2017–18 Croatian First Football League

The 2017–18 Croatian First Football League (officially Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 27th 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 14 July 2017 and ended on 19 May 2018. Rijeka were the defending champions, who have won their first Croatian league title and ended Dinamo Zagreb's consecutive 11-season reign the previous season. Dinamo Zagreb ultimately reclaimed the title by May 2018, their 19th since the league's inception, with Rijeka ending close second.

Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga

Season	2017–18
Dates	14 July 2017 – 19 May 2018
Champions	Dinamo Zagreb
Relegated	Cibalia
Champions League	Dinamo Zagreb
Europa League	Rijeka Hajduk Split Osijek
Matches played	180
Goals scored	496 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	El Arabi Hillel Soudani (17)
Biggest home win	Rijeka 7–0 Cibalia
Biggest away win	Cibalia 0–5 Hajduk Split
Highest scoring	Rijeka 7–0 Cibalia Cibalia 2–5 Dinamo Zagreb Lokomotiva 5–2 Slaven Belupo
Longest winning run	Dinamo Zagreb (6)
Longest unbeaten run	Dinamo Zagreb (21)
Longest winless run	Slaven Belupo (11)
Longest losing run	Cibalia, Istra 1961 (5)
Highest attendance	31,751 Hajduk Split 1–2 Dinamo Zagreb
Lowest attendance	80 Lokomotiva 2–3 Inter Zaprešić
Total attendance	530,638[1][2]
Average attendance	2,948[1][2]
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The league was contested by 10 teams.

Teams

On 21 April 2017, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2017–18 season was complete. For the 2017–18 Prva HNL, only seven clubs were issued a top level license: Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Inter Zaprešić, Lokomotiva, Osijek, Rijeka and Slaven Belupo. All of these clubs except Inter Zaprešić 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 can appeal on the decision. On 23 May 2017, it was announced that all remaining Prva HNL clubs except RNK Split were granted top level license. Four teams from Druga HNL acquired the top level license: Gorica, Rudeš, Solin and NK Zagreb.^[4]

Stadia and locations

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Ref.
Cibalia	Vinkovci	Stadion HNK Cibalia	9,958	[5]
Dinamo Zagreb	Zagreb	Maksimir	35,123	[6]
Hajduk Split	Split	Poljud	35,000	[7]
Inter Zaprešić	Zaprešić	ŠRC Zaprešić	5,228	[8]
Istra 1961	Pula	Aldo Drosina	10,000	[9]
Lokomotiva	Zagreb	Kranjčevićeva1	8,850	[10]
Osijek	Osijek	Gradski vrt	22,050	[11]
Rijeka	Rijeka	Rujevica	8,191	[12]
Rudeš	Zagreb	Kranjčevićeva1	8,850	[10]
Slaven Belupo	Koprivnica	Gradski stadion	3,205	[13]

• ¹ Lokomotiva and Rudeš host their home matches at Stadion Kranjčevićeva as their own grounds failed to get license for top level football. The stadium was originally the home ground of third-level side NK Zagreb.

Teams by county

Cibalia

Dinamo
Lokomotiva
Rudeš

Hajduk Split

Istra 1961

Osijek

Rijeka

Slaven

Inter

Locations of teams in 2017–18 Prva HNL

Rank	Counties of Croatia	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	City of Zagreb	3	Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva, and Rudeš
2	Istria	1	Istra 1961
	Koprivnica-Križevci		Slaven
	Osijek-Baranja		Osijek
	Primorje-Gorski Kotar		Rijeka
	Split-Dalmatia		Hajduk Split
	Vukovar-Srijem		Cibalia
Zagreb County	Inter Zaprešić

Personnel and kits

Club	Chairman	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Cibalia	Josip Kuterovac	Davor Rupnik	Frane Vitaić	Jako	DOBRO
Dinamo Zagreb	Mirko Barišić	Nenad Bjelica	Arijan Ademi	adidas
Hajduk Split	Ivan Kos	Željko Kopić	Zoran Nižić	Macron	Tommy
Inter Zaprešić	Branko Laljak	Samir Toplak	Tomislav Šarić	Joma	Veleučilište Baltazar Zaprešić
Istra 1961	Vacant	Darko Raić-Sudar	Aljoša Vojnović	Nike	Croatia Osiguranje
Lokomotiva	Tin Dolički	Goran Tomić	Ivan Šunjić	Nike	Crodux
Osijek	Ivan Meštrović	Zoran Zekić	Borna Barišić	Nike	DOBRO
Rijeka	Damir Mišković	Matjaž Kek	Filip Bradarić	Jako	Sava Osiguranje
Rudeš	Ivan Knežević	José Manuel Aira	Leonard Mesarić	Kelme
Slaven Belupo	Hrvoje Kolarić	Tomislav Ivković	Vedran Purić	adidas	Belupo

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Istra 1961	Marijo Tot	Sacked	2 June 2017	Darko Raić-Sudar	2 June 2017	Pre-season
Rudeš	Igor Bišćan	Signed by Olimpija	2 June 2017	Iñaki Alonso	10 June 2017	Pre-season
Dinamo Zagreb	Ivaylo Petev	Sacked	13 July 2017	Mario Cvitanović	13 July 2017	Pre-season
Slaven Belupo	Željko Kopić	Resigned	24 October 2017	Tomislav Ivković	26 October 2017	7th
Hajduk Split	Joan Carrillo	Sacked	6 November 2017	Vik Lalić (caretaker)	6 November 2017	4th
Hajduk Split	Vik Lalić (caretaker)	Signing of Kopić	-	Željko Kopić	13 November 2017	4th
Lokomotiva	Mario Tokić	Removed from position	5 December 2017	Draženko Prskalo (caretaker)	5 December 2017	6th
Rudeš	Iñaki Alonso	Removed from position	26 December 2017	Dinko Jeličić	27 December 2017	10th
Lokomotiva	Draženko Prskalo (caretaker)	Signing of Tomić	27 December 2017	Goran Tomić	27 December 2017	6th
Dinamo Zagreb	Mario Cvitanović	Resigned	10 March 2018	Nikola Jurčević	12 March 2018	1st
Rudeš	Dinko Jeličić	Sacked	10 March 2018	José Manuel Aira	12 March 2018	10th
Cibalia	Mladen Bartolović	Sacked	19 March 2018	Davor Rupnik	19 March 2018	9th
Dinamo Zagreb	Nikola Jurčević	Sacked	15 May 2018	Nenad Bjelica	15 May 2018	1st
Rudeš	José Manuel Aira	Signed by Sochaux	22 May 2018			8th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dinamo Zagreb (C)	36	22	7	7	68	34	+34	73	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Rijeka	36	22	4	10	75	32	+43	70	Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round[a]
3	Hajduk Split	36	19	9	8	70	38	+32	66	Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round[a]
4	Osijek	36	14	14	8	53	38	+15	56	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
5	Lokomotiva	36	14	9	13	47	48	−1	51
6	Slaven Belupo	36	11	10	15	35	45	−10	43
7	Inter Zaprešić	36	11	10	15	43	64	−21	43
8	Rudeš	36	10	10	16	41	62	−21	40
9	Istra 1961 (O)	36	6	9	21	28	60	−32	27	Qualification for the Relegation play-offs
10	Cibalia (R)	36	6	8	22	36	75	−39	26	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).^[14]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the winners of the 2017–18 Croatian Football Cup, Dinamo Zagreb, qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners (Europa League third qualifying round) was passed to the runners-up, the spot awarded to the runners-up was passed to the third-placed team, and the spot awarded to the third-placed team was passed to the fourth-placed team.

Results

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

Home \ Away	DIN	RIJ	HAJ	OSI	LOK	INT	SLA	RUD	IST	CIB	DIN	RIJ	HAJ	OSI	LOK	INT	SLA	RUD	IST	CIB
Dinamo Zagreb	—	3–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–0	3–2	2–0	4–0	—	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–4	3–1	1–0	2–0	5–1	1–0
Rijeka	0–2	—	1–2	1–2	2–1	0–0	2–0	4–1	2–0	7–0	4–1	—	3–1	1–0	3–1	5–1	2–0	3–0	4–0	5–1
Hajduk Split	2–2	0–2	—	1–1	2–2	2–0	1–0	2–3	2–0	2–1	1–2	1–1	—	1–1	1–0	5–0	0–1	1–0	3–2	4–0
Osijek	1–1	1–0	2–1	—	3–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–4	2–1	3–3	—	0–1	1–1	3–0	3–0	2–0	3–1
Lokomotiva	0–3	1–0	1–3	2–3	—	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–3	3–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	—	2–3	5–2	2–2	0–0	2–1
Inter Zaprešić	1–3	1–3	2–2	3–1	1–1	—	0–1	3–1	2–2	3–1	0–0	0–3	0–3	1–0	1–2	—	0–0	1–1	1–0	3–2
Slaven Belupo	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	—	2–2	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–3	0–0	2–1	2–2	3–3	—	2–0	1–0	2–0
Rudeš	1–1	1–5	0–4	1–1	0–1	0–2	1–2	—	1–0	1–1	1–0	4–2	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–0	—	2–1	3–2
Istra 1961	0–0	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–1	—	0–1	0–4	0–1	1–5	1–1	1–0	2–4	2–1	1–1	—	0–0
Cibalia	2–5	1–2	1–2	2–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	3–0	1–4	—	0–2	0–0	0–5	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–3	1–1	1–1	—

Source: Sportnet.hr
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.

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36
Cibalia	7	10	10	10	8	7	6	6	7	8	8	9	8	8	9	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10
Dinamo Zagreb	4	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Hajduk Split	1	3	3	5	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	2	3	2	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3
Inter Zaprešić	2	4	5	4	6	6	7	7	8	7	7	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6
Istra 1961	9	7	9	9	9	9	10	9	10	10	10	8	9	9	8	9	9	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Lokomotiva	8	9	8	7	7	8	8	8	6	6	6	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	5	5	5
Osijek	5	6	6	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	2	2	3	4	3	2	3	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Rijeka	3	2	1	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	4	2	4	4	4	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2
Rudeš	6	8	7	8	10	10	9	10	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
Slaven Belupo	10	5	4	3	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	6	5	6	6	6	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7

	Leader / Qualification to UEFA Champions League
	Qualification to UEFA Europa League
	Relegation play-off
	Relegation to Druga HNL

Source:

Relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, ninth placed team Istra 1961 will contest a two-legged relegation play-off tie against Varaždin, runners-up of the 2017–18 Croatian Second Football League.

First leg

30 May 2018

19:00 CEST

Istra 1961	3–1	Varaždin
Golubar 55' (o.g.) Vojnović 64' Roce 88'		Drožđek 10'

Aldo Drosina

Attendance: 4,107

Referee: Fran Jović (Zagreb)

Second leg

2 June 2018

19:00 CEST

Varaždin	1–0	Istra 1961
Drožđek 55'

Stadion Varteks

Attendance: 8,153

Referee: Duje Strukan (Split)

Istra 1961 won 3–2 on aggregate.

Statistics

Top scorers

As of 19 May 2018^[15][16]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	El Arabi Hillel Soudani	Dinamo Zagreb	17
2	Héber	Rijeka	16
3	Mario Gavranović	Rijeka (7), Dinamo Zagreb (8)	15
	Mirko Ivanovski	Slaven Belupo
5	Mario Budimir	Rudeš (13), Dinamo Zagreb (1)	14
6	Jakov Puljić	Inter Zaprešić (4), Rijeka (8)	12
7	Lovro Majer	Lokomotiva	11
	Said Ahmed Said	Hajduk Split
9	Ante Erceg	Hajduk Split	9
	Haris Hajradinović	Osijek
	Franck Ohandza	Hajduk Split

Awards

Annual awards

Award[17]	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Hillal Soudani	Dinamo Zagreb
Manager of the Season	Matjaž Kek	Rijeka
Young Player of the Season	Lovro Majer	Lokomotiva

Team of the Year[18]
Goalkeeper	Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb)
Defence	Josip Juranović (Hajduk Split)		Zoran Nižić (Hajduk Split)	Filip Benković (Dinamo Zagreb)
Midfield	Hillal Soudani (Dinamo Zagreb)	Arijan Ademi (Dinamo Zagreb)	Filip Bradarić (Rijeka)	Borna Sosa (Dinamo Zagreb)
	Lovro Majer (Lokomotiva)
Attack	Mario Gavranović (Dinamo Zagreb)		Héber (Rijeka)