The HNS is the top national governing body for football and the systems at present in the nation of Croatia. It plays a key role in sanctioning all competitive football matches in the country. The foundation was laid in June 1912, but the country joined FIFA twice; first in July 1941 as the Independent State of Croatia and second time in July 1992 as Croatia. The Vatreni became a member of the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) in the following year in June 1993. The responsibilities of the HNS include oversight of the sport of football, especially in competitions like the HNL, the Prva HNLZ, the HMNL (Futsal), the Prva NL, and the Druga NL, among others. The Croatian Football Federation has huge power and decision-making ability in the ruling, running and execution of football matches in these competitions.
The HNS has played a key role in pushing men’s football to new heights in the country and helped the sport gain a dedicated cult following in the country. The Federation is headquartered in Zagreb, the same place where Stadion Haksimir serves as the home ground of the Croatia National Football Team. Currently ranked 11th in the FIFA World Rankings, the national team will be focused solely on enhancing and helping the team return to the heights of being ranked 3rd once again in the world of football, the last time being in 1998.
The federation has appointed 59-year-old Zlatko Dalic as the Croatian National Football Team coach, who has experience managing several Croatian league teams, like Rijeka, Dinamo Tirana, as well as SPL clubs like Al Hilal, Al Faisaly, and Al Ain at the club football level, before joining his current role as Croatia boss. As a coach stepping into the full-time head coaching role, it will be last chance saloon for Dalic on the grandest stage, having failed to seal the deal in the last two tournaments. The pressure will be on coach Dalic to deliver results from the very first game in Group L at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
It will be fascinating for Croatian fans to see how the team responds to Zlatko Dalic's tactics and ideas and how they execute them on the field.
Under the management of HNS, the Varteni will be desperate to give it a one final almighty push and slay some of the tournament’s big names, like England, featuring one of the best strikers in the world, Harry Kane, amongst their ranks.
