FIFA World Cup: Globetrotting Croatia fan plans road trip through North Texas for World Cup

DALLAS - One Croatia soccer will travel thousands of miles to North Texas for this summer's FIFA World Cup, but it won't be the first time he's traveled the world to see them play.

A World Cup road trip

What they're saying:

"I'm so excited for this."

Nate Basich was born in the United States, but his father is Croatian. He lives in Croatia for half of every year in the city of Dubrovnik.

Basich is also a huge fan of the Croatia national soccer team. He's traveled to places like Russia and France to watch them play.

This summer, Basich will travel to North Texas for Croatia's match against England on June 17 at AT&T Stadium. He says he and his friends are renting a Winnebago RV to road trip across North America for the tournament.

"…spend a couple days in Dallas, and then we're driving onto Toronto for the next match," Basich tells FOX 4's Alex Boyer. "We're going to get a proper American road trip in."

Basich says he and his friends are looking forward to trying local BBQ while staying in North Texas.

The Blazers

Basich is a proud member of "The Blazers," the nickname for fans of the Croatia national soccer team.

The Blazers are famous for their red and white checker shirts, and for lighting flares before games!

"You'll see us outside the stadium with flares, singing songs, waving the flag. And that feeling is just euphoric, there's nothing like it."

Basich remembers when the country came to be in the 1990s, and their third place finish in the 1998 World Cup inspired him to be even more passionate about the team.

"Croatian is a very difficult language to catch all the specific words. But we have a few chants that at the end, it's like the standard, ale, ale ale. So if you want to join in with Croatia, you can let them say the stuff you don't know, and then just ale,ale,ale. And then you can join us."

What's next:

The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11. Croatia will play their lone game in North Texas on June 17 against England at AT&T Stadium.

FOX 4 FIFA World Cup Coverage

FOX 4 reporters have been covering the seven national teams who will play in North Texas during the World Cup's group stage in anticipation of the tournament. Read some of their stories below.

Croatia (Alex Boyer)

Croatia fever gets ready to descend upon North Texas

The Netherlands (Peyton Yager)

Dallas Arboretum pays tribute to Dutch team with flower displays

Local Dutch restaurant prepares for influx of Netherlands fans

Fans of the Netherlands to bring orange double-decker bus to Texas

Japan (Steven Dial)

Team Japan hopes to carry spring momentum into summer success

Japan’s national team known as ‘Samurai Blue’

England (Amelia Jones)

London Calling Texas brings vintage soccer threads to the metroplex

Soccer fan sells his home in England to pay for World Cup trip to Dallas

Argentina (Vania Castillo)

Argentina seeks to defend 2022 title with two matches in North Texas

FIFA World Cup