You can call him an arrogant bastard. A madman. Maybe even unsafe to be part of the general public.
But in the end, Dinamo Zagreb general manager Zdravko Mamić is running a tight ship in Croatia’s capital. Not only has Dinamo won the past eight Prva Liga titles and are now on the verge of a third straight Champions League group stage berth, but Dinamo’s U-15 team won the Manchester United Premier Cup Friday night, defeating AC Milan 2-1 in extra time.
The tournament boasts the best youth teams from all over the planet against each other to form the final 20-team tournament. With over 9,000 teams qualifying from six continents, this tournament is nothing short of a glimpse of football’s future.
So to all of you Mamić-hating Dinamo Zagreb supporters, you can knock the guy for his attitude and how he treats the fans (which no one can blame you), but you can’t blame Mamić for the results he has shown at Dinamo Zagreb. But which one would you rather have?
iggy zatvori prljave usta, inače ću morati zatvoriti ti mali govnaru
Croatia is playing at Liechtenstein august 14th
5-0 or 6-0 win
Pretty weak warm up for the Serbia match if you ask me
My point is that with the amount of talent Dinamo has produced over the last 7 years, they should have done much better in Europe. I’m not saying CL knockout appearances, more like decent performances in the group stage and not getting blown out.
Again, I said winning this juniors event is a great result. But, juniors success at the team level doesn’t always translate to the senior side. Look at jadan i mali hajduk over the years. Their teams have actually performer better than dinamo over the last decade at youth tournaments throughout Europe.
@ Ziva – You are being very unrealistic. No club side in the World has had successful Champions League teams using home-grown talent exclusively.
In fact, the only side I can remember that had one nationality dominate their roster and win the Cup was Crvena Zvezda in 1991.
The main point of the article is that these are Croatian kids who won the tournament coached by a Croatian coaching staff. Great sign that we are still on par with the rest of the World when it comes to potentially producing good players – it’s all you can ask for.
@jm……….never said I expected to be like a Man U. But, with the amount of talent they have produced over the years they surely should have done much better in Europe, or at least been respectable. that points to failures by the coaches and not being able to get more from the players.
@jm
i agree, although mamic might be a shitty person, he gets the job done when it comes to making players and money. In the end it seems to be that that is what matters.
@ ziva
for a guy that prides himself on being reasonable and realistic, your continued disappointed that dinamo does not compete in europe doesn’t make any sense. you know the deal. you know dinamo isn’t going to be manchester united. they exist to develop and sell players as a form of profit. in the end, this system probably best serves the national team from the monetary incentive to develop youngsters. you know this. why are you arguing for something different and unrealistic?
@ everyone
i made the case before that mamic might suck as a person but you have to respect the accomplishments of making dinamo a winner, profitable, and developing talent that is ultimately to the benefit of the national team. the big question marks are has his methods to success been too corrupt that it prevents other teams in the hnl from succeeding in a similar manner. in which case, the positive contributions to the national team are dimished
@Sude Mi
You’re right about Jozak. But he’s not the only talented resource at Dinamo. Mamic has done a good job of surrounding himself with the right people, and they’ve made him look good. That it itself, is a key attribute to have when running a club.
Do with
Everything to donwith Mamic. It starts at the top.
Little to do with Mamic and everything to do with Romeo Jozak and his stable of top flight youth coaches. I’ve met him, knows his stuff. Why do you think Arsenal.are sniffing around Jozak?
@ IviCa
That is exactly what I am taking about.
@ Mate
Never forgot that first half in 2006 when we went at Brazil!
@ Ziva
The reality is at a certain point our young talent needs to make the move to a top 5 league in Europe. I am just glad the financial incentive is there for our boys to prosper. Unfortunately Mamic is a necessary evil.
Maybe when Rijeka can take it to the next level and your crew Mali Jadan Hajduk can start to be functional again, we will have decent league.
Re: Dinamo wining this U15 tournament…
All that matters is that this bodes well for the CROATIAN national team. It means that Dinamo continues to produce Croatian talent, and even if they are sold before they hit their prime (preventing Dinamo from having any real success off the talent of these players), they will still be representing CROATIA in future international tournaments (and this is bigger than Dinamo’s success).
I would love it if teams like Dinamo, Hajduk, and Rijeka were successful in Europe…but not if it comes at the price of developing talent for the national team.
The last thing I want to see is Dinamo and Hajduk filling out the majority of their rosters with foreign players (like most European leagues).
Ideally, I’d like to see our Croatian youngsters stay at Dinamo/Hajduk until they are at least 23 before they are sold, so the HNL clubs can at least reap SOME benefits of their talent in European competition. But unfortunately, the HNL doesn’t come close to making any money at the ticket gate, nor via television deals, nor sponsorships… to be able to afford to sign these kids to any worthwhile contracts to make them stay put. You’re pretty limited when your population doesn’t have much of a disposable income (Hajduk season tickets are like 500 kuna, lol), so the only real way of sustaining operations and making ANY revenue is by selling them as soon as their value spikes from the hype of their potential.
Mamic has done a good job of implementing this model, by making tons of cash selling Croatia’s talent, while spending very little in bringing talent into Dinamo (usually relying solely on their farm system). He’s managed to squeak into Champions League now, and is making more money, allowing him to “splurge” on players like Soudani which, I believe, is the club’s biggest purchase (at 950K) in a very long time.
People hate Mamic, but Dinamo is probably the only team turning a profit. Dinamo pays their players on time (along with Lokomotiva’s players as well) and continue to make shrewd buy-low sell-high moves. Rijeka is probably the only other team that regularly pays their players decent salaries (and on time) but they are largely being funded by the personal bank account of Daniele Volpi and he is definitely in a financial net loss to-date with this squad (with hopes to one day turn it around in the near future). So far though, Mamic’s Dinamo (and Lokomotiva) is the only sustainable model for running a profitable franchise in Croatia.
@ Croatia v Antwerp
Actually, Croatia is the fourth largest exporter of soccer players after brazil, Argentina an Serbia, so good call on that, completely agree
@matesic
Funny you mention we re the argentia of Europe, to the rest of Europe we re the brazil of Europe, honestly, I had German dude tell me that
Still biggest tournament in the world. Why you getting mad? Small minded hurt your feelings?
@MATE………I said it was a great result, but they don’t award world cups or champions league titles for U-15 titles….who cares if it doesn’t translate to the senior level. We can supply talent across the world, but who cares if a cro club team can’t get anything out of it.
Recent winners of this event include:
Universidad Catolic (chile)
Pachuca (Mexico)
Chivas Guadalajara
whoopie……
lol i havent watched dexter but have been up close and person with psychopathy put it that way
That’s right the youth production line is up and running. And we are going to be a major exporter of footballing talent.
This is important, because the sale of players will help offset Croatia’s trade deficit a little. So if Germany is known for Cars, Croatia will be known for producing footballers. 🙂
@ Ziva
Svaki put, jabuke i narance.
It is an epic win for Croatian Soccer!
Elite sport is all about belief.
15u is real. This will stay with them the rest of their career.
The reality is HNL is limited. Until we cause a breakthrough in prosperity our young talent has to go to greener pastures.
I am happy those local boys get this type of opportunity to succeed.
Stari has been telling there is some young phenom named Niko?
We are going to be the Argentina of Europe. Just exporting soccer players.
Hard to have senior level success when you sell all your best players.
The reason why Ajax today isn’t what Ajax used to be is because they sell all their talent.
Also comes down to money, if you can’t afford to keep players bc of wage constraints, you’re never going to be able to build anything. For all this financial fair play UEFA is trying to incorporate, it doesn’t mean anything bc money is the one way to win titles. PSG, Chelsea, Man City and probably Monaco are perfect examples. You can win without money, but aaaa, much harder and occurs less often
Ziva, try to be more of a negative nancy. Dinamo’s youth team just one probably the most elite tournament in the world, from clubs that have 10x the funding they have, and of course, you have a negative response. Small minded man
I know Dinamo will never win the CL, but what good is all this success with the juniors if it doesn’t translate to the senior team. Look at the talent that has walked through Dinamo in the last 7 years……Some nice players who have produced in Europe and yet zero European success.
I do not want to diminish what they have done in terms of youth development, but where is the senior level success. If I were a Dinamo fan, who cares about youth success if it doesn’t come at the senior level. I dont expect CL appearances. But, credible score lines and results should be taking place.
@ Ziva
Winning the Champions League? Slow down, you are putting the Cart in front of the Horse.
Let’s worry about Dinamo consistently qualifying for the Champions League first.
Plenty of foreign “talent” at Dinamo too!
@Ziva:
Ajax has a larger population to pull from and a more robust league.
Additionally they attract foreign talent. Suarez, Ibrahimovic etc.
all nice and good……great accomplishment, but wake me up when any of this translates to their senior side. The Ajax youth system produced champions league success
Iggy’s been watching too much Dexter Season 8
Well done Dinamo youth team. This is the future of our national team.
How many goals did sammir,jr score?
I wouldn’t call him any of those things. He’s simply a psychopath. And before you imagine the axe-wielding maniac of Hollywood, that is NOT what a psychopath is. Psychopaths are NOT criminals, in fact, they do VERY WELL in society. They are typically rewarded by corporate/business set ups (in the general population 1% of people are psychopaths, in the business/political world – it is 5%).
I think he’s just one of them, that’s all. The thing is, they do get shit done. There’s no doubt psychopaths get things done. So fuckwit Mamic is one of those, i think. Anyway, Congrats to Dinamo and it’s good for our future so hats off to them young little kidlets :).
I would definitely have the results, and the talent produced along with it. Surely we can put up with his antics provided he keeps the club on the right course.
Mamic has turned Dinamo into a formidable force. He’s kinda like the Croatian version of Sir Alex Ferguson, as he has revitalized Dinamo and built the foundation for future success.