Croatian national football team

This article is about the Croatian men's national soccer team . For the women's team, see Croatian Women's National Football Team .

Croatia
Hrvatska

Nickname (s)	"Kockasti", "Vatreni" ( German  "Die Karierte" , "Die Fierigen")
Association	Hrvatski nogometni savez
confederacy	UEFA
Technical sponsor	Nike
Head coach	Zlatko Dalić
Assistant coach	Dražen Ladić Ivica Olić Marjan Mrmić
captain	Luka Modrić
Record scorer	Before Šuker (45)
Record player	Darijo Srna (134)
Home stadium	Maksimir Stadium
FIFA code	CRO
FIFA rank	6. (1642 points) (as of July 16, 2020)
First jersey Second jersey
Balance sheet
320 games 168 wins 87 draws 65 losses
statistics
First international match Banovina Croatia 4-0 Switzerland ( Zagreb , Kingdom of Yugoslavia ; April 2, 1940 )
Biggest win Croatia 10-0 San Marino ( Rijeka , Croatia ; June 4, 2016 )
Biggest defeat Spain 6-0 Croatia ( Elche , Spain ; September 11, 2018 )
Successes in tournaments
World Championship
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1998 )
Best results	Vice World Champion ( 2018 )
European Championship
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1996 )
Best results	Quarter-finals ( 1996 ; 2008 )
(As of November 16, 2019)

The Croatian national team before the World Cup final in Russia against France on July 15, 2018.

The Croatian national football team is the football selection of the Croatian Football Association . The biggest success of the selection so far is the runner-up world title (2nd place) at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. She also reached third place at the 1998 World Cup in France and the quarter-finals at the 1996 European Championships in England and 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.

history

After the Croatian Football Association was founded in 1912, it was another 28 years before a Croatian national football team competed on an international level for the first time. This game, played against Switzerland in 1940, marks the beginning of the first phase of Croatian international history. On July 14, 1941, the Croatian Football Association became an official member of FIFA and played several international matches, but apart from the games against neutral Switzerland only against countries that were allied with the German Reich or were under its influence. With the incorporation of Croatia into the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia after the end of the Second World War , membership in FIFA and Croatian international football history was initially interrupted for several decades.

For decades, Croatian players played for the Yugoslav national football team . In the course of the independence efforts in Croatia at the beginning of the 1990s, it came to the first independent international match of a Croatian national team on October 17, 1990, when a US national team was defeated 2-1 in Zagreb . The first captain of the “new” Croatian team was Zlatko Kranjčar and the first goal scorer was Aljoša Asanović , who had put the Croatian team in the lead in the 29th minute of the game. Until the final declaration of independence on June 25, 1991, two more games followed before the game operations initially suffered from the Croatian war . Until the end of the war, there were hardly any home international matches.

After Croatia gained sovereignty, on July 3, 1992, she was re-admitted to FIFA. The team did not take part in qualifying for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, but qualified for participation in the 1996 European Championship and qualified for the 1998 World Cup , which took third place and established itself among the European football nations. With the exception of the European Championship in 2000 and the World Championship in 2010 , the qualification for every major tournament has been achieved since the re-entry into FIFA.

Due to racist incidents in the match against Italy on July 12, 2015, the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body decided on July 23, 2015 to punish the Croatian Football Association with a deduction of one point in qualifying for the 2016 UEFA European Championship. Furthermore, the HNS was fined EUR 100,000 and had to play two games without spectators. The Poljud Stadium in Split has been suspended for the remaining qualifying matches.

Trainer

Surname	Term of office
Dražan Jerković	1990-1992
Stanko Poklepović	1992-1993
Vlatko Marković	1993-1994
Tomislav Ivić	1994
Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević	1994-2000
Mirko Jozić	2000-2002
Otto Baric	2002-2004
Zlatko Kranjčar	2004-2006
Slaven Bilic	2006–2012
Igor Štimac	2012-2013
Niko Kovač	2013-2015
Ante Čačić	2015-2017
Zlatko Dalić	2017–

Balance sheets

FIFA World Ranking

• Croatia was named “Newcomer of the Year” by FIFA on the basis of the FIFA world rankings in 1994 and 1998.

Current rank	005	4th April 2019
Highest rank	003	January 27, 1999
Lowest rank	125	March 15, 1994

European championships

→ Main article : Croatian national soccer team / European championships

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1960	France	then as part of Yugoslavia	-	-	-	Croatia was part of Yugoslavia
1964	Spain
1968	Italy
1972	Belgium
1976	Yugoslavia
1980	Italy
1984	France
1988	Germany
1992	Sweden	not possible there because of the war in Croatia	-	-	Stanko Poklepović	Successfully qualified as part of Yugoslavia , but suspended after the outbreak of war
1996	England	Quarter finals	Germany	Quarter finals	Miroslav Blažević	EM debut and best EM result
2000	Belgium and the Netherlands	Not qualified	Federal Republic of Yugoslavia , Ireland , Macedonia , Malta	-	Miroslav Blažević	Failed in qualification at the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Ireland , which also failed to qualify; End of the term of office of World Cup bronze coach Blažević
2004	Portugal	Preliminary round	England , France , Switzerland	Preliminary round	Otto Baric	3rd place in group B; End of the term of office of team boss Barić
2008	Austria and Switzerland	Quarter finals	Turkey	Quarter finals	Slaven Bilic	quarter-finalist again; Defeat on penalties
2012	Poland and Ukraine	Preliminary round	Ireland , Italy , Spain	Preliminary round	Slaven Bilic	3rd place in group C; End of the tenure of coach Bilić
2016	France	Round of 16	Portugal	Round of 16	Ante Čačić	After victories against Turkey and Spain and a draw against the Czech Republic qualified as group winners for the knockout round; Defeat in extra time in the round of 16
2021	Europe	qualified				Opponents in the qualification are Azerbaijan , Slovakia , Hungary and Wales

World championships

World championships

→ Main article : Croatian National Football Team / World Championships

1930-1941	Croatia was part of Yugoslavia
1941-1945	No World Cup held during the Second World War, Croatia independent and FIFA member
1945-1991	Croatia was part of Yugoslavia
1994 in the USA	FIFA ban for all countries of ex-Yugoslavia, Croatia since 1992 FIFA member
1998 in France	Third
2002 in South Korea / Japan	Preliminary round
2006 in Germany	Preliminary round
2010 in South Africa	not qualified
2014 in Brazil	Preliminary round
2018 in Russia	Vice world champion

Current

Squad

The table names the 23 players who were nominated for the squad for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Slovakia on November 16 and against Georgia on November 19, 2019.

position	No.	Surname	society	birth date	Calls	Gates	debut	Last use
goal
	01	Dominik Livaković	Dinamo Zagreb	0Jan. 9, 1995	009	00	Jan. 11, 2017	Nov 16, 2019
	12	Lovre Kalinić	Aston Villa	0Apr 3, 1990	018th	00	Nov 12, 2014	24 Mar 2019
	23	Simon Sluga	Luton Town	17th Mar 1993	001	00	June 11, 2019	June 11, 2019
Defense
	03	Borna Barišić	Glasgow Rangers	Nov 10, 1992	012	01	Jan. 11, 2017	Nov 16, 2019
	05	Matej Mitrovic	Club Bruges	Nov 10, 1993	012	02	Nov 12, 2014	Oct 15, 2018
	05	Duje Ćaleta-Car	Olympique Marseille	17 Sep 1996	004th	00	03rd June 2018	Nov 16, 2019
	14th	Mile Škorić	NK Osijek	June 19, 1991	002	00	22 Mar 2008	0June 8, 2019
	16	Tin Jedvaj	FC Augsburg	Nov 28, 1995	023	02	04th Sep 2014	Nov 16, 2019
	17th	Dario Melnjak	Çaykur Rizespor	Oct 31, 1992	001	00	June 11, 2019	June 11, 2019
	22nd	Karlo Bartolec	FC Copenhagen	Apr 20, 1995	004th	00	Oct 15, 2018	0Sep 9 2019
		Dino Peric	Dinamo Zagreb	July 12, 1994	001	00	Nov 16, 2019	Nov 16, 2019
midfield
	07th	Ivan Rakitić	FC Barcelona	10 Mar 1988	106	15th	Oct 16, 2007	Oct 13, 2019
	08th	Mateo Kovačić	Chelsea FC	0May 6, 1994	055	01	June 10, 2013	Nov 16, 2019
	10	Luka Modrić	real Madrid	0Sep 9 1985	127	16	01st Mar 2006	Nov 16, 2019
	11	Marcelo Brozović	Inter Milan	Nov 16, 1992	051	06th	0June 6, 2014	Nov 16, 2019
	13	Nikola Vlašić	CSKA Moscow	0Oct. 4, 1997	010	02	May 28, 2017	Nov 16, 2019
	15th	Mario Pašalić	Atalanta Bergamo	0Feb 9, 1995	011	00	04th Sep 2014	06 Sep 2019
	19th	Milan Badelj	AC Florence	Feb 25, 1989	049	02	May 23, 2010	Oct 13, 2019
attack
	04th	Ivan Perišić	FC Bayern Munich	0Feb. 2, 1989	087	24	26th Mar 2011	Nov 16, 2019
	07th	Josip Brekalo	VfL Wolfsburg	June 23, 1998	011	00	Nov 15, 2018	Nov 16, 2019
	09	Mislav Oršić	Dinamo Zagreb	June 19, 1991	002	00	0Sep 9 2019	Nov 16, 2019
	18th	Ante Rebić	AC Milan	21 Sep 1993	033	03	14 Aug 2013	Nov 16, 2019
	20th	Bruno Petković	Dinamo Zagreb	16 Sep 1994	008th	05	24 Mar 2019	Nov 16, 2019

International matches

→ Main article : List of the international matches of the Croatian national football team

The following table lists all international matches planned for the Croatian national football team in 2019 .

date	Venue	opponent	Result	Type of game	Goal scorers
21 Mar 2019	Croatia	Azerbaijan	02: 1	Qualification for the European Football Championship 2020	Barišić (44th), Kramarić (79th)
24 Mar 2019	Hungary	Hungary	01: 2	Qualification for the European Football Championship 2020	Rebić (13.)
0June 8, 2019	Croatia	Wales	02: 1	Qualification for the European Football Championship 2020	Lawrence (17th, own goal), Perišić (48th)
June 11, 2019	Croatia	Tunisia	01: 2	Friendly match	Petković (47.)
06 Sep 2019	Slovakia	Slovakia	04-0	Qualification for the European Football Championship 2020	Vlašić (45.), Perišić (46.), Petković (72.), Lovren (89.)
0Sep 9 2019	Azerbaijan	Azerbaijan	01: 1	Qualification for the European Football Championship 2020	Modrić (11.)
Oct 10, 2019	Croatia	Hungary	03-0	Qualification for the European Football Championship 2020	Modrić (5th), Petković (24th), Petković (42nd)
Oct 13, 2019	Wales	Wales	01: 1	Qualification for the European Football Championship 2020	Vlašić (9th)
Nov 16, 2019	Croatia	Slovakia	03: 1	Qualification for the European Football Championship 2020	Vlašić (56th), Petković (60th), Perišić (74th)
19 Nov 2019	Croatia	Georgia	02: 1	Friendly match	Papunashvili (18th), Kashia (25th) (ET), Perišić (53rd)

Color legend:

Croatian team win

draw

Defeat of the Croatian team

Scheduled game

Record holder

For a complete listing of all players in the Croatian national team, see List of Croatian National Football Players .

List of the most frequently used players

rank	player	International appearances	Period
1	Darijo Srna	134	2002-2016
2	Luka Modrić	127	since 2006
3	Stipe Pletikosa	114	1999-2014
4th	Ivan Rakitić	106	since 2007
5	Josip Šimunić	105	2001-2013
6th	Ivica Olić	104	2002-2015
7th	Vedran Ćorluka	103	2006-2018
8th	Dario Simic	100	1996-2008
9	Mario Mandžukić	089	2007-2018
10	Ivan Perišić	087	since 2011

As of November 16, 2019

Record goalkeeper

rank	player	International appearances
1	Stipe Pletikosa	114
2	Dražen Ladic	059
3	Danijel Subašić	044
4th	Tomislav Butina	028
5	Vedran Runje	022nd
6th	Lovre Kalinić	018th
7th	Marjan Mrmić	014th
8th	Tonči Gabrić	.009
	Dominik Livaković
10	Željko Pavlović	.007th

As of November 16, 2019

Record goal scorers

rank	player	International goals
1	Before that, Šuker	45
2	Mario Mandžukić	33
3	Eduardo Alves da Silva	29
4th	Ivan Perišić	24
5	Darijo Srna	22nd
6th	Ivica Olić	20th
7th	Luka Modrić	16
8th	Nikola Kalinić	15th
	Niko Kranjčar
	Ivan Rakitić
	Goran Vlaović

As of November 16, 2019

Fan club

Choreography by the Croatian fans

The Croatian football association HNS founded the fan club “Uvijek vjerni” ( German : always faithful, derived from the Latin motto semper fidelis ) in March 2008 . The association organizes the allocation of tickets for international matches according to a point system through the club.

The national team is sponsored by the Croatian beer brand Ožujsko .

International matches against German-speaking national soccer teams

→ Main article : List of the international matches of the Croatian national football team

International matches against the German national soccer team

	date	place	Home team	result	Visiting team
01.	June 15, 1941	Vienna	German Empire	5: 1	Croatia
02.	January 20, 1942	Zagreb	Croatia	0: 2	German Empire
03.	November 1, 1942	Stuttgart	German Empire	5: 1	Croatia
04th	June 23, 1996	Manchester	Croatia	1: 2	Germany
05.	4th July 1998	Lyon	Croatia	3-0	Germany
06th	March 29, 2000	Zagreb	Croatia	1: 1	Germany
07th	February 18, 2004	Split	Croatia	1: 2	Germany
08th.	June 12, 2008	Klagenfurt	Croatia	2: 1	Germany

International matches against the Liechtenstein national football team

	date	place	Home team	result	Visiting team
01.	November 14, 2009	Vinkovci	Croatia	5-0	Liechtenstein
02.	August 14, 2013	Vaduz	Liechtenstein	2: 3	Croatia

International matches against the Austrian national soccer team

	date	place	Home team	result	Visiting team
01.	April 26, 2000	Vienna	Austria	1: 2	Croatia
02.	February 28, 2001	Rijeka	Croatia	1-0	Austria
03.	May 23, 2006	Vienna	Austria	1: 4	Croatia
04th	June 8, 2008	Vienna	Austria	0: 1	Croatia
05.	May 19, 2010	Klagenfurt	Austria	0: 1	Croatia

International matches against the Swiss national football team

	date	place	Home team	result	Visiting team
01.	April 2, 1940	Zagreb	Croatia	4-0	Switzerland
02.	April 21, 1940	Bern	Switzerland	0: 1	Croatia
03.	April 4, 1943	Zurich	Switzerland	1-0	Croatia
04th	June 13, 2004	Leiria	Croatia	0-0	Switzerland
05.	August 15, 2012	Split	Croatia	2: 4	Switzerland
06th	5th March 2014	St. Gallen	Switzerland	2: 2	Croatia

So far there have been no matches against Luxembourg .

See also

• Soccer in Croatia
• List of Croatian national soccer players
• List of international matches of the Croatian national football team
• Croatian national football team (U-17 juniors)
• Croatian national football team (U-20 men)
• Croatian national football team (U-21 men)

Web links

Commons : Croatian National Football Team  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Homepage of the Croatian Association (Croatian / English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The FIFA / Coca-Cola World Ranking. In: fifa.com. July 16, 2020, accessed July 21, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Croatian Football Association (HNS) fined , UEFA website, 23 July 2015.
3. ↑ IZBORNIK DALIĆ ODABRAO IGRAČE ZA UTAKMICE SA SLOVAČKOM I GRUZIJOM , hns-cff.hr, accessed on November 9, 2019 (Croatian)
4. ↑ NEW CAN DESIGN FOR THE WORLD CUP BY BALL AND OŽUJSKO , packagingeurope.com, June 20, 2018