What is the secret of Dinamo Zagreb Academy in player development?
Croatia is a country in eastern part of Europe with population of just 4,2 million. For such a small country Croatia has a big number of football clubs, around 1500. Total registered football players are around 96000. This a talent pool from which Dinamo Zagreb is bringing talent in, and with a small percentage of foreign players in the academy.
Academy staff evolution is significant in the last 18 years. In 2002 there were just 14 staff members that were professionals in the academy. During the years we evolved in a larger organisation. Today we have 65 professionals working inside the academy player development, 40 persons are just on the technical level.
Our transfer income from academy graduates in period from 2007-2020 has been around 200 million euros. Selling players to top European clubs as: Juventus, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter, Tottenham etc.
CIES reports from the last years are always putting our club in the top 5 in category of “Most productive training club” for 31 European top division leagues. With the number of players playing in this leagues as for season 2021 counts 71 GNK Dinamo Zagreb graduates. To develop this players Croatian football league is a perfect base. With 28,7 % of the squad of all clubs in the league are players younger than 22 years of age.
Our proudest moment in the World Cup 2018 was the squad of Croatian national team. In the squad we had 10 players from the academy and 4 players that were ex or first team players from GNK Dinamo Zagreb. Total of 14 players that is a world record and it will be difficult to repeat it again.
Big part of the academy success is scouting or early talent detecting. That job is not just for scouts, it is a job of all academy staff. We try to emphasise it in all departments and we trust highly our staff on talent detection. From all players in the academy 50% of them are selected in the foundation phase, 35% in youth development phase, and only 15% in professional development phase.
Our focus in professional development phase and end years of youth development phase is decision making. This is a point that differs a great player from a good player. Our emphasis is on positional games where we can coach all little details in the pitch and where we can develop players game insight by asking questions. Mistake for us is a learning opportunity and players are
learned to be responsible in the game and that every decision has a consequence. As they are getting closer to the first team consequences are more emphasised on the team level.
GNK Dinamo Zagreb stands for attacking football. So this is the way we want our academy to represent our club and country. Our foundation in attacking football is 1-4-3-3 system. Inside this system we have variations regarding ages and player profiles inside the team. Principles in possession of the ball is our core, 12 demands that players need to understand and execute week in and week out.
Pathway to the first team is not fixed. We have 3 different scenarios and all of them are being used to bring a player in the first team. Mostly we use our B team pathway were we can gradually prepare a player to the first team demands. Loan to a club in first or second division is also a possibility. Perfect scenario is to cooperate with a club with similar values and way to play, but this is sometimes impossible. Great young players sometimes skip those steps and go straight to the first team. There are no rules, it all depends on the players and the current situation in the first team.
At the end we are very proud to present our “ Rising Stars team” that has already 49 national team appearances. Our “All Stars team” is out of this world, with 623 appearances for Croatian national team.
Author: Ivan Senzen
