Dinamo Zagreb U21

The First NL, Croatia's second tier, has been Dinamo Zagreb II's home only since 2025-26, and the Croatian Football Federation rewrote the rules to let top-flight clubs field reserve sides in the second division directly, and Dinamo re-entered after walking away following the 2021–22 season. As a reserve side it cannot be promoted and does not chase the title regardless of where it finishes.

The team traces back to 2001–02, when it first entered the Croatian league system through the Druga NL, and it still plays under Maksimir's roof alongside the first team, sharing a ground whose capacity was cut to 24,851 after the 2020 Zagreb earthquake. Its fixtures against Hajduk Split II carry the label Vječni derbi, borrowed from the historic rivalry between the parent clubs, while the trip across the city to face NK Lokomotiva is billed as the Zagreb derby.

Trophies are not really the point here. The academy behind the team, Hitrec-Kacian, has taken ten Croatian U-19 titles and seventeen at U-17 level. Dinamo II exists as the step between those youth titles and the first team.

Luka Modrić passed through this same system; Eduardo da Silva, Vedran Ćorluka and Niko Kranjčar took the same route out of Maksimir.