Croatian national football team. EURO 2008. Group B
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The Croatian national football team represents Croatia in international matches and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation . The current team has been in existence since 1990 and was recognised by FIFA and UEFA in the summer of 1992, one year after Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia . A previous Croatian team existed for a couple of years during World War II
The team played their first competitive matches in the qualifying campaign for the Euro 1996 and qualified for the finals to make their first appearance in a major international tournament. They have been a strong force in international football ever since, finishing third in the 1998 World Cup. 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. They were rated as high as third, and as low as 125th (though this low rating was only because Croatia were not ranked prior to their independence, and it therefore took some time to build up points when they started playing independently). They are still undefeated in all competitive matches they played on home soil since 1994. They also qualified for both 2002 and 2006 World Cups without losing a qualifying match.
Statistic of Croatian national football team.
First International: |
Croatia 2 - 1 U.S.A.(Zagreb, Croatia; 17 October 1990) |
Largest win: |
Croatia 7 - 0 Australia (Zagreb, Croatia; 6 June 1998) |
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) |
World Cup
Appearances: |
3 (First in 1998) Best result Third place, 1998 |
European Championships Appearances: |
2 (First in 1996) Best result Quarterfinals, 1996 |
World Cup Record: |
1930 to 1990 - Did not enter, was part of Yugoslavia 1994 - Did not enter 1998 - Third place 2002 - Round 1 2006 - Qualified |
Squard list for EURO 2008.
| No | Player | Club |
| Goalkeepers | ||
| 1 | Stipe Pletikosa | Spartak Moscow |
| 12 | Mario Galinovic | Panathinaikos |
| 23 | Vedran Runje | RC Lens |
| Defenders | ||
| 2 | Dario Šimic | AC Milan |
| 3 | Josip Šimunic | Hertha Berlin |
| 4 | Robert Kovac | Borussia Dortmund |
| 5 | Vedran Corluka | Manchester City |
| 6 | Hrvoje Vejic | Tom Tomsk |
| 15 | Dario Kneževic | Livorno |
| Midfielders | ||
| 7 | Ivan Rakitic | Schalke 04 |
| 8 | Ognjen Vukojevic | Dynamo Kyiv |
| 10 | Niko Kovac | Red Bull Salzburg |
| 11 | Darijo Srna | Shakhtar Donetsk |
| 13 | Nikola Pokrivac | AS Monaco |
| 14 | Luka Modric | Tottenham Hotspur |
| 16 | Jerko Leko | AS Monaco |
| 19 | Niko Kranjcar | Portsmouth |
| 22 | Danijel Pranjic | Heerenveen |
| Forwards | ||
| 9 | Nikola Kalinic | Hajduk Split |
| 17 | Ivan Klasnic | Werder Bremen |
| 18 | Ivica Olic | Hamburger SV |
| 20 | Igor Budan | Parma |
| 21 | Mladen Petric | Borussia Dortmund |
