Croatia National Football Team in Euro 2008

Croatian national football team represents Croatia in international matches and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation. The current team has been in existence since 1990 and was recognised by FIFA and UEFA in the summer of 1992, one year after Croatia’s independence from Yugoslavia. A previous Croatian team existed for a couple of years during World War II

The team played their first competitive matches in the qualifying campaign for the Euro 1996 and qualified for the finals to make their first appearance in a major international tournament. They have been a strong force in international football ever since, finishing third in the 1998 World Cup, led by Golden Boot winner Davor Šuker. They have qualified for every World Cup that they have entered as an independent nation.

The team was FIFA’s “Best Mover of the Year” in 1994 and 1998, and have been more volatile in the FIFA World Rankings than any other nation, having been rated as high as third, and as low as 125th (though this low rating was only because Croatia were not ranked prior to their independence, and it therefore took some time to build up points when they started playing independently). They are still undefeated in all competitive matches they played on home soil since 1994. They also qualified for both 2002 and 2006 World Cups without losing a qualifying match.

Croatia was in Group E with Russia and England.Croatia won two matches against England and tied against Russsia both matches.They throw out England to outside Euro 2008.

Croatia will be struggle in Group B with Austria, Poland and Germany.First game of Croatia will be against Austria on 8 June 2008 at 18:00 , in Vienna - Ernst Happel Stadium.

Croatian Players

Goalkeepers: Mario Galinović, Stipe Pletikosa,Vedran Runje,Marin Skender

Defenders: Marijan Buljat, Vedran Ćorluka, Dino Drpić,Dario Knežević, Robert Kovač ,Goran Sabljić , Anthony Šerić ,Dario Šimić , Josip Šimunić , Hrvoje Vejić.

Midfielders: Marko Babić,Niko Kovač , Niko Kranjčar , Jerko Leko ,Marijo Mandžukić ,Luka Modrić ,Danijel Pranjić ,Ivan Rakitić ,Milan Rapaić ,Darijo Srna ,Jurica Vranješ ,Ognjen Vukojević.

Forwards: Eduardo da Silva , Boško Balaban, Igor Budan ,Nikola Kalinić,Ivan Klasnić ,Ivica Olić ,Mladen Petrić

Slaven Bilić [ˈslaʋɛn ˈbiːlitɕ] (born September 11, 1968 in Split) is a former Croatian football player and current coach of the Croatian national team. He was an important member of the Croatian team during their successes from 1994-1998, winning a third place medal in the 1998 World Cup. Bilić says he is determined to stay with Croatia until after the 2008 Euro.

Managing career

Slaven Bilić, together with Aljoša Asanović, managed the Croatian U-21 team for several years during the qualification rounds for the 2006 U-21 European championship of 2006. Their team went through the group stage but lost in playoff to Serbia and Montenegro.

He was appointed head coach of the main national team on July 25, 2006, succeeding Zlatko Kranjčar. His assistants included Aljoša Asanović, Robert Prosinečki, Nikola Jurčević and Marijan Mrmić. The team’s first official game under Bilić was the 0-0 draw in Moscow against Russia. In the Euro 2008 qualifiers, he led Croatia to a very successful campaign, in a group consisting of England, Russia, Israel, Macedonia, Estonia and Andorra. They qualified first in Group E, along with Russia. The campaign recorded some impressive results, including two wins over heavy group favourites England(who eventually came third), 2-0 in Zagreb and 3-2 in London and a 7-0 mauling of Andorra.

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Earlier history

Football was played in Croatia from the beginning of the 20th century, but until the 1990’s the country was not independent. Before that, players from Croatia participated in the teams of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1919–39), Banovina of Croatia (1939–41), Independent State of Croatia (1941–45) and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–90).

For the Yugoslav periods, see Yugoslavia national football team.

Due to political circumstances in Kingdom of Yugoslavia shortly before World War II, Croatian sports teams were allowed to compete under Croatian flag, so the first international of Croatia could be considered a 4–0 victory over Switzerland played in Zagreb on 2 April, 1940.