Zlatko Dalić

Zlatko Dalić is the most successful head coach in Croatian football history and one of the most quietly accomplished international managers of the past decade. Born in October 1966 in Livno (then Yugoslavia, now Bosnia and Herzegovina), Dalić had a workmanlike playing career — Hajduk Split, Velež Mostar, Varteks — before moving into coaching in 2005 with Croatian First League side Varteks. His early club career was modest: he was sacked at Rijeka in 2008 after an Intertoto Cup elimination, then bounced through Saudi sides Al-Faisaly and Al-Hilal before finding his level at Al-Ain in the UAE, where he won the league title in 2014-15 and reached the AFC Champions League final in 2016. He left Al-Ain in January 2017 citing a need for rest. Nine months later, the Croatian Football Federation handed him the national team after sacking Ante Čačić.

The transformation was immediate and historic. Within eight months of taking the job, Dalić had Croatia in a World Cup final — beating Argentina in the group stage, then surviving extra time against Denmark, Russia and England in the knockouts before losing 4-2 to France in Moscow. The 2022 World Cup ran a similar script: a quarter-final shootout victory over Brazil, a semi-final loss to Argentina, a third-place playoff win over Morocco. Two consecutive World Cup medals for a country of fewer than four million people remains one of the most remarkable achievements in modern international football, and the credit Dalić receives at home reflects it: he is the only Croatia manager regarded as on a level with Miroslav “Ćiro” Blažević, the architect of the 1998 third-place run.

Tactically, Dalić’s identity has been consistent throughout his tenure: a 4-3-3 that prioritises midfield control, slow possession, and survival into extra time. He has rarely changed shape or personnel mid-tournament. His relationship with Luka Modrić is the central management story of his career — Dalić has trusted Modrić far past the age at which most international captains step aside, and Modrić has repaid that trust by extending his international career into his 41st year. The current squad’s midfield succession (Petar Sučić, Luka Sučić, Baturina) is being introduced gradually, in fixtures where Modrić can be rested rather than replaced.

Dalić signed a new contract through the 2026 World Cup after the 2022 bronze, and the 2026 tournament is widely expected to be the closing chapter of both his and Modrić’s international careers. His pre-tournament messaging — including the announcement of seven stand-by players alongside the 26 named on 18 May — has been notably calm, even fatalistic. The squad’s injury list (Modrić’s cheekbone, Kovačić’s Achilles, Gvardiol’s tibia) gives him cover for any underwhelming result; the historical capital he has accumulated gives him the freedom to chase a third medal without losing his job if he falls short. The realistic expectation is another quarter-final or better. The romantic expectation is that the manager who built the Modrić era gets to escort it off the stage with one final, perhaps unlikely, deep run.