Table tennis has been systematically developing in Croatia since the 1920s, although there are records of table tennis being played even earlier (e.g. Donji Miholjac since 1903). The first table tennis section was founded by Geza Legenstein in Čakovec in 1925 as part of Čakovec Sports Club. Then table tennis sections were founded in other cities as well: in Zagreb (Marathon Sports Club, Zagreb Skating Society, HAŠK, Concordia Sports Club, etc.), Šibenik, Sisak, Karlovac, Osijek, etc. The first table tennis tournaments were held in Opatija (1928) and Zagreb (1929), while national championships have been held since 1929. A larger number of clubs were founded and table tennis developed strongly after the Second World War. The clubs that achieved the best results were Zagreb City Table Tennis Club (formerly called Vjesnik Table Tennis Club and Večernji List Table Tennis Club) founded in 1948, Mladost Croatian Academic Table Tennis Club founded in 1945, Aquaestil Table Tennis Club (formerly called Duga Resa Table Tennis Club and Duga Resa Textile Industry Table Tennis Club) founded in 1959, and more recently Dr. Časl Table Tennis Club founded in 1997.
The Yugoslav Table Tennis Federation began operating in Zagreb in 1930 and the Croatian Table Tennis Federation was founded in 1939. It changed its name to the Table Tennis Federation of Croatia in 1950 and again to the Croatian Table Tennis Federation in 1991. It has been a member of the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) since 1992 and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) since 1993.
The first international success of Croatian male table tennis players was achieved when Ladislav Hexner, Max Marinko, Tibor Harangozo, Žarko Dolinar and Adolf Heršković won the team silver medal and Žarko Dolinar the men’s singles bronze medal at the 1939 World Championships in Cairo under the flag of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After the Second World War, Croatian table tennis players won numerous medals at the European and World Championships. Standing out are the doubles gold medals at the World Championships won by Žarko Dolinar in 1954, Antun Stipančić and Dragutin Šurbek in 1979, and Dragutin Šurbek in 1983, while Antun Stipančić won the men’s singles silver medal at the World Championships in 1975. Table tennis was first included in the Olympic Games at Seoul 1988; Zoran Primorac won the men’s doubles silver medal and Jasna Fazlić the women’s doubles bronze medal. Zoran Primorac also won the men’s singles bronze medal at the World Championships in 1993. Tamara Boroš achieved the greatest success among female players by winning the singles bronze medal at the World Championships in 2003. Zagreb City Table Tennis club was the men’s European club champion 5 times (1962, 1973, 1974, 1976 and 2001) under the names Vjesnik and Večernji list. The women’s team of Dr. Časl Table Tennis Club won the Table Tennis Champions League in 2018. The women’s team of Mladost Croatian Academic Table Tennis Club won the Fair Cities Cup in 1978 and 1980.