Slaven Bilic's Croatia Reunion With England Is a Reputation Test, Not a Nostalgia Tour

Slaven Bilic once said he didn't believe in comebacks. On Saturday, in Rijeka, he makes one of the more loaded ones in Croatian football history, taking his second spell in charge of the national team into a Nations League match against England, the same opponent whose 2007 Wembley defeat still anchors his legacy, in a stadium that will be stripped of its crowd according to the Guardian.

It is a fixture built for sentiment: Bilic against England, Modric scoring his first goal of the new era, the architect of Croatia's modern golden generation back in the dugout. But strip away the nostalgia and this weekend is a concrete examination of whether Bilic's charisma and man-management can actually move the needle for a squad built, refined and twice taken to World Cup medals by somebody else.

From Wembley 2007 to Rijeka 2026: Bilic's unfinished business

Bilic managed Croatia from 2006 to 2012, and the result that still defines that era arrived at Wembley in 2007, a 3-2 win over England that the Guardian describes as the moment Croatia started to dream big for the first time since Bilic's own playing generation of 1998 according to the Guardian. The sense among observers in Zagreb is that Bilic did not just win that night, he planted the seed that eventually blossomed into Luka Modric's and Zlatko Dalic's team.

A patchy club career and 23 months out of work

What followed his Croatia exit was a managerial career that never quite recaptured that Wembley high. West Ham, West Brom and Watford in England were bookended by spells in the Saudi Pro League and the Chinese Super League, and then, from August 2024, 23 months without a club job at all according to the Guardian. That gap is the uncomfortable subtext to this return: Bilic did not walk back into international management from a position of strength, he walked back in because Croatia's federation had, in effect, run out of better options.

Back in 2017, sat in a Canary Wharf hotel lobby, Bilic was adamant about where he stood on this exact scenario.

"I have nice memories and wouldn't want to spoil them. I It's not the fear of failure, just the feeling that something has run its course." according to the Guardian

Nine years on, that quote reads less like conviction and more like a man talking himself out of exactly what has now happened.

Why an empty stadium changes this England test

Saturday's rematch of the sides' 2026 World Cup meeting, which England won 4-2 in Dallas, will not have the backing of a full Rijeka crowd behind Bilic's side. BBC Sport reports that the match will be played behind closed doors, in the same venue where the two nations previously met according to BBC Sport. The BBC's own reporting describes this as a reduced-capacity fixture rather than a fully silent stadium, a detail worth flagging given the headline framing of "closed doors", but the practical effect for both benches is the same: no atmosphere, no home advantage, no crowd to lift a Croatia side that has traditionally thrived on backing their underdog status.

What it means tactically

That absence of noise matters more for Bilic than for England. Under Dalic, Croatia often sat deep, absorbed pressure and relied on counterattacks, a method that leans on patience and discipline rather than crowd energy. Bilic wants the opposite: higher pressing, braver centre-backs stepping into midfield, and more bodies arriving in the opposition box. Asking a squad to play with more risk and intensity in a half-empty ground, against an England team with few psychological scars from Dallas, is a genuinely stiffer test than the warm welcome of his first home game back suggested.

• Dallas 2026: England won 4-2 at the World Cup
• Prague, first Bilic game back: Croatia won 2-1, Modric scoring
• Second game, against Spain: a 4-1 defeat with heavy rotation

The Dalic question: succeeding the most successful coach in Croatian history

No incoming manager has an easy act to follow here. Zlatko Dalic led Croatia to second place at the 2018 World Cup and third at the 2026 tournament, making him, by results, the most successful coach in the country's history according to the Guardian. Dalic's persona, described as restrained, humble and almost priest-like, is about as far from Bilic's direct, eloquent, salt-and-pepper-bearded energy as it is possible to get within one federation.

Inspired continuity or comfortable sentiment?

That contrast is precisely why this appointment deserves scrutiny rather than uncritical applause. Bilic was, in the Guardian's framing, always the best choice because he knows exactly what he is dealing with and because there is a lingering sense he laid the foundations Dalic built on according to the Guardian. But "knows what he is dealing with" is not the same as "has a forward-looking plan". Two games in, with one credible win and one chastening defeat to Spain, it is far too early to say whether Bilic is reinventing this team or simply borrowing its remaining years of prime Modric and Mateo Kovacic.

Modric, loyalty and the man-management gamble

If there is one argument in Bilic's favour, it is personal rather than tactical. Luka Modric, now 41, scored the opening goal of the second Bilic era in a 2-1 win away to Czechia, then rushed to embrace his old manager according to the Guardian.

"Luka is everything to us, he's just incredible," Bilic said after that goal according to the Guardian.

The bet Croatia's federation is making

There is a widely held belief in Zagreb that Bilic is one of the few figures who could have persuaded Modric to keep playing for the national team at all. That is the real wager behind this appointment: not that Bilic will out-coach Dalic tactically, but that his charm and man-management can squeeze a final act out of a golden generation that a more conventional, forward-looking hire might not have managed. Whether that is inspired continuity or the federation reaching for comfort over strategy is still an open question, and Saturday's near-silent Rijeka test will not settle it on its own.

What happens next

Saturday's Nations League fixture in Rijeka is only the third match of Bilic's second reign, and results so far (one win, one heavy defeat) offer no clear verdict either way. A credible performance against England, even in a stripped-back atmosphere, would support the idea that Bilic's man-management can keep this squad competitive without a full tactical overhaul.

A poor result, by contrast, would sharpen the uncomfortable question hovering over this appointment: whether Croatia's federation prioritised sentiment and a familiar face over a genuine plan for life after Dalic's golden generation moves on. With Modric at 41 and the squad's core ageing together, Bilic has very little time to prove this is more than a reunion tour.