WORLD CUP 2026 · GROUP LEUROPE

Croatia

At the first 48-team World Cup, hosted across USA, Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July 2026. Drawn in Group L with England, Panama, Ghana.

#11
FIFA rank
L
Group
3
Group fixtures
3
PL stars
THE GROUP

Croatia vs the rest of Group L

FIFA ranks at draw time. Top two from the group advance directly to the Round of 32; the eight best third-place finishers across all 12 groups also progress.

ONSIDE INTELLIGENCE · POWERED BY THE ENGINE
AI-MODELLED

Croatia's tournament path — the fantasy angle

QUALIFY %
66%
to reach R32
GROUP xP
6.1
across 3 games
EXPECTED FINISH
#2 in group
WC FANTASY CAPTAIN(C)
Mateo Kovačić
Man City
Highest projected impact in this squad
LIKELY SCORERGOAL
Mateo Kovačić
Man City
Top attacking PL contributor
TOP 3 CONTRIBUTORS · PROJECTED PTS/90
1
Mateo Kovačić
6.1
2
Joško Gvardiol
4.6
3
Luka Vušković
4.6
VERDICTLive group — ~66% to advance. Mateo Kovačić the likely captaincy lever.
SHARE CROATIA'S TOURNAMENT
SHAREXRedditWhatsApp
FIXTURE DIFFICULTY HEATMAP
CELL COLOUR = RANK DELTA

Croatia's 3 group matches at a glance

Difficulty by pre-tournament FIFA rank delta. Acid means Croatia is the favourite; amber is a coin-toss; red means the underdog. Switches to actual-result colour once each match is played.

MD1A
England
FIFA #4
-7 rank delta
Wed 17 Jun
MD2A
Panama
FIFA #33
+22 rank delta
Tue 23 Jun
MD3H
Ghana
FIFA #74
+63 rank delta
Sat 27 Jun
2
Easy
1
Toss
0
Hard

Croatia is FIFA #11. Group avg rank is #31 20 places stronger than the group mean.

OFFICIAL SQUAD · 26 PLAYERS

Croatia's tournament 26

Goalkeepers3
Dominik Livaković
31
Ivor Pandur
26
Dominik Kotarski
26
Defenders7
Duje Ćaleta-Car
29
Marin Pongračić
28
Martin Erlic
28
Josip Stanišić
26
Joško Gvardiol
Man City
24
Josip Šutalo
26
Luka Vušković
Spurs
19
Midfielders10
Luka Modrić
40
Mateo Kovačić
Man City
32
Mario Pašalić
31
Nikola Vlašić
28
Nikola Moro
28
Kristijan Jakić
29
Luka Sučić
23
Petar Sucic
22
Martin Baturina
23
Toni Fruk
25
Other6
Andrej Kramarić
34
Ivan Perišić
37
Ante Budimir
34
Petar Musa
28
Marco Pašalić
25
Igor Matanovic
23

Source: football-data.org (FIFA registered squad). Acid dot · player's Premier League club. Updated daily.

FIXTURES

Croatia's group-stage matches

MDDateUTCUKOpponent
1Wed 17 Jun20:0021:00
2Tue 23 Jun23:0000:00
3Sat 27 Jun21:0022:00
THE PL × WC FUNNEL

3 Premier League players representing Croatia

Track these names — their tournament minutes shape your FPL 2026/27 GW1 captaincy shortlist. 2 from Man City alone.

Man City
2
Joško Gvardiol
Mateo Kovačić
Spurs
1
Luka Vušković

Source: Premier League official article (29 May 2026). ~ marks players inferred from secondary reporting where the squad wasn't formally announced.

FPL ANGLE

Why Croatia's tournament matters for FPL 2026/27

Croatia's 3 PL players will play 3 group matches before the FPL deadline locks. Watch for minutes, form, and tactical fit at international level — the strongest available signal before pre-season friendlies start.

WORLD CUP FANTASY · CROATIA

Pick Croatia stars in FIFA World Cup Fantasy

Use the Onside captain / differential / value picks to assemble a Croatia-heavy XI, then build it in the official FIFA game. In FIFA Fantasy, open the player list and filter by country = Croatia to surface every eligible name.

Onside is not affiliated with FIFA. We publish picks; you play them in the official game.

EXPLORE OTHER GROUPS
WC MATCHDAY BRIEF · ONE LIST, TWO SEASONS

Get the World Cup brief in your inbox — plus early FPL 2026/27 picks

Match-by-match predictions, captain picks for World Cup Fantasy, likely scorers, and the first FPL 2026/27 differentials to watch. Same engine that powers our Premier League tools, pointed at the world's biggest pre-season.

Weekly digest

Captain picks, transfer tips & differentials — every week.

One email per gameweek. Unsubscribe any time.

SAME ENGINE · POINTED AT FPL

Tracking the World Cup? Use the same engine for FPL 2026/27.

v5 depth-2 GBT stacker · 51k+ OOS predictions · MAE 1.92. Captain picks, MILP squad optimiser, AI Coach, set-piece intel — the production Premier League tools.