| The Croatian national football team has | | | | were founded in the early 1900s and the |
| played in international tournaments as a | | | | Polish national soccer team played its |
| national team since Croatia's | | | | first international match in 1921. |
| independence in 1990-1992 and is | | | | There are hundreds of professional and |
| controlled by the Croatian Football | | | | amateur soccer teams in Poland. The |
| Federation. | | | | soccer teams are organized into the |
| The team played in their first major | | | | national 1st league and 2nd league, 4 |
| tournament in 1996 and has been a strong | | | | regional 3rd leagues, 19 regional 4th |
| force in international soccer ever | | | | leagues, 49 regional 5th leagues and |
| since. Finishing third in the 1998 World | | | | many more lower level leagues. There are |
| Cup against all Sportsbook odds, led by | | | | also Polish Cup and Polish Supercup |
| Golden Boot winner Davor Å uker. They | | | | competitions. |
| have qualified for every World Cup that | | | | The Poland national soccer team (Polish: |
| they have entered as an independent | | | | polska reprezentacja narodowa) is the |
| nation. | | | | national soccer team of Poland and is |
| Between October 17, 1990 and March 1, | | | | controlled by the Polish Football |
| 2006, Croatia has played 141 | | | | Association. |
| international games and had 71 | | | | It played its first international match |
| victories, 42 draws and 28 losses. The | | | | on 18 December 1921 in Budapest against |
| team has been FIFA's "Best Mover of the | | | | Hungary and was defeated 0:1. Poland won |
| Year" in 1994 and 1998 | | | | the Gold medal in the 1972 Summer |
| Soccer is probably the most popular | | | | Olympics in Munich, the Silver medal in |
| sport in Poland. | | | | the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and |
| Over 400,000 Poles play soccer | | | | the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. |
| regularly, millions more play soccer | | | | In the World Cup, Poland finished third |
| sometimes. The first professional clubs | | | | twice: in 1974 and 1982. |