Croatia participated in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This was their fifth appearance. Croatia managed to reach the final where they lost to France and finished second in the tournament.
Croatia was in Group I of UEFA's World Cup qualifications. They played alongside Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland and Kosovo. Croatia finished as runner-up in the group and entered the second-round play-offs where the team beat Greece and qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Croatia national team was led by manager Ante ÃÂaÃÂiÃÂ until 7 October 2017 when he was, due to a series of bad results, replaced by Zlatko DaliÃÂ.
The results of the group stage
Altogether 26 players appeared in the qualifying matches. Domagoj Vida is the only player that appeared in all 12 matches playing the full 90 minutes of all games. Mario Mandà ¾ukiàwas the top scorer with 5 achieved goals. Filip BradariÃÂ, Duje ÃÂaleta-Car and Dominik Livakoviàdid not appear in any of the qualifying matches but made the final World Cup squad.
Complete list of players in the qualifying matches