Football is the most popular team sport in the country and is called ‘nogomet’. Their modern international team was formed in 1990, and by 1993 they had been granted membership to both FIFA and UEFA. Prior to this the Croatians played for the Yugoslavia national football team and Croatia did not have a separate team for international matches.
The teams first appearance in a major tournament was Euro 1996 where they managed an impressive run to the quarter finals. From there the next major tournament was the World Cup in 1998 where the team came in 3rd and they even had the top goal scorer for the tournament. Since their inclusion in these tournaments Croatia has only missed one World Cup and European Championship.
The majority of their home matches are played at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, although some are played at Poljud Stadium in Split and other smaller venues. The national side managed to have a run of 36 unbeaten matches until 2008 when they were defeated by England, and since then they have been unbeaten at home. So in over 20 years of national football the side has only been defeated once at home.
They were also named FIFA’s ‘Best Mover of the Year’ in both 1994 and 1998 and they are the only team to have won this award more than once. When they entered the FIFA rankings they were 125th and by the end of the World Cup in 1998 they have launched themselves into 3rd, an explosive leap in FIFA ranking history.
Croatia has been a presence at both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games since 1992, in 2008 they won a total of nine bronze medals and four silver, but their best year so far in the Summer Games came in 2004 when the men’s handball team took gold, they won 2 silvers in swimming and two in rowing plus an additional six bronze medals in tennis and weightlifting. Their most recent stint at the Winter Games came in 2010 where they took away with them four silvers in the Skiing and three bronze medals in running events.
Other popular team sports in Croatia include water polo, basketball and handball while individual sports tend to include tennis, skiing and swimming.