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Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 12
Croatia wins: 2
Draws: 3
France wins: 7
Croatia and France have faced each other a total of 12 times on the international stage across all competitions, including friendlies.
France currently lead the overall head-to-head record with seven victories, while Croatia have only beaten Les Bleus twice, and there have also been three draws played out between the two nations.
The very first meeting between France and Croatia was at the semi-final stage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with Lilian Thuram scoring twice to secure a 2-1 win for Les Bleus en route to winning the prestigious tournament on home soil for the first time in their history.
France then won back-to-back friendlies against Croatia by an aggregate score of 5-0 between 1999 and 2000, before the Checkered Ones held Les Bleus to successive draws - a pulsating 2-2 group-stage draw at Euro 2004 followed by a goalless stalemate in a friendly almost seven years later.
The most famous meeting between France and Croatia took place in July 2018 when they locked horns in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final in Russia. Managed by Didier Deschamps, Les Bleus prevailed in a thrilling contest by a 4-2 scoreline.
Just over two years later, France and Croatia butted heads in the group stage of the UEFA Nations League, with Ls Bleus winning again by a 4-2 scoreline before securing maximum points in the reverse fixture in Zagreb thanks to a 2-1 victory.
Between June 2022 and March 2025, France failed to win three consecutive encounters with Croatia, who firstly rescued a point in a 1-1 Nations League group-stage draw, a week before claiming their first-ever win over Les Bleus in the reverse fixture, with a fifth-minute Luka Modric penalty sealing a slender 1-0 success in Paris.
Modric's fellow Croatian Andrej Kramaric then coincidentally missed a penalty when France and the Chequered Ones clashed in the first leg of their 2024-25 Nations League quarter-final, but Mike Maignan's save was futile as Ante Budimir and Ivan Perisic put Dalic's side in command with a 2-0 win.
However, France got their revenge just three days later as second-half strikes from Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele secured a 2-0 second-leg victory in Paris, levelling the scores at 2-2 on aggregate, before Les Bleus celebrated a 5-4 penalty-shootout triumph, despite missing two spot kicks of their own.
Last 12 meetings
Mar 23, 2025: France 2-0 Croatia *France win 5-4 on pens (Nations League Quarter-Final Second Leg)
Mar 20, 2025: Croatia 2-0 France (Nations League Quarter-Final First Leg)
Jun 13, 2022: France 0-1 Croatia (Nations League League A)
Jun 06, 2022: Croatia 1-1 France (Nations League League A)
Oct 14, 2020: Croatia 1-2 France (Nations League League A)
Sep 08, 2020: France 4-2 Croatia (Nations League League A)
Jul 15, 2018: France 4-2 Croatia (World Cup Final)
Mar 29, 2011: France 0-0 Croatia (International Friendly)
Jun 17, 2004: Croatia 2-2 France (Euro 2004 Group Stage)
May 28, 2000: Croatia 0-2 France (International Friendly)
Nov 13, 1999: France 3-0 Croatia (International Friendly)
July 8, 1998: France 2-1 Croatia (World Cup Semi-Final)
Oliver Thomas
