Croatia national football team | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2018-12-19

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Croatia national football team


00:03:29 1 History
00:03:38 1.1 Pre-independence
00:05:44 1.2 Official formation
00:08:16 1.3 Blažević period and the "golden generation" (1994–1999)
00:10:52 1.4 Barić, Kranjčar, and Bilić periods (2000–2012)
00:18:31 1.5 Štimac, Kovač and Čačić period (2012–17)
00:22:28 1.6 Dalić period and the second "golden generation" (2017–present)
00:27:46 2 Team image
00:27:55 2.1 Kits and crests
00:28:38 3 Supporters
00:33:24 4 Stadiums
00:35:35 5 Rivalries
00:42:36 6 Competitive record
00:42:46 6.1 FIFA World Cup
00:44:07 6.2 UEFA European Championship
00:44:27 6.3 UEFA Nations League
00:44:36 7 All-time team records
00:46:14 7.1 Head-to-head record
00:46:42 7.2 FIFA ranking history
00:47:14 8 Recent results and fixtures
00:47:24 8.1 2018
00:47:33 8.2 2019
00:47:41 9 Personnel
00:47:50 10 Players
00:47:59 10.1 Current squad
00:48:25 10.2 Recent call-ups
00:48:42 10.3 Previous squads
00:48:51 11 Statistics
00:49:00 11.1 Most capped players
00:49:18 11.2 Top goalscorers
00:49:36 11.3 Managers
00:50:03 12 Honours
00:50:44 13 See also



Listening is a more natural way of learning, when compared to reading. Written language only began at around 3200 BC, but spoken language has existed long ago.

Learning by listening is a great way to:
- increases imagination and understanding
- improves your listening skills
- improves your own spoken accent
- learn while on the move
- reduce eye strain

Now learn the vast amount of general knowledge available on Wikipedia through audio (audio article). You could even learn subconsciously by playing the audio while you are sleeping! If you are planning to listen a lot, you could try using a bone conduction headphone, or a standard speaker instead of an earphone.

You can find other Wikipedia audio articles too at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuKfABj2eGyjH3ntPxp4YeQ

You can upload your own Wikipedia articles through:
https://github.com/nodef/wikipedia-tts



"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."
- Socrates



SUMMARY
=======
The Croatia national football team (Croatian: Hrvatska nogometna reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international association football matches. The team is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the nation's governing body for football, and is widely supported throughout the country due to the ever-present popularity of the sport. Most home matches are played at the Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb or though other smaller venues are also used occasionally. They are one of the youngest national teams (since formation) to reach the knockout stage of a major tournament, as well as the youngest team to occupy the top 10 in the FIFA World Rankings.
Croatia has represented itself as an independent nation since 1993, when the team was officially recognised by both FIFA and UEFA following dissolution from Yugoslavia. However, short-lived national sides were briefly active during periods of political upheaval, representing sovereign states such as the Banovina of Croatia from 1939 to 1941, or the Independent State of Croatia from 1941 to 1944. Before the current team was formed, most Croatian players represented the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia instead. The modern-day team has played competitive matches since 1994, starting with a successful qualifying campaign for the 1996 European Championships. In 1998, they competed in their first FIFA World Cup, finishing 3rd and providing the tournament's top scorer, Davor Šuker. Exactly twenty years later, under their second golden generation, Croatia reached the 2018 World Cup Final, securing second place after losing to France. Captain Luka Modrić was awarded best player of the tournament for his performances, thus making him the first ever Croatian player to win the award.
Among other nicknames, the team is colloquially referred to as the Vatreni ("Blazers" or "Fiery Ones") or the Kockasti ("Chequered"). In the Italian-speaking counties the team is known as Il furioso incendio ("The Blazing Fire"). Since becoming eligible to compete, Croatia has only failed to qualify for two major tournaments; the 2000 European Championship and the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Their biggest defeat came in 2018 with a 6–0 loss to Spain, while their highest-scoring victory was a 10–0 friendly win over San Marino in 2016. The national team is also known for some long-standing rivalries, such as the Derby Adriatico with Italy, or the politically-charged rivalry with Serbia, both of which have led to controversial or disruptive matches.
The team represents the second-smallest country by population and land mass to reach the World Cup final, behind Uruguay and Netherlands respectively. At major tournaments, Croatia holds joint-records for longest period between one goal and another of a player (2002–2014), most penalty shootouts played (2), most extra time periods pla ...