The national team of Croatia has competed in the FIFA World Cup six times, finishing on podium on three occasions. Since gaining independence in 1991, Croatia has appeared in and qualified for the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022 editions of the tournament. Croatia's best result since gaining admission into FIFA in 1992 was securing second place against France in the 2018 World Cup Final, where they lost 4âÂÂ2. The national side has collected three World Cup medals, two bronze (1998, 2022) and one silver (2018). Due to its small geography and populace, Croatia is often one of the smallest countries competing in the tournament. They are second-smallest country by population (after Uruguay) and land mass (after the Netherlands) to reach a World Cup Final.
The World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II. The tournament consists of two parts, the three-year qualification phase and the one-month final phase. The current format involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. It is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 1 billion people watching.
In the draw for the final tournament, held on 4 December 1997 at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, Croatia was drawn to play in Group H, along with two-time World Cup winners Argentina in addition to fellow debutants Jamaica and Japan. In their first match Croatia beat Jamaica 3–1, in a game memorable for Croatia's first ever World Cup goal, an opener scored by Mario Staniàin the 27th minute. Croatia went on to beat Japan 1–0 before losing their third group stage match against Argentina 0–1, in a game which was of little importance as both teams had already qualified for the round of 16.
In round of 16, Croatia faced Group G winners Romania (who had finished top of their group in front of England) and won the game through a penalty converted by Davor à  uker in stoppage time of the first half after a foul on Aljoà ¡a Asanoviàby Gabriel Popescu. After that Croatia faced Germany in the quarter-finals, in a game which was at the time touted by the Croatian media as a great opportunity to get back at Germany as it was them who had knocked out Croatia in the UEFA Euro 1996 quarter-finals two years earlier. In the 40th minute Christian Wörns received a direct red card and was sent off for fouling Davor à  uker, and Robert Jarni opened the scoring eight minutes later in stoppage time of the first half. Goran Vlaoviàand Davor à  uker added a second and third and the game ended in a 3–0 win, which is still regarded by fans and the media as one of the most memorable matches Croatia ever played.
Croatia went on to face hosts France in the semi-finals, but lost the game 1–2 when an opener scored by à  uker in the 46th minute was immediately equalised by Lilian Thuram the following minute. Thuram also scored France's second goal in the 69th minute. These were the only two goals Thuram ever scored for France in an international career spanning from 1994 to 2008 which saw him earn a total of 147 caps. After Croatia's exit manager Blaà ¾eviàwas heavily criticized by Croatian press for not sending in Robert ProsineÃÂki soon enough after France took the lead (ProsineÃÂki came on as a substitute for Mario Staniàjust minutes before the final whistle). Croatia captain Zvonimir Boban tried to take the blame for the defeat saying that he felt he needed to be substituted but wanted to stay on the pitch just a little while longer (it was his defending mistake which led to Thuram's equaliser).
After being knocked out in the semi-finals, Croatia looked for consolation against Netherlands in the match for third place played just three days later at Parc des Princes. Croatia went on to win 2–1 through goals by à  uker and ProsineÃÂki, but after the final whistle Draà ¾en Ladiàwas labelled player of the match, for a career-best performance which saw him save numerous shots from Patrick Kluivert, Clarence Seedorf and Marc Overmars.
Manager Miroslav Blaà ¾eviàincluded the following 22 players in the finals tournament squad. The 16 players who were capped at least once in one of the seven matches Croatia played in France are highlighted in bold. The remaining six players were unused at the tournament (defenders Goran Juriàand Anthony à  eriÃÂ, defensive midfielder MamiÃÂ, striker Ardian Kozniku, and second and third-choice goalkeepers Marijan Mrmiàand Vladimir Vasilj). On the other hand, six players appeared in all seven matches: goalkeeper Draà ¾en LadiÃÂ, defender Slaven BiliÃÂ, midfielders Aljoà ¡a AsanoviÃÂ, Mario StaniÃÂ, Robert Jarni, and striker Davor à  uker.
Out of 11 goals scored by Croatia at the tournament, six were scored by Davor à  uker, who was awarded the Golden Shoe Award for the top goalscorer of the tournament, as well as the Silver Ball Award as the second most outstanding player of the tournament (behind Ronaldo of Brazil). Robert ProsineÃÂki (who was retroactively given the 1990 FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award, where he had appeared for Yugoslavia), also scored two goals in matches against Jamaica and the Netherlands, which made him the only player in World Cup history to score goals at finals tournaments for two different countries.
For three players (Jarni, ProsineÃÂki and à  uker) this was their second appearance at the World Cup, having been members of Yugoslavia squad at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Alen Bokà ¡iàwould have been fourth, having been a key player in Croatia's qualifying campaign, but he was dropped from the tournament squad after sustaining an injury just months before the tournament in France.
By beating Netherlands, Croatia finished third in their World Cup debut, a feat matched only by Eusébio's Portugal in the 1966 World Cup 32 years earlier. Consequently, Croatia reached their highest ever FIFA ranking when they were third in the world for three months between January and March 1999 and were given the Best Mover of the Year Award in 1998, the only team so far which won the award twice (having been Best Movers in 1994). Upon returning to Croatia, the whole squad was decorated by President Franjo TuÃÂman, and were nicknamed "BronÃÂani" ("The Bronze Ones") and "Vatreni'" ("The Fiery Ones") in the media. The latter stuck as a permanent nickname for the national team.
Most players continued playing for the team throughout the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifiers, but after Croatia failed to qualify manager Miroslav Blaà ¾eviàresigned and soon after that some of the players retired from the national team. The next manager Mirko Joziàkept some of the remaining members of the Bronze Generation and even took them to 2002 FIFA World Cup (such as à  uker, ProsineÃÂki, Jarni, StaniÃÂ, Soldo, VlaoviÃÂ, à  imiÃÂ), but they failed to make an impact at the tournament and almost all of them retired soon afterwards, but a number of them later became prominent figures in Croatian football.
Zvonimir Boban went into sports publishing and took over as CEO of Croatia's sports daily Sportske novosti in 2005 and worked as a commentator for Italian television stations. à  uker launched his line of sports apparel and established a football academy carrying his name. Zvonimir Soldo, Robert Jarni, Slaven BiliÃÂ, Igor à  timac and Draà ¾en Ladiàall took up managing jobs (Soldo coached Dinamo Zagreb to a Double in 2008, while Jarni, Biliàand à  timac all had managerial spells at Hajduk Split). à  timac later became chairman of the association of Prva HNL clubs, the body regulating top flight football in Croatia, and Biliàtook over as Croatia manager in 2006, hiring Aljoà ¡a AsanoviÃÂ, Robert ProsineÃÂki and Marijan Mrmiàas his assistants. Draà ¾en Ladiàtook up managing the Croatia under-21 team in 2006, and Krunoslav JurÃÂiàis the current manager at the Egyptian side Pyramid FC which he led to the CAF Champions League title in 2025. Miroslav Blaà ¾eviàlater managed a number of clubs in Croatia, Slovenia and Switzerland before taking over as Bosnia and Herzegovina manager in 2008 and sensationally leading them to the verge of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
Croatia qualified for their second world cup after navigating Group 6 of UEFA's World Cup qualifications without a loss, finishing first and directly qualifying ahead of Belgium, Scotland, Latvia and San Marino.
Croatia qualification led by manager Miroslav Blaà ¾eviÃÂ, but after tying the initial two matches, he was replaced by Mirko JoziÃÂ, who would manage the team during the World Cup.
Croatia started their World Cup campaign by losing 1âÂÂ0 to Mexico. They defeated Italy 2âÂÂ1 after two Italian goals were incorrectly disallowed. Croatia needed a two-goal victory over debutants Ecuador to confirm qualification for the knockout stages but would be eliminated if they lost by two goals (regardless of the concurrent Italy vs Mexico match), but also could qualify with a one-goal victory if Italy didn't defeat Mexico, and could also qualify with a draw if Italy lost to Mexico. Ecuador had taken a shock 1âÂÂ0 lead over Croatia, who could not break down the Ecuadorian defense, and only solid goalkeeping from Stipe Pletikosa prevented the South Americans from winning by a greater scoreline. A late Italy goal to make the scoreline 1âÂÂ1 in their match vs Mexico meant a draw would not send Croatia through, requiring two goals in three minutes to advance, but the Vatreni did not score and exited the competition at the group stage for the first time.
Croatia qualified automatically for the World Cup after topping their qualification group without losing a game, ahead of Sweden, who tied on points and had a better goal difference but who Croatia had defeated twice. Future superstar Luka ModriÃÂ made the final World Cup squad in spite of not playing in a single qualification match.
Croatia selected Bad Brückenau in northern Bavaria as their training base. The team played four warm-up matches in preparation for the World Cup, defeating Austria in Vienna 4âÂÂ1, drawing Iran in Osijek 2âÂÂ2, before losing to Poland and Spain in friendlies in Germany and Switzerland, respectively.
A pitch incident marred Croatia's opening game against Brazil, a 1âÂÂ0 loss, when a Croatian fan ran onto the pitch near Dado Prà ¡o. Security also confiscated 823 flares, but two flares were successfully lit in the Croatian supporters' section.
After a scoreless draw with Japan, Croatia entered their final match against Australia needing a win to advance. Darijo Srna scored the opener after two minutes and Croatia immediately began playing defensively to protect their lead, allowing the Australians to pressure for the rest of the first half until Craig Moore converted a penalty in the 38th minute after a Stjepan Tomas handball. A defensive error by Australian keeper Kalac led to Niko Kovaàputting Croatia up again in the 58th, but this led to Australia pressing again with Harry Kewell equalising with eleven minutes left. The final part of the game was marred by a second yellow card shown to Josip à  imuniàwithout him getting sent off by referee Graham Poll - à  imuniàwould eventually receive his sending off after a "third" yellow card in the game's final moments.
Luka ModriÃÂ is the only Croatian player to ever win the Golden Ball award. He was team captain in 2018, when Croatia reached the World Cup final.
<small><nowiki>*</nowiki>Robert Jarni also played one match at the 1990 World Cup, representing SFR Yugoslavia.</small>
<small><nowiki>*</nowiki>Robert ProsineÃÂki also scored one goal at the 1990 World Cup, representing SFR Yugoslavia.</small>
Team Awards
Individual Awards