2018–19 Croatian Second Football League

The 2018–19 Croatian Second Football League (also known as Druga HNL and 2. HNL) was the 28th season of the Croatian Second Football League, the second-level football competition for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 24 August 2018 and ended in May 2019.

Druga HNL

Season	2018–19
Champions	Varaždin
Promoted	Varaždin
Relegated	Zadar Lučko
Matches played	182
Goals scored	425 (2.34 per match)
Top goalscorer	Leon Benko (21)
Biggest home win	Šibenik 5–0 Zadar
Biggest away win	Varaždin 1–4 Dinamo Zagreb II Međimurje 1–4 Hajduk Split II
Highest scoring	Sesvete 3–3 Zadar Varaždin 4–2 Hajduk Split II Hajduk Split II 3–3 BSK Zadar 5–1 Solin
Total attendance	88,509
Average attendance	486
← 2017–18 2019–20 → All statistics correct as of 25 May 2019.

The league is contested by 14 teams and played in a double round robin format, with each team playing every other team twice over 26 rounds.

Teams

On 23 April 2018, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2018–19 season was completed. For the 2018–19 Druga HNL, only six clubs outside of top level were issued a second level license: Dinamo Zagreb II, Gorica, Hajduk Split II, Lučko, Osijek II and Sesvete. In the second stage of licensing procedure clubs that were not licensed in the first round appealed the decision.^[1]

The following teams have mathematically secured their place in the 2018–19 Druga HNL.

Stadia and locations

BSK

Dugopolje

Hajduk II

Međimurje

Osijek II

Solin

Šibenik

Varaždin

Zadar

Zagreb

Zagreb clubs:

Dinamo II
Dragovoljac
Kustošija
Lučko
Sesvete

Locations of teams in 2018–19 Druga HNL

Club	Coach	City / Town	Stadium	2017–18 result	Capacity
BSK	Denis Krstanović	Bijelo Brdo	Igralište BSK	0252nd (in Treća HNL East)
Dinamo Zagreb II	Igor Jovićević	Zagreb	Stadion Hitrec-Kacian	0233rd	5,000
Dugopolje	Miroslav Bojko	Dugopolje	Stadion Hrvatski vitezovi	0266th	5,200
Hajduk Split II	Mario Despotović	Split	Stadion Poljud	0255th	35,000
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Boris Perković	Zagreb	Stadion NŠC Stjepan Spajić	03111th	5,000
Kustošija	Ante Ivanda	Zagreb	Stadion NK Kustošija	0288th	2,550
Lučko	Dražen Biškup	Zagreb	Stadion Lučko	03010th	1,500
Međimurje	Matija Kristić	Čakovec	Stadion SRC Mladost	030 3rd (in Treća HNL East)	6,500
Osijek II	Dino Skender	Osijek	Stadion Gradski vrt	030 1st (in Treća HNL East)	18,856
Sesvete	Dino Babić	Zagreb	Stadion sv. Josip Radnik	0244th	1,200
Solin	Mladen Jurić	Solin	Stadion pokraj Jadra	0299th	4,000
Šibenik	Borimir Perković	Šibenik	Stadion Šubićevac	0277th	6,824
Zadar	Krešimir Sunara	Zadar	Stadion Stanovi	0273rd (in Treća HNL South)	5,860
Varaždin	Branko Karačić	Varaždin	Stadion Varteks	0122nd	8,850

Number of teams by county

Position	County	Number	Teams
1	City of Zagreb	5	Dinamo Zagreb II, Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Kustošija, Lučko and Sesvete
2	Split-Dalmatia	3	Dugopolje, Hajduk Split II and Solin
3	Osijek-Baranja	2	BSK and Osijek II
4	Međimurje	1	Međimurje
	Šibenik-Knin	1	Šibenik
	Varaždin	1	Varaždin
	Zadar	1	Zadar

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Varaždin (C, P)	26	16	3	7	40	30	+10	51	Promotion to the Croatian First Football League
2	Šibenik	26	13	7	6	38	25	+13	46	Qualification to the promotion play-off
3	Osijek II	26	13	5	8	37	26	+11	44	Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion to the Croatian First Football League
4	Hajduk Split II	26	12	7	7	36	29	+7	43
5	Dugopolje	26	13	4	9	29	26	+3	43
6	Sesvete	26	11	7	8	38	26	+12	40
7	Dinamo Zagreb II	26	10	7	9	31	26	+5	37	Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion to the Croatian First Football League
8	Zadar (R)	26	9	7	10	36	40	−4	34	Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League
9	BSK Bijelo Brdo	26	6	10	10	31	37	−6	28
10	Solin	26	5	13	8	24	31	−7	28
11	Kustošija	26	7	7	12	20	28	−8	28
12	Hrvatski Dragovoljac	26	7	6	13	23	29	−6	27
13	Međimurje	26	6	7	13	26	42	−16	25
14	Lučko (R)	26	6	6	14	16	31	−15	24	Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League

Source: Druga-HNL.com
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 for promotion or relegation and in that case criteria 6 will not be used).^[2]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Dinamo Zagreb II, Hajduk Split II and Osijek II are ineligible for promotion

Results

Home \ Away	BSK	DIN	DUG	HAJ	HRV	KUS	LUČ	MEĐ	OSI	SES	SOL	ŠIB	VAR	ZAD
BSK Bijelo Brdo	—	2–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	2–0	1–0	3–2	2–2	0–3	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–1
Dinamo Zagreb II	3–1	—	3–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	2–0	1–0	4–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	2–1
Dugopolje	2–0	1–0	—	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	4–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–2	1–0
Hajduk Split II	3–3	2–0	0–2	—	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	1–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	—	0–1	2–1	3–0	0–1	1–3	2–2	1–1	0–1	3–1
Kustošija	1–1	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–1	—	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	2–1	0–0
Lučko	2–3	1–0	1–1	0–2	0–0	2–1	—	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	1–0	2–2
Međimurje	1–0	1–1	1–2	1–4	3–1	1–1	1–0	—	2–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	4–1
Osijek II	1–1	3–0	4–0	3–1	3–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	—	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–0	2–0
Sesvete	1–0	1–2	1–0	4–1	3–1	3–0	3–1	3–1	3–1	—	3–0	0–0	1–1	3–3
Solin	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	—	1–1	1–2	2–2
Šibenik	3–2	2–2	0–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	3–0	2–2	2–2	1–0	3–2	—	2–0	5–0
Varaždin	2–1	1–4	1–0	4–2	0–2	2–1	1–0	4–0	2–0	3–0	2–1	3–1	—	2–2
Zadar	1–0	1–3	3–1	1–0	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	5–1	0–2	3–0	—

Source: Druga 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.

Top scorers

As of 25 May 2019^[3]

Rank	Player	Club(s)	Goals
1	Leon Benko	Varaždin	21
2	Marko Tolić	Sesvete	15
3	Josip Špoljarić	Osijek II	13
4	Antonio Repić	Zadar	12
5	Mario Munivrana	Međimurje	8
6	Ivan Delić	Hajduk Split II	7
	Valentino Majstorović	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
	Prince Ampem	Šibenik
	Mario Vasilj	Sesvete

See also

• 2018–19 Croatian Football Cup
• 2018–19 Croatian First Football League