Soccer-Croatia Secure World Cup Spot with Win over Faroe Islands

Reuters

11:38 JST, November 15, 2025

RIJEKA, Croatia, Nov 14 (Reuters) – Croatia completed a 3-1 comeback win over the Faroe Islands at home on Friday, securing their place at next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

With Croatia on 19 points, second‑placed Czech Republic can no longer catch them in Group L, as they sit on 13 points with one match left to play against Gibraltar on Monday.

For the visitors, ranked 127th by FIFA, the campaign ends with an impressive 12 points and a genuine fight for the top two places.

The Faroe Islands stunned the crowd after 16 minutes when Geza David Turi burst forward from midfield and hit a low strike that deflected off Luka Vuskovic to give the visitors the lead.

Seven minutes later, Croatia were level as the ball broke kindly for Josko Gvardiol in the box, who drilled a powerful strike into the bottom right corner.

Croatia went ahead in the 57th minute as an unmarked Petar Musa guided a low cross into the net. Nikola Vlasic settled the contest in the 70th minute with a composed finish.