Croatia issued a signal of intent when they finished third in their inaugural FIFA World Cup™ at France 1998. After decades of competing in the Yugoslavia umbrella, the Balkan nation have consistently punched above their weight on football’s biggest stage since gaining independence.
In reaching the final at Russia 2018 and securing another third-place finish at Qatar 2022, Croatia possess the incredible record of progressing to the semi-finals in half of their World Cup appearances to date. It is all the more impressive considering that Croatia have a population of just under four million.
With talisman Luka Modric still a hugely influential force at the age of 40, Croatia cruised through UEFA qualifying and it would be little surprise if Zlatko Dalic’s men go far once again at the FIFA World Cup 2026™.
Croatia coach: Zlatko Dalic
Dalic is preparing to lead Croatia for a third consecutive FIFA World Cup, having guided the nation to deep runs in the past two tournaments. The 57-year-old took the reins in 2017 — initially without a contract — and he has since made the Balkan nation consistent over-achievers in international football.
While Dalic continues to rely on Modric and fellow veterans Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric, he made a point of bringing in a series of up-and-coming players to the qualifying campaign — namely 18-year-old centre-back Luka Vuskovic, plus the likes of Igor Matanovic, Franjo Ivanovic and Marco Pasalic, who are all in their early twenties — to ensure Croatia will be brimming with young and exciting talent in North America.
He will now spend the next few months focusing on nailing down his squad. “There are still seven months until the World Cup. It’s up to us to look for players, we have time and I’m sure we will choose the best. It’s up to the boys to fight. There will still be a lot of fighting for those 26 places,” he told Nova TV.
Croatia’s World Cup 2026 fixtures and group
Full World Cup 2026 match schedule
How Croatia qualified for the World Cup 2026
Dalic’s men topped Group L in the UEFA preliminaries with a game to spare, with their 3-1 victory over the Faroe Islands ensuring they could not be caught by nearest challengers Czechia. Croatia were completely dominant in the qualifiers, winning seven and drawing one fixture to ensure comfortable progress to the World Cup.
The Balkans also scored an incredible 26 goals in their eight matches, highlighted by a 7-0 victory over Gibraltar and a 5-1 win over Czechia in June. Kramaric was the leading goal-getter with six, while Perisic netted four.
Croatia’s World Cup history
Croatia’s best World Cup
After failing to get past the group stage at Brazil 2014, Croatia went on a fairytale run to the final four years later in Russia. They navigated the group stage with ease, securing comfortable victories over Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland. The knockout stage was far from straightforward, however, scraping through on penalties against Denmark and hosts Russia to reach the semi-finals, where an extra-time winner from Mario Mandzukic was required to see off England.
Having endured three consecutive 120-minute games, France proved too good for Croatia in the final at Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. In the highest-scoring final since England 1966, Croatia fell behind to a Mandzukic own goal before levelling through Perisic, but a young Kylian Mbappe helped put the game beyond Croatia’s reach as Les Bleus won 4-2.
Despite the defeat, Croatia’s run to the final was a source of huge national pride. “I still feel like we are all living our dreams. When we came back, more than 500,000 people welcomed us in Zagreb, it was a day none of us will forget,” Dalic told FIFA. “And afterwards, each of us got their own welcome in their home city – it’s just an amazing period, the whole summer is unbelievable. When we saw in person how much this result meant to the whole nation we realised how important our journey in Russia was to all Croatians.”
Croatia’s last World Cup
Croatia followed up their run to the final at Russia with another outstanding performance in Qatar. History repeated itself with the red-and-white checkered side cruising through the group stage — with goalless draws against Morocco and Belgium plus a 4-1 victory over Canada — before going the distance in the knockout stages as they defeated Japan and then heavy favourites Brazil on penalties to reach the semi-finals.
An inspired Lionel Messi pushed Argentina to a 3-0 victory in the final four, but Croatia ended the tournament on a high note as they downed Morocco 2-1 to secure yet another podium finish. “This is bronze with a golden glow. We won a tough game,” Dalic said. “This is a medal for the Croatian people… It’s really great that we won two medals in two tournaments, big congratulations to my players.”
Croatia’s first World Cup
Croatia’s epic run to the semi-finals at France 1998 was one of the most successful debut World Cup campaigns of all time. Set in the context of a newly-independent country emerging from the Balkan wars and disintegration of Yugoslavia to take on and beat the world’s powerhouse nations, the tournament also fueled an intense sense of national pride.
Under the leadership of Miroslav Blazevic, Croatia had a quiet sense of confidence in their inaugural World Cup after reaching the quarter-finals at UEFA Euro 1996. They began the group stage with a bang, opening with a 3-1 victory over fellow debutants Jamaica and following that up with a 1-0 win over Japan. Despite a 1-0 defeat to Argentina, they qualified for the knockout stages.
Davor Suker, who scored twice in the group stage, continued his inspiring scoring run in the Round of 16 with a penalty to knockout Romania. Few people gave Croatia any chance of victory against the mighty Germany in the quarter-finals, but Christian Worns’ straight red card in the 40th minute for hauling down Suker transformed the game. Goals from Robert Jarni, Goran Vlaovic and Suker secured a stunning 3-0 victory over the European champions.
Incredibly, Croatia took the lead against France in the semi-finals when Suker struck just after half-time. But in a highly improbable twist, defender Lilian Thuram scored twice — the only two goals he scored in an international career spanning 142 appearances — to send the hosts into the final. Suker was not done, though, as he scored once again against the Netherlands to help secure the adidas Golden Boot and the bronze medal for Croatia.
Croatia’s World Cup top scorers
With his six goals at France 1998, Suker is Croatia’s joint leading scorer alongside Perisic, who has the same tally across three tournaments. Perisic scored twice at Brazil 2014, three times at Russia 2018 including the semi-final and final, with a further effort against Japan in the Round of 16 at Qatar 2022. With Perisic still going strong aged 36, he has a golden opportunity to become the outright leading scorer in North America.
Croatia players with most World Cup appearances
Modric has recorded an incredible 19 appearances over four World Cups, aided by two lengthy tournament runs. Should Croatia go far at next year’s global finals, he will have the opportunity to climb near the top of the all-time list. Only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are ahead of the AC Milan midfielder among active players in this elite group. Perisic, for his part, sits just behind Modric on 17 tournament appearances.
Croatia’s memorable World Cup moments
Croatia enjoyed the lead against France for just a minute at the 1998 World Cup semi-finals, but what a moment it was as Suker put the Balkans in sight of the final in their inaugural appearance at the global showpiece. Within seconds of the start of the second half, the Real Madrid forward beat the offside trap to smash the ball past Fabien Barthez to stun the home crowd.
“When I was a child… I dreamt that I would win the Golden Boot in the World Cup so in many ways France 98 was the realisation of a dream for me,” Suker recalled to Four Four Two. “It was a moment when I played the best football of my career and the Croatia team were also in a special moment.”
After losing to Brazil and drawing with Japan, Croatia needed to defeat Australia in their final group match at Germany 2006 to qualify for the knockout stages. In a thrilling clash in Stuttgart, the Socceroos twice came back from being a goal down to secure a 2-2 draw to progress, sealed by Harry Kewell’s 78th-minute equaliser.
Three players — Croatia’s Dario Simic and Josip Simunic as well as Australia’s Brett Emerton — were sent off in a dramatic finale, with Simunic being shown three yellow cards by English referee Graham Poll in the intense confusion.
Mandzukic’s extra-time winner for Croatia against England at the Russia 2018 semi-finals resulted in some extraordinary photographs after the celebrating players fell on Mexico-based Agence France-Presse snapper Yuri Cortez, who kept on taking pictures amid the melee. Cortez disappeared under a pile of players, who then helped him up with defender Domagoj Vida planting a kiss on his forehead before running back onto the pitch.
“I was just changing my lens as the players ran towards me,” the photographer told AFP. “They were delighted. Then they suddenly realised that I was underneath them. The [players] asked me if I was OK. One picked up my lens and another player (Domagoj Vida) gave me a kiss.”
Croatia’s biggest World Cup win
In the Brazil 2014 group stage, Croatia only recorded one victory to seal their early exit — but it has been their biggest World Cup win to date. Helped in large part by Alex Song’s sending-off near the end of the first half, Croatia defeated Cameron 4-0 thanks to goals from Ivica Olic, Perisic and a Mandzucic double.
Notably, Olic, who previously scored at Korea/Japan 2002, became the second player to have a 12-year gap between World Cup goals, after Denmark’s Michael Laudrup in 1986 and 1998. Meanwhile, Mandzukic became the first Croatian player to score a brace in a World Cup game.
