Croatian national soccer team / world championships

Croatia
Republika Hrvatska

World Cup record goalscorer:	Before Šuker (6)
World Cup record players:	Luka Modrić (12)
Rank :	22nd
Balance sheet
23 World Cup games 11 wins 4 draws 8 losses 35:26 goals
statistics
First World Cup match Croatia 3: 1 Jamaica Lens ( FRA ); June 14, 1998
Biggest World Cup victory Croatia 4: 0 Cameroon Manaus ( BRA ); June 18, 2014
Biggest World Cup defeats Croatia 1: 3 Brazil São Paulo ( BRA ); June 12, 2014 Croatia 1-3 Mexico Recife ( BRA ); June 23, 2014
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1998 )
Best results	Second place, 2018
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 15, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Croatian national soccer team at soccer world championships . So far, Croatia has participated in world championships four times, most often from the teams that emerged from the former Yugoslavia. The best placement is the second place in the last participation in 2018. Players born in the territory of today's Croatia made up the main part of the Yugoslav team in 1950 and 1954 , then a significant part. The successes of the Yugoslav team were initially attributed by FIFA to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which now only consists of Serbia and Montenegro, which also participated under this name in 1998 and then as Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 , and now to Serbia , which participated for the first time in 2010.

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1994	United States	not participated				Croatia only became a member of FIFA after World Cup qualification began.
1998	France	3rd place match	Netherlands	3.	Miroslav Blažević	Out in the semifinals against eventual world champions France, Davor Šuker top scorer
2002	South Korea / Japan	Preliminary round	Mexico , Italy , Ecuador	23.	Mirko Jozić
2006	Germany	Preliminary round	Brazil , Japan , Australia	22nd	Zlatko Kranjčar	Three yellow cards for Josip Šimunić in one game
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualification of the Ukraine and England failed.
2014	Brazil	Preliminary round	Brazil Cameroon Mexico	19th	Niko Kovač	Opening game against Brazil
2018	Russia	final	France	Second	Zlatko Dalić	First entry into the finals of a team from the former Yugoslavia.

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Not qualified: 1 × (5%; 2010)
• Not participated: 1 × (5%; 1994)
• Athletic qualification: 5 × (24% or 83% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 3 × (14%; 2002, 2006 and 2014)
  • Third: 1 × (5%; 1998)
  • Final: 1 × (5%; 2018)
    • Vice World Champion: 1 × (5%; 2018)

• Participation in the World Cup finals as part of Yugoslavia: 8 × (40%; 1930 , 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1974, 1982 and 1990)
• Not qualified, as part of Yugoslavia: 6 × (30%; 1934, 1938, 1966, 1970, 1978, 1986)

World Cup tournaments

World Cup 1930 to 1990

Yugoslavia was one of only four European teams to take part in the first World Cup. Since there were disputes between Serbian and Croatian officials in the Yugoslav association some time before the tournament, only Serbian players took part. For the World Championships in 1934 and 1938, the Yugoslav national team could not qualify. After the defeat of Yugoslavia during the Second World War, Croatia was an independent FIFA member from 1941 to 1945 and also played 19 international matches during this time, but there were no football World Cups. The next World Cup did not take place in Brazil until 1950 and Croatia was already a part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . After all, the Croatians made up a large proportion of the Yugoslav national football team. This took part in all eleven World Cup qualifications from 1950 to 1990 and was able to qualify seven times for the World Cup finals. The best placement came in 1962 with fourth place.

1994 World Cup in the United States

Croatia gained independence in 1992 and was admitted to FIFA on July 3, 1992 , but the draw for qualifications took place in December 1991, when Croatia was not yet an independent state. Yugoslavia, drawn in Group 5, was excluded due to UN sanctions before qualifying began.

1998 World Cup in France

After Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia , participation in the European Football Championship in 1996 was the first major tournament for the Croats, with the quarter-finals being reached straight away, in which they narrowly lost to eventual European champions Germany . So the hopes were high to qualify for the World Cup, which also succeeded. The team managed to qualify after they were first admitted to a World Cup qualification in the group with Denmark , Greece , Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia as group runners-up for the playoff games of the group runners-up. There she met Ukraine and won the home game 2-0. In the second leg in Ukraine a 1-1 could be defended, which meant the qualification was successful.

Arrived as outsiders, the Croatians became the surprise team at the finals in France . In the first World Cup match, World Cup newcomer Jamaica was defeated 3-1, with Mario Stanić scoring the first World Cup goal for Croatia. They also won against the other newcomer Japan (1-0 through Davor Šuker ). The third game against veteran Argentina was lost 0: 1, but the knockout round was reached as second in the group. In the round of 16 Romania were defeated 1-0 by a penalty goal from Davor Šuker. Like two years earlier at the European Championships , they met Germany again in the quarter-finals, but this time the Croatians prevailed 3-0. In this game, the German defender Christian Wörns was sent off after the emergency brake in the 40th minute and Germany then countered. While the German strikers repeatedly failed to goalkeeper Dražen Ladić , the Croatians took their chances. Host France was the opponent in the semi-finals. A goal from Šuker gave Croatia the lead at the beginning of the second half, but defender Lilian Thuram brought the eventual winner to a 2-1 victory with two goals. In the game for third place, Croatia beat the Netherlands 2-1 . With 6 goals, Davor Šuker secured the title of top scorer.

2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan

Croatia qualified as group winners ahead of Belgium , Scotland , Latvia and San Marino . Croatia did not lose a game, but was only able to secure the direct qualification on the last matchday with a 1-0 from Alen Bokšić against Belgium.

At the final tournament of the first World Cup in Asia , the team could not build on the success of 1998. In the first game against Mexico , Boris Živković saw the red card after an emergency brake in the penalty area . Cuauhtémoc Blanco converted the penalty kick into the 1-0 winner for the Mexicans. Afterwards, however, the European Championship finalist Italy was beaten 2-1, so that there was hope of reaching the last sixteen. In the last group game against World Cup newcomer Ecuador , who had previously lost both games, they lost again 0: 1, so that Croatia was eliminated in the preliminary round.

World Cup 2006 in Germany

After Croatia was eliminated in the group stage at the 2004 European Championships , Zlatko Kranjčar was the new coach and led the team into the World Cup qualification . The qualification succeeded as group winners before Sweden , Bulgaria , Hungary , Iceland and Malta tied for points . Again Croatia did not lose a game.

At the final tournament in Germany , Croatia met defending champions Brazil in their first game and lost 1-0. Despite failing to score against Japan , with the Japanese goalkeeper holding a Darijo Srna penalty and only taking a 0-0 win, a win against Australia would have been enough to make it through to the round of 16. With a 2-2, in which two Croatians ( Dario Šimić and the Australian-born Josip Šimunić , the latter only after his third yellow card) were sent off with yellow-red cards , this hope was lost and Australia instead reached the for the first time Knockout round.

World Cup 2010 in South Africa

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Africa , Croatia only finished third behind England and Ukraine, ahead of Belarus , Kazakhstan and Andorra . The qualification was gambled away on September 9, 2009 in London when Croatia suffered one of their biggest defeats at 5-1. But the two draws (2: 2 and 0: 0) against Ukraine were ultimately responsible for Ukraine's one point more. Ukraine then failed in the group runners-up playoffs to Greece .

2014 World Cup in Brazil

Croatian and Brazilian fans at the opening game

Pack formation in the opening game

The playoffs of the group runners-up then enabled Croatia to take part in the second World Cup in Brazil. Before that, the qualification was 9 points behind Belgium , but ahead of Serbia , Scotland , Wales and Macedonia . Due to the special relationship between Croatians and Serbs, no spectators from the visiting team were allowed in the games against Serbia. Croatia entered the qualification with Igor Štimac as national coach, who took over the post after the Euro 2012 . On October 16, 2013 - after the 2-0 defeat against Scotland - Štimac was sacked by the Croatian Football Association, although Croatia was qualified for the playoffs of the group runners-up. He was followed by Niko Kovač , who was supported by his brother Robert as an assistant coach. In the playoffs, Croatia met Iceland , which had come this far for the first time, and initially fought 0-0 in Iceland. The second leg was then won 2-0. However, Mario Mandžukić received the red card in this game, which meant that he was suspended for the first World Cup game. Because of his behavior after the game against Iceland, Josip Šimunić was banned from FIFA for ten official matches on December 16, 2013 , with a stadium ban for these matches and a fine and was therefore not eligible for the World Cup finals. The ban has also been upheld by the International Court of Justice for Sports (CAS) .

The draw for the finals then put Croatia in a group with hosts Brazil , Cameroon and Mexico . In the opening game against Brazil, the Croatians took the lead after 11 minutes thanks to an own goal by Brazilian Marcelo . Neymar was able to equalize in the 29th minute. A controversial penalty kick brought Brazil to the winning road in the second half. In stoppage time, Oscar then managed to make it 3-1 for the hosts. The second game against Cameroonians, who played 10 players from the 40th minute, was then clearly won 4-0. With a win in the last group game against Mexico, Croatia would have reached the round of 16, but lost 3-1 and was eliminated.

World Cup 2018 in Russia

Starting grid in the final

In the qualification , which started in September 2016, the Croatians faced Iceland , Ukraine , Turkey , Finland and Kosovo . The Croatians, who have been coached by Ante Čačić since 2015 and whose record national player Darijo Srna resigned after the round of 16 at the 2016 European Championship, started with a 1-1 draw against Turkey, but then won the next four games, including a. cleansed against Iceland, so after halfway through the games they led the group three points ahead of Iceland. But they lost the second leg in Iceland 0-1, which meant that both were tied again. After both won and lost a game after that, they were still tied before the penultimate game. But Turks and Ukrainians also had a chance of winning the group due to the loss of points by the two teams in the previous two games. But since the Icelanders won 3-0 in Turkey, while the Croatians only scored 1-1 in their home game against Finland and Čačić was then dismissed, at least the Turks were out of the race and the Icelanders had it in the last game against Kosovo, which only scored a point in the first game, managed to perfect their first World Cup qualification in their own hands. With 2-0 they prevailed against the team from the Balkans, so that the Croatians, who were now coached by Zlatko Dalić , their victory in the Ukraine only brought them second place. As fourth-best runner-up in the group, however, they reached the playoffs of the runners-up group against Greece and prevailed after a 4-1 home win and a 0-0 away game .

In the group stage, the Croatian selection won 2-0 against the Nigerian selection at the start. With the 3-0 win against the Argentine and 2-1 against the Icelandic national team, they qualified as group winners for the round of 16 and met the Danish selection there. After the early goals by Zanka and Mario Mandžukić , the encounter went into overtime, which ended goalless. The Croatian national team finally prevailed on penalties and qualified for the quarter-finals.

In the quarterfinals, the Croatian selection met host Russia. After the hosts presented in the 31st minute, Andrej Kramarić was able to equalize for the Croatian selection in the 39th minute. With the score of 1: 1, the quarter-finals also went into extra time. Although Domagoj Vida scored a goal for the Croatian selection in the second half of extra time, the Croatian national team had to go back to penalties when Fernandes equalized late . As in the round of 16, they prevailed in this one and qualified for the second time since 1998 for the semi-finals of a world championship. Goalkeeper Danijel Subašić was once again able to distinguish himself, now one of the three goalkeepers who saved four penalties in the World Cup penalty shoot-out.

Luka Modrić receives the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament

In the semifinals, the selection met the English national team. After an early goal by Trippier for the English selection, Ivan Perišić was able to equalize in the second half and thus again force an extension. In the second half of extra time Mandžukić managed the decisive goal, which the Croatian selection could qualify for the first time in history for the final of a football World Cup. The Croatian selection is the first and only national team to qualify for the final with three wins in extra time and penalties. There they met the 1998 World Champion France in Moscow on July 15, 2018. After an unauthorized free kick, Mario Mandžukić falsified the ball to give the French an early lead into their own goal, which Ivan Perišić was able to equalize with his third goal ten minutes later. Ten minutes later the ball jumped to his hand in his own penalty area and from there out of bounds. After protests by the French and video evidence, the referee decided on a hand penalty, which Antoine Griezmann converted to lead the French again. When the Croatians pressed for equalization in the second half, they conceded two more goals. Mandžukić only managed to correct the result when he exploited a negligence of the French goalkeeper. With second place Croatia achieved the best tournament result in its history. Luka Modrić , who became the only Croatian World Cup national player with this game, was also named the best player of the tournament and later UEFA Best Player in Europe and World Footballer of the Year .

player

Ranking of the Croatian World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Luka Modrić : 12 appearances in 3 tournaments

02. Dario Šimić and Robert Jarni (including 1 for Yugoslavia): 11 appearances in 3 tournaments

04. Dejan Lovren , Ivan Perišić and Ivan Rakitić 10 appearances in 2 tournaments

07. Robert Prosinečki (including 3 for Yugoslavia), Stipe Pletikosa , Ante Rebić , Mario Stanić and Ivica Šurjak (all for Yugoslavia): 9 appearances in 3 and 2 (Stanic and Šurjak) tournaments

12. Mateo Kovačić , Mario Mandžukić , Ivica Olić , Zvonimir Soldo , Davor Šuker and Šime Vrsaljko  : 8 appearances in 3 (Olić) and 2 tournaments respectively

Ranking of the Croatian World Cup players with the most goals

01. Before that Šuker - 6 goals

02. Mario Mandžukić and Ivan Perišić - 5 goals each

04. Dražan Jerković (for Yugoslavia) - 4 goals

05. Robert Prosinečki - 3 goals (including 1 goal for Yugoslavia)

06. Luka Modrić and Ivica Olić - 2 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1954: Stjepan Bobek (against France for Yugoslavia)
• 1958: Branko Zebec (for Yugoslavia)
• 1982: Ivica Šurjak (for Yugoslavia)
• 1998: Zvonimir Boban , Davor Šuker (2nd group game)
• 2002: Davor Šuker, Robert Jarni (3rd group game)
• 2006: Niko Kovač
• 2014: Darijo Srna
• 2018: Luka Modrić

Croatian players in the Yugoslav team

Dražen Mužinić in the 1974 opening game against Brazil

• 1930: none
• 1950: Vladimir Beara (0), Stjepan Bobek (3), Božo Broketa (0), Željko Čajkovski (3), Zlatko Čajkovski (2), Vladimir Firm (1), Ivica Horvat (3), Ervin Katnić (0), Srđan Mrkušić (0), Ivo Radovniković (0), Bernard Vukas (2)
• 1954: Vladimir Beara (3), Bruno Belin (0), Stjepan Bobek (2), Tomislav Crnković (3), Zlatko Čajkovski (3), Dionizije Dvornić (1), Ivica Horvat (3), Branko Kralj (0), Zlatko Papec (0), Bernard Vukas (3), Branko Zebec (3)
• 1958: Vladimir Beara (3), Tomislav Crnković (4), Dražan Jerković (0), Luka Lipošinović (0), Ivan Šantek (0), Branko Zebec (4)
• 1962: Andrija Anković (1), Dražan Jerković (6), Željko Matuš (1), Vlatko Marković (6), Petar Radaković (5), Josip Skoblar (5), Mirko Stojanović (0)
• 1974: Ivan Buljan (6), Jurica Jerković (3), Dražen Mužinić (2), Luka Peruzović (1), Ivica Šurjak (6)
• 1982: Stjepan Deverić (0), Ivan Gudelj (3), Miloš Hrstić (1), Jurica Jerković (0), Ive Jerolimov (0), Ivan Pudar (0), Ivica Šurjak (3), Velimir Zajec (3)
• 1990: Alen Bokšić (0), Tomislav Ivković (5), Robert Jarni (1), Andrej Panadić (0), Robert Prosinečki (3), Davor Šuker (0), Zoran Vulić (4)

Players banned from World Championships

• 1998: Dario Šimić received his third yellow card in the semifinals (he had received the first two in the preliminary round and in the quarterfinals) and was suspended for the game for third place. The third yellow card for Mario Stanić in this game had no further effect. He had received the first in the preliminary round and the second in the semi-finals.
• 2002: Boris Živković received the red card in the first game against Mexico after an emergency brake in the penalty area and was suspended for the two following games against Italy and Ecuador.
• 2006: Robert Kovač was suspended for the last group game against Australia after two yellow cards in the first two games. Dario Šimić and Josip Šimunić received the yellow-red card against Australia (Šimunić only after the third yellow card). With Croatia eliminated, the cards and the second yellow card for Igor Tudor had no further effect.
• 2014: Mario Mandžukić was suspended for the first game against Brazil due to a red card in the last playoff game, Josip Šimunić for his post-game behavior for the entire World Cup, which meant that he could not be called into the squad. Ante Rebić received the red card in the last group game against Mexico and was suspended for the next official international match since Croatia were eliminated.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

Legionnaires always made up a large proportion of the players in the Croatian squad, in the end there were only two players playing in Croatia.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1998 (7)	11 (2 in Germany, 2 in England, 3 in Italy, 3 in Spain, 1 in Turkey)	Zoran Mamić (0), Zvonimir Soldo (6); Slaven Bilić (7), Igor Štimac (7); Aljoša Asanović (7), Zvonimir Boban (6), Mario Stanić  ; Robert Jarni (7), Davor Šuker (7), Goran Vlaović (7); Marijan Mrmić (0)
2002 (3)	19 (7 in Germany, 4 in England, 3 in Greece, 4 in Italy, 1 in Turkey)	Robert Kovač (3), Niko Kovač (3), Josip Šimunić (3), Zvonimir Soldo (2), Davor Šuker (1), Jurica Vranješ (2), Boris Živković (1); Boško Balaban (0), Alen Bokšić (3), Robert Prosinečki (1), Mario Stanić (2); Robert Jarni (3), Daniel Šarić (3), Goran Vlaović (0); Anthony Šerić (0), Dario Šimić (2), Stjepan Tomas (3), Davor Vugrinec (2); Milan Rapaić (3)
2006 (3)	19 (3 ​​in Belgium, 5 in Germany, 1 in Greece, 3 in Italy, 2 in Austria, 1 in Russia, 1 in Scotland, 1 in Turkey, 2 in Ukraine)	Boško Balaban (0), Tomislav Butina (0), Ivan Leko (0); Marko Babić (3), Ivan Klasnić (3), Niko Kovač (3), Josip Šimunić (3), Jurica Vranješ (0); Anthony Seric (0); Robert Kovač (3), Dario Šimić (3), Igor Tudor (3); Joey Didulica (0), Mario Tokić (0); Ivica Olić (2); Dado Pršo (3); Stjepan Tomas (2); Jerko Leko (2), Darijo Srna (3)
2014 (3)	21 (4 in Germany, 2 in England, 1 in France, 2 in Greece, 3 in Italy, 2 in Russia, 3 in Spain, 4 in Ukraine)	Milan Badelj (0), Mario Mandžukić (2), Ivica Olić (3), Ivan Perišić (3); Nikica Jelavic (2), Dejan Lovren (3); Danijel Subašić (0); Danijel Pranjić (2), Gordon Schildenfeld (0); Mateo Kovačić (3), Ante Rebić (3), Šime Vrsaljko (2); Vedran Ćorluka (3), Stipe Pletikosa (3); Luka Modrić (3), Ivan Rakitić (3), Sammir (1); Eduardo Alves da Silva (1), Darijo Srna (3), Domagoj Vida (0), Ognjen Vukojević (0)
2018 (7)	21 (1 in Belgium, 4 in Germany, 1 in England, 1 in France, 6 in Italy, 1 in Austria, 1 in Russia, 4 in Spain, 1 in Turkey, 1 in Ukraine)	Lovre Kalinić (1); Tin Jedvaj (1), Andrej Kramarić (7), Marko Pjaca (4), Ante Rebić (6); Dejan Lovren (7); Danijel Subašić (7); Milan Badelj (3), Marcelo Brozović (6), Nikola Kalinić , Mario Mandžukić (6), Ivan Perišić (7), Ivan Strinić (6); Duje Ćaleta-Car (1); Vedran Corluka (4); Mateo Kovačić (5), Luka Modrić (7), Ivan Rakitić (7), Šime Vrsaljko (6); Domagoj Vida (6); Josip Pivarić (4)

Games

Croatia has played 23 World Cup games so far, of which 11 have been won, 8 lost and 4 ended in a draw. Three games had to be extended to determine a winner. Two were won on penalties and one by goal.

Croatia took part in the opening game against the hosts once (2014). Croatia has had to face the hosts three times: once in the semi-finals (1998), once in the quarter-finals (2018) and once in the preliminary round.

Croatia has already played twice against Argentina, Brazil, France, Japan and Mexico. All other 13 World Cup matches have been unique so far.

Croatia lost twice (1998 in the semi-finals and 2018 in the final) to eventual world champions, in both cases France.

In 2006 (in the preliminary round) Croatia played against the defending champions.

Croatia met newcomers to the World Cup four times: 1998 (when they were newcomers themselves) / Jamaica and Japan, 2002 / Ecuador and 2018 / Iceland.

So far Croatia has played against teams from all confederations, which only applies to Brazil, Chile, Germany, Italy, Scotland and the USSR. Croatia has played the fewest World Cup games of these teams.

All World Cup games
No.	date	opponent	Result	occasion	venue	Remarks
1.	06/14/1998	Jamaica	3: 1	Preliminary round	Lens ( FRA )	First international match against Jamaica
2.	06/20/1998	Japan	1-0	Preliminary round	Nantes ( FRA )
3.	06/26/1998	Argentina	0: 1	Preliminary round	Bordeaux ( FRA )
4th	06/30/1998	Romania	1-0	Round of 16	Bordeaux ( FRA )
5.	07/04/1998	Germany	3-0	Quarter finals	Lyon ( FRA )
6th	07/08/1998	France	1: 2	Semifinals	Saint-Denis ( FRA )	First international match against France
7th	07/11/1998	Netherlands	2: 1	3rd place match	Paris ( FRA )	First international match against the Netherlands 75th international match
8th.	06/03/2002	Mexico	0: 1	Preliminary round	Niigata ( JPN )
9.	06/08/2002	Italy	2: 1	Preliminary round	Kashima ( JPN )
10.	06/13/2002	Ecuador	0: 1	Preliminary round	Yokohama ( JPN )	First international match against Ecuador
11.	06/13/2006	Brazil	0: 1	Preliminary round	Berlin ( GER )
12.	06/18/2006	Japan	0-0	Preliminary round	Nuremberg ( GER )
13.	06/22/2006	Australia	2: 2	Preliminary round	Stuttgart ( GER )
14th	06/12/2014	Brazil	1: 3	Opening game	Sao Paulo ( BRA )	World Cup opening game, first international game in South America
15th	06/18/2014	Cameroon	4-0	Preliminary round	Manaus ( BRA )	First international match against Cameroon
16.	06/23/2014	Mexico	1: 3	Preliminary round	Recife ( BRA )
17th	June 16, 2018	Nigeria	2-0	Preliminary round	Kaliningrad ( RUS )	First game against Nigeria
18th	June 21, 2018	Argentina	3-0	Preliminary round	Nizhny Novgorod ( RUS )	100th international match for Vedran Ćorluka (substitute in the 2nd minute of added time)
19th	06/26/2018	Iceland	2: 1	Preliminary round	Rostov-on-Don ( RUS )
20th	07/01/2018	Denmark	1: 1 n.V. (1: 1, 1: 1), 3: 2 i. E.	Round of 16	Nizhny Novgorod ( RUS )
21st	07/07/2018	Russia	2: 2 n.v. (1: 1, 1: 1), 4: 3 i. E.	Quarter finals	Sochi ( RUS )
22nd	07/11/2018	England	2: 1 a.d.	Semifinals	Moscow ( RUS )
23.	07/15/2018	France	2: 4	final	Moscow ( RUS )

Highest victories and defeats

The Croatian team achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Argentina : Preliminary round 2018 3-0
•  Germany : quarter-finals 1998 3-0
•  Jamaica : Preliminary round 1998 3-1 (only game against Jamaica)
•  Japan : 1998 preliminary round 1-0 (only win against Japan)
•  Cameroon : Preliminary round 2014 4-0 (only game against Cameroon)
•  Netherlands : Game for 3rd place 1998 2-1 (only win against the Netherlands)
•  Nigeria : Preliminary round 2018 2-0 (first game against Nigeria)

The Croatian team suffered their biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Argentina : Preliminary round 1998 0: 1 (also a 1: 2 in a friendly match in 2014)
•  Brazil : Preliminary round 2014 1: 3 (also a 0: 2 in a friendly match)
•  Ecuador : 2002 preliminary round 0-1 (only game against Ecuador)
•  Mexico : preliminary round 2014 1: 3

Records

• Before that, Šuker was the top scorer in 1998 with 6 goals.
• Josip Šimunić is the first player to receive three yellow cards in a match (Croatia v Australia at the 2006 World Cup) . Only after the third yellow card was he expelled from the field.
• Croatia became the first team to take the lead through an own goal by their opponents in the opening game (2014 against Brazil). It was also the Brazilians' first own goal at a World Cup.
• Croatia are the first team to need 3 extra times in the knockout round to reach the final.

See also

• Croatian national soccer team / European championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Croatia on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Won two games on penalties
2. ↑ In Brazil (1950), Switzerland (1954), Chile (1962), the Federal Republic of Germany (1974), Spain (1982) and Italy (1990) as a player in the Yugoslav team.
3. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930–2014 (PDF file; 195 kB)
4. ↑ Without Croatian players
5. ↑ Croatia - Belgium 1-0
6. ↑ fifa.com: "Croatian player punished for discriminatory behavior"
7. ↑ fifa.com: "Game suspensions to be served in the final round of the FIFA World Cup ™"
8. ↑ fifa.com: "CAS supports FIFA sanctions for discrimination in the Šimunić case"
9. ↑ fifa.com: "Decisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee on World Cup cases"
10. ^ At AS Monaco
11. ↑ In the final phase of the first group game, Nikola Kalinić was supposed to be substituted on, but he refused, citing back pain. Since the same thing happened in the friendly against Brazil, the coach sent him home. A subsequent nomination of another player was not possible