2018–19 Croatian First Football League

The 2018–19 Croatian First Football League (officially Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 28th season of the Croatian First Football League, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 27 July 2018 and finished on 26 May 2019.

Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga
Season2018–19
Dates27 July 2018 – 26 May 2019
ChampionsDinamo Zagreb
RelegatedRudeš
Champions LeagueDinamo Zagreb
Europa LeagueRijeka
Osijek
Hajduk Split
Matches played180
Goals scored510 (2.83 per match)
Top goalscorerMijo Caktaš (19)
Biggest home winRijeka 7–0 Inter Zaprešić
Biggest away winIstra 1961 0–7 Rijeka
Highest scoringDinamo Zagreb 7–2 Rudeš
Longest winning runDinamo Zagreb (7)
Longest unbeaten runDinamo Zagreb (15)
Longest winless runRudeš (23)
Longest losing runRudeš (8)
Highest attendance26,664
Hajduk Split 0–1 Dinamo Zagreb
Lowest attendance0
Hajduk Split 1–1 Rijeka
Total attendance478,760[1][2]
Average attendance2,660[1][2]

The league was contested by ten teams.

Teams

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On 23 April 2018, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2018–19 season was complete. For the 2018–19 Prva HNL, only eight clubs were issued a top level license: Dinamo Zagreb, Gorica, Hajduk Split, Inter Zaprešić, Lokomotiva, Osijek, Rijeka and Slaven Belupo. All of these clubs except Gorica were also issued a license for participating in UEFA competitions.[3] In the second stage of licensing, clubs that were not licensed in the first stage could appeal on the decision.

Stadia and locations

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Dinamo Zagreb Gorica Hajduk Split Inter Zaprešić
Stadion Maksimir Gradski stadion Velika Gorica Stadion Poljud Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić
Capacity: 35,123 Capacity: 5,000 Capacity: 34,198 Capacity: 5,228
       
Istra 1961 Lokomotiva
Stadion Aldo Drosina Stadion Kranjčevićeva
Capacity: 9,800 Capacity: 8,850
   
Osijek Rijeka Rudeš Slaven Belupo
Stadion Gradski vrt Stadion Rujevica Stadion Kranjčevićeva Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš
Capacity: 18,856 Capacity: 8,279 Capacity: 8,850 Capacity: 3,205
       
Team City Stadium Capacity Ref.
Dinamo Zagreb Zagreb Stadion Maksimir 35,123 [4]
Gorica Velika Gorica Gradski stadion Velika Gorica 5,000 [4]
Hajduk Split Split Stadion Poljud 34,198 [5]
Inter Zaprešić Zaprešić Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić 5,228 [6]
Istra 1961 Pula Stadion Aldo Drosina 9,800 [7]
Lokomotiva Zagreb Stadion Kranjčevićeva1 8,850 [8]
Osijek Osijek Stadion Gradski vrt 18,856 [9]
Rijeka Rijeka Stadion Rujevica 8,279 [10]
Rudeš Zagreb Stadion Kranjčevićeva1 8,850 [8]
Slaven Belupo Koprivnica Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš 3,205 [11]
  • 1 Lokomotiva and Rudeš host their home matches at Stadion Kranjčevićeva as their own ground failed to get license for top level football. The stadium is originally the home ground of third-level side NK Zagreb.
Rank Counties of Croatia Number of teams Club(s)
1   City of Zagreb 3 Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva, and Rudeš
2   Zagreb County 2 Gorica, Inter Zaprešić
3   Istria 1 Istra 1961
  Koprivnica-Križevci Slaven Belupo
  Osijek-Baranja Osijek
  Primorje-Gorski Kotar Rijeka
  Split-Dalmatia Hajduk Split

Personnel and kits

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Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Sponsors
Dinamo Zagreb   Nenad Bjelica   Arijan Ademi Adidas Lana grupa
Gorica   Sergej Jakirović   Igor Čagalj Alpas JAF J.u.A. Frischeis
Hajduk Split   Siniša Oreščanin   Mijo Caktaš Macron Tommy
Inter Zaprešić   Samir Toplak   Karlo Muhar Joma B2 Assets
Istra 1961   Igor Cvitanović   Marin Grujević Kelme Croatia Osiguranje
Lokomotiva   Goran Tomić   Fran Karačić Nike Crodux
Osijek   Dino Skender   Mile Škorić Nike DOBRO
Rijeka   Igor Bišćan   Alexander Gorgon Joma Sava Osiguranje
Rudeš   Tomislav Ivković   Tomislav Mrkonjić Kelme
Slaven Belupo   Ivica Sertić   Mateas Delić Adidas Belupo

Managerial changes

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Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in table
Rudeš   Jose Manuel Aira Signed by Sochaux 22 May 2018   Ivan Matić 17 June 2018 Pre-season
Gorica   Ivan Prelec Signed by Legia Warsaw (assistant) 4 June 2018   Sergej Jakirović 18 June 2018 Pre-season
Istra 1961   Darko Raić-Sudar Sacked 10 July 2018   Manolo Márquez 10 July 2018 Pre-season
Hajduk Split   Željko Kopić Sacked 5 September 2018   Zoran Vulić 9 September 2018 8th
Istra 1961   Manolo Márquez Removed from position 18 September 2018   Curro Torres 20 September 2018 9th
Rudeš   Ivan Matić Removed from position 3 October 2018   Marko Lozo 3 October 2018 10th
Rijeka   Matjaž Kek Resigned 6 October 2018   Igor Bišćan 9 October 2018 5th
Istra 1961   Curro Torres Removed from position 27 October 2018   Krunoslav Rendulić 28 October 2018 9th
Slaven Belupo   Tomislav Ivković Removed from position 10 November 2018   Ivica Sertić 21 December 2018 7th
Hajduk Split   Zoran Vulić Sacked 27 November 2018   Siniša Oreščanin 27 November 2018 6th
Rudeš   Marko Lozo Removed from position 4 December 2018   Darko Jozinović 5 December 2018 10th
Rudeš   Darko Jozinović Removed from position 24 December 2018   Tomislav Ivković 24 December 2018 10th
Istra 1961   Krunoslav Rendulić Sacked 4 March 2019   Igor Cvitanović 4 March 2019 9th
Osijek   Zoran Zekić Resigned 29 March 2019   Dino Skender 29 March 2019 3rd

League table

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Dinamo Zagreb (C) 36 29 5 2 74 20 +54 92 Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2 Rijeka 36 19 10 7 70 36 +34 67 Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round[a]
3 Osijek 36 18 8 10 61 36 +25 62[b] Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round
4 Hajduk Split 36 17 11 8 59 39 +20 62[b] Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round
5 Gorica 36 17 8 11 57 46 +11 59
6 Lokomotiva 36 13 10 13 51 43 +8 49
7 Slaven Belupo 36 7 16 13 41 53 −12 37
8 Inter Zaprešić 36 9 4 23 40 84 −44 31
9 Istra 1961 (O) 36 6 7 23 31 73 −42 25 Qualification to Relegation play-offs
10 Rudeš (R) 36 3 5 28 26 80 −54 14 Relegation to Croatian Second Football League
Source: PrvaHNL.hr
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored (at home if two teams tied); 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Play-off
(Note: Criteria 2-4 and 7 is only used if deciding champion, teams to international competition or teams for relegation and in that case criteria 6 will not be used).[12]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ Rijeka qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round by winning the 2018–19 Croatian Football Cup. As a result, the spot awarded to the runners-up (Europa League second qualifying round) was passed to the third-placed team, and the spot awarded to the third-placed team (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the fourth-placed team.
  2. ^ a b Head-to-head points: Osijek 7 pts, Hajduk Split 4 pts.

Results

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Each team played home-and-away against every other team in the league twice, for a total of 36 matches each played.

Home \ Away DIN RIJ OSI HAJ GOR LOK SLA INT IST RUD DIN RIJ OSI HAJ GOR LOK SLA INT IST RUD
Dinamo Zagreb 1–1 2–1 1–0 1–0 1–0 2–1 5–3 3–0 1–1 3–1 3–0 3–1 3–1 3–0 3–0 1–0 1–0 7–2
Rijeka 1–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 3–0 0–0 4–0 3–3 5–1 0–0 3–1 0–0 1–3 1–0 2–0 7–0 2–0 3–1
Osijek 0–2 1–2 4–1 0–1 2–1 1–1 6–0 3–0 3–2 2–1 2–1 0–1 2–2 1–1 1–1 3–1 1–0 2–0
Hajduk Split 0–0 1–1 0–2 0–2 1–1 2–2 3–0 3–1 3–1 0–1 4–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–0 3–2 4–1 3–0
Gorica 0–1 2–1 1–2 1–1 0–3 3–3 2–3 0–2 2–0 1–2 1–0 1–0 3–0 0–2 4–3 2–2 4–1 3–1
Lokomotiva 0–1 2–0 2–2 2–0 2–2 1–1 4–0 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–2 0–4 0–1 2–3 3–1 2–0 1–1 0–0
Slaven Belupo 0–2 1–1 0–2 1–1 0–1 2–5 2–1 3–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 1–0 1–2 2–0 1–1 0–1 3–3 2–1
Inter Zaprešić 0–2 1–2 0–3 2–2 1–3 2–1 0–0 1–2 3–0 2–3 0–3 1–3 1–3 2–2 3–2 1–3 3–1 0–3
Istra 1961 1–4 1–2 1–1 2–4 0–2 1–2 1–1 0–2 1–0 0–4 0–7 1–0 0–2 0–3 0–0 1–1 0–1 2–0
Rudeš 0–3 1–2 1–4 1–4 0–1 0–4 1–1 0–1 0–3 0–2 2–4 0–1 1–4 1–1 1–2 0–1 2–0 1–0
Source: Prva HNL (in Croatian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Relegation play-offs

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At the end of the season, ninth-placed team Istra 1961 contested a two-legged relegation play-off tie against Šibenik, runners-up of the 2018–19 Croatian Second Football League.

First leg

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Šibenik1–1Istra 1961
  • Kukec   14'
Report
Attendance: 3,200
Referee: Ivan Bebek (Rijeka)

Second leg

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Istra 19612–0Šibenik
Report
Attendance: 3,209
Referee: Mario Zebec (Cestica)

Istra 1961 won 3–1 on aggregate.

Statistics

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Top scorers

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Rank Player Club(s) Goals[13][14]
1   Mijo Caktaš Hajduk Split 19
2   Mirko Marić Osijek 18
3   Jakov Puljić Rijeka 16
4   Komnen Andrić Inter Zaprešić (10)
Dinamo Zagreb (4)
14
  Łukasz Zwoliński Gorica
6   Jairo Hajduk Split 13
  Ivan Krstanović Lokomotiva (6)
Slaven Belupo (7)
8   Antonio Čolak Rijeka 12
9   Kristijan Lovrić Gorica 10
10   Mario Gavranović Dinamo Zagreb 9
  Héber Rijeka
  Ramón Mierez Istra 1961
  Bruno Petković Dinamo Zagreb

Awards

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Annual awards

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Award Winner Club
Player of the Season   Dani Olmo Dinamo Zagreb
Manager of the Season   Nenad Bjelica Dinamo Zagreb
Young Player of the Season   Dani Olmo Dinamo Zagreb
Team of the Year
Goalkeeper   Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb)
Defence   Zoran Kvržić (Rijeka)   Kévin Théophile-Catherine (Dinamo Zagreb)   Emir Dilaver (Dinamo Zagreb)   Domagoj Bradarić (Hajduk Split)
Midfield   Jairo (Hajduk Split)   Luka Ivanušec (Lokomotiva)

  Dani Olmo (Dinamo Zagreb)

  Domagoj Pavičić (Rijeka)   Jakov Puljić (Rijeka)
Attack

  Bruno Petković (Dinamo Zagreb)

References

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  1. ^ a b prvahnl.hr
  2. ^ a b hrnogomet.hr
  3. ^ "Središnji postupak licenciranja za natjecateljsku 2018/19. godinu za UEFA klupska natjecanja, Prvu HNL i u Drugu HNL završen u prvom stupnju" (PDF). hns-cff.hr (in Croatian). 23 April 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  4. ^ a b "Stadion Maksimir". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  5. ^ "Stadion Poljud". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  6. ^ "Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  7. ^ "Stadion Aldo Drosina". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  8. ^ a b "Stadion Kranjčevićeva". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  9. ^ "Stadion Gradski vrt". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Stadion HNK Rijeka". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  11. ^ "Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš". prvahnl.hr. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  12. ^ "Propozicije natjecanja za prvenstvo Hrvatski Telekom Prve lige za natjecateljsku godinu 2018/2019" (PDF). hns-cff.hr (in Croatian). 18 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  13. ^ PrvaHNL.hr
  14. ^ SofaScore
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