Croatia national football team

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Croatia

Nickname

Vatreni ("Fiery ones")

Association

Hrvatski nogometni savez

Head coach

Slaven Bilić

Most caps

Dario Šimić (83)

Top scorer

Davor Šuker (45)

FIFA code

CRO

FIFA ranking

Highest FIFA ranking

3 (January 1999)

Lowest FIFA ranking

125 (March 1994)

Elo ranking

Highest Elo ranking

5 (July 1998)





Home kit





Away kit

First international

Croatia 2–1 U.S.A.

(Zagreb, Croatia; 17 October 1990)
(but see text)

Largest win

Croatia 7–0 Australia

(Zagreb, Croatia; 6 June 1998)

Croatia 7–0 Andorra

(Zagreb, Croatia; 7 October 2006)

Worst defeat

Slovakia 4–1 Croatia

(Bratislava, Slovakia; 20 April 1994)

Portugal 3–0 Croatia

(Nottingham, England; 19 June 1996)

France 3–0 Croatia

(Saint-Denis, France; 13 November 1999)
(but see text)

World Cup

Appearances

3 (First in 1998)

Best result

Third place, 1998

European Championship

Appearances

2 (First in 1996)

Best result

Quarterfinals, 1996

The Croatian national football team has played since Croatia's independence in 1990–92 and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation.

The team played in their first major tournament in 1996 and have been a strong force in international football ever since, finishing third in the 1998 World Cup, led by Golden Boot winner Davor Šuker. They have qualified for every World Cup that they have entered as an independent nation.

The team was FIFA's "Best Mover of the Year" in 1994 and 1998, and have been more volatile in the FIFA World Rankings than any other nation, having been rated as high as third, and as low as 125th. Since joining FIFA Croatia has not lost a single competitive game on home turf.

1 Earlier history
2 World Cup record
3 European Championship record
4 Famous past players
5 Pictures
6 Current Squad (Euro '08 Qualifiers)
7 2006 World Cup squad
8 2006 World Cup Information
9 Coaches
10 Past squads and campaigns
11 Famous matches
12 External links

[edit] Earlier history

Football was played in Croatia from the beginning of the 20th century, but before the 1990s the country was not independent. Before that, the players from Croatia participated in the teams of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1919–39), Banovina of Croatia (1939–41), Independent State of Croatia (1941–45) and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–90).

For the Yugoslav periods, see Yugoslavia national football team.

Due to political circumstances in Kingdom of Yugoslavia shortly before World War II, Croatian sports teams were allowed to compete under Croatian flag, so the first international of Croatia could be considered a 4–0 victory over Switzerland played in Zagreb on 2 April 1940.

[edit] World Cup record

1930 to 1990 - Was part of Yugoslavia
1994 - Did not enter, was not a full FIFA member until July 1992
1998 - Third place
2002 - First round (Third place in Group G)
2006 - First round (Third place in Group F)

[edit] European Championship record

1960 to 1992 - Did not enter, was part of Yugoslavia
1996 - Quarterfinals
2000 - Did not qualify
2004 - First round

[edit] Famous past players

[edit] Pictures

Home shirt

Away shirt

[edit] Current Squad (Euro '08 Qualifiers)

[edit] Goalkeepers

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB/Age	Caps	Club
1	GK	Stipe Pletikosa	January 8, 1979	57	Shakhtar Donetsk
12	GK	Mario Galinović	November 15, 1976	1	Panathinaikos
23	GK	Vedran Runje	February 10, 1976	1	Beşiktaş JK
--	GK	Marin Skender	August 12, 1979	0	NK Osijek

[edit] Defenders

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB/Age	Caps	Goals	Club
2	DF	Dario Šimić	November 12, 1975	86	3	AC Milan
3	DF	Josip Šimunić	February 18, 1978	49	3	Hertha Berlin
4	DF	Robert Kovač	April 16, 1974	62	0	Juventus F.C.
5	DF	Vedran Ćorluka	February 5, 1986	5	0	Dinamo Zagreb
13	DF	Goran Sablić	October 8, 1979	5	0	FC Dynamo Kyiv
15	DF	Dario Knežević	April 20, 1982	2	1	A.S. Livorno Calcio
20	DF	Anthony Šerić	January 15, 1979	16	0	Panathinaikos
--	DF	Hrvoje Vejić	June 8, 1977	0	0	FC Tom' Tomsk
--	DF	Igor Tudor	April 16, 1978	55	3	Juventus F.C.

[edit] Midfielders

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB/Age	Caps	Goals	Club
7	MF	Milan Rapaić	August 16, 1973	48	5	Standard Liège
8	MF	Marko Babić	January 28, 1981	40	3	Bayer Leverkusen
10	MF	Niko Kovač	October 15, 1971	66	9	Red Bull Salzburg
11	MF	Darijo Srna	May 1, 1982	41	11	Shakhtar Donetsk
14	MF	Luka Modrić	September 9, 1985	12	2	Dinamo Zagreb
16	MF	Jerko Leko	April 9, 1980	42	2	AS Monaco FC
19	MF	Niko Kranjčar	August 13, 1984	29	3	Portsmouth FC
--	MF	Danijel Pranjić	December 2, 1981	2	0	SC Heerenveen
--	DF	Marijan Buljat	September 12, 1981	1	0	Dinamo Zagreb

[edit] Strikers

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB/Age	Caps	Goals	Club
9	FW	Boško Balaban	October 15, 1978	28	10	Club Brugge
17	FW	Ivan Klasnić	January 29, 1980	26	8	SV Werder Bremen
18	FW	Ivica Olić	September 14, 1979	42	6	PFC CSKA Moscow
21	FW	Mladen Petrić	January 1, 1981	13	5	FC Basel
22	FW	Eduardo Alves da Silva	February 25, 1983	10	6	Dinamo Zagreb
--	FW	Igor Budan	April 22, 1980	0	0	Parma F.C.

[edit] 2006 World Cup squad

Head coach: Zlatko Kranjčar

Caps correct as of November 15, 2006

No.	Pos.	Player	DoB/Age	Caps	Club
1	GK	Stipe Pletikosa	8 January 1979	57	Shakhtar Donetsk
2	MF	Darijo Srna	1 May 1982	41	Shakhtar Donetsk
3	DF	Josip Šimunić	18 February 1978	49	Hertha Berlin
4	DF	Robert Kovač	6 April 1974	62	Juventus
5	DF	Igor Tudor	16 April 1978	55	Juventus
6	MF	Jurica Vranješ	31 January 1980	24	Werder Bremen
7	DF	Dario Šimić	12 November 1975	86	A.C. Milan
8	MF	Marko Babić	28 January 1981	40	Bayer Leverkusen
9	FW	Dado Pršo (retired from international football after WC)	5 November 1974	32	Rangers F.C.
10	MF	Niko Kovač	15 October 1971	66	Red Bull Salzburg
11	DF	Mario Tokić	23 July 1975	28	FK Austria Wien
12	GK	Joey Didulica (retired from international football after WC)	14 October 1977	4	AZ Alkmaar
13	DF	Stjepan Tomas	6 March 1976	49	Galatasaray
14	MF	Luka Modrić	9 September 1985	12	Dinamo Zagreb
15	MF	Ivan Leko	7 February 1978	13	Club Brugge
16	MF	Jerko Leko	9 April 1980	43	AS Monaco
17	FW	Ivan Klasnić	29 January 1980	28	Werder Bremen
18	FW	Ivica Olić	14 September 1979	42	CSKA Moscow
19	MF	Niko Kranjčar	13 August 1984	29	Portsmouth FC
20	MF	Anthony Šerić	15 January 1979	16	Panathinaikos
21	FW	Boško Balaban	15 October 1978	29	Club Brugge
22	FW	Ivan Bošnjak	6 February 1979	14	KRC Genk
23	GK	Tomislav Butina (retired from international football after WC)	30 March 1974	28	Olympiacos