Croatia had a perfect record in the opening round of the 2018 World Cup qualification matches. Following consecutive losses to Iceland and Turkey and the draw against Finland provoked a furious public outcry against coach Cacic. The manager was replaced by Zlatko Dalic, who guided Croatia to a 2-0 victory over Ukraine in Kyiv and secured a place in the play-offs against Greece. Croatia qualified to play in this year's 2018 World Cup after beating Greece 4-1, and all goals came in the first game in Zagreb.
In the lead-up to the World Cup, The Guardian as well as other news outlets described the Croatian squad of 2017-18 as their two-time "golden generation". The players were compared to their counterparts from 1998. Croatia began the World Cup campaign with a 2:0 win against Nigeria. Following a 3-0 win against Argentina brought Vedran Corluka winning his 100th international cap with Croatia. Croatia later defeated Iceland to win the group, which was their most impressive performance ever in the group stage in the World Cup.
The team was playing Denmark during the Round of 16. Croatia triumphed in the penalty shoot-out, after the goalkeeper Danijel Subasic saved three penalties and set a record for the the most penalties saved in the course of a game. It was Croatia's first time winning a penalty shoot-out. In the quarterfinals, Croatia was able to draw 2-2 against hosts Russia and advanced in a penalty shoot-out. Croatia became one of the teams since 1990 that won consecutive penalty shoot-outs in the World Cup. In the semi-finals against England at the quarterfinal stage Croatia came back and forced their third extra time. This was also their record for the most extra time games at the World Cup. Mario Mandzukic eventually scored as Croatia defeated France 2-1, making them the second-tiniest country in terms of population to make it to the World Cup finals (after Uruguay in 1930). Croatia was defeated in their 2018 FIFA World Cup Final 4-2 to France in which a free kick was given to France in the event of a diving attempt by Antoine Griezmann, and a penalty was after the game was which was awarded to the referee video assistant (VAR) for the handball of Ivan Perisic. After the game, Luka Modric became the first Croatian to be awarded the Golden Ball award for best player in the tournament. Croatian players were greeted by a crowd of Croatian players were greeted by around half a million spectators at their return to their capital city of Zagreb.
On the 23rd January of the 23rd of January, Croatia had been drawn England along with Spain for the League A of inaugural edition of the UEFA Nations League. 11 September 2018 was the date Croatia fell 6-0 against Spain during their very first Nations League game, with the score being the record loss for Croatia in the game. Croatia was able to draw 0-0 at home against England. The game was played in closed-doors because of UEFA sanctions. In the following match in the group against Spain, Croatia won 3-2 home after an injury-time goal. After a 2-1 away defeat against England, Croatia placed last in the group and was eliminated from League B of the next tournament.
The 2nd December 2018 was the draw for Euro 2020 qualifiers was held in Dublin, Ireland. Croatia was seeded to the team in Grupe E and was placed in the same group as Wales, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan. Croatia began their qualifying campaign with a narrow win on 21 March over Azerbaijan and losing narrowly on the 24th of March against Hungary While they lost points after playing Azerbaijan as well as Wales at home, Croatia managed to top their qualifying group for the first time since Euro 2008 qualifying. In the wake of the COVID-19 disease due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Euro 2020 was postponed for one year.
In the wake of a rule change within the Nations League, Croatia avoided the drop and remained within League A where they were placed in the same group together with Portugal, France and Sweden. Croatia suffered defeat in all of their games, apart to Sweden in their home stadium, and conceded greater goals to their opponents than anyone else within the Nations League (apart from Iceland) However, they also did not fall into League B due to achieving more goals than the team that finished last Sweden. With only two wins from the eight matches in 2020 Croatia had their lowest ever record of a season in the history of their club.
Croatia lost their first World Cup qualifier to Slovenia by 1-0, but they managed to beat Cyprus and Malta by 1-0 and 3-0 respectively. Dalic afterward made a declaration regarding the absence of team spirit within the squad and promised to get it back in place prior to the opening the tournament Euro 2020. Croatia did not win any of their pre-tournament friendly matches in the games against Armenia and Belgium in which they drew 1-1 and losing to Belgium 1-0 and 1-0, respectively. At Euro 2020, Croatia were assigned to Group D alongside England, Czech Republic and the play-off winner C (which later proved as Scotland). [151The team from Croatia placed second in their group, suffering the loss of 1-0 to England and a 1-1 draw against their counterparts in the Czech Republic and a 3-1 victory against Scotland. They progressed through the rounds of 16 which they lost to Spain 5-3 in extra time. Due to poor performance prior to and throughout the event Dalic was, along with other players, harshly criticised in the eyes of the Croatian public and was urged to step down. Throughout the remaining World Cup qualifying, Dalic revamped the team's roster by introducing a number of debutants who were younger. Croatia completed the qualifying tournament without a loss with only a few points dropped being unable to draw 0-0 with Russia away, and 2-2 against Slovakia on home. The success of the campaign led to Dalic Croatia's first head coach to lead the Croatian national team to have them qualified for three major tournaments.