Captained by Luka Modric, Croatia qualified for the 2026 World Cup after its victory over the Faroe Islands (3-1), this Friday in Rijeka, and became the third European team to secure a ticket for the great competition to be held in North America.
The Croatians, first in Group L with four points ahead of the Czech Republic, can no longer be caught before the last day of the European qualifiers, on Monday.
The Vatreni will participate in their seventh World Cup final phase, including a lost final against France in 2018 and third place in the last edition, Qatar 2022.
Croatia joins England and France in the group of European qualifiers ahead of the final round.
The defeat of the Faroe Islands, third with 12 points, also gives a play-off place to the Czech Republic (13 points), which still has a match to play against the modest Gibraltar team on Monday.
In Rijeka, the Croatians were surprised in the first quarter of an hour of play by a goal from Geza Turi (16′).
But Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol quickly equalized (23′) before Petar Musa (57′) and Nikola Vlasic (70′), who had come on for Luka Modric eight minutes earlier, extended the lead.
Since independence from the Federation of Yugoslavia in 1991, Croatia has participated in six World Cup finals. It was a finalist in 2018, defeated by France, and a semi-finalist in 1998 (also defeated by France, who would become world champions) and in 2022 (defeated by Argentina, who would be crowned champions).
Modric, the 40-year-old Croatian captain with 193 appearances, will participate in his fifth World Cup. The midfielder, elected Ballon d’Or in 2018, left Real Madrid to join AC Milan this season.
