group of followers emerged in 1986. The most hardcore and faithful followers, copying similar groups abroad, formed the Bad Blue Boys. As legend has it, the name was inspired by then very popular 1983 film Bad Boys starring Sean Penn.

Throughout the Zagreb boroughs, BBB chapters emerged, and at the matches one could see banners from various parts of the city (like Maksimir, Travno, and Dugave). At first, the supporters privately organized visits to the games in former Yugoslavia. They were present at Dinamo's matches in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Niš, Podgorica, and Skopje. They were more recently involved in a mass brawl in Milan with police before Dinamo's, then Croatia's Champion's League match against AC Milan.

At the start of the 1990s, the first organized BBB Fan Club was established and quickly became popular despite various problems.

The unity of the club seemingly culminated on May 13, 1990 during a match with Red Star Belgrade. The stands were filled to capacity and provocation from the visiting fans, the Delije, had begun before the game even started. When Belgrade fans broke the fences on the southern stands and started a fight with a smaller group of fans, the northern stands that seated the majority of the Bad Blue Boys lost control and the situation deteriorated quickly. The fence was down in seconds and Dinamo fans started towards the South. During the following riot, police officials tried to establish control of the pitch and prevent Dinamo's followers from reaching the southern stands, but this exercise of control quickly turned into a display of police brutality. Zvonimir Boban, at that time the Dinamo's captain, also came in in defence of the supporters. This match is often considered as one of the moments that symbolised the destruction of the former Yugoslavia.

Dinamo youth school - ONS Hitrec - Kacian

Dinamo's football school Hitrec - Kacian is named after two football greats from Zagreb.

Ico Hitrec, centre-forward from HAŠK is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian player before WW2. He became a legend after scoring twice against then famous Spanish keeper Ricardo Zamora during the first night game in the capital of Croatia between HAŠK Zagreb and Real Madrid in 1913. As on of the first Croatian international players, he went on to play for Grasshopper-Club Zürich of Switzerland, and Kicker, at the time the foremost sports journal in Europe, chose him as a member of the European elite 11. He was also the first technical officer and in his office in Zagreb power-works in Gundulićeva Street, the best players from Građanski met and discussed forming a new club with blue shirts.

Ratko Kacian played with Hitrec and won the title with HAŠK in 1938. Ten years later, he was a member of the team that won Dinamo its first Championship title.

The current director of the school is Božidar Šikić.