| Croatia U21 | |
| Nickname: | Croatian: Mladi [[Croatian national football team|Vatreni]] (The Young Blazers) |
| Badge Size: | 170px |
| Association: | Croatian Football Federation (HNS) |
| Confederation: | UEFA (Europe) |
| Coach: | Ivica Olić |
| Captain: | Bartol Franjić |
| Most Caps: | Luka Ivanušec (28) |
| Top Scorer: | Tomislav Bušić (13) |
| Fifa Trigramme: | CRO |
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| First Game: | 6–1 (Zagreb, Croatia, 14 October 1992) |
| Largest Win: | 10–0 (Zagreb, Croatia, 8 October 2020) |
| Largest Loss: | 6–0 (Alicante, Spain, 10 September 2012) |
| Uefau21champ Apps: | 5 |
| Uefau21champ Best: | Quarter-finals (2021) |
The Croatia national under-21 football team represents Croatia in international football matches for players 21 or under. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia. It is a member of UEFA in Europe and FIFA in global competitions. The team's colours reference two national symbols: the Croatian checkerboard and the country's tricolour. They are colloquially referred to as the Mladi vatreni ('Young Blazers'). So far, the Mladi vatreni qualified for five UEFA European Under-21 Championships, namely in 2000, 2004, 2019, 2021 and 2023. Croatia was unable to pass the group stage until the 2021 Euro when it was eliminated in the quarter-finals, its greatest accomplishment in the European competition so far.
See main article: Croatia national under-21 football team results (2020–present).
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
| Position | Name[1] | |
|---|---|---|
| Head coach | Ivica Olić | |
| Assistant coaches | Ante Tomić Renato Pilipović | |
| Goalkeeping coach | Darko Staneković | |
| Fitness coaches | Vedran Naglić Aris Naglić | |
| Analyst | Nikola Buzadžić | |
| Doctors | Mislav Rakić Boban Dangubić Nino Brajković | |
| Physiotherapists | Tomislav Buljan | |
| Technical secretary | Josip Tomaško | |
| Kit men | Milan Vincek Luka Karlo |
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The following players have also been called up to the squad in the last 12 months and are still eligible for selection.
Champions
Runners-up
Third place
Fourth place
Tournament played fully or partially on home soil
| record | width=1% rowspan="34" style="background:#FFFFFF; color:white" | Qualifications record | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Squad | Position | Manager | ||||||||||||
| 1978 | colspan=8 rowspan=9 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1980 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1982 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1984 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1986 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1988 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1990 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1992 | colspan=9 | ||||||||||||||||
 1994 | colspan=9 | ||||||||||||||||
 1996 | 4/6 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 12 | Martin Novoselac | |||||||||
 1998 | 3/5 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 9 | Ivo Šušak | |||||||||
 2000 | Group stage | 7/8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | Squad | 1/5 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 28 | 9 | Ivo Šušak |
| 2002 | 2/4OFF | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 7 | Martin Novoselac | |||||||||
| 2004 | Group stage | 7/8 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | Squad | 1/4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 5 | Martin Novoselac |
| 2006 | 1/6OFF | 12 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 11 | Slaven Bilić | |||||||||
| 2007 | 3/3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | Dražen Ladić | |||||||||
 2009 | 2/6 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 20 | 12 | Dražen Ladić | |||||||||
| 2011 | 1/5OFF | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 15 | Dražen Ladić | |||||||||
 2013 | 4/5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 16 | Ivo Šušak | |||||||||
 2015 | 1/5OFF | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 9 | Niko Kovač / Nenad Gračan | |||||||||
 2017 | 3/6 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 11 | Nenad Gračan | |||||||||
 2019 | Group stage | 10/12 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 | Squad | 1/6 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 31 | 5 | Nenad Gračan |
  2021 | Quarter-finals | 7/16 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 7 | Squad 1 / Squad 2 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 37 | 7 | Nenad Gračan/Igor Bišćan | |
 2023 | Group stage | 14/16 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | Squad | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 7 | Igor Bišćan/Dragan Skočić | |
| 2025 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | Dragan Skočić/Ivica Olić | ||||||||||
| Total | Quarter-finals | 5/24 | 16 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 16 | 29 | 137 | 79 | 23 | 35 | 276 | 141 | |||
| Matches | ||
|---|---|---|
| First match | 1–2 (Trnava, Slovakia; 27 May 2000) | |
| Biggest win | 3–2 (Koper, Slovenia; 28 March 2021) | |
| Biggest defeat | 4–1 (Serravalle, San Marino; 18 June 2019) |
The following table provides a summary of the complete record of each manager including their results regarding European Under-21 Championship.
Key: Pld–games played, W–games won, D–games drawn; L–games lost, %–win percentage
| Manager | Tenure | Pld | W | D | L | Win % | Tournaments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994–1996 2000–2004 | 1996 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2002 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2004 European Championship – Group stage | ||||||
| 1997–2000 2011–2013 | 1998 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2000 European Championship – Group stage 2013 European Championship – Failed to qualify | ||||||
| 2004–2006 | 2006 European Championship – Play-offs | ||||||
| (c) | 2005 | 2006 European Championship – Failed to qualify[3] | |||||
| (c) | 2005 | 2006 European Championship – Failed to qualify[4] | |||||
| (c)[5] | 2005 | ||||||
| 2006–2011 | 2007 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2009 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2011 European Championship – Failed to qualify | ||||||
| 2013 | |||||||
| 2013–2019 | 2015 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2017 European Championship – Failed to qualify 2019 European Championship – Group stage | ||||||
| 2019–2023 | 2021 European Championship – Quarter-finals | ||||||
| 2023– | 2023 European Championship – Group stage | ||||||
Players in bold are still active with Croatia.
| Name | Career | Caps | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luka Ivanušec | 2017–2021 | 28 | 10 |
| 2 | Tomislav Vranjić | 2002–2005 | 26 | 0 |
| 3 | Tomislav Bušić | 2005–2008 | 25 | 12 |
| 4 | Nikola Moro | 2017–2021 | 24 | 6 |
| 5 | Josip Tadić | 2005–2008 | 22 | 5 |
| 6 | Ivan Leko | 1994–2000 | 21 | 5 |
| Mato Jajalo | 2007–2010 | 4 | ||
| 8 | Tomo Šokota | 1997–2000 | 19 | 10 |
| Roko Šimić | 2021– | 8 | ||
| Nikola Vlašić | 2015–2019 | 7 | ||
| Lovro Majer | 2017–2021 | 5 | ||
| Davor Vugrinec | 1994–1997 | 3 | ||
| Dejan Lovren | 2007–2010 | 3 | ||
| Mario Lučić | 2002–2004 | 2 | ||
| Domagoj Vida | 2007–2010 | 2 | ||
| Dario Smoje | 1997–2000 | 1 | ||
| Boško Šutalo | 2019–2022 | 1 | ||
| Mario Carević | 2001–2004 | 0 | ||
| Luka Vučko | 2004–2006 | 0 | ||
| Borna Sosa | 2017–2020 | 0 | ||
Players in bold are still active with Croatia.
| Name | Goals | Caps | Ratio | Career | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tomislav Bušić | 12 | 29 | 2005–2008 | |
| 2 | Tomo Šokota | 10 | 19 | 1997–2000 | |
| Luka Ivanušec | 28 | 2017–2021 | |||
| 4 | Josip Brekalo | 9 | 17 | 2016–2019 | |
| 5 | Eduardo da Silva | 8 | 12 | 2004–2005 | |
| Stipe Perica | 12 | 2013–2016 | |||
| Roko Šimić | 19 | 2021– | |||
| 8 | Marcelo Brozović | 7 | 13 | 2011–2014 | |
| Nikola Vlašić | 19 | 2015–2019 | |||
| 10 | Ante Rukavina | 6 | 9 | 2007–2008 | |
| Marin Ljubičić | 11 | 2021– | |||
| Mario Pašalić | 14 | 2014–2016 | |||
| Mihael Mikić | 15 | 1999–2001 | |||
| Sandro Kulenović | 15 | 2019–2021 | |||
| Nikola Moro | 24 | 2017–2021 | |||