After finishing runners-up in the 2018 World Cup, Croatia also has a lot planned for the 2022 World Cup. Squad, players, shirt numbers, coaches and supervisors: SPOX looks at the Croatian team.
Three games and three wins in the group against Argentina (3-0), Nigeria (2-0) and Iceland (2-1), Denmark eliminated in the round of 16 (1-1 aet, 3-2 pens ), Russia eliminated in quarter-finals (2-2 aet, 4-3 pens), England eliminated in semi-finals (2-1 aet): Croatia were certainly the biggest surprise at the 2018 World Cup in Russia .
In the end, the only thing missing for an all-round perfect tournament was victory in the final, which was denied. Luka Modric and Co. lost 4-2 to France. The Real Madrid midfield star was nonetheless named Player of the Tournament and subsequently World Player of the Year, European Player of the Year and Ballon d’Or winner.
After the 2018 World Cup, which was successful after all, the Croatians will want to go a similar distance at the 2022 World Cup. SPOX takes a look at the squad and the team behind the team.
Croatia – Official squad for the 2022 World Cup: players, shirt numbers
The big star of the team is still captain Modric. The playmaker is already 37 years old, but is still one of the absolute regulars at Real and Croatia. Modric proves that in some cases age really is just a number.
With Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig), Borna Sosa (VfB Stuttgart), Josip Stanisic (Bayern Munich), Kristijan Jakic (Eintracht Frankfurt) and Andrej Kramaric (TSG Hoffenheim), there are five Bundesliga professionals in the “Kockasti” ( German: the Karen).
This is Croatia’s 26-man squad for the 2022 World Cup.
| team part | player | association | shirt number |
| GATE | Dominik Livakovic | Dinamo Zagreb | 1 |
| GATE | Ivica Ivusic | NK Osijek | 23 |
| GATE | Ivo Grbic | Atlético Madrid | 12 |
| DEFENSE | Domagoj Vida | AEK Athens | 21 |
| DEFENSE | Dejan Lovren | Zenith St. Petersburg | 6 |
| DEFENSE | Borna Barisic | Glasgow Rangers | 3 |
| DEFENSE | Josip Juranovic | Celtic | 22 |
| DEFENSE | Josko Gvardiol | RB Leipzig | 20 |
| DEFENSE | Borna Sosa | VfB Stuttgart | 19 |
| DEFENSE | Josip Stanisic | FC Bayern Munich | 2 |
| DEFENSE | Martin Erlic | US Sassuolo | 5 |
| DEFENSE | Josip Sutalo | Dinamo Zagreb | 24 |
| MIDFIELD | Luka Modric | real Madrid | 10 |
| MIDFIELD | Mateo Kovacic | Chelsea FC | 8th |
| MIDFIELD | Marcelo Brozovic | Inter Milan | 11 |
| MIDFIELD | Mario Pasalic | Atalanta Bergamo | 15 |
| MIDFIELD | Nikola Vlasic | FC Torino | 13 |
| MIDFIELD | Lovro Mayer | Stade Rennes | 7 |
| MIDFIELD | Kristian Jakic | Eintracht Frankfurt | 26 |
| MIDFIELD | Luka Sucic | Red Bull Salzburg | 25 |
| ATTACK | Andrei Kramaric | TSG Hoffenheim | 9 |
| ATTACK | Bruno Petkovic | Dinamo Zagreb | 16 |
| ATTACK | Ante Budimir | CA Osasuna | 17 |
| ATTACK | Marko Livaja | Hajduk Split | 14 |
| ATTACK | Ivan Perisic | Tottenham Hotspur | 4 |
| ATTACK | Mislav Orsic | Dinamo Zagreb | 18 |
Croatia – Official squad at the 2022 World Cup: coaches, support staff
The Croatian selection is still led by Zlatko Dalic. The 56-year-old, born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been the national coach since 2017. So under Dalic, whose contract runs until June 30, 2024, Croatia excelled at the 2018 World Cup.
The former midfielder works with four assistant coaches, three of whom are quite well-known: Ivica Olic (formerly FC Bayern Munich, Hamburger SV and VfL Wolfsburg, among others) has been working as an assistant since October 2017, and in May 2021 Vedran Corluka (formerly including Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City), and finally in November 2021 Mario Mandzukic (once FC Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Juventus, among others).
Fourth in the squad is 59-year-old Croatian Drazen Ladic, while 57-year-old Croatian Marjan Mrmic works as a goalkeeping coach and 35-year-old Scotsman Marc Rochon works as an analyst.
The team behind the team also consists of two kit officers (Zeljko Mesic, Mladen Pilcic), a team manager (Iva Olivari), three doctors (Dr. Zoran Bahtijarevic, Dr. Boris Nemec, Dr. Tomislav Vlahovic) and four physiotherapists (Bojan Radanovic, Nderim Rezaj), two of whom are German: Thomas Sennewald and Carlos Sternecker.
Croatia at the 2022 World Cup: games in the preliminary round
Croatia is in Group F at the World Cup with Morocco, Belgium and Canada.
| date | Time (CET) | encounter | location |
| Wednesday, 11/23 | 11.00 a.m | Morocco – Croatia | al-Khour (al-Bayt Stadium) |
| Sunday, November 27th | 5 p.m | Croatia – Canada | ar-Rayyan (Khalifa International Stadium) |
| Thursday, December 1st | 4 p.m | Croatia – Belgium | Doha (al-Thumama Stadium) |