Founded 1912 | FIFA affiliation 1941 | |
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Football in Croatia, called nogomet, is the most popular team sport in the country and is led by the Croatian Football Federation. It is played in four official components; the domestic league consists of three hierarchical echelons, and a single national team represents the entire state. The first Croat clubs were founded prior to the First World War and participated in the Yugoslavian league structure after Croatia became a part of Yugoslavia following the war. From 1940 to 1944, nineteen friendly matches were played by a Croatia national side representing the Second World War-era puppet states of the Banovina of Croatia and Independent State of Croatia. After the war, most of the prominent Yugoslavian clubs, including clubs in Croatia, were dissolved and replaced with new sides by Marshal Tito's Communist regime. Today, club football in Croatia is dominated by Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb. Since independence, the country has produced a string of players who have performed well in many of Europe's most highly regarded leagues and who took the national team to third place at the 1998 World Cup.
Contents
Format
The governing body of football in Croatia is the Croatian Football Federation. It oversees the organization of:
Note: the aforementioned competitions are for men if not stated differently. Women's football exists but is much less developed or popular.
Teams
By far the most popular clubs in the country are Dinamo (Zagreb), Hajduk (Split) and Rijeka (Rijeka).
Seasons
The following articles detail the major results and events in each season since the early 1990s, when the Prva HNL was formed. Each article provides the final league tables for that season, with the exception of the current one, as well as details on cup results, Croatia national football team results and a summary of any other important events during the season.
History
Football was popularized in Croatia by Franjo Bučar in the late 19th century. During this period, its Croatian name, nogomet, was coined by the linguist Slavko Rutzner Radmilović. The name was accepted into Slovenian as well.
The earliest clubs were founded before World War I - HAŠK and PNIŠK in 1903, Hajduk and Građanski in 1911, etc. However, first Croatian football club Bačka from Subotica was founded in 1901 in the Kingdom of Hungary. In Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian club Zrinjski Mostar is the oldest in the country and it was founded in 1905. The Croatian Football Federation was founded in 1912.
After World War I, the Croatians played a major part in the founding of the first football federation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later named the Football Association of Yugoslavia, and its headquarters were initially in Zagreb before they were moved to Belgrade in 1929. During this time, the talented Ico Hitrec played football. In 1927, Hajduk Split took part in the inaugural Mitropa Cup for Central European clubs.
Croatia had its first international football match on April 2, 1940 against Switzerland. During World War II, the Croatian Football Federation joined FIFA as a representative of the Independent State of Croatia, but this was contentious and short-lived as was the fascist puppet-state.
After the war, football was resumed in the second Yugoslavia. The communist regime in the new state quickly moved to ban all clubs who had either participated in the Croatian championship or bore Croatian national names. Many clubs were said to have links to the Ustaše. Victims of this disbanding included top-sides Concordia, HAŠK and Građanski, as well as the major Croatian clubs in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina SAŠK and HŠK Zrinjski Mostar. The largest club to avoid disbanding was Hajduk Split who had refused to participate in the Croatian competition.
At this point several other major clubs were founded - today's GNK Dinamo Zagreb, HNK Rijeka and NK Osijek, to name a few. Most clubs had to maintain loyalty to the regime, and it was common for clubs to have a communist red star as part of their emblem.
Over the following decades, the Croatian clubs performed well in the Yugoslav First League and the Yugoslav Cup. Hajduk and Dinamo formed one half of the Big Four of Yugoslav football (the other two being FK Partizan and Red Star Belgrade). In 1967, Zlatko Čajkovski of German club Bayern Munich became the only Croatian manager to win the European Cup Winners' Cup.
After Croatia gained independence in the 1990s, the football federation was reconstituted and joined the international associations. The Croatian internationals from the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship-winning team went on to achieve more success, spawning the Golden Generation who won third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. Since then, Croatia has continued to produce top players. At the more recent Euro 2008, they famously beat 2006 FIFA World Cup bronze medalists Germany 2-1 in a shock win but exited the tournament courtesy of a penalty shoot-out against Turkey in the quarterfinals.
Clubs in European competitions
Best results
The table below lists Croatian clubs' best results in elimination rounds of European club competitions:
UEFA Champions League
The following table lists all Croatian players who either appeared in a UEFA Champions League Final, or were members of clubs which reached the final. It does not include Croatians who were considered Yugoslav players prior to Croatia's independence in 1991.
As of 2016 a total of nine Croatian players are credited as winning the Champions League: Alen Bokšić, Zvonimir Boban, Davor Šuker, Dario Šimić, Igor Bišćan, Mario Mandžukić, Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić and Mateo Kovačić, although Šimić, Bišćan and Kovačić did not appear in the finals.
In terms of appearances, eleven players have played in the final (Bokšić, Boban, Šuker, Živković, Babić, Tudor, Pršo, Olić, Mandžukić, Modrić and Rakitić), but only four players appeared more than once - Bokšić (1993, 1997), Boban (1994, 1995), Olić (2010, 2012) and Modrić (2014, 2016). Two Croatian players have scored a goal in the final match, Mandžukić in the 2013 final and Rakitić in the 2015 final.
Players indicated in bold appeared in the final and players marked with † won the competition.
UEFA Europa League
The following table lists all Croatian players who appeared in the final of the UEFA Cup or its successor UEFA Europa League. It does not include Croatians who were considered Yugoslav players prior to Croatia's independence in 1991.
As of 2016 a total of five Croatian players are credited as winning the competition: Mario Stanić, Ivica Olić, Ivica Križanac, Darijo Srna and Ivan Rakitić - although Stanić did not appear for his club in the final. The only Croatian player to have scored a goal in the final match was Nikola Kalinić in the 2015 final.
Players indicated in bold appeared in the final and players marked with † won the competition.
Futsal
Futsal, called mali nogomet (lit. "small football") in Croatia, is also widely played and is sometimes considered as a mini football league. It is often taught in schools and also played by football professionals as a pastime.
The Croatian First League of Futsal is the top-tier futsal competition.
Fans
The Croatian football fans organize in various fan groups such as the Torcida (Hajduk), Bad Blue Boys (Dinamo), Armada (Rijeka), Kohorta (Osijek), etc.
On the international games, the Croatian fans usually wear the checkerboard colors red and white, as they are on the Croatian coat of arms.