The president of the Croatian Football Federation, Davor Suker, and interim coach Zlatko Dalic, have agreed today a deal which will see Dalic lead Croatia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

President Suker and Dalic have agreed terms of the contract at a meeting today at the Federation’s headquarters in Zagreb.

Dalic was named interim coach after Ante Cacic was sacked with one match remaining in Croatia’s Euro qualifying campaign.

Dalic came in on a game-by-game basis, and after securing victory against Ukraine (2-0) and then against Greece (4-1) in the playoffs, the 50-year-old made the decision to offer him the position an easy one.

“Zlatko Dalic has absolutely justified our confidence after the matches against Ukraine and Greece and thus confirmed he was the correct choice after the Finland match (1-1). As we agreed quickly when we first met, we have again reached an agreement very quickly, which proves that we have a common interest, which is the success of the Croatian team. I congratulated the coach on what he did in a short-term, and he showed that he deserved to lead the Croatian national team. We will provide Zlatko and the team the best conditions ahead of Russia so that we can achieve the best result possible there, “said HNS president Davor Suker.

Dalic is looking forward to leading the team in Russia.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done in the last three games because going to the World Cup is of great importance for the entire Croatian football. I said that we could easily reach agreement today and that has been confirmed. I thank President Suker and the Executive Committee for their trust and I can promise everyone that I will continue to give my maximum to make the national team play as high as the quality of the players we have in our ranks,” Dalić added.

Dalic previously has coached in the Croatian domestic league at Varteks Varazdin, NK Rijeka, and Slaven Belupo, before taking positions in Albania at Dinamo Tirana and in Saudi Arabia at Al-Faisaly Harmah and Al-Hilal, and in the UAE at Al-Ain.

His honours as a manager include the Albanian Supercup, UAE President’s Cup, UAE Arabian Gulf League, UAE Arabian Gulf Supercup, and AFC Champions League.

As a player, Dalic played for Hajduk Split, Velež Mostar, Dinamo Vinkovci, and Varteks Varazdin.

The contract will be signed next week after the Executive Committee ratifies the deal.