Croatia women's national football team
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The Croatia women's national football team represents Croatia in international women's football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Croatia. It is a member of UEFA in Europe and FIFA in global competitions. The team's colours reference two national symbols: the Croatian checkerboard and the country's tricolour. They are colloquially referred to as the Lavice ('Lionesses'). So far, the Lavice have not qualified for any major tournament.
 | |||
| Nickname(s) | Lavice (The Lionesses) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Croatian Football Federation (HNS) | ||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Nenad Gračan | ||
| Captain | Doris Bačić | ||
| Most caps | Iva Landeka (102) | ||
| Top scorer | Maja Joščak (20) | ||
| FIFA code | CRO | ||
| |||
| FIFA ranking | |||
| Current | 57  1 (16 August 2024)[1] | ||
| Highest | 44 (July 2003 – June 2005) | ||
| Lowest | 65 (November 2010; July 2011) | ||
| First international | |||
 Slovenia 3–2 Croatia  (Ižakovci, Slovenia; 28 October 1993) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
| Croatia 8–2 Slovenia (Kecskemét, Hungary; 27 May 2001) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Romania 10–0 Croatia (Bucharest, Romania; 2 October 2004) | |||
| Website | hns-cff.hr | ||
After winning independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, the newly established Croatian Football Federation immediately moved toward creating separate national football teams to represent the country, which included the establishment of the women's team. Three years after the men's team debut, the women's team of Croatia officially marked their international debut, playing against neighbouring Slovenia in a friendly on 28 October 1993, where Croatia lost 2–3 away.
Since its inception, the women's team of Croatia has suffered from the lack of coverage from the increasingly successful men's side. Most of Croatia's female footballers, unlike the male ones, are made up of only amateur or part-timers, and thus they are not adequately trained. As for the result, while the men's team has been largely competitive and qualified for several UEFA European Championship and FIFA World Cup, the women's team is unable to repeat the same as the men's one, and has a tendency of being finished near bottom or bottom of the qualifications for UEFA Women's Championship and FIFA Women's World Cup.
The Croatia women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Lavice".[citation needed]
Like the men's counterparts, the Croatian women's team also maintained a rivalry with its neighbour Serbia. However, unlike the men's, the women's team of Croatia, which has long suffered from lack of investment, could not demonstrate its domination against its Serbian arch-rival.
Recent results and fixtures
- The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
- Legend
Win Draw Lose Fixture
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Head Coach | Nenad Gračan |
| Assistant Coach | Jure Perković |
| Assistant Coach | Nenad Glušica |
| Assistant Coach | Helena Hercigonja-Moulton |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Blaž Bugarin |
- The following players were called up for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying matches against Wales and Ukraine on 12 and 16 July 2024 respectively.[2]
Caps and goals as of 1 December 2023, after the match against Slovakia
- The following players were named to a squad in the last 12 months.
Champions
Runners-up
Third place
Fourth place
Tournament played fully or partially on home soil
FIFA Women's World Cup
| FIFA Women's World Cup record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Squad | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
| 1991 | Part of Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Did not enter | ||||||||||||||||
| 1999 | |||||||||||||||||
| 2003 | Did not qualify | 2/5 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 11 | |||||||||
| 2007 | 2/4 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 11 | ||||||||||
| 2011 | 6/6 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 27 | ||||||||||
| 2015 | 4/6 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 20 | ||||||||||
| 2019 | 5/5 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 20 | ||||||||||
| 2023 | 4/6 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 18 | ||||||||||
| 2027 | To be determined | To be determined | |||||||||||||||
| Total | 0/9 | — | 0/6 | 52 | 12 | 9 | 31 | 49 | 107 | ||||||||
Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out; correct as of 6 September 2022 after the match against Lithuania.
| Matches | |
|---|---|
| First match | – |
| Biggest win | – |
| Biggest defeat | – |
UEFA Women's Championship
| UEFA Women's Championship record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Squad | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | |
| 1969 | Part of Yugoslavia | ||||||||||||||||
| 1979 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1984 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1987 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1989 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1991 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Did not enter | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Did not qualify | 2/4 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 18 | |||||||||
| 1997 | 4/4 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 23 | ||||||||||
| 2001 | 4/4 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 19 | ||||||||||
| 2005 | 3/5 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 22 | ||||||||||
| 2009 | 3/4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 2013 | 5/5 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 26 | ||||||||||
| 2017 | 4/5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 15 | ||||||||||
| 2022 | 4/5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 19 | ||||||||||
| 2025 | To be determined | To be determined | |||||||||||||||
| Total | 0/15 | — | 0/8 | 55 | 14 | 6 | 35 | 64 | 148 | ||||||||
Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out; correct as of 23 February 2021 after the match against Romania.
| Matches | |
|---|---|
| First match | – |
| Biggest win | – |
| Biggest defeat | – |
UEFA Women's Nations League
| UEFA Women's Nations League | Finals record | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | LG | GP | Pos | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | P/R | RK | Year | Round | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Squad | |
| 2023–24 | B | 2 | 2nd | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 23rd | 2024 | Did not qualify | |||||||||
| Total | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 10 | Total | 0/1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | ||||||
Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks; correct as of 5 December 2023 after the match against Romania.
| Matches | |
|---|---|
| First match | Croatia 2–1 Romania (Varaždin, Croatia; 22 September 2023) |
| Biggest win | Croatia 2–0 Slovakia (Velika Gorica, Croatia; 1 December 2023) |
| Biggest defeat | Slovakia 4–0 Croatia (Senec, Slovakia; 26 September 2023) |
Individual statistics
- As of 16 July 2024
| Rank | Player | Caps | Goals | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iva Landeka | 102 | 14 | 2006–2022 |
| 2 | Kristina Nevrkla | 95 | 4 | 2008– |
| 3 | Sandra Žigić | 94 | 10 | 2005–2019 |
| 4 | Izabela Lojna | 88 | 13 | 2010– |
| 5 | Doris Bačić | 84 | 0 | 2011– |
| 6 | Maja Joščak | 77 | 20 | 2006–2019 |
| 7 | Leonarda Balog | 72 | 1 | 2009– |
| 8 | Kristina Šundov | 59 | 8 | 2003–2020 |
| 9 | Violeta Baban | 58 | 8 | 2002–2016 |
| 10 | Ana Jelenčić | 55 | 1 | 2011– |
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| Rank | Player | Goals | Caps | Ratio | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivana Rudelić | 20 | 51 | 0.39 | 2015– |
| Maja Joščak | 77 | 0.26 | 2006–2019 | ||
| 3 | Katarina Kolar | 16 | 40 | 0.4 | 2006–2014 |
| 4 | Iva Landeka | 14 | 102 | 0.14 | 2006–2022 |
| 5 | Marina Koljenik | 13 | 35 | 0.37 | 1994–2007 |
| Izabela Lojna | 88 | 0.15 | 2010– | ||
| 7 | Ljiljana Jakšić | 12 | 22 | 0.55 | 1995–2005 |
| 8 | Sandra Žigić | 10 | 94 | 0.11 | 2005–2019 |
| 9 | Violeta Baban | 8 | 58 | 0.14 | 2003–2020 |
| Kristina Šundov | 59 | 0.14 | 2002–2016 |
- Croatia women's national under-19 football team
- Croatia women's national under-17 football team
- Croatia women's national under-15 football team
- Croatia national football team
- Croatia national football B team
- Croatia national under-23 football team
- Croatia national under-21 football team
- Croatia national under-20 football team
- Croatia national under-19 football team
- Croatia national under-18 football team
- Croatia national under-17 football team
- Croatia national under-16 football team
- Croatia national under-15 football team
- ^ Now represents Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- ^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World Ranking". FIFA. 16 August 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
- ^ Izbornik hrvatske ženske reprezentacije Nenad Gračan objavio je popis igračica za nastavak kvalifikacija za #WEURO2025 protiv Walesa i Ukrajine