2003–04 Croatian First Football League

The 2003–04 Croatian First Football League (officially known as the Prva HNL Ožujsko for sponsorship reasons) was the thirteenth 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 24 July 2003 and ended on 15 May 2004. Dinamo Zagreb were the defending champions, having won their tenth championship title the previous season. Hajduk Split won the title, after a win against Varteks on 15 May 2004.

Prva HNL Ožujsko

Season	2003–04
Champions	Hajduk Split 5th Croatian title 17th domestic title
Relegated	Cibalia Marsonia
Champions League	Hajduk Split
UEFA Cup	Dinamo Zagreb Rijeka
Intertoto Cup	Kamen Ingrad Slaven Belupo
Matches played	192
Goals scored	531 (2.77 per match)
Best Player	Niko Kranjčar
Top goalscorer	Robert Špehar (18)
Biggest home win	Dinamo Z. 7–0 Marsonia
Biggest away win	Zadar 0–3 Osijek Marsonia 0–3 Inter Z.
Highest scoring	Dinamo Z. 7–0 Marsonia Inter Z. 4–3 S. Belupo Varteks 3–4 Dinamo Z.
Average attendance	2,919
← 2002–03 2004–05 →

Teams

Stadia and personnel

Cibalia

Dinamo
NK Zagreb

Inker

Hajduk

K. Ingrad

Marsonia

Osijek

Rijeka

S. Belupo

Varteks

Zadar

Locations of teams in 2003–04 Prva HNL

Team	Manager1	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Cibalia	Davor Mladina	Vinkovci	Stadion HNK Cibalia	9,920
Dinamo Zagreb	Nikola Jurčević	Zagreb	Stadion Maksimir	37,168
Hajduk Split	Petar Nadoveza	Split	Stadion Poljud	35,000
Inter Zaprešić	Srećko Bogdan	Šibenik	Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić	5,000
Kamen Ingrad	Nenad Gračan	Velika	Stadion Kamen Ingrad	8,000
Marsonia	Vjekoslav Lokica	Slavonski Brod	Gradski stadion uz Savu	10,000
Osijek	Branko Karačić	Osijek	Stadion Gradski vrt	19,500
Rijeka	Ivan Katalinić	Rijeka	Stadion Kantrida	10,275
Slaven Belupo	Milo Nižetić	Koprivnica	Gradski stadion u Koprivnici	4,000
Varteks	Miroslav Blažević	Varaždin	Stadion Varteks	10,800
Zadar	Stanko Mršić	Zadar	Stadion Stanovi	5,860
NK Zagreb	Mile Petković	Zagreb	Stadion Kranjčevićeva	8,850

• ¹ On final match day of the season, played on 15 May 2004.

First stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hajduk Split	22	18	1	3	46	18	+28	55	Qualification to championship group
2	Dinamo Zagreb	22	15	5	2	47	16	+31	50
3	Rijeka	22	8	7	7	26	25	+1	31
4	Osijek	22	8	5	9	36	40	−4	29[a]
5	Varteks	22	7	8	7	21	25	−4	29[a]
6	Zadar	22	7	7	8	37	44	−7	28[b]
7	Kamen Ingrad	22	8	4	10	32	27	+5	28[b]	Qualification to relegation group
8	Inter Zaprešić	22	6	9	7	22	23	−1	27
9	Slaven Belupo	22	6	8	8	22	27	−5	26
10	Cibalia	22	5	5	12	25	35	−10	20
11	NK Zagreb	22	3	10	9	21	32	−11	19
12	Marsonia	22	4	5	13	25	48	−23	17

Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:

1. Head-to-head record: Osijek–Varteks 3–1, Varteks–Osijek 1–1.
2. Head-to-head record: Zadar–Kamen Ingrad 2–1, Kamen Ingrad–Zadar 2–2.

Rounds 1–22 results

Home \ Away	CIB	DIN	HAJ	INT	KAM	MAR	OSI	RIJ	SLA	VAR	ZAD	ZAG
Cibalia		0–1	2–3	1–0	1–1	2–4	3–2	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1
Dinamo Zagreb	3–2		1–0	1–0	1–1	7–0	4–0	2–0	4–0	3–0	4–2	1–1
Hajduk Split	3–1	3–1		1–4	1–0	5–0	2–0	4–0	2–1	2–0	3–1	2–0
Inter Zaprešić	1–0	1–1	0–2		3–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–2	1–1
Kamen Ingrad	3–2	0–1	0–1	3–1		5–0	2–0	0–1	2–0	3–0	2–2	1–1
Marsonia	1–3	1–3	0–0	0–1	0–2		1–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	4–1	3–0
Osijek	2–1	3–2	2–3	3–2	3–2	2–1		2–3	0–1	3–1	1–2	5–2
Rijeka	0–1	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	3–1	2–0		2–0	0–0	4–2	1–0
Slaven Belupo	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–1	3–3	1–1		2–1	4–0	1–0
Varteks	1–0	0–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–0		3–2	2–0
Zadar	4–1	2–2	1–3	0–0	2–1	3–2	1–1	3–2	2–0	2–2		1–1
NK Zagreb	2–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	3–1	2–3	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	3–1

Source: RSSSF.org
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Hajduk Split (C)	32	25	3	4	63	24	+39	78	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Dinamo Zagreb	32	23	7	2	77	25	+52	76	Qualification to UEFA Cup second qualifying round
3	Rijeka	32	11	9	12	36	41	−5	42
4	Osijek	32	11	6	15	50	57	−7	39
5	Varteks	32	9	11	12	33	42	−9	38
6	Zadar	32	7	11	14	46	71	−25	32

Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Rounds 23–32 results

Home \ Away	DIN	HAJ	OSI	RIJ	VAR	ZAD
Dinamo Zagreb		3–1	4–1	5–0	4–1	5–0
Hajduk Split	0–0		2–0	2–0	2–0	5–1
Osijek	2–3	0–1		2–1	4–1	1–1
Rijeka	0–1	0–1	2–1		1–0	3–1
Varteks	3–4	0–0	2–0	1–1		4–1
Zadar	1–1	2–3	0–3	2–2	0–0

Source: RSSSF.org
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	Kamen Ingrad	32	13	7	12	45	36	+9	46	Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round
8	Inter Zaprešić	32	11	9	12	40	38	+2	42
9	Slaven Belupo	32	10	10	12	37	39	−2	40	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
10	NK Zagreb	32	8	12	12	33	41	−8	36
11	Cibalia (R)	32	8	7	17	39	53	−14	31	Qualification to relegation play-off
12	Marsonia (R)	32	5	10	17	32	64	−32	25	Relegation to Croatian Second Football League

Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated

Rounds 23–32 results

Home \ Away	CIB	INT	KAM	MAR	SLA	ZAG
Cibalia		3–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–2
Inter Zaprešić	3–1		3–2	3–0	4–3	0–1
Kamen Ingrad	3–1	1–0		0–0	1–0	1–0
Marsonia	3–2	0–3	1–1		2–2	0–0
Slaven Belupo	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–1		0–1
NK Zagreb	2–1	2–1	1–2	3–0	0–2

Source: RSSSF.org
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-off

First leg

21 May 2004

Međimurje	2 – 0	Cibalia
Kelemen 27' Domjanić 65'	Report (in Croatian)

Stadion SRC Mladost, Čakovec

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Vlado Svilokos (Sisak)

Second leg

23 May 2004

Cibalia	2 – 2	Međimurje
Pavličić 19' Greer 82'	Report (in Croatian)	Kresinger 32' Ribić 58'

Stadion HNK Cibalia, Vinkovci

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Ivan Bebek (Rijeka)

Međimurje win 4–2 on aggregate and are promoted to 2004–05 Prva HNL.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Robert Špehar	Osijek	18
2	Goran Ljubojević	Osijek	16
	Dario Zahora	Dinamo Zagreb
4	Zoran Zekić	Kamen Ingrad	13
5	Mate Brajković	Zadar	12
	Petar Krpan	Hajduk Split
	Marijan Vuka	Marsonia
8	Sandro Klić	Rijeka	11
	Goce Sedloski	Dinamo Zagreb

Source: 1.hnl.net (in Croatian)

See also

• 2003–04 Croatian Second Football League
• 2003–04 Croatian Football Cup

External links

• Season statistics at HRNogomet
• 2003–04 in Croatian Football at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation