Thirty percent of employees believe they should be allowed to watch the football tournament during work, while 15 percent admit they plan to fake illness for key matches.

But 67 percent of the 1,074 Croatians surveyed said they would be prepared to work longer hours to make up for time lost while watching matches.

A quarter of the 455 bosses questioned in the same survey said they had already decided to allow their employees to watch matches.

Almost all of them conceded that the World Cup in Germany between June 9 and July 9 would affect the productivity of their companies during the period.

The survey was conducted on 1,074 employees in the most developed regions by Posao.hr, an employment Internet portal.

Croatians are already showing euphoria over the World Cup weeks ahead of the tournament, with reports of the sale of television sets in Zagreb having risen by 30 percent in May compared with the same time a year ago.

In the group phase of the World Cup, Croatia has been drawn to face Brazil, Japan and Australia.