Who’s Who In Croatian Football

By: Mario | June 30th, 2009

No point in following the play if you don’t know the plot or the roles that are being played. So here’s a quick rundown on who’s who in Croatian football:

The pond:
HNL - abbreviation for Hrvatska Nogometna Liga (a.k.a. Croatian Football League). Established in 1991 after the dissolution of Yugoslav First League and operating under the so called Udruga Prvoligasa (League Association). That same League Association reports to a higher body, the HNS, or Hrvatski Nogometni Savez (Croatian Football Association). So basically its HNS who controls LA who controls HNL. I know, stay with me though.

If for anything, HNL should be primarily recognized for its inconsistency when it comes to league format. But to cut the long story short, in 2009/2010 we’ll see a league of 16, with 30 games in calendar for each of the participating clubs. I’ll also note that HNL is generally poor in quality, which has been best manifested through an abysmal performance by our clubs in Europe for the past..well lets just say its been a while. Also, for those unfamiliar with Croatian football, the HNL is traditionally modest when it comes to supplying players the Croatian national team, as quite a few of our NT players have never played professional football in Croatia. But that’s a problem deserving of its own thread, and I promise I’ll come around to it soon.

Big fishes:
Now since the HNL started, there have always been only 2 major sides involved. There’s your North with Dinamo Zagreb, and there’s your South with Hajduk Split.

The 2 mentioned clubs have shared 17 out of 18 Croatian First Division titles, with only NK Zagreb managing to dethrone the two on a single occasion. Out of the mentioned 17, Dinamo have won 11 and Hajduk 6 titles. These two have also hold the record in Croatian Cup wins, Dinamo with 10 and Hajduk with 4 titles respectively. So going simply by numbers, Dinamo and Hajduk have won 31 out of 36 possible Croatian titles (not counting the Super Cup here), which along with the rich tradition both of these clubs brought in from former Yugoslavia, pretty much explains the “tale of 2 clubs” situation we have in Croatian football.

Small fishes:
There’s NK Rijeka, with 2 Croatian Cup titles to its name and a traditionally strong home support. The league’s romantics are Varteks, who are known for their attacking minded football and for having an excellent youth program, often producing great talent but rarely managing to hold on to it. Then there’s NK Osijek, Croatian Cup winners in 1999, a club that has fallen into somewhat of a lethargic state recently, with its footballing potential yet to blossom. Also, Dinamo’s city rivals Zagreb are always a solid performer and of course the only club to have won the HNL title besides the Big Two. And at last we come to Slaven Belupo, a club whose continuity in recent times and solid shows in our otherwise monotonous European exploits deserve special praise.

Stars:
Well if we’re to believe the hype around them, Mario Mandzukic (Dinamo Zagreb), Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk Split) and Anas Sharbini (Rijeka) are the next batch of young stars trying to follow the footsteps of players like Eduardo and Modric, who have recently left HNL to take part in bigger & better things. Also note that all three are part of Bilic’s team for the upcoming qualifying matches.

…

While this is only scratching the surface, I’ll try and bring you guys up to date with further info on HNL before the league kicks off (though priority remains Dinamo of course) in late July. And with European cups qualifiers just around the corner, there will definitely be stories to tell, be they tragic or magic.
See you soon.