Croatia to face North Macedonia before Euro 2024
- by croatiaweek
- in Sport
Croatia to face North Macedonia before Euro 2024
The Croatian Football Federation has reached an agreement with the Football Federation of Macedonia (FFM) to play a friendly match before Euro 2024.
The Croatian national team will face North Macedonia on June 3 at the HNK Rijeka stadium in Rijeka. This will be the ninth encounter between Croatia and North Macedonia, with the Croatian team having recorded five victories, two draws, and one win for the Macedonians.
“I would like to thank my colleague, President Muamed Sejdini, and friends from the Football Federation of Macedonia for the pleasant communication and the agreement reached for the organization of this friendly match. It fits well into the plans of our national team ahead of the Euros. North Macedonia has proven to be a challenging opponent in the qualifiers, even for the strongest teams. Therefore, this will be a serious test for the Croatian team before the final stage of preparations for the Euros. Fans at Rujevica will be able to enjoy an interesting and high-quality game,” said the president of the Croatian Football Federation, Marijan Kustić.
The preparations for EURO 2024 will take place in Rijeka, and after the match against North Macedonia, another friendly match will be played just before the team departs for the base camp in Neuruppin.
“North Macedonia is an excellent opponent for us in this initial phase of preparations for the Euro. This is a team that drew with Italy and England at home this fall, showing that we face a real challenge. Through this match, we will find out where we stand at that moment and what else we need to work on before going to Germany. Considering the preparations in Rijeka, we wanted to play at Rujevica to avoid additional travel, so this agreement fulfills everything we wanted from this first June match,” said coach Zlatko Dalić.
Before the Euros, Croatia will also have two friendly matches in March, and the names of the opponents will be announced later.
Croatia is placed in Group B at the Euros, along with Spain, Albania, and Italy.
