2022–23 Croatian Football League

The 2022–23 Croatian Football League (officially SuperSport Hrvatska nogometna liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 32nd season of the Croatian top division football, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 15 July 2022. Due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the last round before the winter break was held on 12–13 November. The league resumed on 21 January and concluded on 28 May 2023.

SuperSport Hrvatska nogometna liga

Season	2022–23
Dates	15 July 2022 – 28 May 2023[1]
Champions	Dinamo Zagreb
Relegated	Šibenik
Champions League	Dinamo Zagreb
Europa Conference League	Hajduk Split Osijek Rijeka
Matches played	180
Goals scored	445 (2.47 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marko Livaja (19 goals)
Biggest home win	Hajduk Split 5–1 Slaven Belupo (4 September 2022) Dinamo Zagreb 4–0 Hajduk Split (26 February 2023)
Biggest away win	Rijeka 2–7 Dinamo Zagreb (13 November 2022)
Highest scoring	Rijeka 2–7 Dinamo Zagreb (13 November 2022) Gorica 5–4 Istra 1961 (10 March 2023)
Longest winning run	8 matches Dinamo Zagreb
Longest unbeaten run	13 matches Dinamo Zagreb Hajduk Split
Longest winless run	18 matches Gorica
Longest losing run	5 matches Šibenik Gorica
Total attendance	735,219
Average attendance	4,085
← 2021–22 2023–24 →

Teams

The following teams competed in the 2022–23 HNL.

Changes

Varaždin (promoted after a one-year absence) was promoted from the 2021–22 Druga HNL. Hrvatski Dragovoljac (relegated after single season in the top flight) was relegated to 2022–23 Prva NL.

Stadia and locations

Dinamo Zagreb	Gorica	Hajduk Split	Istra 1961
Stadion Maksimir	Gradski stadion Velika Gorica	Stadion Poljud	Stadion Aldo Drosina
Capacity: 24,851	Capacity: 4,536	Capacity: 33,987	Capacity: 9,921
Lokomotiva	Dinamo Lokomotiva Gorica Hajduk Split Istra 1961 Osijek Rijeka Slaven Šibenik Varaždin Locations of teams in 2022–23 HNL		Osijek
Stadion Kranjčevićeva			Stadion Gradski vrt
Capacity: 3,690			Capacity: 18,856
Rijeka	Slaven Belupo	Šibenik	Varaždin
Stadion Rujevica	Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš	Stadion Šubićevac	Stadion Varteks
Capacity: 8,191	Capacity: 3,054	Capacity: 3,701	Capacity: 8,818

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Ref.
Dinamo Zagreb	Zagreb	Maksimir	24,851	[2]
Gorica	Velika Gorica	ŠRC Velika Gorica	4,536	[3]
Hajduk Split	Split	Poljud	33,987	[4]
Istra 1961	Pula	Stadion Aldo Drosina	9,921	[5]
Lokomotiva	Zagreb	Kranjčevićeva1	3,690	[6]
Osijek	Osijek	Gradski vrt	18,856	[7]
Rijeka	Rijeka	Rujevica	8,191	[8]
Slaven Belupo	Koprivnica	Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš	3,054	[9]
Šibenik	Šibenik	Šubićevac	3,701	[10]
Varaždin	Varaždin	Stadion Varteks	8,818	[11]

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

Rank	Counties of Croatia	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	City of Zagreb	2	Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva
2	Istria	1	Istra 1961
	Koprivnica-Križevci		Slaven Belupo
	Osijek-Baranja		Osijek
	Primorje-Gorski Kotar		Rijeka
	Split-Dalmatia		Hajduk Split
	Šibenik-Knin		Šibenik
	Varaždin		Varaždin
	Zagreb County		Gorica

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Dinamo Zagreb	Igor Bišćan	Dominik Livaković	Adidas	PSK
Gorica	Željko Sopić	Aleksandar Jovičić	Alpas	Admiral Bet
Hajduk Split	Ivan Leko	Lovre Kalinić	Macron	Tommy
Istra 1961	Gonzalo García	Slavko Blagojević	Kelme	Germania
Lokomotiva	Silvijo Čabraja	Josip Pivarić	Macron	—
Osijek	Stjepan Tomas	Mihael Žaper	2Rule	Mészáros és Mészáros Kft.
Rijeka	Sergej Jakirović	Nediljko Labrović	Joma	Sava Osiguranje
Slaven Belupo	Zoran Zekić	Tomislav Božić	Jako	Belupo
Šibenik	Damir Canadi	Mario Ćurić	Macron	Favbet
Varaždin	Mario Kovačević	Igor Postonjski	Legea	BURA VENTURES

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Šibenik	Dean Računica[12]	Resigned	21 May 2022	Damir Canadi	7 June 2022	Pre-season
Rijeka	Goran Tomić[13]	Mutual consent	28 May 2022	Dragan Tadić	20 June 2022	Pre-season
Rijeka	Dragan Tadić[14]		16 August 2022	Fausto Budicin (caretaker)	16 August 2022	9th
Gorica	Samir Toplak	Sacked	26 August 2022	Igor Angelovski	27 August 2022	9th
Osijek	Nenad Bjelica		29 August 2022	Rene Poms	1 September 2022	5th
Rijeka	Fausto Budicin (caretaker)	End of Caretaker spell	5 September 2022	Serse Cosmi	5 September 2022	10th
Hajduk Split	Valdas Dambrauskas	Mutual consent	12 September 2022	Mislav Karoglan	12 September 2022	4th
Šibenik	Damir Canadi		24 September 2022	Mario Cvitanović	25 September 2022	7th
Rijeka	Serse Cosmi		13 November 2022	Sergej Jakirović	25 November 2022	8th
Gorica	Igor Angelovski		13 November 2022	Željko Sopić	28 November 2022	10th
Hajduk Split	Mislav Karoglan	Removed from position	31 December 2022	Ivan Leko	31 December 2022	2nd
Šibenik	Mario Cvitanović	Sacked	31 January 2023	Damir Canadi	31 January 2023	9th
Osijek	Rene Poms		2 March 2023	Borimir Perković	2 March 2023	3rd
Dinamo Zagreb	Ante Čačić		6 April 2023	Igor Bišćan	6 April 2023	1st
Osijek	Borimir Perković	Mutual consent	22 April 2023	Stjepan Tomas	24 April 2023	4th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dinamo Zagreb (C)	36	24	9	3	81	28	+53	81	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Hajduk Split	36	21	8	7	65	41	+24	71	Qualification to Europa Conference League third qualifying round[a]
3	Osijek	36	13	11	12	46	41	+5	50	Qualification to Europa Conference League second qualifying round
4	Rijeka	36	14	7	15	44	44	0	49
5	Istra 1961	36	11	13	12	36	38	−2	46
6	Varaždin	36	12	10	14	41	51	−10	46
7	Lokomotiva	36	11	10	15	45	50	−5	43
8	Slaven Belupo	36	10	13	13	27	46	−19	43
9	Gorica	36	7	11	18	36	50	−14	32
10	Šibenik (R)	36	5	12	19	24	56	−32	27	Relegation to First Football League

Source: SuperSport HNL
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).^[15]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Hajduk qualified for the Europa Conference League third qualifying round by winning the 2022–23 Croatian Football Cup.

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	IST	LOK	OSI	RIJ	SLA	ŠIB	VAR	DIN	GOR	HAJ	IST	LOK	OSI	RIJ	SLA	ŠIB	VAR
Dinamo Zagreb	—	0–0	4–1	4–1	3–2	5–2	3–1	4–1	3–0	3–1	—	4–1	4–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	4–0	4–0	2–0
Gorica	0–1	—	0–1	0–2	3–2	0–1	0–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	—	0–0	5–4	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–0	0–3	5–2
Hajduk Split	1–1	3–1	—	2–2	2–1	3–1	2–0	5–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	—	2–2	3–4	3–0	1–2	1–0	3–0	2–0
Istra 1961	1–0	1–0	0–2	—	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–0	3–0	—	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	3–0	2–1
Lokomotiva	1–2	2–1	2–2	2–0	—	2–1	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–2	2–2	0–3	3–1	—	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–1
Osijek	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	4–1	—	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	2–0	0–2	1–0	2–2	—	1–1	0–0	0–0	0–1
Rijeka	2–7	1–1	0–1	0–1	3–0	0–3	—	0–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	2–0	2–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	—	0–1	1–0	3–1
Slaven Belupo	1–5	2–1	2–2	0–3	0–0	0–4	2–1	—	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–0	0–0	2–1	1–3	—	0–1	1–1
Šibenik	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	—	1–2	2–1	0–4	2–3	0–0	0–4	1–4	1–2	3–1	—	0–2
Varaždin	1–1	2–1	0–2	1–1	0–0	4–1	0–3	0–1	2–2	—	1–3	2–1	1–4	0–0	0–0	1–3	2–0	1–0	2–0	—

Source: SuperSport 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.

Statistics

Top scorers

As of 28 May 2023^[16]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marko Livaja	Hajduk Split	19
2	Matija Frigan	Rijeka	14
3	Fran Brodić	Varaždin	12
	Luka Ivanušec	Dinamo Zagreb
	Ramón Miérez	Osijek
6	Ante Erceg	Istra 1961	11
7	Jan Mlakar	Hajduk Split	10
	Bruno Petković	Dinamo Zagreb
9	Sandro Kulenović	Lokomotiva	9
10	Monsef Bakrar	Istra 1961	8
	Dion Drena Beljo	Osijek
	Mijo Caktaš	Osijek
	Mislav Oršić	Dinamo Zagreb

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season[17]	Marko Livaja	Hajduk Split
Manager of the Season[18]	Zoran Zekić	Slaven Belupo
Young Player of the Season[19]	Martin Baturina	Dinamo Zagreb

Team of the Year[20]
Goalkeeper	Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb)
Defence	Stefan Ristovski (Dinamo Zagreb)	Dino Perić (Dinamo Zagreb)	Josip Šutalo (Dinamo Zagreb)	Dario Melnjak (Hajduk Split)
Midfield	Tonio Teklić (Varaždin)	Martin Baturina (Dinamo Zagreb)		Josip Mišić (Dinamo Zagreb)
Attack	Matija Frigan (Rijeka)	Marko Livaja (Hajduk Split)		Luka Ivanušec (Dinamo Zagreb)