The 23rd edition of the prestigious international memorial junior tournament Mladen Ramljak will start on Thursday morning on the auxiliary pitches of Maksimir Stadium. Already on the first day of competition, on Thursday at 19:15, there is an exciting match scheduled where Dinamo and Juventus will face each other.

The Maksimir club as tournament organizer has once again gathered strong European competition. Young footballers will measure their strength against opponents of different playing styles, while spectators will enjoy attractive matches and performances by numerous upcoming stars of European football.

Entry is open to all visitors, feel free to join us from Thursday to Sunday on the pitches below the south and west stands. If you cannot attend, you can follow live broadcasts of all matches on our platform "Dinamo plus".

This year, four-time European champions Ajax and Athletic Bilbao will play at the Ramljak tournament for the first time, while Hajduk will participate after 13 years. Two-time European Cup winners Juventus are coming to us for the third consecutive year. Portuguese Benfica, also two-time winners of Europe's biggest club competition, will compete in this tournament for the fourth time, the second time consecutively.

This year's edition will feature clubs that have collectively won eight Champions League trophies and played in the final 15 times.

In Group A, alongside hosts Dinamo, will compete Juventus, Benfica and Brugge, while Group B consists of Ajax, Bologna, Athletic Bilbao and Hajduk.

Dinamo are the defending champions from last season. The Blues are winners of the trophy from the previous two editions, with coach Ivica Banović leading them to first place initially, followed by Jerko Leko. A new strategist will lead them into new challenges - our former celebrated captain Milan Badelj. Moreover, Badelj once played in the Ramljak tournament himself, in two editions, and both times won the trophy with Dinamo.

– We are looking forward to the new edition of the Mladen Ramljak tournament. We enter the competition as defending champions, but now there's a new generation of our young footballers. This is a generation that also shows great promise. We know this is an exceptionally strong tournament at European level in this age group, and it will serve us excellently to more precisely assess 'where we are and what we're like'. The tournament will mainly feature teams that have already established themselves and made their selection and final selection. There's Juventus, Benfica, Brugge, Ajax, Athletic Bilbao, Bologna, and I'm pleased that Hajduk has returned to the tournament. I expect an extremely high-quality competition – coach Badelj emphasized.

The strength and rating of the tournament is also visible in the high motivation of the players themselves.

– Our young footballers have a great desire to present themselves well at this tournament, especially because of the tradition and because Dinamo is the organizer, because numerous generations have gone through this competition and won the trophy. I can see in our young players the desire to 'defend their tournament', and as the start approaches, their enthusiasm becomes more pronounced and they can hardly wait for the matches. They are, admittedly, already used to strong competition because they've been through a large 'contingent' of international tournaments in younger categories against strong opponents. But this is still a special challenge because you're playing on your home ground. Besides, the tournament features the final year group of juniors - the boys know that the competition will be watched and that some conclusions will be drawn... In those four days they will feel pressure that is quite similar to what awaits them one day in senior football.

Badelj won the Ramljak tournament on two occasions.

– I'm very pleased that I personally went through that experience. I participated twice as a junior in this tournament and had the fortune to win it both times. I remember that both times we beat Espanyol in the final. The tournament is demanding both physically and in terms of quality, because it mainly features teams from the top of European junior football – coach Badelj added.

Competition schedule; Thursday, 6 August; Group B: Ajax - Athletic Bilbao (9:00), Hajduk – Bologna (10:45); Group A: Brugge – Benfica (17:30), Dinamo – Juventus (19:15); Friday, 7 August; Group B: Athletic Bilbao – Bologna (9:00), Hajduk – Ajax (10:45); Group A: Benfica – Juventus (17:30), Dinamo – Brugge (19:15); Saturday, 8 August; Group B: Ajax – Bologna (9:00), Hajduk – Athletic Bilbao (10:45); Group A: Dinamo – Benfica (17:30), Juventus – Brugge (19:15); Sunday, 9 August: 7th place match (8:30), 5th place match (8:30), 3rd place match (10:15), final (18:30)