A large number of NK Osijek players represented their national teams in late September and early October.
The international fixtures that Osijek players took part in during late September and the first few days of October have now concluded.
Croatia’s U21 national team secured qualification for the European Championship, which will be held in Albania and Serbia in the second half of June and early July next year. Three of our players were part of the squad.
Croatia played three qualifying matches. A 3–1 victory over Hungary in Varaždin secured qualification for the EURO, meaning the subsequent 1–0 defeat to Ukraine in Miskolc had no impact on their qualification prospects. Croatia also defeated Lithuania 1–0 away from home.
Luka Vrbančić started against Hungary and Ukraine, playing 85 and 59 minutes, respectively. Domagoj Bukvić came off the bench in the 70th minute against Hungary, entered the match against Ukraine in the 59th minute, and played the full 90 minutes against Lithuania. Ivano Kolarik also played the entire match against Lithuania.
Admir Ljatifi was part of North Macedonia’s U21 national team, which drew 1–1 with Montenegro in Bitola before losing 2–0 to Sweden in Falkenberg in the final round of European Championship qualifying.
Our winger played the full match against Montenegro and scored from the penalty spot. He then played until the 73rd minute against Sweden.
Senad Mustafić represented Bosnia and Herzegovina’s U21 team, which first suffered a 6–1 defeat to Norway in Stavanger and then lost 2–0 to the Netherlands in Doetinchem. The right-back for the Bijelo-plavi played every minute of both matches.
Jona Ježić and David Kalem joined Croatia’s U19 national team for three friendly matches in Dunjkovec-Pretetinec.
Ježić played 67 minutes in a 2–1 defeat to France before returning to Osijek due to back pain. Kalem played the final 25 minutes against Italy in a 1–0 defeat, while he featured for the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 victory over Türkiye.
It is also worth mentioning that our goalkeeper Matej Grahovac, who is currently on loan at Mladost Ždralovi, started against both France and Türkiye.
Luka Posavec featured in friendly matches for Croatia’s U18 national team in Karlovac. He played the first half of a 3–0 victory over Algeria, then played until the 67th minute in a 4–2 win against Denmark, scoring shortly before being substituted. He also appeared in the final match against Chile, a 1–0 defeat, playing the second half.
Izak Ježić, Petar Tolić and Luka Kolar represented Croatia’s U17 national team at the Istria Youth Cup.
Izak Ježić played the first half of the opening match against Hungary, a 3–2 victory, featured for the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 defeat to Austria, and again played the first half against Italy in a 1–0 loss.
Kolar played 56 minutes against Hungary, 73 minutes against Austria and the opening 45 minutes against Italy. Tolić was in goal for the first two matches.
We congratulate all our international players on their contributions to their respective national teams and wish them every success in their upcoming appearances in the White-and-Blue shirt!
