Croatia

Croatia is a country in Central Europe. Zagreb is the capital and largest city. Croatia was part of SFR Yugoslavia until 1991.

History of hockey in Croatia
The first ice hockey team in both Croatia and Yugoslavia was formed in Zagreb in 1906. Ten years later, the first official ice hockey games were played in Zagreb.

The Croatian Ice Hockey Federation was founded on November 9, 1935 in Zagreb. After Croatia became independent, it joined the IIHF on May 6, 1992.

Teams from Croatia won the Yugoslav Ice Hockey League championship six times, and KHL Medveščak Zagreb won the Yugoslav Cup four times. The Croatian Ice Hockey League was first contested in the 1991-92 season. KHL Medveščak Zagreb was won 16 out of 21 Croatian championships.

The men's national team made its international debut in 1941, playing a game against Slovakia, which they lost 6-1. In 1983, the national team played in three games at the Magyar-Nezmet-Cup, which was held in Budapest, Hungary. In 1993, Croatia participated in the 1993 World Championship Group C Qualifcation tournament in a home and home series against Slovenia. They lost both games, and failed to qualify for the tournament. In 1993, they participated in the World Championship C2 Qualification tournament against Turkey. They won both games, and qualified for the 1994 World Championship C2 Pool. The national team has not competed in the Olympics, and has participated in Division I and II at the World Championships.

The women's national team first participated in the Women's World Championships in 2007. They have participated every year since then, with the exception of 2009.

The junior national team participated in the 1992 and 1993 Group C Qualification tournaments, and first participated in the world juniors at the 1995 World Junior Championship C2 Pool.