Croatia's modern-day jersey was designed in 1990 by locally acclaimed painter Miroslav Sutej, who also designed the nation's flag, coat of arms and banknotes. The traditional red and white motif is based on the historic Croatian coat of arms , which has been used to represent Croats since the Middle Ages. Although there have been variations made by the kit manufacturers since the original release, the jersey design has remained consistent throughout the years, and has served as a blueprint for some other Croatian national sports teams and entities. The typical combination has featured red-and-white checkered shirts, white shorts and blue socks, mirroring the tricolour of the country's flag.
Croatian city of Vukovar was defended by around 1,800 lightly armed soldiers of the Croatian National Guard (ZNG) and civilian volunteers, against as many as 36,000 JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) soldiers and Serb paramilitaries equipped with heavy artillery.
The Croatian War of Independence was fought from 1991 to 1995 between Croat forces loyal to the Government of Croatia which had declared independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and the Serb-controlled Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and local Serb forces.
Croatian national football team has played competitive matches since 1994, starting with the qualifying campaign for the 1996 European Championship. In 1998, they competed in their first FIFA World Cup, finishing 3rd and providing the tournament's top scorer, Davor Suker. Exactly twenty years later, Croatia reached the 2018 World Cup Final.
The Vukovar massacre, also known as the Vukovar hospital massacre or the Ovcara massacre, was the killing of Croatian prisoners of war and civilians by Serb paramilitaries, to whom they had been turned over by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), at the Ovcara farm southeast of Vukovar on 20 November 1991, during the Croatian War of Independence.