| Countries | Croatia |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Levels on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Druga HNL |
| Domestic cup(s) | Croatian Cup Croatian Super Cup |
| International cup(s) | UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League |
| Current champions | Dinamo Zagreb (2010–11) |
| Most championships | Dinamo Zagreb (13) |
| TV partners | Arenasport |
| Website | http://www.prva-hnl.hr |
| 2011–12 season | |
The Prva HNL (Croatian: Prva hrvatska nogometna liga), also known as 1. HNL or for sponsorship reasons the MAXtv Prva Liga, is the top Croatian football league competition, established in 1992. The winners qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Dinamo Zagreb are the current champions, having won their sixth consecutive title in the 2010–11 season, and are the most successful club with 13 titles overall, followed by Hajduk Split with 6 titles.
Since 2003, Prva HNL has been named after its sponsor, giving it the following names:
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The Prva HNL was formed in 1991, following the dissolution of the Yugoslav First League, and is operated by the Croatian Football Federation. The first season started in February 1992. Since its formation, the league went through many changes in its system and number of participating clubs. Currently, there are 16 teams participating in the league.
Each season of the Prva HNL starts in late July or early August and ends in May, with a two-month hiatus between December and February. Historically, the teams were split into two groups of six which continued to play separately starting in March. These two groups were known as the Championship League and the Relegation League. However, the 2006-07 season introduced a new system in which everybody plays everybody three times in the season. Upon the end of the first part of the season, consisting of 22 matchdays, a draw is held to pair the teams and decide host teams for the last 11 matchdays of the season. This system brought one additional matchday in comparison to the preceding seasons.
At the end of each season, the last team is directly relegated to the Druga HNL and the second-last team goes in the relegation play-off, a two-legged tie against the second-placed team from the Druga HNL. The champions qualify for the first qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, the runners-up, as well as the winners of the Croatian Cup, for the UEFA Europa League qualifying, with the third-placed team also winning a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying. UEFA currently ranks the league 27th in Europe. The main sponsor of Prva HNL is T-Com Croatia, part of German telecommunications firm Deutsche Telekom. The president of T-Com HNL is Robert Markulin.
The following 16 clubs competed in the Prva HNL in the 2010–11 season. The clubs in bold also had spells in the Yugoslav First League before Croatian clubs abandoned it in 1991 (as of the 2010–11 season 8 out of 9 Croatian clubs which had appeared in the Yugoslav top division compete in the Croatian championship, the remaining one being the fourth level side Trešnjevka).
Six of the twelve founding members were never relegated from the Prva HNL - Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Osijek, Rijeka, Varaždin and NK Zagreb. RNK Split had their Prva HNL debut in the 2010–11 season, marking their return to top flight after 49 years, having been relegated from the 1960–61 Yugoslav First League.[4]
For the 2011–12 season Lučko gained promotion, appearing in top level for the first time in their history. HNK Gorica and NK Pomorac Kostrena also were awarded promotion, but declined it due to first league licensing conflicts.
| Club |
Position in 2010–11 |
First season in top division |
Number of seasons in top division |
Number of seasons in Prva HNL |
First season of current spell in top division |
Top division titles |
Last top division title |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cibalia a | 4th | 1982–83 | 24 | 19 | 2005–06 | 0 | N/A |
| Dinamo Zagreb a,b | 1st | 1946–47 | 66 | 21 | 1946–47 | 17 c | 2010–11 |
| Hajduk Split a,b | 2nd | 1923 | 84 | 21 | 1923 | 15 d | 2004–05 |
| Inter Zaprešić a | 5th | 1992 | 14 | 14 | 2007–08 | 0 | N/A |
| Istra 1961 | 15th | 2004–05 | 6 | 6 | 2009–10 | 0 | N/A |
| Karlovac b | 6th | 2009–10 | 3 | 3 | 2009–10 | 0 | N/A |
| Lokomotiva b | 14th | 1946–47 | 13 | 3 | 2009–10 | 0 | N/A |
| Lučko | 2nd in 2. HNL | 2011–12 | 1 | 1 | 2011–12 | 0 | N/A |
| Osijek a,b | 8th | 1953–54 | 36 | 21 | 1981–82 | 0 | N/A |
| Rijeka a,b | 9th | 1958–59 | 50 | 21 | 1974–75 | 0 | N/A |
| Slaven Belupo b | 7th | 1997–98 | 15 | 15 | 1997–98 | 0 | N/A |
| RNK Split b | 3rd | 1957–58 | 4 | 2 | 2010–11 | 0 | N/A |
| Šibenik a | 12th | 1992 | 18 | 18 | 2006–07 | 0 | N/A |
| Varaždin a,b | 11th | 1992 | 21 | 21 | 1992 | 0 | N/A |
| Zadar a | 10th | 1992 | 16 | 16 | 2006–07 | 0 | N/A |
| NK Zagreb a,b | 13th | 1952 | 39 | 21 | 1992 | 1 | 2001–02 |
a: Founding member of the Prva HNL
b: Never been relegated from Prva HNL
c: Dinamo Zagreb tally includes 4 Yugoslav and 13 Prva HNL titles
d: Hajduk Split tally includes 9 Yugoslav and 6 Prva HNL titles
| Season |
Total attendance |
Number of matches |
Average attendance per match |
Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 745,728 | 192 | 3,884 | [5] |
| 1999–2000 | 515,790 | 198 | 2,605 | [5] |
| 2000–01 | 546,624 | 192 | 2,847 | [5] |
| 2001–02 | 573,840 | 240 | 2,391 | [5] |
| 2002–03 | 635,520 | 192 | 3,310 | [5] |
| 2003–04 | 570,816 | 192 | 2,973 | [5] |
| 2004–05 | 541,440 | 192 | 2,820 | [5] |
| 2005–06 | 633,792 | 192 | 3,301 | [5] |
| 2006–07 | 622,908 | 198 | 3,146 | [5] |
| 2007–08 | 616,572 | 198 | 3,114 | [5] |
| 2008–09 | 617,050 | 198 | 3,116 | [6] |
| 2009–10 | 500,002 | 240 | 2,083 | [6] |
| 2010–11 | 458,746 | 240 | 1,911 | [7] |
Only four times in history have HNL teams entered the UEFA Champions League. In the 1994-95 season, Hajduk Split qualified over Legia Warsaw (1-0 A, 4-0 H). They qualified for the quarterfinals (from group with Benfica 0-0 H, 1-2 A, Steaua Bucuresti 1-0 A, 1-4 H, and Anderlecht 2-1 H,0-0 A), but lost to Ajax 0-0 H, 0-3 A. Ajax won CL that year. In the 1998-99 season, NK Croatia Zagreb (Dinamo) qualified over Celtic (0-1 A, 3-0 H). They were drawn in the same group with Olympiacos 1-3 A, 1-1 H, Porto 0-3 A, 3-1 H, and Ajax 1-0 A, 0-0 H. They finished in 2nd place, but failed to go to the next round because in that season only first place teams went through. Next season, 1999–2000, Dinamo also played in CL, in the same group as defending champion Manchester United, Olympique de Marseille and Austrian side SK Sturm Graz. They started their campaign with a famous 0-0 draw at Old Trafford. After that they lost to OM 0-1 in Zagreb, won against Sturm 3-0, lost against Sturm away 0-1, lost 0-2 against Manchester United in Zagreb, and in the last match they drew against OM at Velodrome 2-2 (Bakayoko scored for Marseille in 91'). They finished fourth. In 2011 Dinamo qualified for the CL o er the Swedish Malmo, beating them 4-1 at home and narrowly losing 2-0 away. in the first 4 games they failed to score a goal, conceding 9 and losing all four.
Source: Bert Kassies' website (country rankings; team rankings); last updated 15 December 2011
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Team
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In past, TV coverage was only for one match in each round (derby match). In the 2008–09 season there were some changes. Croatian national TV Network (HRT) started the new TV show Volim Nogomet (I Love Football), made in association with league's main sponsor T-Com. In the show, five matches were broadcasted combined on Sunday afternoons, while the derby match was on program at 20.15 CET, so viewers could watch all the matches. There were also experts in the studio, commenting on matches and other things non-related to football. Main initiator of the project was famous Croatian football player and then president of T-Com 1. HNL organisation Igor Štimac.[8] Most of the clubs weren't satisfied with the scheduling of fixtures and demanded a move from Sunday afternoon to Saturday evening. This was done at the start of the following season and the only match played on Sunday was the derby match.[9][10] However, during the mid-season project was cancelled and the old system with one broadcast per round was returned.[11]
In November 2010, broadcasting rights were sold to marketing agency Digitel Komunikacije for a period of five years, beginning with 2011–12 season. After the negotiations fell through with public broadcasting television HRT, which covered Prva HNL for the past twenty seasons, Digitel signed a deal with T-Hrvatski Telekom. The matches are broadcasted on Arenasport, a cable television network, available to subscribers of MAXtv, IPTV solution from T-HT subsidiary T-Com. All matches involving Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split will be broadcasted in the basic programming package, while other matches mostly involving Rijeka and Osijek are available through purchasing additional sports package.[12][13]
| † | League champions also won the Croatian Cup, e.g. the domestic Double. |
Notes on name changes:
| Rank | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Igor Cvitanović | 126 |
| 2 | Davor Vugrinec | 124 |
| 3 | Joško Popović | 111 |
| 4 | Miljenko Mumlek | 107 |
| 5 | Tomislav Erceg | 97 |
| 6 | Nino Bule | 88 |
| 7 | Renato Jurčec | 87 |
| 8 | Robert Špehar | 86 |
| 9 | Marijo Dodik | 84 |
| 10 | Veldin Karić | 75 |
| (Bold denotes players still playing in the Prva HNL, italics denotes players still playing professional football).[14] |
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Players in the Prva HNL compete for the Prva HNL Top scorer trophy, awarded to the top scorer at the end of each season. Former Dinamo Zagreb striker Igor Cvitanović holds the record for most Prva HNL goals with 126. Cvitanović finished among the top ten goal scorers in 7 out of his 11 seasons in the Prva HNL and won the top scorer title two times. During the 1997–98 season he became the first player to score 100 Prva HNL goals. Since then, only three other players have reached the 100-goal mark.
Since the first Prva HNL season in 1992, fifteen different players have won the top scorers title. Goran Vlaović, Robert Špehar, Igor Cvitanović, Tomislav Šokota and Ivica Olić have won two titles each. Dinamo Zagreb provided most top scorers in Prva HNL, their strikers topped the table ten times. Eduardo da Silva holds the record for most goals in a season (34) – scored for Dinamo Zagreb in the 2006–07 season.[15] Six goals is the record individual scoring total for a player in a single Prva HNL game held by Marijo Dodik.[16]
Dinamo Zagreb became the first team to have scored 1,000 goals in the league after Etto scored in a 4–0 victory over NK Zagreb in the 2005–06 season.[17] Hajduk Split is the only other team to have reached the 1,000-goal mark.[18] The highest-scoring match to date in the Prva HNL occurred on 12 December 1993 when Dinamo Zagreb beat Pazinka 10–1.[19]
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