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Ahead of Thursday's UEFA Nations League clash between Croatia and France, Sports Mole looks at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two clubs.

Croatia welcome France to Stadion Poljud in Split for the first leg of their UEFA Nations League quarter-final tie on Thursday night.

While Les Bleus finished top of League A Group 2 after collected 13 points from a possible 18 available at the end of last year, the Checkered Ones had to settle for second place in League A Group 1 after accumulating eight points from their six matches.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two sides.

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Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 10
Croatia wins: 1
Draws: 3
France wins: 6

Croatia and France have faced each other a total of 10 times on the international stage across all competitions, including friendlies.

France currently lead the overall head-to-head record with six victories, while Croatia have only beaten Les Bleus once, and there have also been three draws played out between the two nations.

The very first meeting between France and Croatia was at the semi-final stage of the 1998 FIFA World Cup, with Lilian Thuram scoring twice to secure a 2-1 win for Les Bleus en route to winning the prestigious tournament on home soil for the first time in their history.

France then won back-to-back friendlies against Croatia by an aggregate score of 5-0 between 1999 and 2000, before the Checkered Ones held Les Bleus to successive draws - a pulsating 2-2 group-stage draw at Euro 2004 followed by a goalless stalemate in a friendly almost seven years later.

The most famous meeting between France and Croatia took place in July 2018 when they locked horns in the 2018 FIFA World Cup final in Russia. Managed by Didier Deschamps, Les Bleus prevailed in a thrilling contest by a 4-2 scoreline.

Just over two years later, France and Croatia butted heads in the group stage of the UEFA Nations League, with Ls Bleus winning again by a 4-2 scoreline before securing maximum points in the reverse fixture in Zagreb thanks to a 2-1 victory.

Since then, France have failed to win their last two encounters with Croatia, who rescued a point in a 1-1 Nations League group-stage draw in June 2022, a week before claiming their first-ever win over Les Bleus, with a fifth-minute Luka Modric penalty sealing a slender 1-0 success in Paris.

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Previous meetings

Jun 13, 2022: France 0-1 Croatia (Nations League League A)
Jun 06, 2022: Croatia 1-1 France (Nations League League A)
Oct 14, 2020: Croatia 1-2 France (Nations League League A)
Sep 08, 2020: France 4-2 Croatia (Nations League League A)
Jul 15, 2018: France 4-2 Croatia (World Cup Final)

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Read more on Croatia vs France

• Click here to read our full preview for Croatia vs France
• Thuram out, Mbappe in: Predicted France lineup vs. Croatia

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