Young soccer nation Croatia has long tradition

ZAGREB, Apr 28 (Reuters) A surprise quarter-final appearance in the 1996 European Championship was the first time Croatia came to prominence for many soccer fans.

That was five years after Croatia gained independence and the team's chequered red and white shirts became more recognisable when they stunned the soccer world by snatching third place at the 1998 World Cup in France.

Their 3-0 win over an albeit ageing German side in the quarter-final in Lyon that summer remains their most iconic victory while their 2-1 loss to hosts and eventual champions France in the semi-final was hardly a disgrace -- even though Slaven Bilic's over-reaction to a foul by Laurent Blanc unfairly led the Frenchman to be sent off and so miss the final.

Croatia then beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the play-off between the losing semi-finalists to finish third and earn real credibility as a soccer force to be reckoned with.

However, the history of soccer in Croatia goes a long way further back than their emergence in the 1990s.

''It is important to make clear that Croatian soccer dates much further back than Croatian independence,'' said Zvonimir Magdic, a leading chronicler of the sport in the country.

The Croatian Football Federation was founded in 1912, but it was eight decades before Croatians could play in their own national shirt, save for a brief spell during World War Two.

At that time, they played a couple of friendlies in line with the policy of the Nazi-sponsored Croatian puppet state.

The opponents were Slovakia, Hungary and Germany, but besides the mere statistical value -- stating that Croatia joined world soccer body FIFA in 1941 -- the period has little meaning for football historians.

It is a different story with Croats playing for Yugoslavia though.

''There is no doubt that the skills of Croatian players fared well in Yugoslav times,'' Croatian soccer analyst Tomislav Zidak said.

''Many players from Croatia had a prominent role in Yugoslav national teams.'' CROATIAN SUCCESS Eight Croatian players were on the Yugoslav team that played its first game after World War Two -- in Prague against Czechoslovakia in 1946.

When Hajduk Split dominated the Yugoslav league in the 1970s, winning four championships and five national cups, at times as many as 12 players from the team were called up for the national side.

However, they were all treated as Yugoslavs, in line with the communist regime's rhetoric that sought to hail 'unity' at the expense of particular ethnic groups.

''Two successes with important contributions by Croatian players stand out -- 1962 when Yugoslavia won fourth place at the World Cup in Chile and 1987 when the under-20 Yugoslav team became world champions on the same Chilean soil,'' Zidak said.

Croat Drazan Jerkovic was among the top scorers in 1962 with four goals, along with Brazilians Garrincha and Vava, Chilean Leonel Sanchez, Hungarian Florian Albert and Valentin Ivanov from the Soviet Union.

The current president of the Croatian Soccer Association, Vlatko Markovic, was also part of that team.

Jerkovic's success was matched in 1998 by Davor Suker who was the tournament's top scorer in France with six goals.

Suker was one of seven Croat regulars that had been part of the Yugoslav team which captured the World Youth Championship in 1987.

''Most of them, like Suker, Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinecki played a key role in France nine years later,'' Zidak said.

However, many soccer pundits believe that Croats, to a large extent, fell victim to the Yugoslav communist procedures under which, the argument goes, national coaches often paid more attention to the ethnic make-up of their team than to quality.

''Croatian players could not fully blossom in the Yugoslav era as those from Belgrade-based clubs were favoured. Players from Croatian teams had to be really outstanding to deserve their place in the squad,'' said soccer historian Magdic.

Reuters PM VP1002