 | |||
| Nickname(s) | Mladi Vatreni (The Young Blazers) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Croatian Football Federation (HNS) | ||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Ognjen Vukojević | ||
| Captain | Tonio Teklić | ||
| Most caps | Željko Pavlović (5)Dražen Madunović (5)Mario Stanić (5)Josip Gašpar (5)Danijel Štefulj (5) | ||
| Top scorer | Igor Cvitanović (2) | ||
| FIFA code | CRO | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
 Croatia 1–1 Slovenia  (Varaždin, Croatia; 17 March 1993) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
 Qatar A 0–3 Croatia (Wiener Neustadt, Austria; 20 September 2022) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
Croatia 0–2 Tunisia  (Alès, France; 17 June 1993) | |||
| Website | hns-cff.hr | ||
The Croatia national under-23 football team represents Croatia in international men's football matches for players aged 23 or under. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia. It is a member of UEFA in Europe and FIFA in global competitions. The team's colours reference two national symbols: the Croatian checkerboard and the country's tricolour. Although the team never competed at the Olympics, the team is sometimes referred to as the Croatia Olympic football team (Croatian: Hrvatska olimpijska nogometna reprezentacija).
The team was formed for the 1993 Mediterranean Games held in France. Prior to the tournament, Croatia played two preparational friendlies against Slovenia, both ending in a 1–1 draw. These were the first matches ever played by the Croatian team. At the tournament itself, Croatia finished last in its four-teams-group, losing two, and drawing one match. In 1996 the team played a friendly against Brazil as Brazil's preparation match for the upcoming 1996 Olympics, drawing 1–1. During the 1997 Mediterranean Games held in Italy, the team again finished last in its three-teams-group, losing both matches. In 1998, it won a friendly against Romania with a 0–1 score and in 2013 it lost a friendly against the Netherlands. The team didn't play any matches from 2013 until 2022 when it met the Qatari senior team as part of their pre-2022 FIFA World Cup preparation in a friendly in Austria, winning 3–0.
Since Croatia U21 never managed to secure Croatia's participation at the Olympics through UEFA EURO U21 Championship, which serves as a qualifying system, Croatia U23 has never participated at the Olympics.