Croatian football takeover underway in the United Arab Emirates

by croatiaweek
August 14, 2026
in Sport

Zlatko Dalić

The United Arab Emirates wants to reach the 2030 World Cup. To get there, it has turned to Croatia.

As the UAE begins building towards the 2030 FIFA World Cup, it has placed its trust and gone all in on a group of coaches.

Zlatko Dalić, Igor Bišćan and Branko Ivanković have all been appointed important roles, creating an unusually strong Croatian presence at the heart of the UAE’s football project.

Dalić has been appointed head coach of the senior national team, with his contract running through the 2030 World Cup cycle. Bišćan has been confirmed as coach of the UAE U-23 side, while experienced Croatian coach Ivanković is taking on a senior role within the UAE Football Association.

Several members of Dalić’s former Croatia coaching staff are also set to join him.

It amounts to something more than the appointment of one foreign coach. The UAE appears to have deliberately chosen Croatian football expertise at several levels of its national-team structure.

And there is a fairly obvious reason why.

Why Croatia?

Over the past decade, Croatia has achieved results that few countries of its size can match.

With a population of fewer than four million, Croatia reached the 2018 World Cup final, finished third at the 2022 World Cup and reached the 2023 UEFA Nations League final. Dalić was at the centre of all three campaigns.

That record has given Croatian football something that cannot easily be bought: credibility at international level. Croatia has consistently competed against countries with vastly larger populations, deeper financial resources and much bigger domestic football markets.

Its success has therefore attracted interest not only in Croatian players, but increasingly in the people and methods behind them. The UAE’s decision suggests it sees value in that experience.

Dalić is the obvious centrepiece.

He spent almost nine years leading Croatia before leaving the position following the 2026 World Cup. His tenure transformed him from a relatively low-profile coach into the country’s most successful national-team manager.

But the UAE has not stopped with Dalić.

Bišćan previously worked with Croatia’s U-21 side and has since gained experience in the Gulf with Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia and Al-Ahli in Qatar. His appointment gives the UAE a Croatian coach working directly with the next generation of players.

الكرواتي إيغور بيشكان مدربًا لمنتخبنا الأولمبي 🇦🇪

مرحبًا بك بيشكان 🤝#منتخب_الإمارات pic.twitter.com/fIoGqGsHAz
— UAEFA (@uaefa_ae) August 9, 2026

Ivanković brings an even broader international CV, having managed national teams including Iran, China and Oman, as well as clubs in the Middle East. That combination is significant: Dalić brings elite international tournament experience, Bišćan brings youth development experience, while Ivanković brings decades of international and Middle Eastern football knowledge.

That may ultimately be the most interesting part of the UAE’s decision.

The country has not simply hired a famous coach and asked him to deliver results. The appointments point towards an attempt to import a football structure and philosophy.

Croatia’s success has never been based on having the largest pool of players. Its strength has been the ability to identify, develop and integrate talent, while producing players capable of performing under pressure on the biggest stage. The UAE now appears to be asking whether some of that expertise can be transferred.

China appoint Croatian as head coach of national football team

Branko Ivanković (Photo credit: Mohammad Hassanzadeh/ Tasnim News Agency/CC BY 4.0)

There is, of course, no guarantee that it can. Football cultures cannot simply be transplanted from one country to another. Croatia’s football identity has been shaped over generations, by clubs, academies, schools, local coaches and an unusually strong tradition of producing technically gifted players. And of course national pride, which has been a big factor.

Dalić himself will know that his achievements with Croatia cannot simply be replicated in the UAE. He will need to find his own “Modrić”, a true leader capable of becoming the heart of the team, while also building the sense of national pride, belief and togetherness that became such a defining feature of Croatia’s success.

Zlatko Dalić and Luka Modrić

For Croatia, the UAE project is another indication of how far the country’s football reputation has travelled. Croatia’s World Cup success over the last decade was not a one-off tournament surprise. Reaching the final in Russia, returning to the semi-finals in Qatar and then reaching another major final in the Nations League established a sustained level of international competitiveness.

The UAE has effectively placed its 2030 World Cup ambition in Croatian hands.

Time will tell if the Croatian blueprint works in the UAE, but one thing is already clear: Croatia’s football success has become a commodity in its own right, and the UAE is now betting heavily on it.