The Croatia national under-23 football team represents Croatia in international men's football matches for players aged 23 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. Although the team never competed at the Olympics, the team is sometimes referred to as the Croatia Olympic football team (Croatian: Hrvatska olimpijska nogometna reprezentacija).
The team was formed for the 1993 Mediterranean Games held in France. Prior to the tournament, Croatia played two preparational friendlies against Slovenia, both ending in a 1–1 draw. These were the first matches ever played by the Croatian team. At the tournament itself, Croatia finished last in its four-teams-group, losing two, and drawing one match. In 1996 the team played a friendly against Brazil as Brazil's preparation match for the upcoming 1996 Olympics, drawing 1–1. During the 1997 Mediterranean Games held in Italy, the team again finished last in its three-teams-group, losing both matches. In 1998, it won a friendly against Romania with a 0–1 score and in 2013 it lost a friendly against the Netherlands. The team didn't play any matches from 2013 until 2022 when it met the Qatari senior team as part of their pre-2022 FIFA World Cup preparation in a friendly in Austria, winning 3–0.
Since Croatia U21 never managed to secure Croatia's participation at the Olympics through UEFA EURO U21 Championship, which serves as a qualifying system, Croatia U23 has never participated at the Olympics.
History
Croatia's national under-23 football team was formed for the occasion of the 1993 Mediterranean Games, held in June 1993 in France. The team was led by Vlatko Marković. Its first matches, the two friendlies against Slovenia, were played as a preparation for the Mediterranean Games. The two teams first met on 17 March 1993 in Zaprešić, Croatia, and the second time on 12 May 1993 in Maribor, Slovenia, with both matches ending in a 1–1 draw.[1][2][3] At the tournament itself, Croatia was in the group with Tunisia, Turkey, and France. It played its first match against Tunisia, losing 0–2.[4][5] Its second match against Turkey also ended in defeat, with a score of 2–3.[6][7] A 3–3 draw against France was their last match in the tournament.[8][9] Croatia finished last among ten teams, while Turkey won the tournament.[citation needed] The 1993 Mediterranean Games were at the same time the first Croatian encounter with international competitive football after its independence. The coach Marković was disappointed with the performance, blaming the "celebrities" within the team, commenting that "the first encounter with the world football shows us how low we have fallen, we're at the tail of all modern football events".[10]
Croatia's U23 team went on to play against Brazil's U23 team in a friendly which ended in a 1–1 draw. Croatia was led by Martin Novoselac. At the time Brazil held the champions title of the 1994 FIFA World Cup and was preparing for the 1996 Olympics in the United States.[11]
Under the leadership of Ivo Šušak, the Croatian U23 team competed at the 1997 Mediterranean Games, being in the group with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Spain. It lost both matches, with scores 0–1 against Bosnia and Herzegovina and 1–2 against Spain, finishing last in its group. Italy won the tournament, while Croatia finished 10th among 13 teams. The football tournament at the next Mediterranean Games was limited to players aged 21 or younger, with Croatia not participating in future Mediterranean football tournaments.[citation needed]
In 1998, in Bucharest, Croatia played a friendly against Romania, which at the time had one of the best young football teams. Croatia won the match with a 0–1 score.[12] Fifteen years later, in 2013, Croatia played against the Netherlands in Pula, with Croatia losing 2–3.[13][14]
Since Croatia's independence, Croatia's U23 football team participated in two Mediterranean Games: 1993 and 1997. The next 2001 Mediterranean Games were limited to U21 teams, while the 2005 Mediterranean Games were set for the U23 teams, even though none of the players who participated were older than 21. The 2009 Mediterranean Games were limited to U20 teams, while the 2013 Games pushed the limit to U19 teams. Since 2018, the Mediterranean Games have invited U18, U19 and U21 teams, though, only U18 teams participated ever since. No Croatian team participated in the Mediterranean Games after 1997.
Mario Stanić (pictured), Željko Pavlović, Dražen Madunović, Josip Gašpar, and Danijel Štefulj are the most capped players for Croatia's U23 team, each playing three matches
^Flak 1998, p. 30: "Tamo gdje je Ceausescuov ožiljak još svjež i dubok, gdje je dacia popularnija od mercedesa i forda, gdje je "zalutao" McDonalds, a slučajni turist traži taksi do zrakoplovne luke, hrvatska nogometna reprezentacija (igrači do 23 godine) razveselila je malobrojnu pratnju, veleposlanika, a nadasve sebe. Čak se u zrakoplovu stidljivo zapvjevalo, splitski naglasak otkrivao je Tudora, Leku i Jurića. I bilo je lijepo, na travnjaku malokad tako pametno i zrelo, nadasve disciplinirano, taktički odlično. I dovoljno za 1:0 pobjedu nad neugodnim Rumunjima. Vrijedna pobjeda, i te kako vrijedna. Pa ti su Rumunji stalno u svjetskom vrhu, a ova mlada reprezentacija je među četiri najbolje u Europi.".
