Croatia v England, 3 October 2026: behind closed doors in Rijeka

Croatia play England on Saturday 3 October 2026 at 18:00 at the Rujevica stadium in Rijeka, and almost nobody will be inside. UEFA's disciplinary body closed the ground for this Nations League match as the penalty for the behaviour of Croatian supporters at the quarter-final against France in March 2025: no tickets are on sale, no adult Croatian supporter gets in, and the only people in the stands will be about 100 members of the official England Supporters Travel Club, admitted after the English FA negotiated an exception with UEFA, and children under 14 from Croatian football schools. This guide explains what that means if you had planned to be there, how the match will be shown, where to watch it in Rijeka, Zagreb and Split, and what the rest of Croatia's autumn looks like, including the Spain match in Split three days later, which does have tickets.

The facts in one table

Why the ground is closed

The sanction goes back to the Nations League quarter-final second leg against France in March 2025, after which UEFA's control, ethics and disciplinary body punished the Croatian federation for supporter incidents and racist behaviour in the stands. The penalty was a home match behind closed doors, and the federation chose to serve it at Rujevica against England rather than at Poljud against Spain. It is the second time Croatia and England meet at an empty Rujevica: in October 2018 the same fixture was played there without spectators for an earlier sanction, and it ended 0:0. The federation also lost its away allocation for the match in Czechia on 26 September, so Croatian supporters could not travel to that game either.

Who does get in

UEFA's rules allow a small exception for the visiting federation, and the English FA used it: about 100 members of the England Supporters Travel Club were offered free tickets against a deposit, with applications closed on 18 September and the draw announced the following week. Nobody else from England can buy a ticket, and the FA has told members without an allocation not to travel expecting to get in. On the Croatian side the only spectators are children under 14 from the country's football schools, who attend free with their coaches, an arrangement UEFA permits for closed-door matches. The players' families, media and UEFA staff make up the rest of the building. If you hold a hotel booking in Rijeka for the weekend, it is still a good weekend: the city has its own reasons to visit, and the match will be on every screen along the Korzo.

How to watch it

In Croatia the national team's matches are on free-to-air television, and the broadcaster's coverage starts about an hour before kick-off. In the United Kingdom the Nations League rights for England's matches are held by the free-to-air broadcaster that has shown the competition since 2024, so the match is on television and the broadcaster's app; check the listings on the day, because Saturday 18:00 Croatian time is 17:00 in Britain. Elsewhere, UEFA's own platform and the usual streaming rights holders carry the match. If you are in Croatia, the simplest option is a bar: every café with a television shows the national team, and in Rijeka the terraces on the Korzo and the bars at Delta fill from 17:00.

Rijeka on match day, if you are there anyway

Rujevica sits on the hill above the western suburbs, 3 kilometres from the centre, and on a closed-door day there is nothing to see there: the roads around the stadium are closed to non-residents from the afternoon and the police keep the approaches clear. Stay in town. The Korzo, the pedestrian main street, has the biggest terraces; the bars around the market and along the Riva screen the match; Trsat above the town is the place for a beer with a view and a television inside. Rijeka's own club plays at Rujevica in the league, and on ordinary weekends tickets are cheap and easy, so a football fan with a free Sunday can see a match after all. The city's other draws are the Trsat castle with its 561 steps, the morning market halls, the Peek and Poke computer museum and the ships in the harbour.

Croatia v Spain, three days later in Split

The match that does have tickets is Croatia v Spain on Tuesday 6 October at 20:45 at Poljud in Split, matchday 4 of the same group. Tickets went on sale on 18 September through the federation's official channels, priced from about 30 to 65 euro, with the purchase tied to a personal account, and the fixture against the European champions is expected to sell out. Split is 4 hours from Rijeka by car along the motorway, 6 by bus, and the two matches make a natural long weekend for anyone already in Croatia: England on the screen on Saturday, Spain in the stadium on Tuesday. Our separate guide covers the ticket steps, prices and getting to Poljud.

The rest of the group

The November home match against Czechia on 15 November is the next one with a public sale in Croatia; the federation announces the venue and the ticket dates about four weeks ahead, and we update this page when it does.

Practical notes

• There is no secondary market worth trusting for the England match: any site offering tickets for a closed-door game is selling nothing.
• England Supporters Travel Club members with an allocation collect at the point the FA specifies; passports are checked against the application.
• Rijeka airport is on the island of Krk, 30 km away, with a shuttle bus to the town; Zagreb is 2 hours by motorway.
• The match starts at 18:00 local time, 17:00 in the United Kingdom, 12:00 on the US east coast.
• Rujevica's normal capacity is 8,279, the smallest of Croatia's national team venues; the choice of Rijeka for the closed-door match keeps Poljud and its 33,000 seats for Spain.