00:00.
00:05Croatia entered the official FIFA rankings in 1994,
00:09when they were placed 125th in the world.
00:15Four years later, they were ranked fourth,
00:19having taken the sport by storm at Euro 96,
00:22and especially France 98.
00:25They have rarely left the top 20 ever since,
00:28establishing themselves as a powerhouse of international football.
00:35Iterations of a Croatian national team existed as early as 1918,
00:39and between 1941 and 1945,
00:43the side representing the Nazi Germany puppet state of Croatia
00:47played a series of friendlies against near-neighbours.
00:53But it wasn't until 1990
00:55that the side we recognise today began to emerge.
00:58In that year, while still formally part of Yugoslavia,
01:03Croatia took on the USA, who were touring Europe at the time,
01:07and debuted their now iconic checkerboard jerseys.
01:13Two further unofficial friendlies took place,
01:16building towards Croatia's recognition as an independent nation in January 1992.
01:26Euro 96 was the first tournament Croatia could qualify for,
01:31and they reached it in style,
01:34topping a qualification group containing recent World Cup finalists Italy.
01:39Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prozinecki were influential,
01:43but the superstar was Davor Shuker,
01:46who found the back of the net a continent leading 12 times.
01:52Shuker was no slouch at the finals either,
01:55scoring three times as his side reached the quarter-finals.
01:59His lob over Peter Schmeichel during the group phase to seal a 3-0 victory
02:03was the high point of Croatia's colourful entry to competitive football,
02:08and put the world on notice that this small, new nation had some serious talent.
02:18That message was reinforced at France 98,
02:21when Shuker's goals led Croatia to victories in their first two World Cup finals matches.
02:27Another saw off Romania in the round of 16.
02:31The Real Madrid star was at it again in the quarter-finals,
02:34sealing a statement 3-0 victory over Germany.
02:43Shuker opened the scoring in the semi-final against France,
02:47but the tournament hosts equalised almost immediately,
02:50and ran out 2-1 winners.
02:53But Croatia regrouped to secure a bronze medal,
02:56with victory over the Netherlands in the third-place play-off.
03:03It was an unprecedented arrival on the international stage.
03:11In hindsight, World Cup 98 marked the end of Croatia's first golden generation.
03:20The second golden generation began to emerge during a run to the quarter-finals of Euro 2008.
03:26The squad contained Vedran Chorluka, Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric,
03:33all aged 22 or under.
03:39Their progress was overseen by Slavin Bilic.
03:42But after he left in 2012, progress stalled.
03:46There was particular disappointment at a poor Euro 2016 campaign.
03:51There was a silver lining to an early exit, the appointment of Zlatko Dalic.
04:00Dalic was the coach who figured out how to maximise the enormous potential of Modric,
04:05now into his 30s, gifting him a free role in midfield alongside Rakitic and the hard-working Marcelo Brozovic.
04:12Together, that trio controlled matches, monopolising possession and feeding Maria Mandzukic and Ivan Parisic ahead of them.
04:25At Russia 2018, Croatia entered ranked 20th in the world, as a 3-0 group stage victory over Lionel Messi's
04:33Argentina put the tournament on notice.
04:39Daniel Subasic's penalty-saving prowess then came to the fore, saving his side in consecutive penalty shootouts.
04:47Before an extra-time finish from Mandzukic made Croatia the 13th country to reach a World Cup final.
04:54And the second smallest by both population and land area.
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