Croatia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup


Croatia participated in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. This was their fifth appearance. Croatia managed to reach the final where they lost to France and finished second in the tournament.

Qualifying

Croatia was in Group I of UEFA's World Cup qualifications. They played alongside Iceland, Ukraine, Turkey, Finland and Kosovo. Croatia finished as runner-up in the group and entered the second-round play-offs where the team beat Greece and qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Croatia national team was led by manager Ante Čačić until 7 October 2017 when he was, due to a series of bad results, replaced by Zlatko Dalić.
;Standings
The results of the group stage
;The results of the second-round play-off

Players

Altogether 26 players appeared in the qualifying matches. Domagoj Vida is the only player that appeared in all 12 matches playing the full 90 minutes of all games. Mario Mandžukić was the top scorer with 5 achieved goals.
Filip Bradarić, Duje Ćaleta-Car and Dominik Livaković did not appear in any of the qualifying matches but made the final World Cup squad.
Complete list of players in the qualifying matches
#NameGames playedGoals
1Domagoj Vida121
2Mario Mandžukić115
2Marcelo Brozović112
2Andrej Kramarić113
2Ivan Perišić111
6Danijel Subašić100
6Šime Vrsaljko100
6Luka Modrić100
9Nikola Kalinić92
9Milan Badelj90
9Josip Pivarić90
12Ivan Rakitić81
13Mateo Kovačić70
14Matej Mitrović61
14Dejan Lovren60
16Marko Rog50
17Duje Čop40
18Ivan Strinić30
18Vedran Ćorluka30
18Mario Pašalić30
21Lovre Kalinić20
21Tin Jedvaj20
21Ante Rebić20
24Marko Pjaca10
24Ivan Santini10
24Nikola Vlašić10
Player was not selected for the 2018 FIFA World Cup squad--

Draw

Croatia was drawn into Group D. Croatia's opponents in the first stage were Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland.

Squad

Coach: Zlatko Dalić
A 32-man preliminary squad was announced on 14 May 2018. The squad was reduced to 24 players on 21 May. The final squad was announced on 4 June.