All you need to know about CROATIA
AFTER years of war and authoritarian rule, present-day Croatia has experienced a reversal of fortunes that has resulted in the nation becoming increasingly popular with British tourists.
England’s opponent in the World Cup semi-final tomorrow was once part of communist Yugoslavia but is now a member of the EU and Nato.
The nation suffered four years of war after declaring independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, with fighting between Serbs and Croats and its involvement in the war in BosniaHerzegovina.
Croatia is now a democratic parliamentary republic which elected its first woman president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, in January 2015.
The Foreign Office estimated around 765,000 Britons visited Croatia last year.
According to the US Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, tourism accounts for nearly 20pc of the Balkan nation’s economy.
It is a religious country, with 86pc of its 4.3 million population declaring themselves Roman Catholic.
As for followers of that other religion - football some 10,133 Croatia fans have ordered Fan IDs, which all World Cup supporters must have.
And their national team, nicknamed Vatreni or The Blazers in English, has enjoyed greater success more recently than England, finishing third in their first attempt at a World Cup in France 1998.
Outside of the beautiful game, the country lays claim to notable names including Nikola Tesla, a 19th Century inventor of Serb descent born near Gospic, which is now in modern-day Croatia, and television presenter Adrian Chiles, whose mother is from the capital Zagreb.