Portugal and Croatia have confirmed their starting teams for their last-32 tie at the World Cup 2026 in Toronto on Friday.
The Selecao finished second in Group K, drawing 1-1 with DR Congo and 0-0 with Colombia either side of a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan featuring two Cristiano Ronaldo goals.
Finalists eight years ago, Croatia lost 4-2 to England before beating Panama 1-0 and Ghana 2-1 to advance as runners-up in Group L.
Zlatko Dalic’s side had lost all five competitive meetings between the nations before Josko Gvardiol’s goal earned Vatreni a 1-1 draw in Split in the Nations League in November 2024.
Miami ✈️ Toronto #VaiDarPortugal | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/D7J1oKRlMQ
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) July 1, 2026
World Cup 2026: Portugal confirmed team vs Croatia
Portugal starting XI: Costa, Dias, Veiga, Cancelo, Mendes, Fernandes, Neves, Vitinha, Ronaldo, Leao, Neto
Portugal substitutes: Sa, Silva, Semedo. Araujo, Dalot, Inacio, Costa, Nunes, Silva, Neves, Ramos, Felix, Trincao, Guedes, Conceicao
World Cup 2026: Croatia full line up vs Portugal
Croatia starting XI: Livakovic, Stanisic, Pongracic, Sutalo, Kovacic, Modric, Vlasic, Baturina, Sucic, Budimir, Perisic
Croatia substitutes: Pandur, Kotarski, Gvardiol, Caleta-Car, Jakic, Vuskovic, Erlic. Moro, Pasalic, Fruk, Sucic, Kramaric, Matanovic, Pasalic, Musa
Where to watch Portugal v Croatia: TV channel, live online streams
Kick-off on Friday is at 00:00 BST (19:00 ET / 16:00 PT, both Thursday). In the UK, live TV coverage is on BBC One.
Streaming on a vast range of devices is available through the BBC iPlayer app and BBC Sport website.
World Cup 2026: Portugal v Croatia stats
- Portugal have advanced despite failing to win two matches for the fourth time in the last five World Cup group phases, only suffering elimination during the 2014 stage
- The Selecao had recorded at least 60% possession in their previous 12 matches before recording 45% against Colombia, which was their lowest since the Nations League final against Spain in June 2025
- Against Colombia, Vitinha became the first Portugal player to have 100% passing accuracy in a World Cup match with at least 20 passes attempted (54 of 54)
- Cristiano Ronaldo’s total of 25 appearances at the World Cup is the joint-second highest tally ever, alongside Germany’s Lothar Matthaus (28)
- The Al-Nassr striker has been caught offside 11 times over the last two World Cup tournaments, which is four more than any other player (France’s Kylian Mbappe and Colombia’s Luis Diaz are on 7)
- Croatia have reached the knockout stage for the fourth time, doing so on each of the last three occasions (2018, 2022, 2026) after only featuring once in their first four appearances at the tournament (1998)
- Against Ghana, Petar Sucic (22 years, 245 days of age) became the second-youngest player to score for Croatia at the World Cup, behind Josko Gvardiol against Morocco in 2022 (20y 328d)
- Luka Modric (40y 291d) is the oldest player on record (since 1966) to provide an assist at the World Cup
- Nikola Vlasic has scored in three of his last four starts for Croatia in all competitions, with all three goals coming in different years (2024, 2025 and 2026)
- All of Ivan Perisic’s 20 appearances for Croatia at the World Cup have come as starts; the only outfielders to make more appearances with 100% of them as starts are Paolo Maldini (23), Diego Maradona (21) and Uwe Seeler (21).
- The average age of Croatia’s starting XI against Ghana (30y 94d) was their second-oldest for a World Cup match, behind only their side who won the third-place play-off 2-1 against Netherlands in 1998 (30y 126d)
