Sport in Croatia

Sport in Croatia has significant role in Croatian culture, and many local sports clubs as well as the Croatian national squads enjoy strong followings in the country. The most enduring sport by far in Croatia is football, and is played on amateur and professional levels amongst all age groups across the entire country. Several other major team sports are handball, basketball and water polo, with clubs in all parts of Croatia. Ice hockey is another popular team sport, namely in the Croatian interior. The most popular individual sports in Croatia are tennis, alpine skiing, and swimming, and to some extent table tennis and chess. Various amateur sport games are popular in Croatia, notably picigin.
History
Franjo Bučar (1866–1946) is widely considered to be the father of modern Croatian sport. He founded the Croatian Sports Association in 1909 within what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bučar introduced a multitude of mainstream sports in Croatia, such as football, alpine skiing, ice skating and ice hockey, as well as gymnastics and fencing. The Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport, the Republic of Croatia's highest award in the development of sport, is named in his honor.
With the exception of the years during the World War Two Independent State of Croatia, Croatian club and national teams first represented the Republic of Croatia at the start of the 1990s, with the formation of the Croatian national football team and its first match against the United States in 1990.
Team sports
Association football
Football is the most popular sport in Croatia, and is governed by the Croatian Football Federation. The Prva HNL is the top division of the country's football league system, and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Druga HNL.
Dinamo Zagreb is the country's most successful football club and the 2019 champion, with 20 total championships, followed by Hajduk Split with 6 championships (last one in 2005). The rivalry between these two clubs is known as the Eternal Derby in Croatia, with the two clubs combining to win all but one of the 20 championships ever contested in the league's history. The Prva HNL is ranked 17th league in Europe by UEFA, and Dinamo Zagreb is the highest-ranked Croatian club in Europe, occupying the 30th spot.
The Croatian Cup is the main knock-out tournament in Croatian football, and has also been dominated by Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split. The Croatian Supercup is contested between the champions of the Prva HNL and the Croatian Cup.
No Croatian club has ever won the UEFA Champions League, however Hajduk Split, at the time Croatia's premier club, made it to the quarter-finals of the 1994–95 league, losing on aggregate to eventual champion Ajax.
The Croatia national football team won a bronze medal in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and a silver medal in the 2018 FIFA World Cup and a bronze medal in the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Davor Šuker won the Golden Boot as the top goalscorer in 1998 and Luka Modrić won the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament in 2018. The national football team has also played in the quarter-finals of the 1996 and the 2008 European Championships. As of August 2018, the team was ranked 4th in the FIFA World Rankings. Today, Croatia's most popular footballers include Luka Modrić, Mario Mandžukić, Ivica Olić, Darijo Srna, Ivan Perišić, Ivan Klasnić, Niko Kranjčar, Ivan Rakitić and Vedran Ćorluka, as well as foreign-born Josip Šimunić, Eduardo da Silva and Sammir. In August 2012, Modrić was acquired by Spanish giants and 31-time La Liga champions Real Madrid for a deal totalling over £33 million, and he made his debut as a substitute in Real's 2–1 victory over Catalan rivals FC Barcelona.
Team handball
Historically, Croatia has been a prolific nation in handball, both in the success of its club handball, as well as with the achievements of the Croatian national squad.
At the start of the 2nd half of the 20th century, RK Bjelovar dominated Croatian handball, and in the 1970s won five Yugoslav league championships. In 1972 RK Bjelovar won the EHF Champions League, Europe's greatest handball competition, and reached the final the following year. A smaller city, Bjelovar's reign of successes can be likened to that of the storied Vince Lombardi–era Green Bay Packers of the National Football League, as the town of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the smallest NFL market in the United States, brought home five league championships in the 1960s.
Since Croatian independence, RK Zagreb has been the nation's premier handball club. It has won every Croatian First Handball League championship that has been contested, 28 in all. The club has reached the EHF Champions League finals six times, winning consecutively in 1992 and 1993. In 2008, the club acquired Croatian star Ivano Balić, considered the best handballer of all time.
The Croatia men's national handball team is currently ranked 10th in the world by the International Handball Federation. At the 1996 and 2004 Summer Olympics, Croatia won gold medals in men's handball. The squad also has won the 2003 World Men's Handball Championship and came in second at the 1995 and 2005 world championships, as well as at the 2009 World Championship as hosts, losing in the final to France. Croatia also came in third at the 1994 World Championship and second at the 2008 and 2010 European championships. Croatia will once host the world handball tournament in 2025, along Denmark and Norway.
Basketball
The Croatia national basketball team has won a silver medal at the 1992 Olympic basketball tournament, bronze medal at the 1994 World Championship and bronze medals at EuroBasket 1993 and EuroBasket 1995.
Croatian basketball clubs were EuroLeague champions five times: KK Split three times (1989, 1990 and 1991) and KK Cibona in 1985 and 1986. Croatian basketball players such as Krešimir Ćosić, Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč were amongst the first foreign players to succeed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States. One of the most notable Croatian basketballers was Dražen Petrović, who died in a car accident in June 1993. He is considered a crucial part of the vanguard to the present-day mass influx of European players into the NBA and he was posthumously enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was voted the best European Basketball player in history, by players at the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket.
Water polo
The Croatia national water polo team won gold medals in the 2007 and 2017 World Championships, and bronze medals in the 2009 and 2011 World Championships.
The team also won gold at the 2012 and silver at the 1996 and 2016 Summer Olympics, as well as gold at the 2010 and silvers in the 1999 and 2003 European Championships.
Croatian water polo clubs were 13 times LEN Champions League champions. HAVK Mladost from Zagreb is a seven time European champion (1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1990, 1991 and 1996) and was awarded the title Best Club of the 20th Century by the LEN. VK Jug from Dubrovnik and VK Jadran from Split are both three time European champions, while POŠK, also from Split, is a European champion from 1999.
Rugby union
Rugby union in pre-independence Croatia was a moderately popular sport, but due to its recent international successes, it is gaining more recognition. Some people date the start of Croatian rugby to 17 January 1954 when the Mladost team from Zagreb was formed to become Croatia's first Rugby Club.
Croatian sides competed in the Rugby Championship of Yugoslavia, which ran from 1957 to 1991. Croatia was something of a centre of rugby union in Yugoslavia before it gained its independence.
The biggest rugby "scrum" in the world was made on 14 Oct 2007, in Croatia, with over 200 players of all categories from Croatian rugby club Nada, for a Millennium Photo.
Australian Rules Football
Is gaining popularity mainly due to the University of Zagreb.
Four teams currently play out of Zagreb and one out of Slavonski Brod whilst a team from Graz in Austria also competes in the CEAFL. Topper in FIFA 2018.
Ice hockey
Introduced at the start of the 20th century, ice hockey became one of Croatia's first organized and federated sports, with Franjo Bučar's founding of the Association for Skating and Ice Hockey, the precursor to the modern Croatian Ice Hockey Federation. From the late 1930s until Croatia's independence, Croatian ice hockey clubs competed in the Yugoslav Hockey League, with Croatia's most successful club KHL Medveščak Zagreb winning the championship three consecutive times from 1988 to 1990.
Ice hockey is particularly popular in the interior regions of Croatia's Pannonia, Slavonia, Zagreb and Zagorje, where winters are as cold as in more prolific hockey nations such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Today, KHL Medveščak competes in the Russian Kontinental Hockey League or KHL, the top-tier Russian tournament and the 2nd highest-ranking ice hockey league in the world. Before joining KHL, Medveščak played in the Austrian EBEL, Medveščak debuted in EBEL in the 2009 season and it has qualified for the playoffs every year.
Medveščak joined the Kontinental Hockey League in the 2013–14 season.
Volleyball
Croatia women's national volleyball team won silver medals three times at European Volleyball Championship in 1995, 1997 and 1999.
Individual sports
Janica Kostelić is the most successful female alpine ski racer in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. She is the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics Alpine skiing events (in 2002 and 2006), and the only woman to win three alpine skiing gold medals in one Olympics (2002). She also won two silver medals in 2006. Janica was the World Cup overall champion in 2001, 2003, and 2006. On February 5, 2006, Janica became only the second female skier to win all five disciplines in one season. She also holds the record for the highest number of points in one World Cup season. In 2006 she won Laureus World Sports Award for Sportswoman of the Year. Her elder brother Ivica Kostelić was the 2003 World Champion in slalom and the Men's Overall Champion at the 2011 Alpine Skiing World Cup, and as of 14 February 2014 is a four-time Winter Olympic silver medalist himself.
Blanka Vlašić is the best-known Croatian track and field athlete; she specialises in the high jump. She is 2007 and 2009 World Champion. Blanka is also 2008 World Indoor Champion, 2008 Olympic silver medalist and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist. Her personal best is (which is only 1 cm less than the world record) set in Zagreb on August 31, 2009.
Goran Ivanišević became the first ever wildcard to win Wimbledon when he won his first and only Grand Slam title in 2001. He was previously a three time runner-up at the event. Croatia also won Davis Cup on two occasions in 2005 and 2018. Other Grand Slam champions from Croatia include 2014 US Open champion Marin Čilić and 1997 French Open champion Iva Majoli.
Croatian athletes have had considerable success in individual sports as well, where they represented Croatia in international competitions at the highest level. These sports include:
Alpine skiing
Janica Kostelić, Ivica Kostelić, Natko Zrnčić-Dim, Ana Jelušić, Nika Fleiss, Sofija Novoselić, Vedran Pavlek
Archery
Ivana Buden
Athletics
Blanka Vlašić, Branko Zorko, Sandra Perković, Ana Šimić, Ivan Horvat, Lisa Stublić, Sara Kolak, Stipe Žunić, Siniša Ergotić, Franjo Mihalić, Ivan Gubijan
Biathlon
Jakov Fak (now competes for Slovenia)
Boxing
Željko Mavrović, Stipe Drviš, Mate Parlov, Hrvoje Sep, Filip Hrgović, Damir Škaro, Alen Babić, George Chuvalo/Jure Čuvalo
Canoeing
Matija Ljubek, Danko Herceg
Chess, Zdenko Kožul, Ivan Šarić, Antonio Radić (most subscribed chess content creator on YouTube)
Cycling
Robert Kišerlovski, Kristijan Đurasek
Gymnastics
Filip Ude, Marijo Možnik, Tin Srbić, Robert Seligman
Figure skating
Sanda Dubravčić, Idora Hegel, Tomislav Čižmešija, Željka Čižmešija
Kickboxing
Branko Cikatić, Mirko Filipović, Antonio Plazibat
Mixed martial arts
Mirko Filipović, Pat Miletich, Stipe Miočić, Roberto Soldić
Rowing
Nikša Skelin, Siniša Skelin, Martin Sinković, Valent Sinković, David Šain, Damir Martin, Igor Boraska, Tihomir Franković, Krešimir Čuljak, Igor Francetić, Branimir Vujević, Tomislav Smoljanović, Silvijo Petriško
Sailing
Šime Fantela, Igor Marenić, Tonči Stipanović, Tina Mihelić, Enia Ninčević, Romana Župan, Pavle Kostov, Petar Cupać, Ivan Kljaković-Gašpić
Shooting
Giovanni Cernogoraz, Snježana Pejčić, Josip Glasnović, Anton Glasnović, Petar Gorša
Swimming
Miloš Milošević, Duje Draganja, Gordan Kožulj, Sanja Jovanović, Đurđica Bjedov, Mihovil Španja, Mario Todorović, Saša Imprić, Matea Samardžić
Table tennis
Zoran Primorac, Tamara Boroš, Dragutin Šurbek, Antun Stipančić, Sandra Paović, Cornelia Molnar, Andrej Gaćina
Tennis
Goran Ivanišević, Ivan Ljubičić, Karolina Šprem, Ivo Karlović, Lovro Zovko, Marta Petrić, Mirjana Lučić-Baroni, Donna Vekić, Silvija Talaja, Ana Vrljić, Jelena Kostanić Tošić, Ana Konjuh, Tereza Mrdeža, Iva Majoli, Goran Prpić, Mario Ančić, Marin Čilić, Borna Ćorić, Ivan Dodig, Marin Draganja, Petra Martić, Nikola Pilić, Željko Franulović, Mate Pavić, Franko Škugor, Nikola Mektić
Taekwondo
Filip Grgić, Sandra Šarić, Martina Zubčić, Lucija Zaninović, Ana Zaninović, Kristina Tomić. Nataša Vezmar
Weightlifting
Nikolaj Pešalov, Amar Musić
Wrestling
Nenad Žugaj, Neven Žugaj, Božo Starčević, Vlado Lisjak
Sports and leagues
National organizations and leagues exist in Croatia for most popular sports. Some of these include:
Football
Prva HNL
Druga HNL
Treća HNL
Četvrta HNL
Handball
Premijer liga
Basketball
Premijer liga
Futsal
Croatian First League of Futsal
Water polo
Croatian First League of Water Polo
Ice hockey
Croatian Ice Hockey Championship
Volleyball
Croatian 1A Volleyball League
National sports teams
Some of Croatia's more successful national teams include:
Croatia national football team
Croatia men's national handball team
Croatia national basketball team
Croatia Davis Cup team
Croatia national water polo team
Croatia women's national volleyball team
Croatia national cricket team
Croatia national beach handball team
Croatia women's national beach handball team
Croatia national baseball team
Croatia women's national basketball team
Croatia national futsal team
Croatia women's national handball team
Croatia men's national ice hockey team
Croatia women's national ice hockey team
Croatia national rugby union team
Croatia national speedway team
Croatia Fed Cup team
Croatia Hopman Cup team
Croatia men's national volleyball team
Achievements
Olympic Games
Croatia has participated in the following Summer Olympic Games to date:
Croatia at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Croatia at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Croatia at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Croatia at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Croatia at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Croatia at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Croatia at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Croatia at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Croatia has participated in the following Winter Olympic Games to date:
Croatia at the 1992 Winter Olympics
Croatia at the 1994 Winter Olympics
Croatia at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Croatia at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Croatia at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Croatia at the 2010 Winter Olympics
Croatia at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Croatia at the 2018 Winter Olympics
Hostings of international sporting events
Croatia has hosted many international sporting events. Until 1992 Croatia hosted the events as a part of Yugoslavia.
Alpine skiing
Zagreb (Sljeme) has organized many FIS races apart from the World Cup races held every year from 2005. The first ever FIS alpine ski race was held in 1995 and included 94 racers from 7 different countries.
Snow Queen Trophy (2005—; part of the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup): Zagreb (Sljeme)
Adriatic Slalom (2006—2011; from 2006 to 2009 a FIS race, in 2010 and 2011 part of the FIS Alpine Ski European Cup): Rijeka (Platak)
Artistic gymnastics
Žito Challenge Cup (Grand prix Osijek) (2009): Osijek
1982 Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Final: Zagreb
Aquatics
1981 European Aquatics Championships: Split
2008 European Short Course Swimming Championships: Rijeka
2010 Men's European Water Polo Championship: Zagreb
2010 Women's European Water Polo Championship: Zagreb
Athletics
Hanžeković Memorial (1951): Zagreb
Terry Fox Run (2000): Zagreb
Slobodna Dalmacija Women's High Jump Meeting (2007—2011): Split
In 2010 the meeting was one of the most visited indoor events in the history of the sport with some 11 000 spectators cheering mainly for Blanka Vlašić. In 2011 the meeting was held outdoors, on the Riva, the Split's waterfront, to make it more interesting. The meeting was not held in 2012 and 2013 due to Blanka Vlašić's injury.
1981 European Cup Super League Finals: Zagreb
1989 European Athletics Junior Championships: Varaždin
1990 European Athletics Championships: Split
2002 European Cup Winter Throwing: Pula
2002 European Cross Country Championships: Medulin
2008 European Cup Winter Throwing: Split (Stadion Park mladeži)
2010 IAAF Continental Cup: Split
2013 Balkan Veterans Athletic Championship: Zagreb (Sports park of Mladost)
Australian football
2009 EU Cup Australian rules football: Samobor
Basketball
1970 FIBA World Championship: Split, Karlovac (parts of the competition were also held in Sarajevo, Skopje and Ljubljana)
1972 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship: Zadar
1975 Eurobakset: Split, Karlovac, Rijeka (the final round was played in Belgrade)
1978–79 FIBA European Cup Winner's Cup Finals: Poreč
1989 Eurobasket: Zagreb
2000 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship: Zadar
2001 FIBA Under-21 World Championship for Women: Šibenik
2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship for Women: Zagreb
2003–04 ABA Goodyear League Final Four: Zagreb (Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall)
2009–10 ABA NLB League Final Four: Zagreb (Arena Zagreb)
2010 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship: Zadar, Crikvenica, Makarska
2013 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship for Women: Vinkovci, Vukovar
Beach handball
2011 European Beach Handball Championship: Umag (ITC Stella Maris)
Boxing
2004 European Amateur Boxing Championship: Pula
Canoeing and kayaking
1999 Canoe Sprint European Championship: Zagreb
2012 Canoe Sprint European Championship: Zagreb
Chess
2010 European Individual Chess Championship: Rijeka
Cycling
Tour of Croatia (2015)
Darts
2009 World Dart Championship: Zadar (Krešimir Ćosić Hall)
2009 European Dart Championship: Zadar (Krešimir Ćosić Hall)
Fencing
2013 European Fencing Championship: Zagreb
Figure skating
Zagreb Snowflakes Trophy (2001): Zagreb
1974 European Figure Skating Championship: Zagreb
1979 European Figure Skating Championship: Zagreb
1999 World Junior Figure Skating Championship: Zagreb
2004 World Synchronized Skating Championship: Zagreb
2008 European Figure Skating Championship: Zagreb
2009 World Synchronized Skating Championship: Zagreb
2013 European Figure Skating Championship: Zagreb
Football
1976 UEFA European Football Championship: Zagreb (Maksimir Stadium; the second semi-final and the final were played in Belgrade)
2009 UEFA Regions' Cup: Zagreb (Stadion Lučko), Vrbovec, Velika Gorica, Samobor, Jastrebarsko, Zaprešić (Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić)
Futsal
Kutija šibica (1970): Zagreb (Dom sportova, Sports Hall Trešnjevka, Sports Hall Trnsko, Sports Hall Peščenica)
2012 UEFA Futsal Championship: Split (Spaladium Arena), Zagreb (Arena Zagreb)
Handball
1957 World Women's Handball Championship: Virovitica (part of the competition was also played in Belgrade)
2000 European Men's Handball Championship: Zagreb (Dom sportova), Rijeka (Dvorana mladosti)
2003 World Women's Handball Championship: Split, Poreč, Karlovac, Čakovec, Zagreb, Rijeka
2009 World Men's Handball Championship: Split, Zadar, Osijek, Varaždin, Poreč, Zagreb, Pula
2011–12 SEHA League Final Four: Zagreb (Arena Zagreb)
2014 Women's Junior World Handball Championship:
2014 European Women's Handball Championship: Poreč, Varaždin, Zagreb (the competition will be jointly-hosted with Hungary)
Ice hockey
2005 Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A: Zagreb
2007 Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A: Zagreb
2011 Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group B: Zagreb
2013 Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A: Zagreb
Judo
Rijeka Grand Prix (IJF World Judo Tour; 2013): Rijeka (Centar Zamet)
Motorsport
Croatia Rally (1974—; part of the European Rally Championship)
2013 European Hill Climb Championship: Buzet
2013 Individual Speedway European Championship: Donji Kraljevec
Picigin
Picigin World Championship (2005): Split
Sailing
1996 Open Match Racing World Championship: Dubrovnik
2000 Open Match Racing World Championship: Split
2004 470 World Championship: Zadar
2006 Finn Gold Cup: Split
2011 Youth Sailing World Championship: Zadar
2012 49er World Championship: Zadar
2013 Formula Windsurfing World Championship: Viganj
Shooting
1985 European Shooting Championship: Osijek
1989 European Shooting Championship: Zagreb
2001 European Shooting Championship: Zagreb
2003 ISSF World Cup: Zagreb
2006 ISSF World Shooting Championship: Zagreb
2009 European Shooting Championship: Osijek
2013 European Shooting Championship: Osijek
Tennis
ATP Vegeta Croatia Open (1990): Umag
Zagreb Indoors (1996): Zagreb
Volleyball (indoor)
2001 FIVB Girls Youth World Championship: Pula
2005 Women's European Volleyball Championship: Pula, Zagreb
Multi-sport events
1971 Balkan Games: Zagreb
1979 Mediterranean Games: Split
1987 Summer Universiade: Zagreb
1999 Military World Games: Zagreb (Stadion Maksimir)
Sportske igre mladih: Split
2016 European University Games: Zagreb, Rijeka
See also
Football in Croatia
Croatian Rowing Federation
Ice hockey in Croatia
Croatia national American football team
References
External links
Hrvatska domaćin
Modern history of Croatia