Gradanski nogometni Klub Dinamo Zagreb (English: Dinamo Zagreb Citizens Football Club) is commonly known as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (pronounced [dinamo za:greb(pronounced [dinamo za:greb]) is one of the Croatian professional football club that is based in Zagreb. Dinamo are home to their matches in the Stadion Maksimir. The club is the best-performing team in Croatian football with 23 Prva HNL championships, 16 Croatian Cups and the six Croatian Super Cups, and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The club has been playing all of its existence playing in the the top level, being a member of the Yugoslav First League from 1946 until 1991, before joining in the Prva HNL since its foundation in 1993.
In the aftermath of World War II, the new communist regime of Yugoslavia thought of Croatian clubs such as HSK Gradanski to be fascist and nationalist since they were part of the previous Independent State of Croatia, which was an Axis member during the conflict. In the end they were officially removed from the scene and after 1945 FD Dinamo became a team that acted as an informal alternative to HSK Gradanski. This was to circumvent the opposition of the ruling party. They joined into the Yugoslav First League in its debut season of 1946-47, but finished as runners-up. The following season in the Yugoslav top flight , 1947-48 they won the title of Yugoslav champions, their first major award. Dinamo also won three league titles as well as seven Yugoslav Cups. After the breakup of Yugoslavia and the formation of the Croatian football league, Dinamo left the Yugoslav league in 1991. Dinamo remain, as of today the only Croatian club to have won an European trophy. They took home in the years 1966 and 1967 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by defeating Leeds United in the final. The club also placed second the same tournament in 1963 when they fell to Valencia.
Up until the mid 1990s, the year of its founding was believed to be 1945. However, during the political turmoil that followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia the club began to claim direct connection to clubs from before WWI Gradanski Zagreb and HASK. To reflect this in June 1991, the club was changed to HASK Gradanski, which lasted until February 1993, when it changed its name to Croatia Zagreb. They were crowned league champions five times and were part of the 1999-2000 and 1998-99 UEFA Champions League group stages with that name, before changing to the more well-known "Dinamo Zagreb" on February 14, 2000. Although the question that the Club's name had been not discussed for a period however, in 2011 the management of the club began to claim the fact that Dinamo is directly related to Gradanski (which was initially established in 1911 before disbanding at the end of 1945) and in April of that year they decided to add the word "Gradanski" as the official name of the club and transform it into the current GNK Dinamo (Gradanski Nogometni Klub Dinamo as well as Dinamo Citizens Football Club).
The club's primary colour is royal blue. It is now being replaced by European matches recently with a more dark navy blue. The biggest rivals of the club include Hajduk Split, and matches between these two teams are known by the name of "Eternal Derby".
