2019–20 Croatian First Football League

The 2019–20 Croatian First Football League (officially Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 29th 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 19 July 2019. It was temporarily postponed from 12 March to 5 June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga
Season2019–20
Dates19 July 2019 – 12 March 2020[1];
5 June 2020[2] – 25 July 2020
ChampionsDinamo Zagreb
RelegatedInter Zaprešić
Champions LeagueDinamo Zagreb
Lokomotiva
Europa LeagueRijeka
Osijek
Hajduk Split
Matches played150
Goals scored379 (2.53 per match)
Top goalscorerAntonio-Mirko Čolak
Mijo Caktaš
Mirko Marić
(20 each)
Biggest home winHajduk Split 6–0 Gorica
Biggest away winRijeka 0–5 Dinamo Zagreb
Highest scoringLokomotiva 6–1 Slaven Belupo
Longest winning run6 games
Dinamo Zagreb
Longest unbeaten run13 games
Dinamo Zagreb
Longest winless run17 games
Istra 1961
Longest losing run15 games
Inter Zaprešić
Highest attendance29,580
Hajduk Split 1–0 Dinamo Zagreb
Lowest attendance280
Inter Zaprešić 1–2 Lokomotiva
Total attendance458,390
Average attendance3,526

The league was contested by ten teams.

Teams

edit

On 23 April 2019, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2019–20 season was complete. For the 2019–20 Prva HNL, only nine clubs were issued a top level license: Dinamo Zagreb, Gorica, Hajduk Split, Inter Zaprešić, Istra 1961, Osijek, Rijeka, Slaven Belupo and Varaždin. All of these clubs except Varaždin, who were newly promoted to the Prva HNL as champions of the 2018–19 Croatian Second Football League, 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

edit
Dinamo Zagreb Gorica Hajduk Split Inter Zaprešić
Stadion Maksimir Gradski stadion Velika Gorica Stadion Poljud Stadion Ivan Laljak-Ivić
Capacity: 35,123 Capacity: 5,000 Capacity: 34,198 Capacity: 5,228
       
Istra 1961 Lokomotiva
Stadion Aldo Drosina Stadion Kranjčevićeva
Capacity: 9,800 Capacity: 5,350
   
Osijek Rijeka Slaven Belupo Varaždin
Stadion Gradski vrt Stadion Rujevica Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš Stadion Varteks
Capacity: 17,061 Capacity: 8,279 Capacity: 3,205 Capacity: 8,850
     
Team City Stadium Capacity Ref.
Dinamo Zagreb Zagreb Maksimir 35,423 [4]
Gorica Velika Gorica Gradski stadion Velika Gorica 5,000 [4]
Hajduk Split Split Poljud 34,198 [5]
Inter Zaprešić Zaprešić Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić 5,228 [6]
Istra 1961 Pula Stadion Aldo Drosina 9,800 [7]
Lokomotiva Zagreb Kranjčevićeva1 5,350 [8]
Osijek Osijek Gradski vrt 17,061 [9]
Rijeka Rijeka Rujevica 8,279 [10]
Slaven Belupo Koprivnica Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš 3,205 [11]
Varaždin Varaždin Stadion Varteks 8,850
Rank Counties of Croatia Number of teams Club(s)
1   City of Zagreb 2 Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva
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
  Varaždin Varaždin

Personnel and kits

edit
Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Sponsors
Dinamo Zagreb   Zoran Mamić   Arijan Ademi Adidas Lana grupa
Gorica   Valdas Dambrauskas   Kristijan Kahlina Alpas -
Hajduk Split   Igor Tudor   Mijo Caktaš Macron Tommy
Inter Zaprešić   Tomislav Ivković   Tomislav Mazalović Joma -
Istra 1961   Ivan Prelec   Marin Grujević Kelme Croatia Osiguranje
Lokomotiva   Goran Tomić   Denis Kolinger Adidas -
Osijek   Ivica Kulešević   Mile Škorić Nike DOBRO
Rijeka   Simon Rožman   Franko Andrijašević Joma Sava Osiguranje
Slaven Belupo   Tomislav Stipić   Mateas Delić Adidas Belupo
Varaždin   Samir Toplak   Leon Benko Legea TOKIĆ

Managerial changes

edit
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in table
Istra 1961   Igor Cvitanović Sacked 11 June 2019   Ivan Prelec 15 June 2019 Pre-season
Varaždin   Branko Karačić Contract expired 17 June 2019   Borimir Perković 22 June 2019 Pre-season
Hajduk Split   Siniša Oreščanin Sacked 19 July 2019   Damir Burić 20 July 2019 Pre-season
Osijek   Dino Skender Sacked 21 September 2019   Ivica Kulešević 22 September 2019 4th
Rijeka   Igor Bišćan Resigned 22 September 2019   Simon Rožman 23 September 2019 3rd
Slaven Belupo   Ivica Sertić Removed from position 7 October 2019   Tomislav Stipić 8 October 2019 8th
Varaždin   Borimir Perković Sacked 8 October 2019   Luka Bonačić 9 October 2019 10th
Hajduk Split   Damir Burić Mutual consent 19 December 2019   Igor Tudor 23 December 2019 2nd
Inter Zaprešić   Samir Toplak Sacked 4 January 2020   Željko Petrović 4 January 2020 8th
Varaždin   Luka Bonačić Sacked 8 February 2020   Samir Toplak 10 February 2020 10th
Gorica   Sergej Jakirović Sacked 24 February 2020   Valdas Dambrauskas 25 February 2020 6th
Inter Zaprešić   Željko Petrović Sacked 8 April 2020   Tomislav Ivković 9th
Dinamo Zagreb   Nenad Bjelica Sacked 16 April 2020   Igor Jovićević 22 April 2020 1st
Dinamo Zagreb   Igor Jovićević Sacked 6 July 2020   Zoran Mamić 7 July 2020 1st

League table

edit
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Dinamo Zagreb (C) 36 25 5 6 62 20 +42 80 Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2 Lokomotiva 36 19 8 9 57 38 +19 65
3 Rijeka 36 19 7 10 58 42 +16 64 Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
4 Osijek 36 17 11 8 47 29 +18 62 Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
5 Hajduk Split 36 18 6 12 60 41 +19 60
6 Gorica 36 12 13 11 44 48 −4 49
7 Slaven Belupo 36 10 9 17 34 51 −17 39
8 Varaždin 36 9 9 18 29 50 −21 36
9 Istra 1961 (O) 36 5 10 21 27 59 −32 25 Qualification for the Relegation play-offs
10 Inter Zaprešić (R) 36 3 8 25 32 72 −40 17 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

Results

edit

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 GOR HAJ INT IST LOK OSI RIJ SLA VAR DIN GOR HAJ INT IST LOK OSI RIJ SLA VAR
Dinamo Zagreb 3–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 3–0 1–0 3–0 1–0 1–0 2–0 2–3 3–2 2–0 1–0 0–0 4–0 3–2 2–0
Gorica 2–4 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 3–1 2–0 2–0 1–0 0–0 3–1 1–1 3–0 1–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1
Hajduk Split 1–0 3–0 3–1 2–0 3–0 3–2 0–4 2–0 2–0 0–2 6–0 2–1 2–1 1–0 0–1 2–3 2–1 2–3
Inter Zaprešić 1–2 0–2 1–1 0–2 1–2 3–3 1–4 3–1 2–2 0–1 0–3 1–4 2–0 0–2 0–1 0–1 0–2 1–2
Istra 1961 1–2 2–2 1–1 2–2 0–2 0–0 0–3 2–3 3–1 0–0 2–2 0–1 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–3 1–1 1–0
Lokomotiva 0–4 4–0 0–0 3–1 4–1 2–1 0–1 6–1 2–1 1–0 1–1 3–2 3–1 2–0 0–1 2–1 3–0 2–0
Osijek 0–0 2–1 1–0 3–1 1–0 4–0 3–2 2–0 2–2 1–0 2–1 0–0 1–1 2–0 1–2 1–0 3–2 2–0
Rijeka 0–5 1–2 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–1 1–1 3–1 2–1 2–0 1–2 2–0 4–1 4–2 2–2 1–0 1–0 3–1
Slaven Belupo 0–3 2–0 2–1 3–0 0–0 1–0 0–4 1–2 1–1 0–2 0–0 2–1 3–1 3–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 0–0
Varaždin 1–0 1–3 0–3 0–1 1–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 0–0 1–3 2–2 0–3 1–0 3–0 0–2 1–0 0–0 1–0
Source: Prva HNL (in Croatian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

edit

At the end of the season, Istra 1961 contested a two-legged relegation play-off tie against Orijent 1919, the third-placed team of the 2019–20 Croatian Second Football League, since runners-up Croatia Zmijavci failed to apply for a top level license.

First leg

edit
Orijent 19190–3Istra 1961
Report
Referee: Fran Jović

Second leg

edit
Istra 19610–1Orijent 1919
Report
Referee: Igor Pajač

Istra 1961 won 3–1 on aggregate.

Statistics

edit

Top goalscorers

edit
Rank Player Club Goals[13][14]
1   Antonio Čolak Rijeka 20
  Mijo Caktaš Hajduk Split
  Mirko Marić Osijek
4   Kristijan Lovrić Gorica 14
5   Mislav Oršić Dinamo Zagreb 13
6   Ivan Krstanović Slaven Belupo 12
7   Emem Eduok Hajduk Split 11
  Lirim Kastrati Lokomotiva
  Marko Tolić Lokomotiva
10   Damian Kądzior Dinamo Zagreb 10

Awards

edit

Annual awards

edit
Award[15] Winner Club
Player of the Season   Bruno Petković Dinamo Zagreb
Manager of the Season   Nenad Bjelica Dinamo Zagreb
Young Player of the Season   Luka Ivanušec Dinamo Zagreb
Team of the Year[15]
Goalkeeper   Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb)
Defence   Igor Silva (Osijek)   Mile Škorić (Osijek)   Denis Kolinger (Lokomotiva)
Midfield

  Petar Bočkaj (Osijek)

  Nikola Moro (Dinamo Zagreb)

  Mijo Caktaš (Hajduk)   Arijan Ademi (Dinamo Zagreb)   Lirim Kastrati (Lokomotiva)
Attack

  Bruno Petković (Dinamo Zagreb)

  Mirko Marić (Osijek)

References

edit
  1. ^ "Prekid svih nogometnih natjecanja do 31. Ožujka 2020".
  2. ^ a b "NASTAVAK NOGOMETNIH NATJECANJA 30. SVIBNJA". hns-cff.hr (in Croatian). 6 May 2020. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  3. ^ "Središnji postupak licenciranja za natjecateljsku 2019/20. godinu za UEFA klupska natjecanja, Prvu HNL i u Drugu HNL završen u prvom stupnju" (PDF). hns-cff.hr (in Croatian). 23 April 2019. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  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. ^ "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 2019/2020" (PDF). hns-cff.hr (in Croatian). 12 July 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2019.[permanent dead link]
  13. ^ PrvaHNL.hr
  14. ^ SofaScore
  15. ^ a b "Objavljeni dobitnici nagrade Trofej Nogometaš". NACIONAL.HR (in Croatian). 2 August 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
edit