The has played since
Croatia 's independence in
1990 -
1992 and is controlled by the
Croatian Football Federation .
The team played in their first major tournament in
1996 and 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.
Between
October 17 ,
1990 and
March 1 ,
2006 , Croatia has played 141 international games and had 71 victories, 42 draws and 28 losses. The team has been
FIFA 's "Best Mover of the Year" in
1994 and
1998 .
Football was played in Croatia from the beginning of the
20th Century , but before the
1990s the country was not independent. Before that, the players from Croatia participated in the teams of the
Kingdom Of Yugoslavia (
1919 -
1939 ),
Banovina Of Croatia (
1939 -1941),
Independent State Of Croatia (
1941 -
1945 ) and
Socialist Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia (1945-
1990 ).
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 .
- 1930 to 1990 - ''Did not enter, was part of Yugoslavia ''
- 1994 - ''Did not enter, became FIFA member too late to participate in the qualifying''
- 1998 - Third place
- 2002 - Round 1
- 2006 - Qualified
