Croatia Qualify for 2026 World Cup

Croatia booked their place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup following a 3-1 comeback victory over the Faroe Islands on Friday night in Rijeka.

The visitors stunned the home crowd with an early deflected goal in the 16th minute, but Manchester City defender Joško Gvardiol quickly restored parity just seven minutes later.

After the break, Petar Musa, making his first international appearance since 2023, put Croatia ahead, and veteran Nikola Vlašić sealed the win with a goal from an Ivan Perišić cross.

Luka Modrić, Croatia’s captain and widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders in football history, reflected on the achievement: "We might forget sometimes because we achieved such great results at the last two World Cups, so, in a way, we take it for granted. However, it's anything but normal. So, we must be happy and proud about yet another great accomplishment."

Right winger Marco Pašalić added that the team remained confident despite a slow start: "They're great on the counterattack. Perhaps we entered the game a bit slowly during the first twenty minutes, but I never doubted our ability. We've got tremendous talent, so it was just a matter of when we'd score the first goal. The most important part is that we qualified."

Coach Zlatko Dalić, who guided Croatia to second place in 2018 and third in 2022, praised the team’s performance and looked ahead to the final qualification match: "Yes, it's a great achievement. It's nice to continue on this great run. Now we have a chance to accomplish something in America. As for today's game, it was ok. We weren't ourselves during the first half, including lots of mistakes. The second half was better, we won the game, and celebrated in front of our home fans. Congratulations to the players and the Football Federation on reaching the World Cup. Thanks for the support. The stress is finished now because we qualified. We have one more game against Montenegro. We want to win so we can complete the greatest qualification cycle in our history."

Croatia will face Montenegro on Monday at 8:45 pm in Podgorica. A win would complete one of the strongest qualification campaigns in two decades.

Faroe Islands manager Eydun Klakstein congratulated Croatia on their qualification: "They're a small country just like us, and we always support nations like that at major tournaments."

FIFA President Gianni Infantino also offered his congratulations on the official FIFA Instagram page: "Congratulations Croatia on qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Canada, Mexico and the United States. The Vatreni continue to inspire millions, from your remarkable debut in 1998 to the historic final in 2018 and third place in Qatar 2022. Now you have another chance to light up the world stage with the same spirit and passion that defines Croatian football."