Sport in Croatia

Since independence, Croatia has been an extremely successful sporting country. The most popular team sports have been football (soccer), along with handball, water polo and basketball. The most popular sports played mainly by individuals are tennis, skiing, swimming and to some extent table tennis and chess.

ports and leagues

National organizations and leagues exist in Croatia for most popular sports. Some of these include:

* Football (soccer)
**Prva HNL
* Handball
**Croatian First League of Handball
* Basketball
**A1 Liga
* Futsal
**Croatian First League of Futsal
* Water polo
**Croatian First League of Water Polo
* Ice hockey
**Croatian Ice Hockey Championship
* Volleyball
**Croatian 1A Volleyball League

National sports teams

Some of Croatia's more successful national teams include:

*Croatia national football team
*Croatia national handball team
*Croatia national basketball team
*Croatia Davis Cup team
*Croatia national water polo team
*Croatia women's national volleyball team

Achievements

Individual sports

Croatian athletes have had considerable success in individual sports as well, where they represented Croatia in international competitions at the highest level. These sports include:

* Athletics
** Blanka Vlašić, Branko Zorko
* Tennis
** Goran Ivanišević, Ivan Ljubičić, Mario Ančić, Iva Majoli
* Skiing
** Janica Kostelić, Ivica Kostelić
* Swimming
** Miloš Milošević, Duje Draganja, Gordan Kožulj, Sanja Jovanović, Đurđica Bjedov, Mihovil Španja
* Table tennis
** Zoran Primorac, Tamara Boroš
* Boxing
** Željko Mavrović, Stipe Drviš, Mate Parlov
* Kickboxing
** Branko Cikatić, Mirko Filipović
* Mixed martial arts
** Mirko Filipović
* Canoeing
** Matija Ljubek

Olympic Games

Croatia has participated in the following Summer Olympic Games to date:

* Croatia at the 2008 Summer Olympics
* Croatia at the 2004 Summer Olympics
* Croatia at the 2000 Summer Olympics
* Croatia at the 1996 Summer Olympics
* Croatia at the 1992 Summer Olympics

Croatia has participated in the following Winter Olympic Games to date:

* Croatia at the 2006 Winter Olympics
* Croatia at the 2002 Winter Olympics
* Croatia at the 1998 Winter Olympics
* Croatia at the 1994 Winter Olympics
* Croatia at the 1992 Winter Olympics

Future sporting events

Croatia is in the process of rapidly modernising and expanding its sporting arenas, as it prepares to host the 2009 World Men's Handball Championship. The nation's arenas are primarily used for handball and basketball games.

The country also competed for hosting the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship in a joint bid with Hungary, planning a similar process of building and modernization of the nation's four largest football stadiums (in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka and Osijek), but the bid failed.

ee also

* Football in Croatia