Match facts

Head-to-head

This is the third meeting between England and Croatia at a major tournament (World Cup, Euros). The Three Lions beat Croatia 4-2 in the group stages at Euro 2004, while Croatia won 2-1 after extra-time in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

England

  • England are taking part in their 10th European Championship - no team has played as many games in the tournament without ever reaching the final (31 matches, 0 final).
  • The Three Lions have never lost at Wembley in a major tournament (World Cup 1966, Euro 1996), winning seven and drawing four of their previous 11 games (penalty shoot-outs excluded).
  • England have never won their opening game at a European Championship (D5 L4).
  • Boss Gareth Southgate will be leading England for a second major tournament (excluding Nations League) after World Cup 2018 (4th place). At Euro 1996, he was one of only three England players to play all 510 minutes, alongside David Seaman and Tony Adams - he missed a penalty in the semi-final shootout against Germany.



Croatia

  • Croatia are taking part in their sixth European Championship, and their fifth in a row.
  • Penalty shootouts excluded, Croatia have lost only two of their past 11 European Championship games, both 1-0 defeats (against Spain in 2012 and Portugal in 2016).
  • Ivan Perisic has been directly involved in more goals than any other player for Croatia in major tournament history (7 goals and 4 assists in World Cup/Euros - excluding Nations League).
  • Boss Zlatko Dalic - in charge since October 2017 - is only the second manager to lead Croatia at two consecutive major tournaments (World Cup & Euros), after Miroslav Blazevic (Euro 1996, World Cup 1998).