The Croatia national team was part of the Yugoslavia national football team before Croatia's independence in 1992, after which the new federation was established and joined FIFA and UEFA.
The best achievements of the Croatia national team were winning runner-up in the 2018 World Cup, and third place in the 1998 World Cup and the 2022 World Cup. Croatia presented many international players, such as: Davor Suker, who was the top scorer in the 1998 World Cup and was also chosen among the list of the 125 best living football players. By FIFA, as well as Luka Modric, who in 2018 won the FIFA Award for Best Player in the World, the Golden Ball, Best Player in Europe, and Best Player in the 2018 World Cup, in addition to winning the Champions League 5 times with Real Madrid.
The Croatia national football team participated for the first time in the FIFA World Cup Finals in 1998, which was held in France. It qualified for the semi-finals and lost 2-1 to France, which reached the final and won the title at the expense of Brazil. Croatia faced the Netherlands in the third-place match and won 2-1 to win the bronze medal in its first participation in the World Cup. [5] The Croatian national team qualified again for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, then the 2006 World Cup in Germany and the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and was eliminated in all of these participations in the group stages. It was also unable to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.[5]
The Croatia national team succeeded in qualifying for the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia, through the European playoff portal, after defeating Greece with an aggregate score of (4-1) on aggregate from the first leg (4-1) and return (0-0), making it its fifth participation in the tournament. World Cup Finals.[6] The Croatian national team also succeeded, by defeating the Russian national team on penalties, in reaching the semi-finals to face the England national team. The Croatian team was able to win 2-1; They succeeded in changing the result of the tie in extra time, thus moving the Croatian team to the final match against the French team. The Croatian national team lost to its French counterpart in the final match of the World Cup with a score that ended (4-2); Thus, the Croatian team reached second place for the first time. It is noteworthy that the two teams met before that 5 times, and France won 3 of them, in 1998, 1999 and 2000, while in 2004 and 2011 they ended in a draw.[7] The Croatian team was able to qualify for the semi-final match in the 2022 World Cup, but lost to its Argentine counterpart by three goals to nothing. The Croatian team clinched the bronze medal, with a 2-1 victory over its Moroccan opponent in the third place match.
