Croatia failed to win any of their matches in Group 2 of last year’s edition of the FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix. They made their World Grand Prix debut in 2014 under veteran coach Angelo Vercesi and made an instant impact finishing third in the Group 3 Preliminary Round behind the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, winning four of their six matches. In the Group 3 Final Four they lost to the Czech Republic and defeated Kazakhstan in the match for third place.

Croatia competed at the 2014 World Championship and finished third in their first round pool; they went on to defeat Japan in the second round before finishing joint 13th overall. The team took encouragement from their fifth-place finish at the 2013 European Championship, where they lost to Germany in the quarterfinals.

The glory days of Croatian women’s volleyball came in the 1990s when they took silver medals at the 1995, 1997 and 1999 European Championships and came fourth at the 1995 World Cup. Many of the players at the World Grand Prix honed their skills in development programmes that sprang up on the back of that team’s success. The Croatians made it through to the quarterfinals of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.