Croatia World Cup 2018 squad list and team guide

Alan Tyers
Updated
Luka Modric (right) and Ivan Rakitic (left) are Croatia's main stars - REUTERS
Luka Modric (right) and Ivan Rakitic (left) are Croatia's main stars - REUTERS

Here we take a look at Croatia's World Cup squad and the other things it will be handy to know.

Croatia's preliminary World Cup squad - the 23 names

Goalkeepers: Danijel Subasic (Monaco), Lovre Kalinic (Gent), Dominik Livakovic (Dinamo Zagreb)

Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Lokomotiv Moscow), Domagoj Vida (Besiktas), Ivan Strinic (Sampdoria), Dejan Lovren (Liverpool), Sime Vrsaljko (Atletico Madrid), Josip Pivaric (Dynamo Kiev), Tin Jedvaj (Bayer Leverkusen), Duje Caleta-Car (Red Bull Salzburg)

Midfielders: Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona), Mateo Kovacic (Real Madrid), Milan Badelj (Fiorentina), Marcelo Brozovic (Inter Milan), Filip Bradaric (Rijeka)

Forwards: Mario Mandzukic (Juventus), Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan), Nikola Kalinic (AC Milan), Andrej Kramaric (Hoffenheim), Marko Pjaca (Schalke), Ante Rebic (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Croatia supporters wave their colours - Credit: afp
Croatia supporters wave their colours Credit: afp

Croatia's World Cup 2018 fixtures

  • Croatia 2 Nigeria 0

  • Argentina 0 Croatia 3

  • Iceland 1 Croatia 2

  • Croatia 1 (3 penalties) Denmark 1 (2 penalties)

  • Saturday 7 July, 7pm - Russia vs Croatia

Croatia's World Cup record

World Cup record: Nigeria

What odds are Croatia to win the World Cup?

33/1

The kits

See where Croatia's shirts ends up in our ranking of all 64 World Cup shirts below:

World Cup kits ranked

Who's the coach?

Unheralded Zlatko Dalić was parachuted in from UAE club football amid a stuttering qualification campaign and delivered play-off passage.

Who's the star?

Real Madrid's Luka Modric is a beautiful midfielder whose vision, passing and ability to prompt teammates is as good as it gets.

Best thing about them

Quality and experience all over the pitch, from 104-cap Modric to 90-cap Ivan Rakitić, the Barcelona midfielder, and powerful forward Mario Mandzukic of Juventus.

Full 2018 World Cup squad lists and guides | Star to watch, odds, fans' chants and more

Worst thing about them

First XI looks a serious outfit but is not the youngest and there's a gulf in quality to the squad players.

You may recognise...

Dejan Lovren has markedly improved since Liverpool signed Virgil van Dijk alongside him at centre-half but remains a candidate for a big-match howler.

Cameramen will be picking out...

Fans in their splendid red-and-white cheesecloth, singing Europop. Croatia fans have an unusually large appetite for official team songs.

World Cup 2018 | All you need to know

Fans' favourite chant

Hopefully nothing racist; Croatia have quite a bit of previous for this.

On-field prediction

Runners-up spot in group to precede narrow last-16 defeat by France.

Off-field prediction

Hopefully boisterous behaviour rather than beastly.

WorldCup - newsletter promo - end of article