2021–22 Croatian First Football League

The 2021–22 Croatian First Football League (officially Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 31st season of the Croatian First Football League, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. Contested by 10 teams, the season started on 16 July 2021 and ended on 21 May 2022. Dinamo Zagreb, the defending champions, successfully defended their title.

Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga

Season	2021–22
Dates	16 July 2021 – 21 May 2022
Champions	Dinamo Zagreb (23rd Croatian title)
Relegated	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Champions League	Dinamo Zagreb
Europa Conference League	Hajduk Split Osijek Rijeka
Matches played	180
Goals scored	504 (2.8 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marko Livaja (28)
Biggest home win	Dinamo Zagreb 8–0 Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Biggest away win	Šibenik 0–5 Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Highest scoring	Istra 1961 3–6 Rijeka
Longest winning run	Dinamo Zagreb 6 games
Longest unbeaten run	Osijek 13 games
Longest winless run	Hrvatski Dragovoljac 15 games
Longest losing run	Hrvatski Dragovoljac 8 games
Highest attendance	30,524 Hajduk Split 0–0 Osijek
Lowest attendance	50 Hrvatski Dragovoljac 1–1 Lokomotiva
Total attendance	502,012
Average attendance	2,789[1]
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

Teams

On 23 April 2021, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2020–21 season was complete. For the 2021–22 Prva HNL, eleven clubs were issued a top level license: Cibalia, Dinamo Zagreb, Gorica, Hajduk Split, Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Istra 1961, Lokomotiva, Osijek, Rijeka, Slaven Belupo and Varaždin. All of these clubs except Cibalia and Hrvatski Dragovoljac were also issued a license for participating in UEFA competitions.^[2]

Changes

Hrvatski Dragovoljac (promoted after a seven-year absence) was promoted from the 2020–21 Druga HNL. Varaždin (relegated after two years in the top flight) was relegated to 2021–22 Druga HNL.

Stadia and locations

Dinamo Zagreb	Gorica	Hajduk Split	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Stadion Maksimir	Gradski stadion Velika Gorica	Stadion Poljud	Stadion Kranjčevićeva
Capacity: 35,123	Capacity: 5,000	Capacity: 34,198	Capacity: 5,350
Istra 1961	Zagreb Gorica Hajduk Split Istra 1961 Osijek Rijeka Slaven Šibenik Zagreb clubs: Dinamo Dragovoljac Lokomotiva Locations of teams in 2021–22 Prva HNL		Lokomotiva
Stadion Aldo Drosina			Stadion Kranjčevićeva
Capacity: 10,000			Capacity: 5,350
Osijek	Rijeka	Slaven Belupo	Šibenik
Stadion Gradski vrt	Stadion Rujevica	Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš	Stadion Šubićevac
Capacity: 17,061	Capacity: 8,279	Capacity: 3,205	Capacity: 3,412

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Ref.
Dinamo Zagreb	Zagreb	Maksimir	35,123	[3]
Gorica	Velika Gorica	ŠRC Velika Gorica	5,000	[4]
Hajduk Split	Split	Poljud	34,198	[5]
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Zagreb	Kranjčevićeva1	5,350	[6]
Istra 1961	Pula	Stadion Aldo Drosina	10,000	[7]
Lokomotiva	Zagreb	Kranjčevićeva2	5,350	[6]
Osijek	Osijek	Gradski vrt	17,061	[8]
Rijeka	Rijeka	Rujevica	8,279	[9]
Slaven Belupo	Koprivnica	Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš	3,205	[10]
Šibenik	Šibenik	Šubićevac	3,412	[11]

• ¹ Hrvatski Dragovoljac host their home matches at Stadion Kranjčevićeva. The stadium is originally the home ground of third-level side NK Zagreb.
• ² Lokomotiva host their home matches at Stadion Kranjčevićeva. The stadium is originally the home ground of third-level side NK Zagreb.

Rank	Counties of Croatia	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	City of Zagreb	3	Dinamo Zagreb, Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Lokomotiva
2	Koprivnica-Križevci	1	Slaven Belupo
	Osijek-Baranja		Osijek
	Primorje-Gorski Kotar		Rijeka
	Split-Dalmatia		Hajduk Split
	Šibenik-Knin		Šibenik
	Zagreb County		Gorica

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Dinamo Zagreb	Ante Čačić	Arijan Ademi	Adidas	PSK
Gorica	Samir Toplak	Matija Dvorneković	Alpas	Admiral Bet
Hajduk Split	Valdas Dambrauskas	Lovre Kalinić	Macron	Tommy
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Dragan Tadić	Zvonimir Šubarić	Macron	—
Istra 1961	Gonzalo García	Slavko Blagojević	Kelme	Croatia Osiguranje
Lokomotiva	Silvijo Čabraja	Josip Pivarić	Adidas	—
Osijek	Nenad Bjelica	Mile Škorić	2Rule	Mészáros és Mészáros Kft.
Rijeka	Goran Tomić	Hrvoje Smolčić	Joma	Sava Osiguranje
Slaven Belupo	Zoran Zekić	Goran Paracki	Adidas	Belupo
Šibenik	Dean Računica	Mario Ćurić	Macron	—

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Šibenik	Sergi Escobar[12]	Signed by Castellón	23 May 2021	Mario Rosas[13]	14 June 2021	Pre-season
Gorica	Siniša Oreščanin[14]	Sacked	24 May 2021	Krunoslav Rendulić[15]	30 May 2021	Pre-season
Hajduk Split	Paolo Tramezzani[16]	Mutual consent	27 May 2021	Jens Gustafsson[17]	28 May 2021	Pre-season
Lokomotiva	Samir Toplak[18]	Contract expired	28 May 2021	Silvijo Čabraja[19]	8 June 2021	Pre-season
Slaven Belupo	Tomislav Stipić[20]	Sacked	10 June 2021	Dean Klafurić[21]	11 June 2021	Pre-season
Istra 1961	Danijel Jumić	Contract expired	11 June 2021	Gonzalo García[22]	11 June 2021	Pre-season
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Miroslav Kuljanac[23]	Sacked	22 August 2021	Davor Mladina[23]	22 August 2021	10th
Slaven Belupo	Dean Klafurić[24]	Sacked	27 August 2021	Zoran Zekić[25]	31 August 2021	8th
Hajduk Split	Jens Gustafsson[26]	Sacked	1 November 2021	Valdas Dambrauskas[27]	2 November 2021	4th
Dinamo Zagreb	Damir Krznar	Resigned	1 December 2021	Željko Kopić	1 December 2021	3rd
Šibenik	Mario Rosas	Sacked	5 January 2022	Ferdo Milin	5 January 2022	7th
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Davor Mladina	Sacked	12 January 2022	Dragan Tadić	12 January 2022	10th
Šibenik	Ferdo Milin	Sacked	12 February 2022	Marko Kartelo (caretaker)	13 February 2022	7th
Gorica	Krunoslav Rendulić	Sacked	3 March 2022	Samir Toplak	3 March 2022	7th
Šibenik	Marko Kartelo (caretaker)	Removed from position	4 March 2022	Ivica Matas (caretaker)	4 March 2022	8th
Šibenik	Ivica Matas (caretaker)	Signing of Računica	7 March 2022	Dean Računica	7 March 2022	8th
Dinamo Zagreb	Željko Kopić	Sacked	21 April 2022	Ante Čačić	21 April 2022	1st

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dinamo Zagreb (C)	36	24	7	5	68	22	+46	79	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Hajduk Split	36	21	9	6	64	31	+33	72	Qualification to Europa Conference League third qualifying round[a]
3	Osijek	36	19	12	5	49	29	+20	69	Qualification to Europa Conference League second qualifying round
4	Rijeka	36	20	5	11	71	51	+20	65
5	Lokomotiva	36	12	13	11	55	50	+5	49
6	Gorica	36	12	9	15	43	50	−7	45
7	Slaven Belupo	36	9	9	18	35	54	−19	36
8	Šibenik	36	9	5	22	46	75	−29	32
9	Istra 1961	36	7	10	19	42	67	−25	31
10	Hrvatski Dragovoljac (R)	36	4	7	25	31	75	−44	19	Relegation to First 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).^[28]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. The cup winner, Hajduk Split, will enter the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.

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	GOR	HAJ	HRV	IST	LOK	OSI	RIJ	SLA	ŠIB	DIN	GOR	HAJ	HRV	IST	LOK	OSI	RIJ	SLA	ŠIB
Dinamo Zagreb	—	1–0	0–2	8–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–3	0–2	2–0	—	2–1	3–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	3–0	2–0	3–0	3–0
Gorica	0–2	—	1–3	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	3–4	1–0	3–1	0–1	—	0–4	4–0	1–1	3–3	1–1	1–0	0–3	2–3
Hajduk Split	1–0	0–0	—	2–0	4–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	—	2–1	3–1	4–0	0–0	1–3	3–1	2–1
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	0–4	0–1	0–1	—	0–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	1–2	1–1	0–2	0–2	0–3	—	0–0	1–1	1–3	2–1	1–1	3–1
Istra 1961	0–2	1–2	1–3	3–1	—	2–1	2–0	3–6	1–2	3–4	1–2	2–1	1–1	3–0	—	2–2	2–3	0–2	3–1	1–2
Lokomotiva	1–0	0–1	2–2	3–2	4–0	—	1–1	0–2	3–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	3–3	2–1	1–1	—	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–1
Osijek	0–2	3–2	1–1	1–0	3–0	3–1	—	1–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	—	1–0	1–2	3–1
Rijeka	3–3	2–0	2–3	4–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	—	2–1	2–1	1–2	1–2	0–3	1–0	1–0	3–2	3–1	—	3–0	4–2
Slaven Belupo	1–4	1–2	3–2	0–1	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–2	—	1–1	0–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–2	—	1–1
Šibenik	1–2	1–2	2–0	6–2	3–1	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	—	0–2	0–1	1–3	0–5	2–1	1–4	0–3	3–5	2–1	—

Source: Prva HNL (in Croatian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 21 May 2022^[29]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marko Livaja	Hajduk Split	28
2	Josip Drmić	Rijeka	21
3	Dion Drena Beljo	Istra 1961	15
4	Mislav Oršić	Dinamo Zagreb	14
5	Marko Dabro	Lokomotiva	13
6	Robert Murić	Rijeka	11
7	Marin Jakoliš	Šibenik	10
	Ivan Krstanović	Slaven Belupo
	Sandro Kulenović	Lokomotiva
	Haris Vučkić	Rijeka
	Ivan Delić	Šibenik

Awards

Annual awards

Award[30]	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Marko Livaja	Hajduk Split
Manager of the Season	Goran Tomić	Rijeka
Young Player of the Season	Lukas Kačavenda	Lokomotiva

Team of the Year[31]
Goalkeeper	Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb)
Defence	Stefan Ristovski (Dinamo Zagreb)		Josip Elez (Hajduk Split)	Josip Šutalo (Dinamo Zagreb)
Midfield	Petar Bočkaj (Dinamo Zagreb)	Filip Krovinović (Hajduk Split)	Domagoj Pavičić (Rijeka)	Arijan Ademi (Dinamo Zagreb)	Mislav Oršić (Dinamo Zagreb)
Attack	Josip Drmić (Rijeka)			Marko Livaja (Hajduk Split)