34 Croatians have become the champions of a European league this season – and out of 51 leagues, 18 champions have Croats on their side, while 25% of the Croatia national team is made up of champions!
While Luka Modrić and Mateo Kovačić have ensured that Croatians win the Champions League title for the sixth consecutive year, an even more impressive fact is that 34 Croats have become champions of their European league this season, reports Goal.hr on May 29, 2018.
As it turns out, Croatia has champions in more than a third of the leagues in Europe. Of the 51 national championships in Europe, Croatians have at least one representative in as many as 18, which is 35.3% respectively.
Better yet, 25% of Zlatko Dalić’s current squad is made up of champions. Of the 24 players invited to World Cup preparations, Dinamo’s Livaković and Sosa, and Ćorluka, Ćaleta-Car, Rakitić, and Mandžukić can all boast championship titles.
The most prestigious league titles were won by Ivan Rakitić and Mario Mandžukić, who became the champions of Spain and Italy. Most successful, as far as coaches are concerned, is Ivan Leko, who led Club Brugge to their 15th Belgian championship title in history. This was also made possible by two compatriots: Matej Mitrović, who joined the club in January on loan from Bešiktaš and Ivan Tomečak who came to the club from Mechelen just a few days before.
Dean Klafurić, who led Legia to the title of Polish championship, also achieved great success. If you recall, Klafurić first entered the season as an assistant to Romeo Jozak, though Jozak was dismissed in mid-April due to a series of bad results that threatened the club’s place at the top. In seven league games, Klafurić achieved six wins and defeating Lech Poznan in the last round confirmed first place to Legia and their third consecutive title. Meanwhile, Klafurić also won the Cup and the double crown with Croatian footballers Domagoj Antolić and Eduardo da Silva in his squad.
Croatian coaches who won national leagues also include Igor Bišćan, who, in the shocking finals of the Slovenian championship, managed to bring Olimpija to their sixth championship title. Bišćan celebrated that success with five Croatian players including Filip Uremović, Danijel Miškić, Dario Čanađija (on loan from Rijeka), Leon Benko and Dino Štiglec.
It is important to note that Ćorluka won the Russian championship with Lokomotiv for the first time in 14 years. Lokomotiv won the championship one round before the end with a win against Zenit and ended the season with two more points than CSKA and four more than Spartak. In a season marked by injuries, the Croatian defender played in only six games.
Duje Ćaleta-Car and Marin Pongračić have become champions with Red Bull Salzburg, who once again defied the Austrian Bundesliga by completing the season with 13 points more than Sturm and 21 more than Rapid Wien in third. The 20-year-old stopper Marin Pongračić played in 16 games, and Ćaleta-Car scored two goals in 28 games and recorded one assist. As members of the defense, they can be commended for the fact that their team received far fewer goals in the league, and conceded only 29 (four goals came in the last round).
Marko Livaja contributed eight goals and nine assists in 27 matches for AEK in Greece, while Marin Tomasov, on loan from Rijeka, won the Kazakhstan League with Astana. In 12 games, he scored five goals and assisted four times. Darijo Srna’s Shakhtar also became the champions of Ukraine, and the former Croatian captain achieved four assists in eight appearances until September 9, after which he was first investigated and then suspended for doping.
Croatia also has a player on the Czech champions (Živulić with Viktoria), and the winners of the Albanian league (Žderić with Kukesi). Two Croats played for the Armenian league champions Alashkert (Škvorc, Jordan), while the Romanian champions and Moldova champions had three Croatian players on their team. Especially striking is the Lithuanian winner Suduva who won the championship with four Croats!
This review, however, did not count Zrinjski, who is the champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina with almost all Croatian players.
Croats who won the championship this season in Europe
Ivan Rakitić (Barcelona, Spain)
Mario Mandžukić (Juventus, Italy)
Vedran Ćorluka (Lokomotiv, Russia)
Diego Živulić (Viktoria Plzen, Czech Republic)
Coach Ivan Leko, Matej Mitrović, Ivan Tomečak (Club Brugge, Belgium)
Duje Ćaleta-Car, Marin Pongračić (Red Bull Salzburg, Austria)
Marko Livaja (AEK, Greece)
Damjan Đoković, Tomislav Duka, Dino Špehar (Cluj, Romania)
Coach Dean Klafurić, Domagoj Antolić, Eduardo da Silva (Legia, Poland)
Marin Tomasov (Astana, Kazakhstan)
Zvonimir Mikulić, Ante Kulušić, Dominic Kovačić (Sheriff Tiraspol, Moldova)
Filip Žderić (Kukesi, Albania)
Coach Igor Bišćan, Filip Uremović, Danijel Miškić, Dario Čanađija, Leon Benko, Dino Štiglec (Olimpija, Slovenia)
Dino Škvorc, Marko Jordan (Alashkert, Armenia)
Andro Švrljuga, Ivan Kardum, Josip Tadić, Marko Iharoš (Suduva, Lithuania)
Darijo Srna (Shakhtar, Ukraine)
