Slaven Bilic was unanimously appointed Croatia head coach on Monday, stepping back into a role he held for six years until 2012, after Zlatko Dalic resigned in the wake of a 2-1 defeat to Portugal that ended Croatia’s 2026 World Cup in the round of 32. The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) confirmed the decision, with president Marijan Kustic acknowledging the weight of the succession: “It is not easy to succeed Zlatko, but we are convinced that Slaven is the right person for this role.” The loss to Portugal, played in North America, was laced with controversy — three Croatian goals were disallowed for offside, and a late equaliser was ruled out, prompting Dalic to criticise the officiating even as he refused to use it as an excuse.

Bilic inherits a side that under Dalic reached the 2018 World Cup final, finished third in 2022, and was runner-up in the 2023 Nations League. His own first spell delivered a higher win percentage — 42 victories in 65 matches — but never carried Croatia beyond a European Championship quarter-final, in 2008, when they lost on penalties to Turkey. That tenure also included a failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup and a group-stage exit at Euro 2012. Yet it produced one of the defining images of the era: a 3-2 win at Wembley in November 2007 that denied England a place at Euro 2008 and cemented Bilic’s reputation as a manager capable of upsetting the established order.

Since leaving the national team, Bilic has accumulated a peripatetic club CV. Viewed from London, his spells at West Ham, West Bromwich Albion and Watford form the core of his English experience; in Moscow, his 2012-13 season at Lokomotiv — a ninth-place finish — is recalled as a brief, unremarkable chapter. Across the Arab world, where he most recently coached Al-Fateh in the Saudi Pro League during the 2023-24 campaign and earlier led Al-Ittihad, his return to international management is seen as a natural step for a coach who never severed ties with the Balkan football identity. Bilic himself framed the appointment in terms of personal evolution: “I am a more mature and experienced coach than I was in 2006, but with the same motivation and desire for Croatia to be strong, bold and successful.”

His immediate task is to stabilise a squad in transition. The Nations League group stage in September and October pits Croatia against Czechia, Spain and England in League A, Group 3 — a demanding start that will test whether Bilic can quickly reimpose his methods. Beyond that lies the Euro 2028 qualifying campaign, the tournament co-hosted by the UK and Ireland, and the longer build towards the 2030 World Cup. The future of captain Luka Modric, who will be 41 in September, remains unresolved; Bilic said the decision rests with the player but added, “I would like him to continue playing for the national team.” For now, the federation’s unanimous vote has handed Bilic the reins and a clear mandate: to keep Croatia among football’s elite.