Šimun Hrgović and Marin Šotiček, both 22-year-old Hajduk players, have received call-ups to the Croatia national team. Senior team manager Slaven Bilić has included them in his squad for the second and final part of the Nations League group stage.
Both had previously been members of the U21 team. With their call-ups, Hajduk has had two Croatian international players in competitive action for the first time in almost exactly four years. The last such instance was in September 2022, when then-manager Zlatko Dalić called up Marko Livaja and then-white-shirt goalkeeper Lovro Kalinić.
Croatia will play two matches during this window. On Thursday at 20.45 Croatian time, they will face England in London, with coverage on Nova TV. On Sunday at 20.45, Croatia will play the Czech Republic in Osijek.
Livaja had a somewhat firmer status in the national team at the time, but following an incident at a team training session at Rujevica in Rijeka, where he insulted fans, he bid an early farewell to the national team. He retired from international football before the 2023 Nations League final.
In that edition of the Nations League, Croatia beat Denmark 2-1 at Maksimir and Austria 3-1 in Vienna. With those victories, the team secured first place in the group ahead of Denmark, France and Austria, qualifying for the final, which was played in the Netherlands according to the later choice of host. In the 3-1 win over Austria, Livaja scored the goal to make it 2-1 after coming off the bench, while Kalinić was on the bench.
In the semi-final of that edition, following Livaja's withdrawal, Croatia beat the Netherlands 4-2 after extra time in Rotterdam. Spain were better in the final on penalties. The score was 0-0 in regular time, and 4-5 after the spot-kicks.
