England recorded a landmark victory by crushing hosts Croatia 7–0 at the Stadion Rujevica in Rijeka during Saturday evening’s UEFA Nations League Group A3 fixture.
The Three Lions required just eight minutes to open the scoring through Harry Kane, before Jude Bellingham doubled the lead in the 21st minute. Anthony Gordon and Bukayo Saka added two more goals in the 39th and 45th minutes respectively, sending the visitors into the half-time break with a commanding four-goal advantage.
Croatia’s difficulties persisted after the restart, as Kane bagged his second of the night and England’s fifth in the 53rd minute. Saka completed his own brace in the 68th minute, before Morgan Rogers sealed the emphatic seven-goal triumph in the 87th minute.
Bellingham delivered an extraordinary individual performance, scoring once and providing three assists to become the first England midfielder to directly contribute to four goals in a single match since David Platt scored four against San Marino in February 1993.
Kane’s double brought his tally to 10 goals for England in the 2026 calendar year, making him the first player in Three Lions history to reach double-digit international goals in three separate calendar years, following his 12-goal tally in 2019 and 16 goals in 2021.
The result marks England’s largest ever victory against an opponent ranked inside FIFA’s top 50 since the introduction of the official world rankings in 1992. Furthermore, England became the first visiting nation ever to score five or more goals in an away match against Croatia.
The win moves England to 6 points from three matches, temporarily placing them second in Group A3 behind Spain on head-to-head record, with Spain holding 6 points from two matches. Croatia remain third with 3 points, while the Czech Republic sit bottom without a point ahead of their meeting with Spain.
England will host the Czech Republic at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, October 6 in their final fixture of the current international window, while Croatia prepare to host Spain in Split on the same evening seeking an immediate reaction to salvage their qualifying campaign.
