At the 1998 FIFA World Cup Croatia participated in the event for the first time. The country went on to finish third.
Croatia was drawn in Group A of UEFA's World Cup qualifications along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Greece, and Slovenia. Croatia finished second, behind Denmark, and qualified for the World Cup. The team had the following results:
The final standings were the following:
Team captain Zvonimir Boban is the only player that appeared in all 10 qualifying matches. Davor à  uker was top scorer with 5 goals. Ardian Kozniku, Petar Krpan, Anthony à  eriàand Vladimir Vasilj did not appear in any of the qualifying matches but made the final World Cup squad.
Complete list of players in the qualifying matches