The national youth championship continued, with the White-Blues taking on their age-group rivals from Rijeka and Slaven Belupo.

At our Academy, we see every match as part of a development process. We follow and record the results, but we measure our work above all by how much our players improve from week to week.

In round 9 of the youth Prva HNL, Tihomir Rudež’s U15s drew 1-1 with Rijeka. Matija Arlović scored the equaliser in the 72nd minute. Line-up: Mokrović, Major, Međugorac, Boduljak, Kocijan (‘46. Lazić, ‘82. Paradžik), Vukić (‘73. Momčilović), Đaković, Arlović (‘82. Žigić), Vladika, Basov and Tot. After nine matches, the U15s have four wins, one draw and four defeats.

Hrvoje Kurtović’s U16s lost 3-2 in Rijeka. They came from behind twice through Ivano Tadić’s goals in the 45th and 79th minutes, before Rijeka scored the winner late on. The team played without Patrik Čekeliš, Rafael Peršić and Niko Kovačić, who were with the Croatia U15 national team at the FIFA U-15 World Cup and Festival in Baku. That is part of the same process: three players gaining international experience while their teammates get minutes in the league. Line-up: Mazalović, Šarčević, Kovačević, Dančević, Bračun, Moržan, Bubalo, Šimić, Tomić (‘63. Majić), Tadić and Uhlik. The White-Blues have seven wins and two defeats and sit second in the table.

Matej Žitnjak’s U17s lost 3-0 to Slaven Belupo in Koprivnica in round 11. The hosts scored all three goals in the first half. Line-up: Janković, Rošta (‘77. Domazet), Crnković, Purgar, Lipovac, Maltar, Krasnić, Stojanović (‘46. Đukić), Š. P. Jaman (‘84. Barišić), Ljubanović (‘87. Ravlić) and Sansao (‘46. Odobašić). Our U17s have five wins, two draws and four defeats.

Nikša Petrović’s U19s beat Slaven Belupo 2-1. An own goal put us ahead in the 9th minute, and Matej Gagulić scored in the 33rd. Line-up: Adžić, Tadić, Balić (‘12. Šarić), Ljubojević, Vinogradac, Cipar, Čočaj, Kolarević (‘80. Perković), Gagulić (‘88. Zubaj), Marković (‘81. Ižaković) and Kolar (‘88. Mišetić). After eleven matches, the U19s have seven wins, two draws and two defeats and are second in the table.

The table shows where our teams stand today, and we keep working on what only becomes visible over a whole season: the progress of every player.