Croatia
Thursday 3 July 2008
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Croatia (©UEFA)
Croatia have twice competed in the senior UEFA European Futsal Championship finals and have made the Under-21 showpiece at the first attempt.
Qualifying
Croatia pipped the Czech Republic on goal difference in qualifying, having been held 2-2 by them in the second game in Strumica, thanks to an opening 3-1 win against mini-tournament hosts F.Y.R. Macedonia and a 14-1 defeat of Armenia. It was not the team's biggest victory having overcome Albania 15-1 as well as 5-0 in a December 2007 friendly series. Prior to that they lost 8-4 and drew 2-2 with Italy and in Feburary won 3-1 and 1-0 in Slovenia.
Senior achievements
At senior level, Croatia's greatest achievement was qualifying for the 2000 FIFA Futsal World Cup and the European finals in 1999 and 2001. In the first of those tournaments they beat Australia and Costa Rica to reach the second group stage, where they lost 5-0 to eventual winners Spain, defeated the Netherlands 5-2 and went down 3-1 to Portugal. The year before in the European showpiece they had beaten Yugoslavia 4-3 but lost 3-1 to hosts Spain and 8-3 to the Netherlands, and in 2001 they began with a 2-1 win against Portugal but fell 5-0 to Ukraine and 3-0 to Spain, the two teams that would meet in the final.
Key players
Vital to Croatia's chances is their captain Damir Repinc, a 20-year-old winger with senior international experience. Mate Bulgarija and Darko Vidković were also very important for Croatia in qualifying and 18-year-old Dario Marinović is a fast-emerging goalscorer.
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