For a nation boasting a population of just 3.9million people, Croatia has an impressive knack of punching above its weight at the World Cup.
This year’s bronze medal success for Luka Modric and co follows their bold run to the final four years ago and another third-place finish in their first World Cup as an independent nation back in 1998. But according to a new study looking at the facts and figures behind this month’s tournament in Qatar, there may be a simple reason for their ability to go toe to toe with the global game’s biggest hitters - and it’s something the blazers at the SFA and SPFL must finally take on board.
The review, carried out by numbers crunchers from the CIES Football Observatory in collaboration with FIFA’s High Performance Department, took a closer look at the pathways used by players as they rose through the ranks and concluded the inclusion of B teams in domestic leagues is becoming increasingly vital to the development of the game’s top stars.
