Croatia men's national ice hockey team

Croatia

Association	Croatian Ice Hockey Federation
Head coach	Vlastimil Wojnar
Assistants	Marko Šakić Miro Smerdelj
Captain	Borna Rendulić [1]
Most games	Igor Jačmenjak (79) [2]
Top scorer	Borna Rendulić (34) [3]
Most points	Borna Rendulić (74) [4]
Home stadium	Various
Team colors
IIHF code	CRO
Ranking
Current IIHF	29 1 (26 May 2025) [5]
Highest IIHF	25 (2018)
Lowest IIHF	32 (2024)
First international
Slovakia   6–1 Croatia (Bratislava, Slovakia; 9 February 1941) [6]
Biggest win
Croatia   34–1   Turkey (Zagreb, Croatia; 20 November 1993)
Biggest defeat
Slovenia   15–1   Croatia (Zagreb. Croatia; 7 November 1992) Slovenia   15–1   Croatia (Ljubljana, Slovenia; 15 April 2001)
IIHF World Championships
Appearances	31 (first in 1993 )
Best result	24th (2014)
International record (W–L–T)
93–152–9

The Croatian under-20 team, who won the 2009 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships - Division II Group B

The Croatian men's national ice hockey team is the Ice hockey team that represents Croatia at International Ice Hockey Federation events. Less than a year after declaring independence from Yugoslavia, Croatia was admitted into the IIHF on May 6th, 1992. ^[7] Croatia would make their international debut in 1993 when they participated in the 1993 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships, handily losing both of their games to fellow Yugoslavian breakaway state, Slovenia. ^[8]

The highest division Croatia has ever reached is Division I B, which they have been in on numerous occasions, including for five straight years from 2014 to 2018. ^[9] Croatia's best ever finish at the Ice Hockey World Championships was a second place finish in Division I B of the 2014 tournament (24th overall) where they missed out on promotion to Division I A by just two points as Poland finished one point ahead and had beat Croatia earlier in the tournament, giving them the tiebreaker. ^[10]

Arenas

Croatia has played in several arenas since they joined the IIHF in 1992. In the years they hosted IIHF World Championship events between 2003 and 2016, games took place at the Dom Sportova in Zagreb. ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]} In 2022, Croatia hosted Division II A of the World Championship with games being played at Klizalište Velesajam. ^[15]

Croatia has also hosted Olympic Games qualifiers on two occasions. Group K of Preliminary qualification for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi were hosted at the Dom Sportova. ^[16] Croatia again hosted Olympic qualifiers in December of 2019 for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, these games were hosted at Ledena dvorana Zibel in Sisak. ^[17]

World Championship record

Year	Division		Position		GP	W	D	L
	Tier	Div.	Ov	Div.
1939–1992	as part of   Yugoslavia
Slovenia 1993	3	Group C	NR	–	2	0	0	2
Spain 1994	4	Group C2	31	4	7	4	0	3
South Africa 1995	4	Group C2	30	1	7	6	1	0
Slovenia 1996	3	Group C	28	8	7	0	0	7
Andorra 1997	4	Group D	29	1	6	4	1	1
Hungary 1998	3	Group C	29	5	6	1	3	2
Netherlands 1999	3	Group C	29	5	5	2	1	2
China 2000	3	Group C	27	3	4	1	1	2
Slovenia 2001	2	Div I	24	4	5	1	3	1
Netherlands 2002	2	Div I	26	5	5	1	0	4
Croatia 2003	2	Div I	27	6	5	1	4	0
Spain 2004	3	Div II	32	2	5	4	1	0
Croatia 2005	3	Div II	29	1	5	5	0	0
Estonia 2006	2	Div I	27	6	5	0	0	5
Croatia 2007	3	Div II	29	1	5	5	0	0
Japan 2008	2	Div I	25	5	5	1	0	4
Lithuania 2009	2	Div I	26	5	5	1	0	4
Slovenia 2010	2	Div I	28	6	5	0	0	5
Croatia 2011	3	Div II	31	2	5	4	0	1
Iceland 2012	4	Div II A	31	3	5	3	0	2
Croatia 2013	4	Div II A	29	1	5	5	0	0
Lithuania 2014	3	Div I B	24	2	5	4	0	1
Netherlands 2015	3	Div I B	26	4	5	2	0	3
Croatia 2016	3	Div I B	26	4	5	3	0	2
Great Britain 2017	3	Div I B	27	5	5	1	0	4
Lithuania 2018	3	Div I B	28	6	5	1	0	4
Serbia 2019	4	Div II A	30	2	5	4	0	1
Croatia 2020	4	Div II A	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [18]
China 2021	4	Div II A	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [19]
Croatia 2022	4	Div II A	29	3	4	1	1	2
Spain 2023	4	Div II A	31	3	5	3	0	2
Serbia 2024	4	Div II A	29	1	5	5	0	0
Estonia 2025	3	Div I B	28	6	5	0	2	3

Division I before: Group B Gold Silver Bronze Total 0 1 0 1

Division II before: Group C, Group C1 Gold Silver Bronze Total 4 3 3 10

Division III before: Group D, Group C2 Gold Silver Bronze Total 2 0 0 2

All-time record against other nations

As of 16 April 2025.

Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
Australia	9	9	0	0	40	17	+23
Austria	2	0	0	2	2	11	-9
Belarus	3	0	0	3	3	20	-17
Belgium	7	5	0	2	42	13	+29
Bulgaria	7	6	0	1	72	16	+56
China	9	4	0	5	31	30	+1
Chinese Taipei	1	1	0	0	6	1	+5
Denmark	3	0	0	3	4	24	-20
Estonia	11	4	1	6	39	55	-16
France	4	0	0	4	3	29	-26
Georgia	1	0	0	1	0	6	-6
Great Britain	9	1	0	8	13	42	-29
Hungary	24	0	1	23	30	178	-148
Iceland	5	5	0	0	37	6	+31
Ireland	1	1	0	0	21	4	+17
Italy	5	0	0	5	1	24	-23
Israel	7	7	0	0	53	7	+46
Japan	6	0	0	6	6	30	+24
Kazakhstan	4	0	0	4	4	42	+38
Lithuania	15	3	1	11	32	56	-24
Luxembourg	1	1	0	0	11	0	+11
Mexico	1	1	0	0	9	2	+7
Netherlands	17	2	1	14	36	86	-50
New Zealand	3	3	0	0	42	11	+31
Norway	4	0	0	4	5	36	-31
Poland	5	0	0	5	4	33	-29
Romania	13	5	1	7	41	52	-11
Serbia	17	12	0	5	60	38	+22
Serbia and Montenegro	2	0	2	0	3	3	0
Slovakia	1	1	0	0	1	6	-5
Slovenia	18	0	0	18	18	141	-123
South Africa	1	1	0	0	11	1	+10
South Korea	9	5	1	3	29	28	+1
Spain	13	9	1	3	51	36	+15
Turkey	6	6	0	0	114	7	+107
Ukraine	9	1	0	8	7	56	-49
United Arab Emirates	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3
Total	254	93	9	152	885	1 148	-263

Biggest Losses

World Championship	Qualifications
-14 vs. Slovenia (1–15) 1993 -14 vs. Slovenia (1–15) 2001 -12 vs. Kazakhstan (0–12) 1996 -12 vs. Kazakhstan (0–12) 2002 -11 vs. Slovenia (2–13) 1996 -11 vs. Ukraine (1–11) 1996 -10 vs. Hungary (0–10) 1996 -10 vs. Hungary (3–13) 2000	-13 vs. Hungary (0–13) 2014 -7 vs. Hungary (0–7) 1998 -7 vs. Poland (0–7) 2006 -7 vs. Netherlands (3–10) 2006 -6 vs. Hungary (0–6) 1998 -6 vs. Netherlands (2–8) 2014 -6 vs. Ukraine (0–6) 2018

References

1. "Croatia - Team Captaincy History". eliteprospects.com. Elite Prospects. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
2. "Croatia - All Time Regular Season Player Stats". eliteprospects.com. Elite Prospects. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
3. "Croatia - All Time Regular Season Player Stats". eliteprospects.com. Elite Prospects. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
4. "Croatia - All Time Regular Season Player Stats". eliteprospects.com. Elite Prospects. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
5. "IIHF Men's World Ranking". IIHF. 26 May 2025. Retrieved 26 May 2025.
6. "PREHĽAD ZÁPASOV A-tímu SR od roku 1940". Archived from the original on 31 May 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
7. "IIHF Member National Association Croatia". IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
8. "1993 Ice Hockey World Championship Pool C Qualification Group C". hockeyarchive.info. Hockey Archive. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
9. "Croatia - Roster, News, Stats & more". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
10. "Elite Prospects - Team Standings WC D1B". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
11. "2003 Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group B". hockeyarchive.info. Hockey Archive. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
12. "2005 Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A". hockeyarchive.info. Hockey Archive. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
13. "2007 Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group A". hockeyarchive.info. Hockey Archive. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
14. "2011 Ice Hockey World Championship Division II Group B". hockeyarchive.info. Hockey Archive. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
15. "2022 IIHF Division II A Schedule". iihf.com. International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
16. "2014 Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Preliminary Qualification Group K". hockeyarchive.info. Hockey Archive.
17. "2022 Men's Olympic Ice Hockey Pre-Qualification Round 2 Group M". hockeyarchive.info. Hockey Archive. Retrieved 14 May 2025.
18. "Men's Division II, III cancelled". IIHF . Retrieved 13 March 2020.
19. "IIHF – IIHF Council announces more cancellations". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 18 November 2020.

External links

• Official website
• IIHF profile
• National Teams of Ice Hockey