Josko Gvardiol and Ivan Rakitić both say they do not have a clear explanation for Croatia’s repeated overachievement at the FIFA World Cup, a feat made more striking by a national population of fewer than four million, according to ESPN. This summer marks 30 years since Croatia’s first major tournament, the 1996 European Championship, five years after declaring independence in 1991, and it is the nation’s fourth straight World Cup appearance.
Players and staff point to commitment and cohesion as central to the country’s results. Gvardiol laughed that perhaps the secret is in the food and added that the squad contains many players at top clubs and enjoys intense fan support; Rakitić said the team gives everything when united, according to ESPN.
Context underlines the achievement. Of the 48 teams qualified for this World Cup, only Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cape Verde and Curaçao have smaller populations than Croatia, ESPN reports. Croatia’s domestic league is ranked 20th by UEFA, behind both Cyprus and Austria, while Italy — with a population near 60 million and UEFA’s second-strongest domestic league — has failed to qualify for the past three World Cups and has not advanced past the group stage in 20 years, according to ESPN.
Croatia joined FIFA in 1992 and already has three World Cup semifinal appearances, the same total as England despite a much shorter history at the tournament stage, ESPN notes. Rakitić was a key member of the 2018 side that beat Argentina and England en route to the final in Russia, where Croatia lost 4-2 to France; he retired from international duty in 2019.
Several members of the squads that reached the 2018 and 2022 late stages remain available. Luka Modric, now at AC Milan, will appear at his sixth World Cup at age 40, and veterans Dominik Livakovic, Mateo Kovacic, Ivan Perisic and Andrej Kramaric were included. Coach Zlatko Dalić, in the role since an emergency appointment in 2017, enters his ninth year with the hope that continuity can help reproduce the team spirit credited for Croatia’s World Cup results, according to ESPN.
