Croatia have followed Czech Republic in ditching their Euro 2020 base in Scotland over Covid fears.
The 2018 World Cup finalists were due to base themselves at St Andrews but have now decided against that and will remain at home in Rovinj to prepare for the tournament and fly in and out for games.
It comes just 24 hours after fellow Group D side Czech Republic made the same decision after they had booked Oriam in Edinburgh citing “Scotland’s restrictions” as a reason.
Scotlan d take on Croatia in their final group fixture at Hampden on June 22 and a spokesperson for the Croatian Football Federation said: "The management of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) has decided that the Croatian men's senior team will remain in Rovinj during the European Championship instead of traveling to the team camp in St Andrews, as it had originally been planned.
"The HNS received a recommendation from UEFA to change the location of its team base camp, due to the potential impact of the Scottish COVID-19 regulations on the national team’s daily routines.
"The Croatian Football Federation was unwilling to risk the possibility of positive PCR results causing a large part of the team and team staff to be issued mandatory self-isolation orders, which is why the Croatian FA has decided to change its original plan of having the team based in St Andrews during the EURO.
"After a detailed analysis of all available options, and through intense consultation with UEFA, the management of the HNS has agreed with head coach Zlatko Dalic and remainder of the team staff of the Croatian national team that the team will remain in Rovinj, where the Vatreni have been training and preparing ahead of the EURO.
"The team will stay at Grand Park hotel, and will train at NK Rovinj Stadium.”
UEFA has allowed teams to name 26-man squads instead of 23 to protect against disruption from infections before games.
Boss Dalic said: “This is the best outcome that we could reach in these strange times and we now have a unique opportunity to spend this tournament tin our own country.”
Croatia’s opener is against England at Wembley on Jun 13 and then the Czechs on June 18 in the first of a Hampden double header.
