Croatia has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 31 times since making its debut at the . The Croatian participating broadcaster in the contest is (HRT), which has selected its entrant through the festival since 1993, excluding from 2012 to 2018. Croatia's best result in the contest is a second-place finish in .
Croatia achieved six top ten results in seven years, with "" performed by Magazin and Lidija finishing sixth (), "" by Maja Blagdan fourth (), "" by former Magazin member Danijela Martinović fifth (), "" by Doris Dragović fourth (), "" by Goran Karan ninth (), and "Strings of My Heart" by Vanna tenth (). A period of 23 years without a top ten result followed, which was interrupted by a second-place finish in 2024 with "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" by Baby Lasagna.
Croatia failed to reach the final for four years in succession (–), before choosing to not participate in and . Croatia returned and reached the final in both and , before again failing to reach the final for four consecutive contests (–), and in . In total, Croatia has failed to reach the final in nine of the last fifteen contests it has entered.
Participation (HRT) has been a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1st January 1993, thus eligible to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest since then. It has participated in the contest representing Croatia since its that same year.
Before its independence in 1991, Croatia was part of Yugoslavia. Ten n entrants in the Eurovision Song Contest came from the former SR Croatia (, , , , , , , , , and ). Apart from being the most successful Yugoslav republic in the contest, it gave the socialist republic its only win, "Rock Me", performed by Riva in 1989 in Lausanne. The was held in Zagreb as a result, hosted by HRT's predecessor on behalf of the Yugoslav Radio Television (JRT).
History 1990s Following the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, Croatia became an independent country, and Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT) became an EBU member in 1993.
In February 1993, HRT organised HTF - Hrvatski televizijski festival (Croatian television festival), which was to select the country's debut entry as an independent state for the 1993 contest. The band Put won performing the song "Don't Ever Cry" which was, despite the English title, also partially performed in Croatian. The song came third in the Kvalifikacija za Millstreet pre-selection event, which allowed their participation in the 1993 contest. HTF was also held in 1994 for the 1994 contest, until being renamed to Dora in 1995, the name which is still to this day used for the Croatian pre-selection event. The new name for the contest was inspired by the Croatian composer Dora Pejačević.
Along with Cyprus, Malta, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden, Croatia was never relegated in the 1990s, and, unlike Cyprus, Norway, and Portugal, it was never relegated in the beginning of the 21st century. Relegation meant that the country would have to sit out the subsequent contest due to poor placement.
2000s Croatia continued selecting its participants through Dora for the entirety of the decade. After Vanna's song "Strings of my Heart" finished 10th at the contest, the country has not achieved a Top 10 placement until placing second at the contest. The edition of the contest saw Croatia failing to qualify for the finals for the first time ever. The country qualified for the finals again at the and contests, achieving their lowest placements at the time, placing 21st and 18th respectively.
2010s Both 2010 and 2011 Dora winners, Feminnem and Daria Kinzer respectively, failed to quality for the finals at the and contests. In 2012, Dora was cancelled, and for the first time ever since the country's debut in 1993, no pre-selection contest was held. An internal selection was made by HRT instead, with Nina Badrić and Klapa s Mora selected to represent Croatia at the and contests respectively. Both entries ultimately continued Croatia's non-qualification streak.
HRT announced on 19 September 2013 that they would not participate in the contest, citing the financial difficulties, as well as a string of poor results between and influencing their decision to take a year's break. The last time Croatia qualified for the grand final at the time was in . Croatia would not return to the contest in 2015, and on 5 May 2015, HRT announced that it wouldn't broadcast the 2015 contest either. It was the first time since for HRT to not broadcast the contest.
On 26 November 2015, it was announced that Croatia would return to the contest in . It was also reported that the entry would possibly be the winner of the first season of The Voice – Najljepši glas Hrvatske. Nina Kraljić won The Voice and was selected to represent Croatia with the internally selected song "Lighthouse". The entry qualified for the final, making it the first time Croatia had made it to the final since 2009. After the successful return in 2016, Croatian national broadcaster HRT confirmed on 17 September 2016 that they would also participate in 2017. Jacques Houdek, the coach of Nina Kraljić in The Voice, was internally selected to represent the country on 17 February 2017, exactly five months after they confirmed the participation. Franka Batelić was internally selected to represent the country at the contest.
On 30 October 2018, it was announced by HRT that the national final, Dora, would return in 2019, traditionally taking place in Opatija, a famous summer resort. Roko won the first renewed edition of Dora with "The Dream", ultimately failing to qualify for the finals at the contest.
2020s In March 2021, it was confirmed that HRT and Opatija had signed a three-year long contract regarding the organization of HRT Music Days and Dora, meaning both of these events were held in the city annually until 2024. Damir Kedžo won the 2020 edition of Dora with "Divlji vjetre", but did not represent Croatia due to the contest's cancellation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Albina and Mia Dimšić won the subsequent Dora editions, both failing to qualify for the finals at the and contests. Let 3 won Dora in 2023 and went on to secure the country's first finale qualification since 2017, ultimately finishing 13th.
The following year's 2024 edition of Dora was held in Zagreb through two semi-final shows on 22 and 23 February, and the final show on 25 February 2024. Baby Lasagna won with "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" and achieved the country's best result to date, having placed second at the contest. Marko Bošnjak won Dora 2025 and represented Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest ; however, the country did not qualify for the Grand Final.
The final of Dora 2026, the selection contest for the edition, was held on 15 February 2026 and was won by Lelek with the song "Andromeda". The entry qualified for the final, placing fifteenth overall. Ahead of the 2026 contest, HRT aired Eurosong 70: Naši ljudi, naše pjesme, a two-part documentary series produced in honor of the contest's 70th edition; it looked back at Croatia's history at the contest.
Participation overview
Prior to 's dissolution, artists from the Croatian federal unit represented Yugoslavia in , , , , , , , , , and .
+ Table key 1 First place 2 Second place 3 Third place ◇ Entry selected but did not compete
Year Artist Song Language Final Points Semi Points Put "Don't Ever Cry" Croatian, English 15 31 3 51 Tony Cetinski "" Croatian 16 27 colspan="2" rowspan="2" Magazin and Lidija "" Croatian 6 91 Maja Blagdan "" Croatian 4 98 19 30 E.N.I. "" Croatian 17 24 colspan="2" rowspan="7" Danijela "" Croatian 5 131 Doris "" Croatian 4 118 Goran Karan "" Croatian 9 70 Vanna "Strings of My Heart" English 10 42 Vesna Pisarović "Everything I Want" English 11 44 Claudia Beni "" Croatian, English 15 29 Ivan Mikulić "You Are the Only One" English 12 50 9 72 Boris Novković Lado members "" Croatian 11 115 4 169 Severina "" Croatian 12 56 colspan="2" Dragonfly feat. Dado Topić "" Croatian, English colspan="2" 16 54 Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents "" Croatian 21 44 4 112 Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea "" Croatian 18 45 13 33 Feminnem "" Croatian colspan="2" rowspan="4" 13 33 Daria "Celebrate" English 15 41 Nina Badrić "" Croatian 12 42 Klapa s Mora "" Croatian 13 38 Nina Kraljić "Lighthouse" English 23 73 10 133 Jacques Houdek "My Friend" English, Italian 13 128 8 141 Franka "Crazy" English rowspan="2" colspan="2" 17 63 Roko "The Dream" English, Croatian 14 64 Damir Kedžo ◇ "" ◇ Croatian ◇ colspan="4" Albina "Tick-Tock" English, Croatian colspan="2" rowspan="2" 11 110 Mia Dimšić "Guilty Pleasure" English, Croatian 11 75 Let 3 "" Croatian 13 123 8 76 Baby Lasagna "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" English 2 547 1 177 Marko Bošnjak "Poison Cake" English colspan="2" 12 28 Lelek "Andromeda" Croatian 15 124 6 175
Awards Marcel Bezençon Awards
YearCategorySongPerformerComposer(s)FinalresultPointsHost cityPress Award"Rim Tim Tagi Dim"Baby Lasagna Marko Purišić2547 Malmö
Winners by OGAE members
Year Song PerformerOGAE ResultPointsFinal ResultPoints Host city "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" Baby Lasagna 1 356 2 547 Malmö
Barbara Dex Award
YearPerformerHost cityNina Kraljić Stockholm
You're a Vision Award
YearPerformerHost cityBaby Lasagna Malmö
Related involvement Conductors YearConductorNotesAndrej BašaMiljenko ProhaskaStipica KalogjeraAlan BjelinskiStipica Kalogjerarowspan="5"
Heads of delegation Each participating broadcaster in the Eurovision Song Contest assigns a head of delegation as the EBU's contact person and the leader of their delegation at the event. The delegation, whose size can greatly vary, includes a head of press, the contestants, songwriters, composers and backing vocalists, among others.
YearHead of delegation–Ksenija Urličić–Aleksandar "Aco" KostadinovŽeljko Mesar–Tomislav ŠtenglElizabeth Homsi–Uršula Tolj–Tomislav Štengl
Jury members Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals for the Eurovision Song Contest, ranking all entries except for their own. The modern incarnation of jury voting was introduced beginning with the , and , the juries' votes constitute just under 50% of the overall result in the final alongside televoting.
+ Jury members Year Juror A Juror B Juror C Juror D Juror E Boris ĐurđevićDamir KedžoDuško MandićKim VersonPamela Ramljak Dino JelusićIvana KindlSanja DoležajSaša LozarTihomir Preradović Gina Victoria DamjanovićKornelije HećimovićMiroslav LesićMustafa SoftićZdenka Kovačiček Bojan JambrošićDoris KaramatićFranka Batelić Luka NižetićMonika Lelas HalambekNika TurkovićAntonia Matković-Šerić Dinko KomadinaMia NegovetićAntonela ĐinđićSaša Lozar Albina GrčićDamir KedžoJelena BalentNikša Bratoš Dino JelusićGina Victoria Damjanović Ivana Ranilović-Vrdoljak Mia NegovetićMiroslav LesićMonika Lelas HalambekTihomir Preradović
Commentators and spokespersons For the show's broadcast on HRT, various commentators have provided commentary on the contest in the Croatian language. At the Eurovision Song Contest after all points are calculated, the presenters of the show call upon each voting country to invite each respective spokesperson to announce the results of their vote on-screen.
From until , Croatia was part of and TV Zagreb, the affiliate of JRT in the socialist republic, broadcast the contest with Croatian commentary.
Year Television Radio Spokesperson Channel Commentator(s) Channel Commentator(s) HTV 1 Aleksandar Kostadinov colspan="2" rowspan="10" Velimir Đuretić HRT 1 Helga Vlahović