At the first World Cup Croatia ever entered, in France in 1998.
Where the players came from
Most of the squad had grown up in Yugoslavia and several had played together in the team that won the 1987 world youth championship in Chile, which was a Yugoslav side.
Croatia declared independence in 1991. The war that followed lasted until 1995. The football association was recognised by FIFA in 1992 and the national team played its first competitive matches in qualification for Euro 96, where they reached the quarter-final.
The tournament
They came second in a group with Argentina, Japan and Jamaica.
In the round of sixteen they beat Romania one nil, from a Suker penalty in first-half stoppage time.
The quarter-final was against Germany, who had won Euro 96 and had reached at least the semi-final of every World Cup since 1982. Croatia scored three, and Germany, down to ten men, did not score at all.
The semi-final
Croatia led France at the start of the second half through Suker. Lilian Thuram equalised within a minute and scored again just before the hour.
They were the only two goals Thuram scored in one hundred and forty two internationals.
After
They beat the Netherlands two one in the third place match, Suker scoring the winner.
Suker's six goals took the Golden Boot. He is still the only Croatian to win it.
Croatia reached the final twenty years later, in 2018, and lost it to France.