Dinamo Zagreb’s 16-year-old rising star Rafael Belinho officially picks Croatia and turns down Brazil, as reported by Index.hr. The Dinamo Zagreb U19 winger and attacking midfielder has been recognized as a big talent since moving to Croatia in 2021.
His agent, Andy Bara, said two years ago, “They called us from the Brazilian Football Federation, but the boy wants to play for Croatia.” Due to FIFA rules requiring five years of residency, Belinho has not yet been eligible for any Croatian youth teams. However, by 2026, he is expected to feature for the youth teams and then eventually the senior team.
Belinho has been steadily rising through the ranks over the last four years and is highly rated by coaches at Dinamo Zagreb. He is praised for his excellent first touch, dribbling ability, vision, and attacking instincts. Playing primarily on the right flank, he is dangerous when cutting inside, creating scoring opportunities, and delivering precise passes, showing the flair typical of Brazilian players.
Bara, a well-known agent with strong connections in the football world, has spoken highly of Belinho’s potential. Barcelona’s sporting director, Deco, recently visited Zagreb to scout Dinamo Zagreb winger Cardoso Varela and had the chance to meet with Belinho in the city. This relationship between Bara and Deco could be one to watch as Belinho continues his development.
Exciting times lie ahead for Croatian football, with the national team potentially welcoming a new star reminiscent of Eduardo da Silva.
BTW
Belinho is already a Croatian citizen since December 2023
So toothpaste already out of the tube 😉
FIFA 5 year rule has nothing to do with citizenship (not sure why folks have been posting he needs to wait 5 years to become a Croatian citizen?)
Most countries have “fast-track” citizenship for exceptional sporting folks
***.hoo.hr/post/vijee-hooa-prihvatilo-plan-prorauna-za-olimpijsku-2024-godinu-uvean-za-251-posto-u-odnosu-na-2023-
Na prijedlog Hrvatskog nogometnog saveza, Vijeće HOO-a je dalo pozitivno stručno mišljenje o prijamu u hrvatsko državljanstvo nogometaša Rafaela Gomeza Cirina (rođ. 2009. godine). Dinamov Brazilac, poznat i kao Belinho, konkurira za hrvatsku juniorsku reprezentaciju.
😘
Erlic 90 minutes in victory over Ange 3-2 (6.5 Sofascore rating)
Pong 86 minutes in victory 2-0 Czechia’s Sigma Olomouc (7.1 Sofascore rating)
Vuskovic best have a good game vs. Mainz Sunday 11:30 EDT
Speaking of players who have been living in croatia. Rokas pukstas moved to hajduk in September 2020. He should be eligible should he choose so and if hns wants him.
France wins the World Cup against us with what 2 French and 9 west Africans …An honest question..what would our reaction be if we won with the same ratio of non-Croats ?
If by “2 French”, you’re referring to Giroud (half Italian) and Griezmann (German/Portuguese) then you’d better update that total to 0.5 French. 😜
But France is an extremely multiethnic country and most of these guys are born and raised in France. They have every right to play for France.
If we had a black guy who was born and raised in Zagreb, then you can’t deny him playing for the National team.
But Croatia is pretty homogenous, so your example is unrealistic.
If that ever happened (where the majority of Cro players were black) then it just means that Zdravko Mamić has gotten into the human trafficking industry and needs to be investigated.
Its gonna happen eventually just with a filipino-croatian or nepalese-croatian.
Boils down to this
The FIFA rules are the FIFA rules
Nobody cares what you want the rules to be
Every country is going to maximize it’s chances within the FIFA rules
If you love Croatia you want them to do the same and the Croatia NT to maximize it’s chances of success
If you suggest any restricting criteria that hinders the Croatia NT then – newsflash – you are actually anti-Croatia
Nobody said a peep about 100% Serb Prso but lots have opinions about Dadu (yet both satisfies FIFA rules to play for the Croatia NT)
Maybe he has a love for the country, I think that in and of itself that is enough for me. If Brazil was looking at taking him but he wants to play for Croatia I think that is a big decision and a respectable one.
We gripe too much about little things, if a person chooses to wear the checkers that makes them Croatian. People will fight me on this but it’s what makes sense to me. A person has the right to immigrate into a country, and if they carry the pride that makes them a Croat in my eyes.
Euro 2004 playoffs
100% Serb Miladin Prso scored in both legs
If he doesn’t play Croatia might have missed the tournament
Euro 2008 qualifying
Dadu scores 10 goals in 12 matches
He single-handedly won the game vs Israel w his hat trick, etc
That’s 2 tournament qualifications as a result of non-Croat playing
Stop pretending the Croatia NT has been and should be 100% Croatia – it’s never been !
Will point out
People talking about Dadu
Nobody talking about the 100% Serb Prso
Make of that what you will
Pršo is born and raised in Croatia, hence he’s allowed to play for Croatia.
Stop being disingenuous by trying to cloud the issue of what people here are debating…
a foreign-born kid who hasn’t lived in Croatia that long and doesn’t even have citizenship trying to get capped by the National Team
Stop the virtue signalling
Who cares that Prso was raised in Croatia (until btw his family had to flee to France so they weren’t killed by their non-Serb neighbours) – that’s not the FIFA rule
FIFA rule is country of birth – foreign couple vacationing in Croatia give birth to baby – next day they return to home country – baby never returns to Croatia
That baby could play for Croatia (even if only spending one day of it’s life in Croatia)
Anyone who doesn’t want to maximize Croatia NT success chances by playing by the rules is anti-Croatian (and a moron)
And considering the rules ask yourself why you have issues with Dadu but not the 100% Serb Miladin
You don’t know what virtue signaling means.
You are also being disingenuous.
Pršo’s family never escaped to France to avoid death.
Pršo was born and raised in Croatia. He never left during this time and was playing in Hajduk’s youth setup during the war, then played for Pazinka in Istra. He left for France when he was 20.
I have issues with Dudu (not Dadu) playing over Pršo, because Pršo is born and raised in Croatia… and Dudu is neither born nor raised in Croatia.
Franko Kovačević with a hat trick for NK Celje in Conference League today.
– 3 goals in 1 Conference League match
– 7 goals in 8 Europa/Conference League qualification matches (4 of them being PKs)
– 10 goals in 8 Slovenian Leagues matches (in only 65 minutes per match)
20 goals in 17 games. Not bad.
Slovenian league is not great, but that is an insane goal rate…especially with so few PKs and not even playing full games.
Weird thing is how this guy couldn’t score in any league, and now (as a 26 year-old) he’s suddenly scoring like Lewandowski.
If Olmo had chosen to play for Croatia would any of you be complaining? I would guess no.
I would.
Olmo was the exact same scenario as Eduardo.
Both came as teenagers specifically to advance their football careers, but neither probably should be playing for us.
A part of me wants us to have the best players (and have guys like Olmo and Eduardo on the team) but ultimately you are selling out if you’re poaching foreign talent.
Belinho is a bit more debatable because he’s an actual immigrant to the country, and not someone who came as a foreign football player. But he’s also only been in the country for four years, so I can understand why many consider him a foreigner.
Maybe the even better question is were people ok w the likes of Dado Prso (100% ethnic Serb from Backa Topola – cousin played for Serbia)
If you’re against Belinho and Olmo than you should definetely be against every Serb (including 50% (like Zuti) and 25%) that have played for Croatia
That’s the irony here –
the Croatia NT has never been 100% Croatian anyways – it’s always been infiltrated by ethnic Serbs to varying degree
Yet not one peep about having issue w that
*Miladin Prso (not Dado)
Anyone that’s born and raised in Croatia can obviously play for Croatia.
Darijo Srna’s dad was Bosniak, Boris Živković’s mom was Serb, Nenad Bjelica’s grandparents were Montenegrin… and most people didn’t even know or care.
People have issues with foreign-born people who are not ethic Croats.
This is the debate, and people having issues with this is completely understandable.
If someone has issue with foreign-born players that are not ethnic Croats (eg Belinho who is fluent in Croatian)
But not a player who is foreign-born but ethnic Croats (like Pulesic who doesn’t speak a word)
Then then conclusion is this comes down to ethnicity
As such
They also need to have issue with local-born players that are not ethnic Croats (like Prso)
Otherwise it’s hypocritical
We all knew Prso was a full Serb but we tolerated him bc of his goals
It’s a priority.
#1- Born and raised in Croatia
#2- Born elsewhere, but is an ethnic Croat
#3- Born elsewhere, but is largely raised in Croatia
#4- Born elsewhere but only recently moved to Croatia (to advance their footballing career)
You could debate #2 and #3 as being pretty much equal.
In Belinho’s case, he’s only really been here for 4.5 years and still isn’t eligible for citizenship yet…so naturally you’ll have alot od people associating him more with #4 (trying to advance his football career).
If he came to Croatia as a 5 year-old, there would be no debate.
Also, the rule is where you were born – not born and raised – so if a foreign couple come to Croatia for vacation – and their baby was born in Croatia and next day returned to its home country and never returned to Croatia in their life
By FIFA rules that Croatian born baby could play for Croatia (bc they were born in Croatia)
Those are the rules
FIFA rules require you to have citizenship of that country.
Many European countries do not have birthright citizenship.
Italy (for example) has a Nigerian kid that they want to call up… but he doesn’t have citizenship (despite being born in Italy).
Now, he’ll be fine because he’s been in Italy all his life… but if he was just simply born there (and was raised in another country all this time) then, no, he wouldn’t be able to represent Italy despite being born there.
Mario Pašalić is probably a more appropriate one to use for your example.
He was born in Munich (because his parents moved there temporarily during the war) but he moved back to Croatia as a baby.
He’s not eligible for German citizenship for simply being born there. So, he wouldn’t be allowed to represent Germany’s National Team.
Very underrated win for Dinamo.
Maccabi’s squad is full of young speedy South Americans and Africans, who are constantly pressing non-stop (preventing Dinamo from comfortably advancing the ball from their own half).
After the first 20 minutes of the game (once Dinamo was up 2-1) Dinamo played Maccabi very well, not putting themselves in a position for the opposition to hit them on a counter.
Despite there not being many dangerous chances for either team for about 50 minutes after the initial goals…the game was very fast-paced and entertaining.
Lisica was amazing for the first 20 minutes, but calmed down a lot afterward. Misic was still our best player on the field. Probably deserves a callup.
Scoring a full 6 points from these first two games against Fenerbahce and Maccabi is excellent.
Mario Kovačević is putting himself into discussions as a future National Team coaching candidate if he continues to pull of solid wins in European competitions like this.
Good win for Dinamo. They have lots of potential and are playing pretty well so far. However, they give away so many balls with sloppy passes, including the keeper. Hopefully, the coach can get them fine-tuned for tougher competition later. He said they are only in the beginning phase as a team, and wants them to improve every game. So far I like their attitude, and raw talent. If they can continue to improve, they have a serious chance if going deep in this competition.
Volim te Dinamoooo!
They didn’t give away too many passes at all in dangerous areas.
Maccabi were pressing the entire game, which (understandably) would create errors.
I’m actually surprised there were no turnovers leading to breakaways.
Dinamo largely played a clean game and actually created more errors for Maccabi, which actually resulted in one of our goals.
Dinamo plays Malmo next, and I have little doubt that they’ll win this one as well if they continue to play like this.
Having Kovačević as national team manager might be good for Croatia, but not for his health. He looks like is suffering from an ulcer coaching Dinamo in the EUROPA League. What would happen if he was coaching Croatia in the World Cup?? 😉
If Dinamo challenges for a Europa quarterfinals spot (while playing this well in the remaining group games) then he’s thrown himself into the Croatia NT coaching race.
Wow. Mateo Lisica is a speed demon on the right.
Constantly pressing the opposing defenders, very direct offense on the tight side, causing all kids of chaos…and is very physical (especially for a 5’4″ guy).
Roofed a beautiful goal into the top corner (after causing the defenders to lose the ball)…
Then speedily running down the right side, setting up the second goal beautifully.
Prpic starting 3pm EDT vs Red Star
Igor Moro Teo Barisic bench
Jagusic just posed on IG a pic of his GF at 42 in Zagreb eating steak celebrating their 2 year anniversary
FFS
To be honest, I always like the talent and loved when Eduardo played for us. However, after his career was done, he went back to live in Brazil. Was he really Croatian? No. I’d rather win with just us.
I get where you’re coming from.
If we’re ranking the situations, then Belinho has far more of a reason to play for Croatia than Eduardo did.
Eduardo came to Croatia at an older age (16 years old) to specifically play football. When it looked like he could get a callup for us (but not for Brazil) of course he took the opportunity and acquired citizenship to play for us…but he would have always chosen Brazil first.
Belinho (on the other hand) moved to Croatia a lot younger at age 12.
He also moved here with his dad (who came to Cro for work) and they were going to stay in Croatia and become Croatian citizens regardless.
He also already publicly dismissed the idea of playing for Brazil. Sure, maybe it’s a ploy to get into the good graces of the HNS and secure a future spot on the National Team, but these things are never guaranteed.
I was never a fan of Eduardo and Sammir being capped for us, simply because these were career-driven moves. Peak Eduardo was an amazing striker in 2007 for us, but it was very short-lived as he was mediocre after that 2008 ankle break.
I can live with the Belinho situation, simply because it’s not entirely career-driven (as his family have moved to Croatia and the kid has spent much of his childhood here).
I’m still more about having a team filled with Croatian-born players and diaspora Croats.
Players who are partially-raised in Croatia (like Belinho), would go down the pecking order but I wouldn’t rule them out.
…but, foreign players who play in the HNL and acquire citizenship after five years (like Sammir and Eduardo) should not be allowed to play for us.
Comparing Dadu and Sammir in the same breath is wild !
Dadu never played for Brazil unders
Sammir played Brazil u17 and u18
Dadu played for Croatia U21 first for couple of years and then was capped for NT at 20 or 21 – if he really wanted Brazil he could have waited a few years
Sammir was capped at WC in Brazil so Mamic could sell him (no other reason) just like Sharbani brothers/cousins, etc – he was nowhere near good enough for Brazil
Dadu had 10 goals in 12 games in Euro 2008 qualifying (2nd top scorer) – if his ankle wasn’t broken and he played Euro 2008 who knows how far we could have gone
Dadu wife is Croatian. Sammir?
Croatia may not have qualified for euro 2008 without Dadu – would you rather Croatia qualify with Dadu or not qualify without Dadu?
Anonymous is in the former that’s what’s meant by Croatia NT above all else
Plus: if we never had Dadu Croatia wouldn’t have his son in the U15 ranks today
The fact is – the rules are the rules – every country is playing the game – many players too (like Matty Cash playing for Poland, 1 HSV player Comoros, 1 HSV player Libya) – so Croatia NT shouldn’t self impose it’s own set of rules – that puts it at a disadvantage vs other countries (it’s like if a company says I’m not taking that tax break/deduction although it’s legal bc of moral reasons – and want to pay more tax – that would be dumb)
*Sammir was capped at 25 or 26 (vs. Dadu 20 or 21, after playing for U21 first)
lol
You realize Dadu’s son plays for Croatia U15s ?
His Croatian wife decided they live in Brazil (but they’re in Croatia all the time) and she’s posting stuff about Dadu jr and Croatia all the time
It’s a nice headline
But
Until he is cap tied by playing for the senior Croatia NT nothing is certain (and that’s a long way away unless Croatia senior NT immediately caps him as soon as he is eligible so that means at the 2026 World Cup or sooner 😊)
For all we know this could just be playing Croatia card to get the Brazil card – ask yourself is Bara’s asset worth more as a capped Croatia or Brazil NT player?
Having said that, Anonymous would love for Belinho to be part of the Croatia NT if he’s good enough and that’s what he chooses in the end
Anonymous wants the Croatia NT to be successful above all else so whatever player can improve the team Anonymous is all for it
Their is a such a thing of being too tall but perhaps there is such a thing of being too short. 5’4″ ? Really!! Hope he adds solid significant muscle as he may not last long in today’s game. Always exceptions a la Messi. We all talk about the lack of physicality of some of ours players such as Brekalo…. Wish him well and hope he is what we all hope he becomes.
Every other national team does this, why shouldn’t we? He will have spent 5 years already living and playing in Cro by the time he’s eligible to play for any of our NTs. He’s arguably going to be more Croatian than us lol
Personally I think he should play for Brazil. I felt the same with Eduardo as well. No problem with Croatians from the diaspora playing for the national team but I don’t want foreigners whether there from Brazil Ukraine or any other nation.
Why? He’s been in Croatia for nearly five years and he’s only 16. He speaks the language well, he was developed by a Croatian club, his agent is Croatian.
I get your argument if it was some random 26-year old who’s played in the HNL for a few years, but it makes a lot more sense for him to choose Croatia.