July 20, 2021 – Croatia and Russia will meet at Poljud Stadium in Split to close the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in Group H.

The Executive Council of the Croatian Football Federation has registered the Poljud Stadium as the host of the match between Croatia and Russia in the European qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar in 2022, reports HNS.

Croatia and Russia have played four times so far, with Croatia recording two wins and two draws. Recall that Croatia and Russia recently met in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi. The game ended 1: 1 thanks to a goal from Kramarić before going into extra time when Vida scored for the 2: 1 lead. Fernandes equalized in the dying minutes, forcing him to play on penalties. Rakitić scored the winning penalty, advancing Croatia in the semi-final against England.

Split will host two matches for the Croatian national team this fall – on September 7 Croatia will host Slovenia in Poljud (8:45 p.m.) and competition in Group H ends on November 14 at 3:00 p.m. against Russia. In addition, the 2018 World Cup finalists will host Slovakia on October 11 at the City Garden Stadium in Osijek.

After the first three rounds in March, the Croatian national team leads Group H with six points, the same number of points as Russia, while Slovakia is one point behind. Croatia are set to play against Russia (September 1) and Slovakia (September 4), and the three-match schedule ends in Split against Slovenia.

The top 10 national teams in their group will advance directly to the World Cup, while the second-ranked national teams will advance to the qualifiers in March 2022. The 2022 World Cup will take place under a non-traditional term, from November 21 to December 18, 2022.

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