December 19, 2019 - Croatian Football Federation President Davor Suker spoke at the regular assembly in Zagreb on Thursday. 

"Honorable Members, Executive Board Members, Dear Guests, and Media Representatives,

I am glad to welcome you after another wonderful year for Croatian football.

With each new success, football is confirmed as one of Croatia's greatest values. Our jersey is the best gift you can give to any foreigner, and our football players are certainly the greatest ambassadors of the country abroad. Others want to learn from us because they are impressed with our system, our work and our results. This is a massive tribute to all of us who work in Croatian football and we can really be proud of that!

Our mood is highly dependent on the A-Team, and once again, they delighted us by qualifying for a big competition. Coach Dalic successfully rejuvenated the team after Russia while maintaining a recognizable togetherness and quality performance. This is precisely why we are very optimistic about the European Championships. Congratulations to the coach, staff and players on qualifying and I wish them good luck at the Euros.

The Federation will ensure maximum conditions for the national team, as it has always done. I believe our fans will enjoy London and Glasgow, and hopefully later across Europe.

EURO 2020 will be the 11th major competition for Croatia since independence. This continuity is the greatest confirmation that in Croatian football, success is not accidental but the result of systematic work, with the talent that we as a people have for team sports.

In the films, we will see some of the successes of our teams as well as some of the projects that the Federation has worked on in 2019, and you can find more details in the yearbooks on your tables. I don't want to repeat myself too much, but I have to mention a few more events.

Congratulations to our Under-18 national futsal team, who won the silver medal at the Under-19 European Championships, as well as to the seniors who qualified for the World Cup.

This fall, we were delighted by our young teams. Both the men's and women's U-19 and U-17 national teams qualified for the elite qualifying round for the Euros, a great success.

At the club level, the year was marked by Dinamo, which I congratulate in the Championship and excellent performances in Europe, both this spring in the Europa League and this autumn in the Champions League.

The successes weren't just on the pitch. It is a great honor for me to be representing the interests of our football for the next four years on the Executive Committee of Uefa, where many of our other officials are active.

We have successfully completed a demanding project to prepare the introduction of VAR technology in Croatian football. Congratulations to our Football Academy on their 20 years of service, as well as the many organizations and clubs that have celebrated their 100th anniversary this year. I want to emphasize the 100 years of the Zagreb Football Federation, which has made an immeasurable contribution to Croatian football.

I am proud of the humanitarian activities of our national teams and the Federation, as well as numerous activities with younger ages. With all the regular camps, we have supported the organization of more than 30 youth tournaments. We also continued investing in infrastructure with more than 15 million kuna distributed through inter-county football committees.

The results prove that HNS and Croatian football are doing a great job.

Therefore, I would like to thank all of you who work in clubs, counties and football centers and the Federation Office for your tremendous contribution to Croatian football, because without you there would be no such success.

Let's continue at the same pace and be proud!”

Following the Assembly, Suker addressed reporters, including HRT, revealing that the 2018 World Cup finalists would hold their Euro 2020 camp in Scotland, and that they would play a friendly against France at Stade France in June.

“The camp? It will be in the EU, near Glasgow," Suker said, adding that Croatia will play two games in March and another two in June.

“We will have a treat against France at Stade France in June, and we will play one game in Osijek. However, the appearance in the Doha tournament failed,” the HNS president revealed.

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August 20, 2019 - Davor Šuker, the president of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), may not see the end of 2019 in that role.

According to a top source from HNS, Croatian media reported that Šuker was turned down by members of the Executive Board who rejected his proposal to remove Nenad Gračan as the coach of the Under-21 national team, and replace him with Goran Tomić, the current coach of Lokomotiva, writes Index.hr and 24 Sata. 

All 12 HNS Executive Board members said "no" to Šuker's proposal. Marijan Kustić is expected to take Šuker’s spot, as he has been destined for that position since he first started working in Croatian football.

Former HDZ MP Marijan Kustić joined the Croatian Football Federation quietly as Damir Mišković’s candidate for president of the Federation in the election Šuker won at the time. But from day one, it has been clear that Kustić is a strong political figure, Plenković’s man for special tasks like Lika, where he fought for power with Darko Milinović, and was also the leader of the political project that is returning the Croatia national team to Split.

It quickly became apparent that Kustić was assuming the role of the top operative in the Federation, where Šuker was only the president on paper.

Marijan Kustić was the most prominent member of the HNS delegation who arrived to negotiate with Hajduk, and who said that major changes were taking place in Croatian football. Namely, it was inconceivable that the official premises of Poljud were once again friendly to Damir Mišković, Ante Kulusić, Ante Vučemilović and everyone else that made Hajduk boycott the Federation. 

Of course, Davor Šuker, the actual HNS president, was the only one not to visit Poljud.

Recall, Davor Šuker returned to Croatian football as Zdravko Mamić’s candidate in the scandalous elections for the president of HNS in 2010, when Vlatko Marković became a fictitious president, while Mamić was the absolute boss. Igor Štimac was his opponent, and the night before the election, Mamić pulled out Šuker as an ace up his sleeve. In his Bentley, Mamić brought Šuker to the polls as a special HNS guest.

Davor Šuker remains the president of HNS to this day, but his influence is diminishing as Damir Mišković and HDZ strengthen. Meanwhile, Šuker was stripped of his ability to sign major financial contracts by the Executive Board, which was also a sign that he did not rule the Federation any longer.

More on this story soon. 

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On Thursday, the HNS Assembly was regularly held where the Executive Committee named the new Executive Director of the Croatian Football Federation. The director of Competition and Infrastructure, Marijan Kustić, succeeded Damir Vrbanović, whose mandate expired, reports Gol.hr on March 28, 2019. 

"I am grateful to President Šuker and the Executive Committee for the trust they have given me, and I will do my utmost to do my job well," said the new Executive Director who is now officially the second man in HNS.

When asked whether this was a significant change in the Federation, Kustić answered:

''I have my way of working, of evaluating myself.”

Davor Šuker also announced that a national stadium would certainly be built Blato, Zagreb. 

"Let everyone do their part of the job and I hope we will soon have a wonderful stadium, and the ideal location is Blato. We are going step by step, but are working on all factors together. We can also get the funds from Uefa and Fifa, we know the costs according to their standards,” Šuker emphasized.

The HNS president stressed that there has been a lot of talk about infrastructure lately, but now things have calmed down. 

“I talked a lot about infrastructure, and now things have calmed. The stadium will be built. We want to offer our guests at least the minimum we receive when we play away, as clubs and the national team,” he said.

He also added that HNS would help Hajduk around Poljud.

"Moving forward with the stadium in Zagreb means thinking about what we will do with Poljud; we want Osijek, Rijeka and Split to be satisfied with the new stadium. We will also help Poljud, and we will talk about the ways and the money."

Kustić also presented his take on the stadium. 

“Nothing is definite. There is still a lot in combination, as we are talking to Gorica and others. But the team will continue to play throughout Croatia, that's my attitude,” Kustić said. 

Hajduk representatives attended the HNS Assembly in Zagreb as passive observers. Hajduk was represented by sports director Saša Bjelanović and head of the Academy Krešimir Gojun, as President Marin Brbić had other business obligations, reports Dalmacija Danas.

The Hajduk representatives said they opposed the financial report and the amendments to the HNS statute, as well as the construction of the national stadium. Recall, the 2018 financial report revealed that from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2018, the Croatian Football Federation achieved revenues of HRK 435.5 million and expenditures amounting to HRK 371.6 million, and achieved an excess revenue of over HRK 63.8 million. Excess revenue will be used in years when there is no final competition, or when the Federation achieves a deficit of revenue over expenditures.

"At this point, we think we are not rich enough to invest in such a thing. Hajduk is opposed to building a national stadium. Our position is that it is better to invest in camps and local infrastructure because there have been a lot of missed investments in the past, and we know who is paying for it,” they said. 

"To build a stadium that we would play at once a month or once every three months is completely pointless. I also think that we are not a rich nation that can afford a national stadium. There is no need for that. It would be better to build camps so that our kids have somewhere to play,” Hajduk concluded. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN’s dedicated page. 

President of the Croatian Football Federation Davor Šuker has announced a public invitation to all potential partners in state and local government to support to the Croatia national team in the Euro 2020 qualifier against Hungary, which will be played on March 24 at the Groupama Arena in Budapest.

The Croatian Football Federation held their annual Assembly on Thursday where questions of returning the national team to Split were answered. 

President of the Croatian Football Federation Davor Šuker and Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić met in Novi Vinodolski to speak about their past and future cooperation, HNS reported on their website on August 9, 2018. 

HNS President Davor Šuker thanked FIFA for their wonderful organization of the World Cup in Russia and received a response from former teammate Zvonimir Boban.

Croatia and Argentina will play the second game of Group D tonight at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium in Russia. 

The Croatian Football Federation has authorized a man with a prison sentence to represent Croatia in front of the world. 

Where does Croatian football stand today? HNS president Davor Šuker has his say.