Croatia national team – Croatia is one of 32 qualified nations in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The Croatian team previously appeared six times in FIFA World Cup football. Croatia showed their best performances in the Russia World Cup, where they finished as runner-up.
The Croatian team directly made it into the Qatar finals after becoming the group H winner from the UEFA region. Let’s read more about Croatian football history, playing squad, and World Cup history.
Croatian Football Brief History
Pre-Independence
Croatia was a part of several colonials in the past for a couple of centuries. Initially, it was a part of Austria-Hungarian territories. Croatian became interested in association football in the mid-1870s. According to historians, English workers brought soccer to Belgium, who were used to playing during their holidays.
In the early 19th century, they established different clubs. From 1919-39, it was a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and a couple of Croatian footballers also played in the 1930 FIFA World Cup as a part of Yugoslavia. During the second World War outbreak, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia dissolved. Then, it became an independent state for the next four years.
The Croatian team played their first international match against Switzerland in 1940, where they beat the Swiss team 4-0. By the end of World War II, Croatia played more than dozens of friendly matches.
In 1945, again it became a part of Second Yugoslavia (Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia). Then, many players from Croatia state played as a part of a Yugoslavian team in the FIFA World Cup until their independence. Second Yugoslavia dissolved in 1991 and finally, Croatia became independent.
Modern Croatia
After becoming an independent nation, Croatia rejoined FIFA in 1992 and UEFA in 1993. They missed the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. Croatia made its debut in the UEFA Euro Championship in 1996. The team reached the quarter-finals of the tournament. The same year, they won the King Hassan II International Cup Tournament in Morocco. Likewise, they became a runner-up in the 1997 Kirin Cup (Japan) and the winner of the 1999 Korea Cup.
Croatia FIFA World Cup’s History
In 1998, the Croatian team did make it into the France World Cup. The team beat Jamaica and Japan in the group round and lost to Argentina. In the pre-quarterfinals, it defeated Romania. Furthermore, in the quarter-finals, the team scored 3 goals against Germany.
However, the team lost the match against France in the semifinals. And in the third-place match, it beat the Netherlands. During the tournament, Croatian striker Davor Suker became the highest scorer of the tournament with six goals. As a result, he received the Golden Boot award from FIFA.
In the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, it was out of the group stage. Moreover, it did not qualify for the South Africa World Cup (2010). The team also did not qualify for the knockout round of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
The 2018 World Cup became lucky for the team as they made it into finals for the first time. It won all matches of the first round against Argentina, Nigeria, and Iceland. Similarly, it defeated Denmark in a penalty shootout in the second round. In the quarter-finals, it won over Russia in a penalty shootout.
And in the semifinals, Croatia defeated England and reached the finals. The Croatian team was one more step to lift the World Cup trophy. Unfortunately, they lost the game to France 4-2 and ended up as runner-up. Croatian captain Luka Modric won the best player award of the tournament.
5 Best Players of Croatia
Many Croatian players play professional soccer from top clubs in the World. In Croatian history, Davor Suker is the top scorer of the nation. Whereas, current captain Luka Modric is the most capped player and has played 152 caps and scored 22 goals since 2006.
Former player Mario Mandzukic is the second-highest scorer who scored 33 goals in his 89 appearances from 2007-2018. 2018 World Cup player Ivan Rakitic is also one of the most capped players of all time. Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric are also called among the best players in the nation.
Qatar World Cup 2022 Croatia Squad
Croatia became a winner of the Qatar World Cup qualifiers from Group H of the European region and reserved their seat for the tournament. It will meet in the rival neighbor Belgium, Canada, and Morocco in group matches.
The Croatian team will play their first match against Morocco on 23 November 2022 at Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor. The first match of the twenty-second World Cup will begin on 20 November 2022 between Qatar and Ecuador at Al Bayt Stadium, Al Khor.
Since 2017, Croatian manager Zlato Dalic has been leading the team. He led Croatia in the 2018 World Cup, 2020 Euro Championship, and 2022 World Cup qualifier. Croatia will announce their playing xi squad in October 2022.
