2008–09 Croatian First Football League

T-Com Prva HNL
Season 2008–09
Champions Dinamo Zagreb
11th Croatian title
15th domestic title
Relegated None
Champions League Dinamo Zagreb
Europa League Hajduk Split
Rijeka
Slaven Belupo
Matches played 198
Goals scored 522 (2.64 per match)
Top goalscorer Mario Mandžukić (16)
Biggest home win Dinamo 6–0 Cibalia
Biggest away win Varteks 1–6 Dinamo
Highest scoring Rijeka 6–2 Slaven B.
Average attendance 3,067
← 2007–08
2009–10 →

The 2008–09 Prva HNL (officially known as the T-Com Prva HNL for sponsorship reasons) season was the 18th since its establishment. It started on 27 July 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009. Dinamo Zagreb were the defending champions, having won their twelfth championship title the previous season, and they defended the title again, after a win against Slaven Belupo on 17 May 2009.

Promotion and relegation

Međimurje were automatically relegated to Druga HNL as they finished last in the previous season, while Croatia Sesvete were automatically promoted from Druga HNL after winning the 2007–08 title. In a two-legged playoff between Inter Zaprešić and Hrvatski dragovoljac, the former kept their Prva HNL status by beating Hrvatski dragovoljac with 2–0 on aggregate (2–0, 0–0).

League expansion

In June 2007 Igor Štimac, president of Association of Prva HNL clubs, proposed a future expansion of Prva HNL from 12 to 16 clubs, starting from 2008–09 season.[1] However, although a majority of club representatives supported that proposal, no strict agreement or final decision was made. On HNS meeting in late August 2007 it was decided to postpone the decision for late 2007 or even 2008 and that the expansion would not be possible before the 2009–10 season.[2]

For more than a year nothing explicit was stated on that matter. Finally, on a regular HNS meeting in February 2009 HNS Secretary Zorislav Srebrić stated that club licensing would decide whether the 2009–10 season would feature 12 or 16 teams. Theoretically, if only 15 teams obtained Prva HNL license, league would have featured 12 teams. The deadline for submitting the license was 1 May 2009.[3] On 8 May 2009 HNS declared that all 19 clubs that applied for the license were awarded with it and would be in possibility to enter the league in 2009–10, now expanded to 16 clubs.[4] Also, on 26 May 2009 HNS received official confirmations from all 19 clubs in which they expressed their will to compete in next year's Prva HNL, what means that none of the clubs would withdraw from the league.[5] However, despite their guarantee to compete in Prva HNL, Slavonac eventually withdrew although they finished fourth and earned direct access to Prva HNL 2009–10. Their place was taken by Međimurje while sixth-placed Hrvatski dragovoljac competed in a relegation play-offs.[6]

Stadiums and locations

After the death of Hrvoje Ćustić during a game played at Zadar's Stanovi Stadium in March 2008, it was decided that the stadia for the 2008–09 season would have to pass a closer inspection to be deemed fit for first-league football. Since only 9 stadia managed to meet the requirements and obtain first-league license from the Croatian Football Federation, it was announced in May 2008 that some of the teams (Cibalia, Croatia Sesvete, Zadar and NK Zagreb) would have to share stadia and temporarily play their home games at other venues.[7] Just before Round 1 kicked off, Cibalia managed to bring their stadium to standard, and in August, just before round 5, Zadar secured the licence to play their games at Stanovi Stadium.[8]

Stadium City Home club Licensed club(s) Capacity
Stadion HNK Cibalia Vinkovci Cibalia 9,920
ŠRC Zaprešić Zaprešić Inter Zaprešić 4,528
Kranjčevićeva Zagreb NK Zagreb Croatia Sesvete 8,850
Kantrida Rijeka Rijeka 10,275
Poljud Split Hajduk Split 35,000
Anđelko Herjavec Varaždin Varteks 10,800
Maksimir Zagreb Dinamo Zagreb 37,168
Gradski vrt Osijek Osijek 19,500
Gradski stadion Koprivnica Slaven Belupo 4,000
Šubićevac Šibenik Šibenik 8,000
Stanovi Zadar Zadar 5,860


Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in table
NK Zagreb Croatia Miroslav Blažević
Mutual consent
10 May 2008 [9]
Croatia Luka Pavlović
11 May 2008 [10]
Pre-season
Dinamo Zagreb Croatia Zvonimir Soldo
Resigned
14 May 2008 [11]
Croatia Branko Ivanković
20 May 2008 [12]
Pre-season
Slaven Belupo Croatia Krunoslav Jurčić
Resigned
14 May 2008 [13]
Croatia Mile Petković
26 May 2008 [14]
Pre-season
Hajduk Split Croatia Robert Jarni
Sacked
24 May 2008 [15]
Croatia Goran Vučević
25 May 2008 [16]
Pre-season
Croatia Sesvete Croatia Zlatko Kranjčar
Resigned
18 June 2008 [17]
Serbia Ljupko Petrović
2 July 2008 [18]
Pre-season
Rijeka Croatia Zlatko Dalić
Sacked
1 July 2008 [19]
Croatia Mladen Ivančić
7 July 2008 [20]
Pre-season
Osijek Croatia Ilija Lončarević
Sacked
26 September 2008 [21]
Croatia Tomislav Steinbrückner
26 September 2008 [21]
10th
Zadar Croatia Dalibor Zebić
Resigned
28 September 2008 [22]
Croatia Ivica Datković
9 October 2008 [23]
12th
Rijeka Croatia Mladen Ivančić
Resigned
8 October 2008 [24]
Croatia Robert Rubčić
13 October 2008 [25]
7th
Inter Zaprešić Croatia Milivoj Bračun
Resigned
20 October 2008 [26]
Croatia Borimir Perković
20 October 2008 [26]
11th
Hajduk Split Croatia Goran Vučević
Resigned
26 October 2008 [27]
Croatia Ante Miše
21 November 2008 [28]
3rd
Cibalia Croatia Srećko Lušić
Sacked
10 November 2008 [29]
Croatia Stanko Mršić
14 November 2008 [30]
11th
Dinamo Zagreb Croatia Branko Ivanković
Mutual consent
24 November 2008 [31]
Croatia Marijan Vlak
24 November 2008 [31]
1st
Croatia Sesvete Serbia Ljupko Petrović
Resigned
7 December 2008 [32]
Croatia Zlatko Kranjčar
30 December 2008 [33]
10th
Zadar Croatia Ivica Datković
Mutual consent
21 December 2008 [34]
Croatia Dalibor Zebić
30 December 2008 [35]
12th
Croatia Sesvete Croatia Zlatko Kranjčar
Resigned
21 February 2009 [36]
Croatia Milan Đuričić
3 May 2009 [37]
10th
Dinamo Zagreb Croatia Marijan Vlak
Sacked
5 March 2009 [38]
Croatia Krunoslav Jurčić
5 March 2009 [38]
2nd

League table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Dinamo Zagreb (C) 33 23 5 5 71 26+45 74 2009–10 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2 Hajduk Split 33 21 5 7 59 25+34 68 2009–10 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round
3 Rijeka 33 17 5 11 50 44+6 56 2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round
4 Slaven Belupo 33 16 7 10 46 39+7 55 2009–10 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round 1
5 NK Zagreb 33 13 8 12 38 391 47
6 Šibenik 33 13 7 13 44 35+9 46
7 Osijek 33 10 11 12 40 411 41
8 Cibalia 33 10 8 15 33 5320 38
9 Inter Zaprešić 33 9 9 15 41 509 36
10 Varteks 33 10 5 18 41 5514 35
11 Zadar 33 7 8 18 28 4921 29
12 Croatia Sesvete (O) 33 6 8 19 31 6635 252 Relegation play-off

Source: prva-hnl.hr (Croatian)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1Because both cup finalists, Dinamo and Hajduk, qualified for Europe through their league positions, all three UEFA Europa League spots were given to teams according to their league positions, what means that fourth-placed Slaven Belupo also earned a spot in Europa League.
2Croatia Sesvete were deducted 1 point due to unpaid debts to Imotski over player Darko Vučić.[39]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.

Relegation play-off

Due to the expansion of Prva HNL to 16 clubs in the 2009–10 season, four clubs from Druga HNL 2008–09 were automatically promoted. Those should have been top four clubs, but since Slavonac withdrew[6] their direct access spot was taken by fifth-placed Međimurje. Therefore, the 12th placed Croatia Sesvete played a two-legged relegation play-off against the 6th placed team of Druga HNL, Hrvatski dragovoljac. Croatia Sesvete won 2–1 on aggregate and thereby earned a spot in the 2009–10 season.

11 June 2009
18:00 CEST
Hrvatski dragovoljac 0 – 0 Croatia Sesvete
Ercegović Yellow cardYellow cardRed card 58', 84' Report
(Croatian)
Maksimir, Zagreb
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Domagoj Ljubičić

14 June 2009
20:00 CEST
Croatia Sesvete 2 – 1 Hrvatski dragovoljac
Vojnović  10' Yellow cardYellow cardRed card 41', 62'
Čižmek  90'
Report
(Croatian)
Janjetović  67'
Kranjčevićeva, Zagreb
Attendance: 2,500
Referee: Ivan Bebek

Results

The schedule consisted of three rounds. During the first two rounds, each team played each other once home and away for a total of 22 matches. The pairings of the third round were then set according to the standings after the first two rounds, giving every team a third game against each opponent for a total of 33 games per team.

First and second round

Home ╲ Away[1] CIB CRS DINHAJINTOSIRIJSLAŠIBVARZADZAG
Cibalia 31 11 11 43 03 31 00 20 10 10 01
Croatia Sesvete 11 01 10 13 11 01 00 00 40 31 14
Dinamo Zagreb 60 61 02 31 10 20 10 30 21 20 31
Hajduk Split 20 10 20 33 31 20 31 10 11 10 40
Inter Zaprešić 12 32 13 04 01 22 00 23 23 31 11
Osijek 20 42 02 12 21 22 00 13 21 30 02
Rijeka 10 21 10 31 01 00 20 01 21 21 01
Slaven Belupo 10 40 20 12 10 42 21 31 23 21 20
Šibenik 40 01 22 12 11 11 30 30 20 10 11
Varteks 30 21 01 02 10 002 33 23 21 20 21
Zadar 21 12 23 10 11 22 03 11 10 10 21
NK Zagreb 00 11 22 30 01 21 11 20 04 03 00

Source: prva-hnl.hr (Croatian)
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
2The match was suspended after 82 minutes due to heavy fog. However, since more than 80% of the game was played it was officially registered with the score at the moment of suspension (0–0).[40]
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Third round

Home ╲ Away[1] CIB CRS DINHAJINTOSIRIJSLAŠIBVARZADZAG
Cibalia 30 34 11 21 21
Croatia Sesvete 04 03 11 01 21
Dinamo Zagreb 10 00 40 20 20 01
Hajduk Split 20 50 22 20 01 20
Inter Zaprešić 00 02 30 10 22
Osijek 10 11 12 12 10
Rijeka 20 32 21 62 41 20
Slaven Belupo 11 51 11 10 21 21
Šibenik 02 40 21 01 00 21
Varteks 16 01 23 22 00 12
Zadar 31 11 03 31 01
NK Zagreb 40 00 10 10 31

Source: prva-hnl.hr (Croatian)
1 ^ The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Source: HRnogomet.com (Croatian)

16 goals
15 goals
14 goals
12 goals
11 goals

Transfers

See also

References

  1. Berislav Jelinić (28 August 2007). "'Liga 16' nogometu donosi 400 mil. kn" [League of 16 brings 400 million kuna to football] (in Croatian). Nacional (weekly). Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  2. Liga 16 (zasad) stopirana (Croatian)
  3. Licenciranje odlučuje o Ligi 16 (Croatian)
  4. Njih 15, stadiona sedam (Croatian)
  5. Svi žele u Prvu HNL (Croatian)
  6. 6.0 6.1 Međimurci direktno, Slavonac odustao (Croatian)
  7. Zagreb u Maksimiru, Zadar na Šubićevcu (Croatian)
  8. Zadar se vraća kući (Croatian)
  9. "Ćiro odlazi iz Kranjčevićeve" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 9 May 2008. Archived from the original on 11 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  10. "Luka Pavlović preuzeo Zagreb" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 11 May 2008. Archived from the original on 13 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  11. "Zvonimir Soldo podnio ostavku" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 14 May 2008. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  12. "Povratak Tanca" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 20 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  13. "Krunoslav Jurčić napustio Slaven Belupo" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 14 May 2008. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  14. "Mile Petković trener Slaven Belupa" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 26 May 2008. Archived from the original on 30 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  15. "Jarni na odlasku, Buljan i službeno" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 24 May 2008. Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  16. "Vučević novi trener Hajduka, Rukavina odlazi" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 25 May 2008. Archived from the original on 28 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  17. "Kranjčar dao ostavku u Sesvetama" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 25 May 2008. Archived from the original on 19 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  18. "Prvi srbijanski trener u HNL-u" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 2 July 2008. Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  19. "Ne može svatko voditi Rijeku" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 1 July 2008. Archived from the original on 3 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-02.
  20. "Rijeka dobila novog trenera" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 7 July 2008. Archived from the original on 10 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  21. 21.0 21.1 "Smijenjen Ilija Lončarević" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 26 September 2008. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-26.
  22. "Vrijeme je za novog trenera" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 28 September 2008. Archived from the original on 29 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-28.
  23. "Datković preuzeo momčad Zadra" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 9 October 2008. Archived from the original on 10 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  24. "Ivančić dao ostavku!" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 8 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  25. "Rijeku preuzeo Rubčić!" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 13 October 2008. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-21.
  26. 26.0 26.1 "Bračun otišao, Perković došao" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 20 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  27. "Vučević podnio ostavku" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 26 October 2008. Archived from the original on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-26.
  28. "Miše ostaje trener, Grant će doći" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-21.
  29. "Cibalia dala otkaz Lušiću" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 10 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  30. "Cibalia našla zamjenu za Lušića" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 14 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
  31. 31.0 31.1 "Otišao Ivanković!" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24.
  32. "Ljupko Petrović napustio Sesvete" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 7 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
  33. "Cico od Croatije do Croatije" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 30 December 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  34. "Zadar ponovno bez trenera" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 21 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-21.
  35. "Zebić se vraća na klupu Zadra" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 30 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
  36. "Cicin drugi odlazak" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 21 February 2009. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
  37. "Srećko se vraća kući" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 3 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
  38. 38.0 38.1 "Jurčić trener, odlasci igrača, Mamić ostaje!" (in Croatian). sportnet.hr. 5 March 2009. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
  39. Sesvećanima ipak oduzet bod (Croatian)
  40. Magla prekinula utakmicu (Croatian)

External links