Before publicly announcing his retirement, Vrsaljko spoke privately with both Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalić and HNS president Marijan Kustić.

 "I told Šime that I understand his reasons and respect his decision. We all regret the fact that we couldn’t have him with the national team as much as we had wanted due to injury-related issues – Šime is and always has been an excellent footballer, and he always truly loved being with the national team, at that. On the pitch and off of it, he was an important ‘gear’ in all of our successes," said head coach Zlatko Dalić.

"I believe everyone is familiar with the state of Šime’s knee while he was playing all those matches for Croatia at the World Cup in Russia. That kind of selflessness, perseverance, bravery, and willingness to sacrifice one’s self for the good of the team is exactly what allowed us to reach such a historic result. On top of that, Šime played such a huge role in building up that joyful, positive spirit within the team, and we’ll miss that as much as his football skills. All of this made it a pleasure to have him as part of our team, and I want to thank him for all that he’s given for Croatia. He more than deserved all of the wonderful things that happened to him while wearing our checkers, and I wish him many more happy moments on the pitch and off of it. Above all, I wish him good health," stated Dalić.