Croatia qualified for their first major competition in 1996 reaching the quarter finals and they have been considered a strong football nation since then. Croatia played their football as part of Yugoslavia until 1994 but they have qualified for every World Cup they have entered as an independent country.

Croatia's greatest achievement came in 1998 when they qualified for their first ever World Cup and managed to finish in third place mainly thanks to golden boot winner Davor Šuker who managed to score six goals in only seven matches. Croatia lost the semi final to France after leading 1- 0.