Croatian Season 2006-2007 Review:
Dinamo Zagreb break all records, win the treble

Ozren Podnar reports from Zagreb

Club season over in Croatia

Dinamo Zagreb celebrate winning the Croatian Championship. © Robert Valai Click here to expand.

The 16th Croatian soccer season saw an unprecedented domination by one club, Dinamo Zagreb, who collected all three domestic trophies losing only one game in the whole season.

The Zagreb team, led by two different coaches, won 30 out of 33 championship games, six out of eight in the FA Cup and one in the Supercup.

Second placed Hajduk Split was left trailing by no less than 20 points, with NK Zagreb a further 14 points adrift.

Dinamo's solitary defeat came in late October losing 1-2 at Sibenik; even though Dinamo was top of the table then, the 2005/06 title-winning coach Josip Kuze was sacked and Branko Ivankovic brought in to prevent further slip-ups.

And prevent them he did: the Blue Lions went on to win all their 20 remaining league games, which constitutes a new club and league record.

Under Ivankovic, former Varteks Varazdin and Iran national coach, Dinamo also made no mistakes in the FA Cup, defeating Hajduk Split and Slaven Belupo in the decisive rounds to take a firm grip on Croatian club soccer for the 2006-07 season.

Second-placed Hajduk did not do so terribly either, in spite of the huge gap dividing them from the champions. The Dalmatians won a full 16 points more than in 2004-05, when they finished top of the table. Then, two years ago, 56 points were enough since Dinamo had their worst season in recent history, but this time their arch rivals' form was utterly dominant from the beginning to the end.

Next goal: European glory

Eduardo da Silva. © Robert Valai Click here to expand.

Dinamo actually have a very good team with depth and talent that may make a mark in next season's European competitions. Even though the club sold strikers Ivan Bosnjak and Goran Ljubojevic to Racing Genk and lost the German international defender Jens Nowotny through injury early in the season the team was perched on top of the table at the winter break.

Even more misfortune came in shape of injuries to the Croatian international Marijan Buljat and the Brazilian right midfielder Etto in February, but the remaining personnel were strong enough to keep a 100% record throughout the second half of the season.

The young stopper Gordon Schildenfeld (a Croat by birth, in case you wondered) joined in January from Sibenik to reinforce the back four held together by Vedran Corluka and Dino Drpic, while upfront the creative midfielder Luka Modric and the Brazilian prodigy Eduardo da Silva proved a handful for every defence that attempted to stop them.

Da Silva in fact scored 34 goals in 32 appearances in the League, equalling another Brazilian, Afonso Alves from Heerenveen, but he also added six in the FA Cup, two in the Supercup, five in European competitions and six for the national team - including one against England in Zagreb. An amazing tally of 53 goals, higher than any in Europe this season.

Dinamo's vice president Zdravko Mamic, the true boss of the club, promises not to sell any of the stars any time soon, or at least until the team's next elimination from Europe. With the formerly injured Etto, Buljat and the Cameroonian Chago back in business, plus the experienced forward Tomo Sokota returning from Portugal, Dinamo may bring back a bit of the continental glory which last visited Maksimir Stadium in the late nineties when the team led by Robert Prosinecki reached the Champions' League group stage twice in a row.

Dinamo's seasonal records

* 30 League wins (joint top in Europe with Inter Milan)
* 20 consecutive League wins (longest European run this season)
* 33 consecutive League games scoring a goal (38 counting the last season)
* 92.9 % of points won (best record in Europe)
* 34 goals by Eduardo da Silva (joint best tally in Europe)

Final table

Top scorers

The Magnificent Seven

Mirko Barisic

Zdravko Mamic

Damir Vrbanovic

Neven Cvijanovic

Branko Ivankovic

Sinisa Jagodic

Ado Kozul

Images © Robert Valai

1. Eduardo da Silva (Dinamo) - 34
2. Ahmed Sharbini (Rijeka) - 21
3. Krunoslav Lovrek (Zagreb) - 18
4. Enes Novinic (Varteks) - 15
5-7. Mladen Bartolovic (Hajduk) - 12
Davor Vugrinec (Dinamo) - 12
Zoran Zekic (Cibalia) - 12
8-10. Bojan Vrucina (Slaven) - 11
Tomislav Busic (Hajduk) - 11
Mario Mandzukic (Zagreb) - 11
11-12. Mario Kartelo (Sibenik) - 10
Davor Piskor (Medjimurje) - 10

Fact File - NK Dinamo Zagreb Croatian treble winners 2006-7

The most successful Croatian club, Dinamo was founded on April, 26th 1911 as Gradjanski and went on to be the top Yugoslav club between the two world wars. When the communists came to power in the spring of 1945, they renamed the club to the soviet-styled Dinamo and reformed the club in the mould of the contemporary socialist-type sports associations. Under the influence of the nationalist leader Franjo Tudjman, in mid-1991 the club changed the name back to Gradjanski with the addition of the prefix HASK after another Zagreb pre-war team which was actually Gradjanski's biggest rival. The inherent contradiction in the name caused an uproar among the fans, who unanimously identified with Dinamo, so in February 1993 Tudjman suggested the Latin word Croatia for the new name. The fans failed to accept this either even though the team won five leagues in seven years under that title.

After Tudjman's demise, in February 2000 the board reverted back to Dinamo as the most popular and generally accepted name. A huge party ensued as thousands of the Bad Blue Boys, the team's ultras, celebrated with fireworks. Hopefully, politics will never again interfere with the club, its name or symbols and the "sacred name" of Dinamo will prevail forever.

Name: NK Dinamo Zagreb
Nickname: Plavi lavovi (Blue lions), Purgeri (Citizens)
Founded: 1911 as Gradjanski
Name changes: from June 1945 Dinamo; from June 1991 HASK-Gradjanski;
from February 1993 Croatia; from February 2000 again Dinamo
Colours: Blue shirts and shorts
Stadium: Maksimir (40,000)
Chairman: Mirko Barisic
Deputy chairman: Zdravko Mamic
Director: Damir Vrbanovic
Communications director: Sinisa Jagodic
Public relations: Neven Cvijanovic
Press Office: Ado Kozul
Coach: Branko Ivankovic

Typical line-up (4-4-2):

Filip Loncaric; Vedran Corluka, Dino Drpic, Gordon Schildenfeld, Carlos Santos (Hrvoje Cale); Mihael Mikic (Etto), Ognjen Vukojevic, Jorge Sammir (Ante Tomic), Luka Modric; Davor Vugrinec (Josip Tadic), Eduardo da Silva

Famous coaches: Martin Bukovy, Ivan Jazbinsek, Gustav Lechner, Milan Antolkovic, Branko Zebec, Ivan Horvat, Mirko Bazic, Vlatko Markovic, Miroslav "Ciro" Blazevic, Tomislav Ivic, Zlatko Kranjcar, Marijan Vlak, Osvaldo "Ozzie" Ardiles, Josip Kuze

Top Croatian internationals: Zvonimir Boban, Davor Suker, Drazen Ladic, Igor Cvitanovic, Goran Vlaovic, Mario Stanic, Zvonimir Soldo, Silvio Maric, Dario Simic, Stjepan Tomas, Tomo Rukavina, Krunoslav Jurcic, Robert Prosinecki, Tomislav Butina, Igor Biscan, Tomo Sokota, Bosko Balaban, Ivan Bosnjak, Ivica Olic, Niko Kranjcar, Eduardo da Silva, Vedran Corluka, Luka Modric

Other notable players (since 1992): Mark Viduka, Kazu Miura, Jens Nowotny

Domestic honours:
8 Croatian FA Cups (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2007);
3 Croatian Supercups (2002, 2003 and 2006);
9 Yugoslav League titles (1923, 1926, 1928, 1937, 1940, 1948, 1954, 1958 and 1982);
7 Yugoslav FA Cups (1951, 1960, 1963, 1965, 1969, 1980 and 1983);
9 Croatian League titles (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006 and 2007)
International honours:
1 Fairs' Cup* (1967.); 1 Fairs' Cup finals (1963.); 1 Balkans Cup (1977)
*Now UEFA Cup

Ozren Podnar

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