ORLANDO — Orlando City SC forward Marco Pašalić has been named to Croatia’s FIFA World Cup 2026 roster, bringing the tournament’s global spotlight directly to the Lions’ home turf as the United States hosts the competition.
Pašalić, who joined Orlando City in 2025, scored 15 goals in 41 games while adding five assists and helping lead the Lions to their best offensive season in club history. That production earned him a recall to the Croatian national team and ultimately a World Cup selection at the end of last month.
“Orlando was the right choice, I would say today, because I’ve done really good here, I feel good,” Pašalić said. “You saw it when I played my first game here, that I felt really well, two goals in the first match. No other club did I score in my debut.”
The 87 on Pašalić’s jersey carries its own story. He chose the number in 2023 after signing with Croatian side HNK Rijeka, settling on it during a preseason camp in Slovenia with friend and teammate Franjo Ivanović. The number unknowingly matched the founding year of Rijeka’s supporter group, Armada Rijeka, established in 1987. Pašalić scored five goals in his first seven games at Rijeka, including two in UEFA Conference League play, before Orlando came calling.
Born into a refugee family that fled the war in Yugoslavia and rebuilt in Germany, Pašalić rose from the fifth division of German soccer to earn his Croatian national team debut against Latvia alongside his idol, Luka Modrić, during a Euro 2024 qualifying match.
“When you sit in the hotel after this game, after the Croatia debut, it’s an unbelievable feeling, because you sit there, and it’s like a movie, and in your head you’re playing the movie back,” Pašalić said. “What happened from the fifth league in Germany to the Croatian national team, with a lot of difficulties, was everything.”
With the World Cup being played in the United States, Pašalić said his familiarity with the country gives him an edge over European-based teammates still adjusting to conditions. He also sees the tournament as a chance to change perceptions of MLS abroad.
“A lot of people in Europe still do not believe in this league and say it’s not that good, but I can say, because I played in Europe, and I play here, I like the league here,” Pašalić said. “I think they will have a good experience. It’s gonna be a good World Cup.”
Croatia’s World Cup group-stage schedule will determine when and where Pašalić takes the field, with matches set to be played across U.S. host cities throughout the tournament.