Croatia, the Republic of Ireland, Uzbekistan and Montenegro will play in Group A, while Group B consists of Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia.
The tournament will be organized with financial support from FIFA through the FIFA Forward 2.0. Programme, and it carries the name of one of the most distinguished individuals in the modern history of Croatian football – player, coach, head coach, football official, and honorary HNS president Vlatko Marković, who headed the Croatian FA as its president from 1998 to 2012 and who passed away on September 23, 2013.
“It’s incredibly important to us that we continue to nurture this tradition and to honor Vlatko Marković for his lasting contribution to Croatian football and, in particular, to the development of young Croatian players. We see it as one of our key responsibilities to organize tournaments such as this one and to show the level of importance we place on young players and their growth,” said HNS president Marijan Kustić.