Dalic Leaves Croatia After Nine Years — The Man Who Broke England’s Heart in Moscow

Zlatko Dalic has stepped down as Croatia head coach after nine years, following his side’s defeat by Portugal at the World Cup. The 59-year-old leaves as the most successful manager in Croatian football history — a 2018 World Cup final, a third-place finish in 2022. But English supporters have a more specific memory. Dalic was the man standing in the away dugout at the Luzhniki Stadium on 11 July 2018, the night football stopped coming home.

What Dalic Achieved: A Final, A Bronze Medal, And A Country Of Four Million

Dalic took charge in 2017 and delivered the best run in Croatia’s history. He guided them to the 2018 World Cup final and to third place four years later — back-to-back World Cup podiums with a nation of roughly four million people. No Croatian manager has come close.

The Croatian federation’s statement described “an incredibly successful chapter”, and the record backs it. Alongside the two World Cup runs, Croatia were Nations League runners-up in 2023. The European Championship was his blind spot: a last-16 exit at the delayed Euro 2020, and elimination in the group stage at Euro 2024.

Before Croatia, Dalic managed Al Ain in the UAE Pro League. He was an outsider appointment. Within a year he was coaching in a World Cup final.

11 July 2018: The Night Croatia Ended England’s Dream

The 2018 semi-final is where Dalic and England collide permanently. Kieran Trippier’s free-kick had England ahead inside five minutes. Ivan Perisic equalised, Mario Mandzukic won it in extra time, and Gareth Southgate’s side went out 2-1 in a game they had led for over an hour.

That match is the perfect illustration of what a Dalic team was: absurdly resilient, comfortable in chaos, and lethal in the final twenty minutes of a knockout tie. Croatia went through three consecutive extra-time matches in that tournament and still had enough to beat England.

It cost Dalic dearly. Croatia arrived at the final against France physically empty and lost 4-2. He never used fatigue as an excuse — one of the reasons his dressing room kept faith in him for another seven years.

Modric And The Generation Dalic Stretched To Its Limit

Dalic’s real achievement was not 2018 in isolation. It was keeping the same competitive spine alive for the best part of a decade. Luka Modric, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner, played under him deep into an international career of rare longevity.

Where most managers would have been forced into a rebuild after the 2018 final, Dalic extended the cycle instead: third place in 2022, a Nations League final in 2023. The bill arrived at Euro 2024, with a group-stage exit and no clear succession plan in midfield.

It is the eternal international manager’s dilemma — win now with the veterans, or build for later. Dalic chose now, and he was right far more often than he was wrong.

What Happens Next For Croatia

The Croatian federation has not named a successor at the time of writing. Whoever takes the job inherits a generational transition that has been postponed for years, and a benchmark that borders on unfair: nine years, a World Cup final, a bronze medal.

For England, a post-Dalic Croatia is an unknown quantity. The compact block, the veteran midfield control, the uncanny ability to survive into extra time — that was his signature, not the country’s. The next manager may build something entirely different.

What will not change is the comparison. Every future Croatia coach will be measured against the man who took four million people to a World Cup final.

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