By Decentric - 12 Jul 2018 3:57 PM
I don't know a lot about Croatian football , but they have had remarkable success in football in recent times.
For such a small population of circa 4 million, the may meet all the current criteria of a powerhouse as defined by FFA.
* They seem to quality for World Cups on a regular basis.
* They export many players to top leagues in Europe.
* Do they qualify regularly for underage World Cups too?
I know Croatia is a fairly low standard league, albeit having two powerhouses, Dynamo Zagreb/Croatia Zagreb, and Hadjuk Split. I thought these two clubs play Champ League or Europa league on a regular basis.
I know Serbia has a tertiary education course to qualify as a football coach. I'm assuming Croatia have similar. Are Croatian coaches well educated like Serbia?
I'd read somewhere they most of the youth development occurs at Zagreb.
How can they be so good at football with 4 million?
In Australia there is a massive percentage of Socceroos who have Croatian heritage too.
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By Decentric - 2 Aug 2018 10:53 PM
This is the second article after the last one, describing aspects of Dinamo Zagreb's academy.
They players play 50-65 games a year from age 12 onwards against other Croatian clubs and nearby countries. Over 12 years they should've played circa 600 games.
In the academy they are always challenging players to improve weaknesses, and play against older players under match pressure
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