December 11, 2020 - Another great recognition for Croatia's greatest footballer, as FIFA FIFPro names Luka Modric among the world's 55 best footballers for the 8th time. 

HNS announces that the Croatia national football team captain, Luka Modric, is on the list of 55 footballers who have been shortlisted for the best team in the selection of the International Association of Professional Footballers FIFPro and the International Football Federation FIFA.

Modric is on the shortlist of the best players for the eighth time and has the opportunity to be among the best eleven, an honor that FIFPro has chosen since 2005, for the sixth time in a row. Modric was selected in the top 11 in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. About 25,000 professional footballers from all over the world choose the best team of the season consisting of one goalkeeper, four defenders, three midfielders, and three strikers.

The fifty-five shortlisted players include goalkeepers Alisson Becker (Liverpool, Brazil), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Belgium) David de Gea (Manchester United, Spain), Gianluigi Donnarumma (Milan, Italy), Moraes Ederson (Manchester City, Brazil) ), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham, France), Keylor Navas (PSG, Costa Rica), Manuel Neuer (Bayern, Germany), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid, Slovenia) and Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona, Germany).

Defenders include David Alaba (Bayern, Austria), Jordi Alba (Barcelona, ​​Spain), Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham, Belgium), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool, England), Dani Alves (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Jerome Boateng (Bayern, Germany), Alphonso Davies (Bayern, Canada), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool, The Netherlands), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli, Senegal), Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus, The Netherlands), Marcelo (Real Madrid, Brazil), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid, Spain), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool, Scotland), Thiago Silva (Chelsea, Brazil) and Raphael Varane (Real Madrid, France).

Midfielders include Thiago Alcantara (Bayern / Liverpool, Spain), Dele Alli (Tottenham, England), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona, ​​Spain), Casemiro (Real Madrid, Brazil), Philippe Coutinho (Bayern / Barcelona, ​​Brazil), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City, Belgium), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United, Portugal), Leon Goretzka (Bayern, Germany), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool, England), Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona, ​​The Netherlands), N'Golo Kante (Chelsea, France), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid, Germany), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern, Germany), Luka Modrić (Real Madrid, Croatia) and Thomas Müller (Bayern, Germany).

The srikers are Sergio Agüero (Manchester City, Argentina), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal, Gabon), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France), Serge Gnabry (Bayern, Germany), Erling Haaland (Borussia D., Norway) , Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Milan, Sweden), Harry Kane (Tottenham, England), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern, Poland), Sadio Mane (Liverpool, Senegal), Kylian Mbappe (PSG, France), Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina), Neymar Junior (PSG, Brazil), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus, Portugal), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool, Egypt) and Son Heungmin (Tottenham, South Korea).

The FIFA and FIFPro best eleven in the 2019/20 season will be announced on December 17, 2020. 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

December 10, 2020 - The Croatia U-21 team has learned their opponents for the European Championships next spring.

The draw for the Under-21 European Football Championship was held today in Nyon. The Croatia U-21 team, led by coach Igor Bišćan, found out their opponents for the upcoming competition. 

Thus, Croatia will play against Switzerland, Portugal and France in Group C, which is one of the most difficult groups in this tournament.

Matches in groups A and C will be played in Hungary, while the national teams in groups B and D will meet in Slovenia.

Before the draw, the national teams were divided into four groups, and the young Croatia squad was placed in the third strongest group with Romania, Russia and the Czech Republic. 

Nine group winners and the five best second-placed teams, including Croatia, qualified for the final tournament of the U-21 European Championship. The hosts of the tournament, Hungary and Slovenia, join them in the championship.

The schedule of the U-21 Euros has been changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the final tournament will be held for the first time in two separate terms. Group stage matches will be played between March 24 and 31, 2021, while relegation matches will be played between May 31 and June 6, 2021. The final will be held on June 6, 2021, in Ljubljana.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

December 9, 2020 - Building a Croatia national team stadium is back on the table. Representatives of HNS, the City of Zagreb, and the Ministry of Tourism and Sport weigh in on what's next.

Index.hr reports that on HRT's show Otvoreno on Tuesday evening, the topic was constructing a Croatia national stadium.

The guests of the show were the executive director of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) Marijan Kustić, former footballer and president of the football union Dario Šimić, state secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Sports Tomislav Družak, director of the Institute for Physical Planning of the City of Zagreb Ivica Rovis and HRT sports commentator Stjepan Balog.

For footballers, the issue of the national stadium has become offensive

Dario Šimić was the most specific about the construction of the new stadium.

"I'm worried that we are repeating ourselves. We have to wait a long time for the paperwork; it takes two to three years before the construction itself. We can realistically expect that stadium in 2030. We are doing the show, we have done it before, but this issue of the national stadium has already become offensive for us footballers," said Šimić, after which Marijan Kustić took the floor.

Funding football infrastructure is not the job of the Federation

"I would like Dinamo representatives to be here with us. They are mostly in that part of the agreement with the City. I hope it won't take us nine years to build a stadium. People are upset that we are talking about a national stadium. We are talking about the stadium in Zagreb, and the people from Dinamo were supposed to be here. The plan should go ahead as soon as possible. I think that something bad needs to happen at Maksimir stadium to start something," Kustić explained and continued.

"In the last few years, we have invested over 70 million kuna in stadiums through the HNS Executive Board, which should be the duty of clubs and cities. That is why we are constantly initiating investment in infrastructure. This is not the Federation's job, and I do not see which federation in Croatia and Europe invests so much in sports infrastructure. Dario Simic said it well; a man shudders when he sees what kind of stadium we have in Zagreb."

If the decision is not made immediately, nothing will be initiated

Šimić replied to Kustić.

"The society and the 1,500 clubs in Croatia deserve better infrastructure. If we don't start now and make a decision right away, nothing will start. Everything else is frustrating and sad."

State Secretary Tomislav Družak also joined the discussion

"A meeting of HNS, the City of Zagreb and Dinamo was organized two months ago. The Ministry of Tourism and Sport is initiating the construction of the stadium. We will not be financiers; we can participate in projects and give ideas, which can be the way. If the City wants to build a stadium, it has to find a model in which Dinamo will participate. They need to be asked something. Croatia needs a multifunctional and self-sustaining stadium that will not take taxpayers' money," Družak said.

In the end, host Damir Smrtić asked Marijan Kustić if HNS would implement a hybrid lawn at Poljud.

"A letter was sent to Hajduk today. Next Tuesday is a meeting with Hajduk regarding the construction of a hybrid pitch," Kustić concluded.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

December 8, 2020 - The schedule for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers is here. Croatia opens against Slovenia in March 2021.

HNS announced that the Croatia national football team will open the qualification cycle for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with a visit to Slovenia on March 24, 2021 (20:45).

In March, Croatia will play two more home games, against Cyprus (March 27, 18:00) and Malta (March 30, 20:45).

Croatia's qualifying cycle for the World Cup in Qatar will continue with three September matches, against Russia (September 1, 20:45) and Slovakia (September 4, 20:45) away, and against Slovenia (September 7, 20:45) at home. Zlatko Dalić's team will play two matches in October next year, against Cyprus (October 8, 20:45) away, and Slovakia (October 11, 20:45) at home.

In the final part of the qualifications in November 2021, Croatia will play in Malta (November 11, 20:45), and in the last qualification round at home, they will meet Russia (November 14, 15:00).

As a reminder, the ten group winners will qualify directly for the World Cup, and the ten second-placed teams will try to win the same in the playoffs, which will be played from March 24 to 29, 2022.

In addition to the ten runners-up from the group stage, the playoffs will also include the two best national teams in the overall standings of the UEFA Nations League for the 2020/2021 season, which will not directly qualify for the World Cup, nor will they win the playoffs as the second-placed teams in the group. Twelve teams in the playoffs will be divided into three "pots" and will fight for the three remaining European places at the World Cup in March 2022. 

The 2022 World Cup will be held from November 21 to December 18, 2022, in five Qatari cities (Doha, Lusail, Al Khor, Al Wakrah, Al Rayyan).

Schedule:

24.3. 20:45: Slovenia - Croatia

27.3. 18:00: Croatia - Cyprus

30.3. 20:45: Croatia - Malta

1.9. 20:45: Russia - Croatia

4.9. 20:45: Slovakia - Croatia

7.9. 20:45: Croatia - Slovenia

8.10. 20:45: Cyprus - Croatia

11.10. 20:45: Croatia - Slovakia

11.11. 20:45: Malta - Croatia

14.11. 15:00: Croatia - Russia

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

December 8, 2020 - Croatia national team coach Zlatko Dalic comments on the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and Croatia in the 'respectable' Group H. The next World Cup will be held in Qatar in 2022.

The European qualifying draw for the 2022 World Cup was held on Monday in Zurich. Croatia was one of the top-seeded national teams in the draw and was thus placed in Group H with Slovakia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus, and Malta.

"As is mostly the case, the draw could have been better and worse, but Croatia was among the top seeds for a reason, and we should not run away from the role of favorites. Our goal is to qualify for the World Cup, and this is the group in which we can accomplish this. Strong matches from the past two years have come in handy as preparation for these matches," said coach Zlatko Dalic after the draw.

"We got Slovakia and Russia from the second and third strongest groups, opponents with whom we have a relatively fresh experience, and they will be our biggest competitors for first place. However, other games are not easy because we got the best national teams from each group. I repeat, Croatia is the favorite, and that is how we will position ourselves from the beginning," added the 2018 World Cup finalist coach.

Croatia has recent experiences with Slovakia and Russia:

"Slovakia proved to be a quality team; they deservedly qualified for the EURO. We played a great game in Trnava, but let's remember that they led and showed quality in Rijeka. They have experience playing with Croatia, and it will come in handy. The Russians are good; they showed it against us at the World Cup, after they knocked out Spain. Slovenia has risen and is advancing under the leadership of Matjaž Kek, who knows us very well, and as our neighbors will surely have a special motive to show their quality. We must not underestimate Cyprus and Malta either, because they are national teams that show from cycle to cycle that they are a tough nut to crack even for the best national teams, and certainly not easy opponents to score against."

Croatia, as well as other national teams, will have a very tough time with three qualifying matches in March and September:

"We are used to such a schedule in the past two months; we saw that it is not easy because there is no time for training. We do not have much time to make mistakes, but the stakes are the World Cup, and that's how we must approach it from the first minute of the first game. I want us all to be healthy because when we have all the players available, then we are real and quality, and I deeply believe, the best in this group."

"The group is demanding, with strong opponents that we respect. But Croatia wants to defend its World Cup silver medal in Qatar, and we will do everything to achieve that," Dalic concluded.

Source: HNS

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

December 7, 2020 - Croatia draws Slovenia, Slovakia, Russia, Cyprus, and Malta in Group H of the European qualifications for the 2022 World Cup.

Croatia took part in the European qualification draw for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar at 6 pm tonight in Zurich. Fifty-five national teams will participate in the European qualifiers, divided into 10 groups - five groups with five national teams and five groups with six teams each. 

The winners of each group will go directly to the World Cup, and the ten runners-up and the two teams from the Nations League will play additional qualifications.

The 2018 World Cup finalists were placed into the pot of the strongest national teams. Thus, Croatia had no chance of being drawn into a group with Belgium, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands.

The qualifying cycle for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will run from March to November 2021, and the teams will play each team in their group at home and away. The ten group winners will qualify directly for the World Cup, and the ten runners-up will try to do the same in the playoffs, which will be played from March 24 to 29, 2022.

In addition to the ten runners-up from the group stage, the playoffs will also include the two best national teams in the overall standings of the UEFA Nations League for the 2020/2021 season, which will not directly qualify for the World Cup, nor will they win the playoffs as the second-placed teams in the group. Twelve teams in the playoffs will be divided into three "pots" and will fight for the three remaining European places at the World Cup in March 2022. 

The 2022 World Cup will be held from November 21 to December 18, 2022, in five Qatari cities (Doha, Lusail, Al Khor, Al Wakrah, Al Rayyan).

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

November 19, 2020 -  What awaits Croatia in 2022-23 Nations League? A look at the busy schedule ahead for the 2018 World Cup finalists. 

Even after losing to Portugal on Tuesday night at Poljud, the Croatia national team has secured a spot in the elite Nations League group in the next edition of this competition, which will be played in 2022.

Croatia will remain in League A, and so far, 10 national teams are known that can be their rivals in this group.

In addition to France and Portugal, against whom they competed this fall, the elite group will include Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, England, Spain, and Germany.

It remains unclear whether Ukraine or Switzerland will be in this group, as their last round match of Group 4 has been postponed due to coronavirus, and we now must wait for UEFA's decision. If the match ends at 3:0 for Switzerland, they will remain in League A while Ukraine will drop to League B.

Wales, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Hungary have been promoted from League B to League A for 2022, while Sweden, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Iceland have been relegated.

The timing of the 2022 Nations League, however, will be quite interesting, namely, because the World Cup in Qatar is played from November 21 to December 18, 2022. Thus, UEFA was forced to shift the calendar compared to the previous two Nations League editions.

As June is free because the World Cup is played in late autumn in 2022, it was decided that four Nations League rounds will be played that month, and two more in the second half of September. The national teams will then gather at the end of October 2022 or the beginning of November, when preparations for the World Cup will begin.

So, what's next for Croatia?

With just over 200 days to go to the Euros next summer, that's hardly the only competition on Croatia's mind...

UEFA's preliminary draw for the 2022 World Cup will occur on December 7, 2020, at 18:00 CET in Zurich.

Thus, the European qualifiers will feature five groups with six teams and five groups with five teams. All teams within a group will play each at home-and-away between March and November 2021, meaning Croatia could already play two or three World Cup qualifiers in March!

Source: Gol.hr, FIFA.com 

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

November 18, 2020 - After a turbulent but successful journey through the qualifications, the Croatia U-21 side will play at the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship!

After a huge victory against Lithuania in Pula (7:0) and Greece’s victory against Scotland (1:0), the young Vatreni won second place in the qualifying Group 4 for the European Championship, and the results in other groups allowed them to place among the five the best runners-up.

Before the final round, Croatia was in a difficult, almost hopeless situation. After they played 2:2 in Scotland and the Czech Republic defeated Greece, it was clear that Croatia lost their chances for first place.

The only hope for qualifying for the Euros was to get through among the top five runners-up. However, coach Igor Bišćan's side did not depend only on themselves, but on other matches' outcome.

In the end, it all came together.

First of all, Croatia had to beat Lithuania in Pula with three or four goals to have the best possible goal differential.

Although Croatia played without Adrian Šemper, Joško Guardiola, Borna Sosa, Darko Nejašmić, Sandra Kulenović, Lovro Majer, David Čolina, and Bartol Franjić, they still beat Lithuania 7:0.

Croatia also needed a victory for Greece in Athens against direct rival Scotland, who needed a victory to win first place in the group. Greece celebrated 1:0, thus pushing Croatia to second and Scotland to third.

With the victory in Pula and Scotland's defeat, Croatia won second place in the group behind the Czech Republic but had to wait for the outcome in other groups to find out if it will be one of the five best second-placed national teams.

Among the five were certainly Portugal and Switzerland, and almost certainly Iceland, whose match against Armenia was canceled.

Croatia, Belgium, Romania, and Poland fought for the remaining two places. With a convincing victory against Lithuania, Croatia overtook Poland, but they still needed a Belgium mistake against Bosnia and Herzegovina or Romania against Denmark.

Croatia was helped by the young BiH team, who beat Belgium 3:2 in a great match in Sarajevo.

Croatia will thus play in the group stage from March 24 to 31, 2021, and if they pass the group, they will play in the second round of the European Championship from May 31 to June 6, 2021.

Croatia played at the European Championship in 2000 and 2004, and at the last edition in 2019, in Italy and San Marino.

In addition to the hosts Hungary and Slovenia, the national teams of Croatia, Russia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, England, France, Italy, Portugal, Germany, and the Czech Republic, which took first place in Group 4, have so far won visas for the European Championship.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

November 16, 2020 - Croatia and Portugal meet in Split on Tuesday for their final Nations League match this season. A look at the latest Croatia news ahead of Poljud. 

After losing 2:1 to Sweden on Saturday evening in Solna, the Croatia national team traveled to Split, after which they held their first training in Omis on Sunday. The training included Dejan Lovren, who joined the Croatia squad in Stockholm after his yellow card suspension.

The Croatia players that recorded the most minutes against Sweden (Modrić, Vlašić, Perišić, Livaković, Kovačić, Brekalo, Barišić, Ćaleta-Car, Pongračić) took part in a regeneration training at the hotel. Uremović is currently out of the lineup after an injury he sustained during the Sweden match. 

HNS

Although training in Omis was held without the presence of spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic, locals hung a large jersey with the last name of their fellow citizen, Ivan Perišić, and did their best to ensure that Croatia had everything they needed in the small coastal town.

HNS

On Sunday evening, the Croatia national team medical service received the team's latest COVID-19 test results. Croatia was tested after arriving from Stockholm to Split, before the match against Portugal.

After a week of worrying results, we finally have some good news, as all members of the national team and members of the national team staff are negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Coach Zlatko Dalić can count on all remaining players in the national team.

Recall, Domagoj Vida tested positive in Istanbul on Wednesday, and Marcelo Brozović tested positive in Stockholm on Friday. In compliance with the epidemiological rules and UEFA's Return to Play protocol, the Turkish and Swedish epidemiological services decided that the isolation of other national team members was not necessary.

But even though everyone corona-free, Dalić still struggled to fill certain positions in the defense ahead of the crucial Portugal meeting on Tuesday. He has thus decided to call-up Osijek stopper Milo Škorić in the absence of Duja Ćaleta-Car (yellow cards) and Filip Uremović (injury).

HNS

The Osijek captain will join Croatia during the day on Monday and is expected to play against Portugal in Split on Tuesday.

Škorić has three appearances for the Croatia national team, and interestingly, in all three Škorić appearances, Croatia won 2:1 (Mexico, Wales, and Georgia).

Source: HNS

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

November 16, 2020 - Croatia will no longer play at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, confirmed the executive director of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), Marijan Kustic.

Index.hr reports that this is even though Dinamo started repairing the south stand, which was destroyed in the earthquake.

Recall, there was room for the national team at Maksimir in reduced capacity during the coronavirus pandemic. Still, when the spectators return to the stands, the national team will no longer play at the infamous Zagreb stadium.

"We do not want to question at all that our national team, 2018 World Cup finalists, must have an adequate stadium in the capital. Maksimir is no longer an adequate stadium for the World Cup finalists. The city of Zagreb must give answers to Dinamo and finally find a solution and take action to build a new one. It would be inappropriate for the capital and a club like GNK Dinamo to have such a dilapidated stadium," Kustic said, noting that there are many countries that are neither at the economic nor football level of Croatia, but have better stadiums.

Kustic mentioned that the spectators are a priority for HNS and that they do not have adequate conditions at Maksimir. In Rijeka, Pula, Varazdin, Osijek, and Split, the situation is different, so the national team will play there in the future until the situation in Zagreb is resolved.

According to a rough estimate, more than a billion kuna has been pumped into Maksimir so far. That is why the Croatian Football Federation launched the idea of building a national stadium.

"We want the national team to play all over Croatia, but the stadium in Zagreb is no longer comfortable, half of the stands are not working, everything is closed and depressing. After the earthquake, the situation worsened; we don't know if it is safe. My personal opinion is that the national team's time at Maksimir has passed," Miskovic said.

The national team does not want to play at the stadium either, and in October, after the match against Sweden, Zenit stopper Dejan Lovren spoke about it publicly.

"All the national teams are surprised that we were second in the world, and we have such conditions. Two or three thousand people came to the match against Sweden at the ugliest stadium in Europe. People didn't have umbrellas, they were rained on, and I wanted to shake everyone's hand. It is inadmissible for a national team like ours, which promoted Croatia in the best possible way, to come here and rightly listen to the Sweden coach's insults. Obviously, some priorities in this country are not right. Some priorities, such as the cable car, are irrelevant. I think that hospitals, kindergartens, and schools should be built first, and then maybe a stadium, but we are not looking for that for ourselves, but for the people who come to watch us. I think we will wake up only when Serbia makes a national stadium," Lovren said at the time. 

After the national team campaign in October, coach Zlatko Dalic was also clear about using Maksimir stadium for national team matches.

"I don't know what else to say about it. I've been talking for two years; others have been talking for a decade. Maybe we shouldn't talk anymore but cut and say we won't play there. We keep saying it's not a stadium for the national team, and we keep coming. Maybe HNS should say it a lot; we don't play there anymore, although it would be inconvenient to avoid a city again when hosting the national team," said Dalic.

In October, Croatia last played in Zagreb in the Nations League matches against Sweden (2:1) and France (1:2), when a third of the stadium's capacity was open. The only match in November that will be played at home, against Portugal, will be at Poljud on Tuesday.

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.