Croatia to face Saudi Arabia in November

This Saudi Arabia friendly will be the final Croatia's challenge before the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Saudi Arabia is currently at No. 49 in FIFA Rankings, and was drawn in Group C with Argentina, Mexico, and Poland.

"We are happy to reach an agreement with Saudi Arabia, as they will be a quality test for Croatia on the eve of the World Cup. We have respected our head coach's and coaching staff's wish to play a friendly near Qatar, to help us to get used to the conditions. As always, the Croatian Football Federation will provide maximum support to the national team before and during the World Cup. As last edition finalists, they deserve it. Through quality and unity - and Croatia definitely possesses it - I believe we can achieve something to cheer about once again", said HNS president Marijan Kustić. 

"Considering the unusually short preparation period for the World Cup, we wanted to move to Middle East as soon as possible to get used to the conditions that await us in Qatar. Thus, this Riyadh friendly is an ideal setting before the World Cup. Saudi Arabia regularly plays at the World Cup, they are traditionally one of the best teams in Asia, and we require a test against a non-European team, since we do not play them often. Moreover, Saudi Arabia will be strongly motivated at home turf against the World Cup runners-up", said Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalić.

"We are very happy to play the final preparation match for the World Cup against the current vice-champions of the world. We want to get everything we can from this match, technically and tactically. It will be a great test for our players before the first match in Qatar", said Saudi Arabia head coach Herve Renard.

Croatia internationals will meet on 14 November, and following the visit to Saudi Arabia, travel to Doha on 18 November.

At the World Cup, Croatia faces Morocco on 23 November, Canada on 27 November, an Belgium on 1 December.

Copyright by Croatian Football Federation. Quoting text from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to HNS as a source and providing direct link to the original content at hns.family. Re-use of the photographs is not permitted.