Dinamo Zagreb

Croatia

Founded

1945

Arena

Stadion Maksimir · 35,000 cap

Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb, commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (pronounced ), is a professional Croatian football club based in Zagreb. The club is the successor of 1. HŠK Građanski or fully Prvi hrvatski građanski športski klub (English: First Croatian Citizens' Sports Club), club founded in 1911, banned in 1945 and replaced by newly established Dinamo Zagreb. They play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Croatian football, having won 20 Croatian Football League titles, 15 Croatian Football Cups and six Croatian Football Super Cups. The club has spent its entire existence in top flight, having been members of the Yugoslav First League from 1946 to 1991, and then the Croatian First League since its foundation in 1992. After the Second World War, the new communist government considered clubs like HŠK Građanski as fascist and nationalistic. As such, they were banned, and, in 1945, NK Dinamo was founded as a club to act as an unofficial successor to HŠK Građanski, getting around the ruling party's disapproval. They entered the Yugoslav First League in its inaugural 1946–47 season, finishing as runners-up. In their second season in Yugoslav top flight in 1947–48 they finished as Yugoslav champions, which was their first major trophy. The club won three more league titles and seven Yugoslav Cups. Amid the breakup of Yugoslavia and formation of the Croatian football league system, Dinamo left the Yugoslav league in 1991. Dinamo are the only Croatian club with European silverware, having won the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by defeating Leeds United in the final. They also finished runners-up in the same competition in 1963 when they lost to Valencia. Until the early 1990s, its foundation year was considered to be 1945 but amid political turmoil during the breakup of Yugoslavia the club began claiming direct lineage to pre-WWII clubs Građanski Zagreb and HAŠK. In order to reflect this, in June 1991, it was renamed HAŠK Građanski, which lasted until February 1993 when it was renamed Croatia Zagreb. They won five league titles and participated in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League group stages carrying that name before reverting to "Dinamo Zagreb" in February 2000. Although the subject was dropped for a while, in 2011, club management increasingly began claiming that Dinamo is the direct descendant of Građanski (which had originally been founded in 1911 and disbanded in 1945) and in April that year decided to prepend the adjective "Građanski" to the club's official name, turning it into the present-day GNK Dinamo (Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo or "Citizens' Football Club Dinamo"). The team's traditional colour is royal blue, which has been replaced for European matches in recent times with the darker navy blue. The club's biggest rivals are Hajduk Split, and matches between the two teams are referred to as "Eternal Derby." One of the club's most notable wins came in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League group stage, which was a 2–1 home victory against English side Arsenal, their first ever Champions League victory since the 1999–2000 season. Another notable match was a 0–0 draw against Manchester United in the 1999–2000 season, who were the European champions at the time, with many fans considering it one of Dinamo's finest performances in the club's history.

Hajduk Split

Croatia

Founded

1911

Arena

Gradski stadion Poljud · 34,198 cap

HNK Hajduk Split (Croatian: Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, Croatian Football Club Hajduk Split), commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (Croatian pronunciation: ) or simply Hajduk, is a professional Croatian football club founded in 1911, and based in the city of Split. Since 1979, the club's home ground has been the 35,000-seat Stadion Poljud. The team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and socks. Hajduk was founded by a group of Split students in a famous tavern known as U Fleků in Prague. Between the early 1920s and 1940, Hajduk regularly participated in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national championship. Following World War II and the formation of the Yugoslav league system in 1946, Hajduk went on to spend the entire SFR Yugoslavia period at the top level. The club's run continued following the breakup of Yugoslavia, as the club joined the Croatian First League in its inaugural season in 1992, never having been relegated from its top tier. They are one of the most successful teams in Croatia and ex-Yugoslavia, having won nine Yugoslav and six Croatian league championships, in addition to nine Yugoslav and five Croatian cup titles and five Croatian supercup titles, without ever being relegated from its countries top football league. The club's "golden era" came in the 1970s, when they won four Yugoslav leagues and five Yugoslav cups. Hajduk is also the only club in Yugoslav football history that has won five-straight Yugoslav cups (between 1972 and 1977), and also the only unbeaten champion (season 1950). Hajduk's biggest European achievements are appearances in three European Cup quarter-finals, one UEFA Cup semi-final and one Cup Winners' Cup semi-final. The club's main rivals are Dinamo Zagreb, with matches between the two referred to as the Eternal Derby. Hajduk Split fans are called Torcida Split, who are the oldest organized firm in Europe, being founded in 1950. The inspiration of the name were the Brazilian fans at the 1950 FIFA World Cup which were called Torcida. Hajduk is the second most popular club in Croatia with more than one million supporters or 24% of population. Traditionally club has the biggest support in Dalmatia where 76% of people support Hajduk. As of 2008, the club is a stock company, although not listed on the public stock exchange, with majority of the stock owned by the City of Split. It is one of two fan-owned sports teams in Croatia, reaching over 43,000 members in 2016, and over 31,000 members for current year. There are also over 50 Hajduk fan clubs situated mostly across Croatia and Germany, but as far as United States, Ireland and Australia.