1967 - The greatest year in Dinamo Zagreb history

Dinamo Zagreb is the only Croatian winner of the European competition. Four years after the lost finals against Valencia of Spain, (1:2, 0:2, played by Skoric, Belin, Braun, Biscan, Markovic, Perusic, Kobescak, Zambata, Knez, Matus and Lamza) the team led by Branko Zebec (all the way to the finals) and Ivica Horvat (in the finals) played a Rhapsody in Blue and on the September 6th 1967 won the Fairs Cup which in 1971 became the UEFA Cup.

It was a season of brilliant results. In November of 1966 in the Middle-European Cup tie which was played at the same time as the Fairs Cup, Dinamo defeated a very strong Milan team with Schnellinger, Rivers, Amarillo and Sormani. Slaven Zambata scored the only goal. In February of 1967 in a friendly game in Glasgow, in front of 65.000 Scots, Zambata scored again and the mighty Celtic, which would in a few months, became the European Cup winner was on its back. The "Blues" than stormed over Juventus in the quarterfinals of the Fairs Cup with 3:0, dismantled Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-finals 4:0, and in the final showdown defeated Leeds United 2:0. Te "Old Lady" from Turin is the only club that got away. In Turin Dinamo led 2:1 thanks to two goals by Jukic almost to the very end. The semi-finals was secured by Novak (4th min), Mesić (66th min) and Belin (75th min). That was the biggest defeat for Juventus in the last three seasons.

Eintracht Frankfurt led 2:0 after only 2 minutes in the first semi finals tie on the famous Waldstadion. They came to Maksimir with the big 3:0 advantage. They were the 4th in the German championship with the second best offence. Nevertheless, in Maksimir they were soundly defeated. Zambata and Novak scored in 14th and 16th minute and the dream of finals was becoming a reality. In 87th minute Josip Gucmirtl scored the third goal and secured extra time. In the 102nd minute, after brilliant Stjepan Stef Lamza was brought down in the box, Rudi Belin converted the penalty for 4:0!
The great success on June 14th 1967 was brought about by Skoric, Blaskovic, Brncic, Mesic, Belin, Ramljak, Novak, Gucmirtl, Zambata, Lamza and Rora.

In the finals, the victim was the great Leeds United with Sprake, Bremner, Gray, OGrady and Jackie Charlton. Young 19 year old Marijan Cercek outsmarted goalkeeper Sprake and Charlton in the 39th minute, and in 59th minute Krasnodar Rora scored for 2:0. It happened on August 30th 1967. In the away tie in Leeds on September 6th the score was 0:0. Not even on its own ground did Leeds manage to break the Blues defence with Zlatko Skoric, Mladen Ramljak and Filip Blaskovic.

FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous presented the Winners trophy to the captain and the leading scorer Slaven Zambata.

Many remembered the beginning of the season and the luck that usually favours the brave. Without it, Dinamo wouldn't go past the first round. After 2:0 and 0:2 against Spartak from Brno, Blues were saved by the coin and the deftness of captain Zambata. They also had troubles against Scottish Dunfermline (2:4, 2:0), they trembled against the Romanian Dinamo (1:0 in Pitesti, 0:0 in Maksimir). After that, they defeated the greatest opponents: Juventus, Eintracht and Leeds United.

A year later, the winner's trophy moved to England, and of all places, to Leeds. It stayed there for 6 years. In 1968 in Leeds, in 1969 in Newcastle, in 1970 in Arsenal, in 1971 again in Leeds, in 1972 in Tottenham and in 1973 in Liverpool.

Dinamo Zagreb history

Today's Dinamo continues the tradition of the famous club: HASK, Gradjanski, Dinamo and Croatia. The oldest of those, HASK, was formed on November 6th 1903 as a students club, and Gradjanski was formed on 26th of April 1911 as a club for all social circles. After the WW2 when communists came to power, both famous Zagreb club were disbanded overnight, and the municipal club was formed. Like many more communist clubs in Eastern Europe, it was also called DINAMO. This happened on the 9th of June 1945.

During the 97 years, the club won 26 trophies: 17 championships, 11 national Cups, and in 1967, the Fairs Cup (now UEFA Cup). Gradjanski was champion six times (1923, 1926, 1928, 1937, 1940 and 1943), HASK one in 1938, Croatia 5 times (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999), and Dinamo 5 times (1948, 1954, 1958, 1982 and 2000). Croatia won the national Cup 4 times, Dinamo 7 times. Croatia took the double crown three times in a row, from 1996 to 1998. Hat trick by Maksimir Blues shall stand for a long time and will be surpassed only by them.
(this is text from year 2000)