The Vatreni World Cup 2026 Squad  June 2026 ←Last Croatian Squad that faced England (1015)
Player	Birthdate	Age	Pos	Club	App	G
16. Baturina, Martin	16 February 2003 in Zurich, Switzerland	23	M	Como 1907, Italy	19	1
11. Budimir, Ante	22 July 1991 in Zenica, Yugoslavia	34	F	CA Osasuna, Spain	38	6
5. Ćaleta-Car, Duje	17 September 1996	29	CB	Real Sociedad, Spain, on loan from Olympique Lyonnais France	38	1
25. Erlić, Martin	24 January 1998	28	CB	FC Midtjylland, Denmark	13	1
19. Fruk, Toni	9 March 2001	25	AM	HNK Rijeka	7	1
4. Gvardiol, Joško	23 January 2002	24	LB	Manchester City FC, England	48	4
18. Jakić, Kristijan	14 May 1997	29	DM	FC Augsburg 1907, Germany	17	2
23. Kotarski, Dominik	10 February 2000	26	Gk	FK København, Denmark	4	0
8. Kovačić, Mateo	6 May 1994 in Linz, Austria	32	CM	Manchester City FC, England	113	5
9. Kramarić, Andrej	19 June 1991 as part of Yugoslavia	34	F	TSv 1899 Hoffenheim, Germany	116	36
1. Livaković, Dominik	9 January 1995	31	Gk	Gnk Dinamo Zagreb, on loan from Fenerbahçe SK, Turkey, until 30 June	75	0
20. Matanović, Igor	31 March 2003 in Hamburg, Germany	23	F	SC Freiburg, Germany	9	2
				also has German U17 & U18 appearances
10. Modrić, Luka	9 September 1985 as part of Yugoslavia	40	CM	AC Milan, Italy	198	29
7. Moro, Nikola	12 March 1998	28	DM	Bologna FC 1909, Italy	10	0
26. Musa, Petar	4 March 1998	28	F	FC Dallas, United States	11	1
12. Pandur, Ivor	25 March 2000	26	Gk	Hull City AFC, England	0	0
24. Pašalić, Marco	14 September 2000 in Karlsruhe, Germany	25	RF	Orlando City SC, United States	15	1
15. Pašalić, Mario	9 February 1995 in Mainz, Germany	31	AM	Atalanta, Italy	27	4
14. Perišić, Ivan	2 February 1989 as part of Yugoslavia	37	LF	Philips Sport Vereniging, Netherlands	154	38
3. Pongračić, Marin	11 September 1997 in Landshut, Germany	28	CB	ACF Fiorentina, Italy	20	0
2. Stanišić, Josip	2 April 2000 in Munich, Germany	26	FB	FC Bayern München, Germany	31	0
				also has two German U19 appearances
21. Sučić, Luka	8 September 2002 in Linz, Austria	23	M	Real Sociedad, Spain	21	1
17. Sučić, Petar	25 October 2003 in Livno, Bosnia & Herzegovina	22	CM	FC Internazionale Milano, Italy	17	1
				also has numerous Bosnia youth appearances
6. Šutalo, Josip	28 February 2000 in Čaplina, Bosnia & Herzegovina	26	CB	Amsterdamsche FC Ajax, Netherlands	33	0
13. Vlašić, Nikola	4 October 1997	28	AM	FC Torino, Italy	63	10
22. Vušković, Luka	24 February 2007	19	CB	SV Hamburger, Germany, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur FC, England	4	1

the Sučićs are cousins

Squad details correct up to and including Croatia's match against Slovenia on 7 June 2026.
Tallies taken from HNS

Diary

Monday, 18 May 2026 - The head coach of the Croatian national football team, Zlatko Dalić, has announced the preliminary list of players for the upcoming World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA. The squad gathers on May 25 and will prepare in Rijeka, where they will play a friendly match with Belgium on June 2. On June 6, the Vatreni travel to Varaždin, where they will play a friendly match with Slovenia on June 7, and two days later they are scheduled to leave for Washington.
Reserves are: Lovro Majer (Wolfsburg), Franjo Ivanović (Benfica), Dion Drena Beljo (Dinamo), Ivan Smolčić (Como), Karlo Letica (Lausanne), Adrian Segečić (Portsmouth), Luka Stojković (Dinamo).

Monday, 25 May 2026 - The Croatian national football team began gathering for the upcoming World Cup. Part of the squad gathered at the 'hotelu Sheraton' in Zagreb and after a joint lunch, headed to Rijeka, where the first training session will be held tonight. Under the leadership of Dalić, vice-captain Ivan Perišić and Andrej Kramarić, Dominik Livaković, Luka Vušković, Martin Erlić, Kristijan Jakić, Toni Fruk, Igor Matanović and Dominik Kotarski will participate in the first training session, and the remaining national team players will gather by Friday, May 29.

Monday, 1 June 2026 - The squad is finalised and submitted to FIFA with numbers confirmed.

Tuesday, 2 June 2026 - Croatia 0 Belgium 2 - The Croatian national football team played a friendly match against Belgium in Rijeka, as part of preparations for the World Cup Finals. Belgium took the lead in the 38th minute, when Tielemans was precise, and soon Modric responded with a dangerous attempt, but Courtois saved. In the second half, Budimir was close to scoring for the equalizer, but he was prevented by the crossbar. Vanaken also hit the frame of the goal, and in the final part Kotarski stood out with a good save, while Marco Pasalic shot right next to the goal. The second and final goal was scored by Lukaku in the last minute of injury time.

Sunday, 7 June 2026 - Croatia 2 Slovenia 1 - Croatia played a friendly match with Slovenia in Varaždin, ahead of their trip to Washington on Tuesday. After about ten minutes of play, Livaković and the goalkeeper stopped Lovrić's attempt, while Budimir, Perišić and Kovačić tried to make the most dangerous attempts towards Oblak's goal. Livaković intervened well shortly before going to the break on Vipotnik's shot. In the opening phase of the second half, the Vatreni found a way to the opponent's net: in the 51st minute when Perišić served Modrić on the edge of the penalty area, and the Croatian captain checkmated Oblak with a ground shot for the first goal. Livaković then stood out with two more excellent moves, Vlašić and Baturina were also close to scoring, but in the 83rd minute, Šporar punished an mistake in the Croatian team and leveled the score in front of Livaković. However, in the third minute of injury time, Mario Pašalić found space for a shot in the penalty area and with a great move forcefully placed the ball under the crossbar for Croatia's 2-1 victory.

Wednesday, 10 June 2026 - The Croatian squad and party left Zagreb and landed in Washington DC, from where they continued their journey to Alexandria, Virginia, where they were greeted by a crowd of cheerful Croatian fans. The base camp in Alexandria consists of the AKA Hotel and a training center at Episcopal High School. The Vatreni will be located in Alexandria for the period of their World Cup participation.

____________________

CG