2015–16 Croatian First Football League

The 2015–16 Croatian First Football League (officially known as MAXtv Prva Liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th edition, since its establishment in 1992, of the Croatian First Football League national championship for men's football in Croatia. The season began on 10 July 2015 and ended on 14 May 2016.^[3] Ten teams contested in a quadruple round robin format, with each team playing every other team four times over 36 matches.

MAXtv Prva Liga

Season	2015–16
Dates	10 July 2015 – 14 May 2016
Champions	Dinamo Zagreb
Relegated	NK Zagreb
Champions League	Dinamo Zagreb
Europa League	Rijeka Hajduk Split Lokomotiva
Matches played	180
Goals scored	410 (2.28 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ilija Nestorovski (25)
Biggest home win	Lokomotiva 6–1 Istra 1961 Rijeka 5–0 Osijek
Biggest away win	Lokomotiva 0–4 Dinamo
Highest scoring	Lokomotiva 6–1 Istra 1961
Longest winning run	Dinamo Zagreb (12)
Longest unbeaten run	Rijeka (22)
Longest winless run	Istra 1961 (23)
Longest losing run	Istra 1961, Osijek, NK Zagreb (4)
Highest attendance	24,621 (Hajduk Split 0–3 Rijeka)
Lowest attendance	138 (Zagreb 2–0 RNK Split)
Total attendance	442,952[1][2]
Average attendance	2,461[1][2]
← 2014–15 2016–17 → All statistics correct as of 14 May 2016[2].

Dinamo Zagreb successfully defended its 10th consecutive title in 2015 title. At the end of the previous season Zadar were relegated, ending their eight-season spell in top flight. They were replaced by Inter Zaprešić, who returned to the top level after two seasons in the second division.

Teams

On 20 April 2015, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2015–16 season was complete. For the 2015–16 Prva HNL, only six clubs were issued a top level license: Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Lokomotiva, Rijeka, Slaven Belupo and NK Zagreb. These clubs were also issued a license for participation in UEFA competitions. In the second stage of licensing, clubs that were not licensed in the first stage appealed the decision.^[4] On 20 May 2015, all remaining Prva HNL clubs were granted top level license. Additionally, Istra 1961 and RNK Split obtained a license for UEFA competitions. Only three teams from Druga HNL acquired the top level license: Inter Zaprešić, Sesvete and Hrvatski Dragovoljac.^[5]

The following teams participated in the 2015–16 Prva HNL.

Zagreb

Hajduk Split
RNK Split

Inter

Osijek

S. Belupo

Rijeka

Istra 1961

Zagreb clubs:

Dinamo
Lokomotiva
NK Zagreb

Locations of teams in 2015–16 Prva HNL

Stadia and locations

Stadium	City	Home club	Licensed club(s)	Capacity
Maksimir	Zagreb	Dinamo Zagreb		38,079[6]
Poljud	Split	Hajduk Split		34,448[7]
ŠRC Zaprešić	Zaprešić	Inter Zaprešić		5,228[8]
Aldo Drosina	Pula	Istra 1961		8,923[9]
Gradski vrt	Osijek	Osijek		22,050[10]
Rujevica	Rijeka	Rijeka		6,036[11]
Gradski stadion	Koprivnica	Slaven Belupo		3,134[12]
Park mladeži	Split	RNK Split		4,075[13]
Kranjčevićeva	Zagreb	NK Zagreb	Lokomotiva	8,850[14]

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Dinamo Zagreb	Zoran Mamić	Domagoj Antolić	Puma
Hajduk Split	Damir Burić	Goran Milović	Macron	Tommy
Inter Zaprešić	Samir Toplak	Marko Ćosić	Joma	Veleučilište Baltazar Zaprešić
Istra 1961	Andrej Panadić	Dario Tomić	Erreà	Croatia Osiguranje
Lokomotiva	Sreten Ćuk	Jerko Leko	Nike	Crodux
Osijek	Zoran Zekić	Hrvoje Kurtović	Jako	Osječko
Rijeka	Matjaž Kek	Ivan Močinić	Jako
Slaven Belupo	Željko Kopić	Mateas Delić	adidas	Belupo
RNK Split	Goran Sablić	Danijel Zagorac	Jako	Skladgradnja
NK Zagreb	Dražen Madunović	Valentino Stepčić	Kappa

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Hajduk Split	Hari Vukas	Removed from position	1 June 2015[15]	Damir Burić	1 June 2015[15]	Pre-season
Osijek	Ivo Šušak	Contract expired	1 June 2015[16]	Dražen Besek	14 June 2015[16]	Pre-season
Slaven Belupo	Ante Čačić	Signed by Lokomotiva	3 June 2015[17]	Željko Kopić	10 June 2015[18]	Pre-season
Lokomotiva	Marko Pinčić (caretaker)	End of caretaker tenure	3 June 2015[17]	Ante Čačić	3 June 2015[17]	Pre-season
NK Zagreb	Željko Kopić	Signed by Slaven Belupo	9 June 2015[18]	Goran Vincetić	9 June 2015[18]	Pre-season
Osijek	Dražen Besek	Sacked	1 September 2015[19]	Zoran Zekić	1 September 2015[19]	9th
Lokomotiva	Ante Čačić	Signed by Croatia	21 September 2015	Sreten Ćuk	22 September 2015[20]	5th
RNK Split	Zoran Vulić	Mutual consent	30 September 2015[21]	Goran Sablić	30 September 2015[21]	4th
Istra 1961	Igor Pamić	Sacked	5 October 2015[22]	Robert Rubčić (caretaker)	5 October 2015[22]	7th
Istra 1961	Robert Rubčić (caretaker)	End of caretaker tenure	4 January 2016[23]	Andrej Panadić	4 January 2016[23]	8th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dinamo Zagreb (C)	36	26	7	3	67	19	+48	85	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round[a]
2	Rijeka	36	21	14	1	56	20	+36	77	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round
3	Hajduk Split	36	17	10	9	46	28	+18	61	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round
4	Lokomotiva	36	16	4	16	56	53	+3	52	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round
5	Inter Zaprešić	36	11	14	11	39	48	−9	47
6	RNK Split	36	10	16	10	28	29	−1	46
7	Slaven Belupo	36	10	12	14	41	42	−1	42
8	Osijek	36	7	13	16	27	49	−22	34
9	Istra 1961 (O)	36	4	12	20	23	58	−35	24	Qualification for the relegation play-off
10	NK Zagreb (R)	36	3	8	25	27	64	−37	17	Relegation to Croatian Second Football League

Source: PrvaHNL.hr, Soccerway
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).^[24]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Dinamo Zagreb qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round by winning the 2015–16 Croatian Football Cup. However, since they already qualified for European competition based on their league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners was passed down the league.

Results

Home \ Away	DIN	HAJ	INT	IST	LOK	OSI	RIJ	SLA	SPL	ZAG	DIN	HAJ	INT	IST	LOK	OSI	RIJ	SLA	SPL	ZAG
Dinamo Zagreb		1–1	5–1	1–0	3–1	4–1	0–0	3–0	3–0	4–1		2–1	1–0	1–0	3–2	3–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	1–0
Hajduk Split	0–0		4–0	3–0	2–1	3–0	0–3	2–2	0–0	1–0	1–0		0–2	3–0	2–0	2–2	1–2	2–0	0–0	1–0
Inter Zaprešić	2–2	0–2		3–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–0		3–0	3–1	4–2	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–2
Istra 1961	1–1	4–1	0–0		2–1	2–1	0–1	3–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–2	1–2		0–3	0–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	1–4
Lokomotiva	0–4	1–2	1–2	6–1		2–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–4	2–1	1–2	3–2		2–0	0–1	2–0	1–1	2–0
Osijek	1–1	1–0	3–1	2–2	0–1		1–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–3		1–1	0–0	0–0	2–0
Rijeka	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	5–0		3–3	2–1	4–1	0–0	1–0	4–0	2–0	2–0	2–1		1–1	0–0	3–0
Slaven Belupo	1–2	0–1	4–0	0–0	2–2	3–0	0–0		1–1	2–1	0–3	0–0	4–1	2–0	0–3	1–0	0–0		0–1	3–0
RNK Split	1–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–1	2–1	0–2	2–0		3–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–2		1–0
NK Zagreb	0–2	0–2	2–3	1–1	1–2	0–1	3–3	2–0	1–2		1–2	2–3	0–0	1–1	1–3	0–1	0–2	0–3	2–0

Source: PrvaHNL.hr
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, ninth placed Istra 1961 qualified for a two-legged relegation play-off tie against Šibenik, runners-up of the 2015–16 Croatian Second Football League.

First leg

29 May 2016

19:00

Šibenik	1–1	Istra 1961
Šare 87'	Report	Trojak 18'

Stadion Šubićevac, Šibenik

Attendance: 3,000

Referee: Bruno Marić (Daruvar)

Second leg

1 June 2016

20:15

Istra 1961	1–1	Šibenik
Mišić 51'		Šare 49'
Penalties
Zlomislić Gržan Mihaljević Đurić Victor Bouhna	5–4	Plazonić Vukorepa Grković Alispahić Barać Collins

Stadion Aldo Drosina, Pula

Attendance: 3,470

Referee: Fran Jović (Zagreb)

2–2 on aggregate. Istra 1961 won 5–4 on penalties.

Statistics

Top scorers

As of 14 May 2016^[25][26]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals	Apps	Minutes played
1	Ilija Nestorovski	Inter Zaprešić	25	33	2968
2	Muzafer Ejupi	Slaven Belupo	16	32	2429
3	Roman Bezjak	Rijeka	13	32	2625
	Armin Hodžić	Dinamo Zagreb		24	1350
5	Franko Andrijašević	Lokomotiva	12	28	2354
	Junior Fernandes	Dinamo Zagreb		28	2119
	Tino-Sven Sušić	Hajduk Split		27	2305
8	Gabrijel Boban	NK Zagreb	10	31	2699
9	Bekim Balaj	Rijeka	9	31	1856
	Eros Grezda	Lokomotiva		29	2004

Awards

Annual awards

Award[27]	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Marko Pjaca	Dinamo Zagreb
Manager of the Season	Zoran Mamić	Dinamo Zagreb
Young Player of the Season	Ante Ćorić	Dinamo Zagreb
Goalkeeper of the Season	Lovre Kalinić	Hajduk Split

Team of the Year[28]
Goalkeeper	Lovre Kalinić (Hajduk Split)
Defence	Stefan Ristovski (Rijeka)		Gordon Schildenfeld (Dinamo Zagreb)	Marko Lešković (Rijeka)	Josip Pivarić (Dinamo Zagreb)
Midfield	Marko Pjaca (Dinamo Zagreb)	Tino-Sven Sušić (Hajduk Split)		Rog (Dinamo Zagreb)		Marin Tomasov (Rijeka)
Attack	Ilija Nestorovski (Inter Zaprešić)			Ante Ćorić (Dinamo Zagreb)

See also

• 2015–16 Croatian Football Cup
• 2015–16 Croatian Second Football League
• 2015–16 Croatian Third Football League