This is a record of Croatia's results at the UEFA European Football Championship. The European Championship is one of the major competitive international football tournaments, first played in 1960, whose finals stage has been held every four years, with the 14th staging of the competition occurring in 2012.
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The Croatia national football team did not enter the competition until 1996, having been part of SFR Yugoslavia up until the qualifying stages for the 1992 edition. Croatia has competed in the qualifying competition every time since, for a total of five tournaments, although has failed to qualify for the finals proper on one occasion, in 2000 (played in Belgium and the Netherlands). The team's best performances have been reaching the quarter-finals twice — in 1996 and 2008, losing to Germany and Turkey respectively.
Records
*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks; correct as of 21 June 2016 (Croatia v. Spain)2008 Austria/Switzerland
In the qualifiers, Croatia was drawn into Group E of Euro 2008's qualifications, along with Andorra, England, Estonia, Macedonia, Israel and Russia.
Over the course of qualifying, Croatia racked up nine wins, two draws, and one loss. Croatia's loss was a 2–0 defeat at Skopje, Macedonia. Croatia and Romania became the final teams to record their first loss, both on the November 17, 2007 matchday, in a qualification cycle where every team suffered at least one defeat. Croatia gathered numerous headlines after knocking England out on the final matchday, with a 3–2 victory at Wembley Stadium.
Croatian striker Eduardo was the second-highest goalscorer in qualifications with 10 goals, trailing Northern Ireland's David Healy.
In a match that sparked much controversy and disappointment, Croatia were considered the unluckiest team of the tournament as they eventually lost to Turkey in the quarter-finals after a daunting match in Vienna. In the 119th minute, Ivan Klasnić scored to put Croatia ahead but Turkey scored a last kick equaliser courtesy of Semih Şentürk to take the match to a penalty shootout. Croatia eventually lost 1–3 on penalties, with Modric, Rakitic and Petric each missing their respective spot kicks to hand Turkey an unbelievable victory. As many shock roamed around Croatia as a nation, Slaven Bilić went on to say "This defeat will haunt us for the rest of our lives". It was the final International game for long standing captain Niko Kovač who announced his retirement from international football midway during the tournament.