1992 Croatian First Football League

Croatian First Football League

Season	1992
Champions	Hajduk Split 1st Croatian title 10th domestic title
Relegated	None
Goals scored	315
Average goals/game	2.39
Top goalscorer	Ardian Kozniku (12)
Biggest home win	Hajduk Split 9–0 Dubrovnik (11 March 1992)
Biggest away win	Zadar 0–4 NK Zagreb (14 March 1992)
Highest scoring	Hajduk Split 9–0 Dubrovnik (9 goals) (11 March 1992)
1992–93 →

The 1992 Croatian First Football League was the first season of the top Croatian football league. It was the inaugural season of the league established following Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. Affected by the political and social upheavals stemming from the breakup of Yugoslavia and the early stages of the 1991–95 war, the season was drastically shortened and played over the course of less than four months, from 29 February to 13 June.

The league featured 12 Croatian-based clubs, all of which had previously competed at various levels in the Yugoslav football pyramid. Four of the clubs came from the Yugoslav First League, another four from the Yugoslav Second League, and the remaining four from lower levels.

The format used was a double round robin tournament, with each club playing every other club twice in home and away matches, for a total of 22 rounds. However, five of the clubs based in areas most affected by fighting had to host their matches in other towns around the country, effectively playing the entire season in exile. These were Cibalia and Osijek (based in the eastern part of the country, in the cities of Vinkovci and Osijek) and Zadar, Šibenik and Dubrovnik (based in the southern coastal part of the country, in the cities of Zadar, Šibenik and Dubrovnik).

After four of the five displaced clubs which had played the season in haphazard conditions eventually finished in the bottom four places, the Croatian Football Federation decided against relegating any of them, and opted to expand the format to 16 clubs in the following 1992–93 season.

Clubs

Cibalia

Dubrovnik

Inker

HAŠK Građanski
NK Zagreb

Hajduk

Istra

Osijek

Rijeka

Šibenik

Varteks

Zadar

Locations of teams in 1992 Prva HNL

Club^1	City / Town	Stadium	Head coach	1990–91 result
Cibalia	Vinkovci	Mladost^2	Mile Petković	8th in Yugoslav Div 2
Dubrovnik	Dubrovnik	Lapad^2	Mario Bonić	16th in Yugoslav Div 2
Hajduk Split	Split	Poljud	Stanko Poklepović	6th in Yugoslav Div 1
HAŠK Građanski	Zagreb	Maksimir	Zdenko Kobeščak	2nd in Yugoslav Div 1
Inker Zaprešić	Zaprešić	Stadion Inkera	Ilija Lončarević	2nd in Yugoslav Div 3 West
Istra Pula	Pula	Aldo Drosina	Sergio Scoria	4th in Yugoslav Div 4 West^3
Osijek	Osijek	Gradski vrt^2	Stjepan Čordaš	9th in Yugoslav Div 1
Rijeka	Rijeka	Kantrida	Marijan Jantoljak	15th in Yugoslav Div 1
Šibenik	Šibenik	Šubićevac^2	Nikica Cukrov	12th in Yugoslav Div 2
Varteks	Varaždin	Stadion Varteksa	Branko Ivanković	6th in Yugoslav Div 3 West^3
Zadar	Zadar	Stanovi^2	Goran Krešimir Vidov	1st in Yugoslav Div 3 West
NK Zagreb	Zagreb	Kranjčevićeva	Ivo Šušak	2nd in Yugoslav Div 2

Notes

• ¹ Several clubs were renamed shortly before the 1992 season began:
  • NK Dinamo Vinkovci became HNK Cibalia
  • NK GOŠK Jug Dubrovnik became HNK Dubrovnik
  • NK Dinamo Zagreb became NK HAŠK Građanski
  • NK Jugokeramika Zaprešić became NK Inker Zaprešić
• ² Five clubs were displaced and forced to host their home games outside their hometowns due to shelling in the ongoing Croatian War of Independence:
  • Cibalia hosted 5 matches in Đakovo (against Hajduk, Osijek, Varteks, Šibenik and Zadar), 1 match in Zagreb (against Dubrovnik), 1 match in Čakovec (against HAŠK Građanski), and 4 matches in Požega (against Rijeka, Inker, NK Zagreb and Istra).
  • Dubrovnik hosted 4 matches in Metković (against Zadar, HAŠK Građanski, Rijeka and Inker), and 7 matches in Blato on the island of Korčula (against NK Zagreb, Istra, Hajduk, Osijek, Varteks, Šibenik and Cibalia).
  • Osijek hosted 3 matches in Đakovo (against NK Zagreb, Istra and Dubrovnik), 4 matches in Donji Miholjac (against Hajduk, Zadar, Rijeka and Varteks) and 4 matches in Kutjevo (against Inker, Šibenik, Cibalia and HAŠK Građanski).
  • Šibenik hosted 7 matches in Split (against Osijek, Varteks, Istra, Dubrovnik, Hajduk, Rijeka and Inker), 1 match in Stobreč (against NK Zagreb), 2 matches in Žrnovnica (against Zadar and Cibalia) and a single match in their home town of Šibenik (against HAŠK Građanski).
  • Zadar hosted 4 matches in Split (against Varteks, NK Zagreb, Šibenik and Istra), 5 matches in Solin (against Cibalia, HAŠK Građanski, Hajduk, Rijeka and Osijek), 1 match in Crikvenica (against Dubrovnik), and a single match in their home town of Zadar (against Inker).
• ³ Varteks and Istra took part upon invitation from the Croatian Football federation - they were given preference over NK Radnik, fourth in the Yugoslav Division 3 West, and NK Neretva, third in Yugoslav Division 3 South.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Head-to-head
1	Hajduk Split (C)	22	16	4	2	44	14	+30	36
2	NK Zagreb	22	14	5	3	34	9	+25	33
3	Osijek	22	12	3	7	33	28	+5	27
4	Inker Zaprešić	22	10	6	6	37	19	+18	26	INK 2−1 HGR HGR 0−2 INK
5	HAŠK Građanski	22	11	4	7	32	21	+11	26
6	Rijeka	22	10	5	7	26	22	+4	25
7	Istra Pula	22	8	5	9	22	27	−5	21
8	Varteks	22	7	6	9	32	25	+7	20
9	Cibalia	22	3	9	10	13	24	−11	15
10	Zadar	22	4	5	13	20	49	−29	13
11	Dubrovnik	22	2	7	13	4	36	−32	11	ŠIB 0−0 DBK DBK 2−1 ŠIB
12	Šibenik	22	2	7	13	18	41	−23	11

Source: prva-hnl.hr (Croatian)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.

Relegation

At the end of the season no teams were relegated as it was decided that the league would expand to 16 clubs for the 1992–93 Croatian First Football League season.

European competitions

During the season Hajduk Split and HAŠK Građanski took part in European competitions on account of qualification secured at the end of the 1990–91 Yugoslav football season - Dinamo/HAŠK ended up as runners-up in the 1990–91 Yugoslav First League and qualified for 1991–92 UEFA Cup while Hajduk Split won the 1990–91 Yugoslav Cup and qualified for the 1991–92 European Cup Winners' Cup.

However, due to violent fighting in parts of the country, UEFA ordered both clubs to host their European matches abroad, in Austria. Dinamo played their UEFA Cup first round fixture against Trabzonspor in Klagenfurt on 11 September 1991 (losing the tie 3–4 on aggregate), while Hajduk Split played their Cup Winners' Cup first round match against Tottenham Hotspur on 17 September 1991 in Linz (also losing the tie 1–2 on aggregate).

At the end of the 1992 season, neither Hajduk Split (1992 Croatian league champions) nor Inker Zaprešić (1992 Croatian Football Cup winners) could qualify for European competitions in the following 1992–93 season as the Croatian Football Federation, the league's governing body, had not been accepted as full member by UEFA. Since its application was finally accepted by UEFA in June 1993, the first Croatian-qualified clubs entered European competitions in the 1993–94 season.

Results

Home ╲ Away

CIB

DBK

HAJ

HGR

INK

IST

OSI

RIJ

ŠIB

VAR

ZAD

ZAG

Cibalia

0–0

0–2

0–2

1–0

1–1

1–1

2–0

0–0

2–1

0–1

0–1

Dubrovnik

0–0

0–1

0–3

0–3

1–0

0–0

0–1

2–1

0–0

0–2

0–0

Hajduk Split

1–1

9–0

0–0

0–2

3–1

2–0

3–0

4–1

1–0

2–0

1–0

HAŠK Građanski

2–0

2–1

1–2

0–2

3–1

2–0

2–0

2–0

4–0

3–0

0–0

Inker Zaprešić

0–0

3–0

0–0

2–1

4–1

3–0

3–0^2

6–0

1–3

2–1

0–0

Istra Pula

2–0

2–0

0–1

1–1

2–0

1–2

1–1

1–0

2–1

2–1

0–2

Osijek

2–1

1–0

3–3

1–2

2–1

0–1

3–2

3–1

2–1

4–0

1–0

Rijeka

1–0

3–0

0–2

1–0

0–0

3–0

2–0

2–0

1–0

4–1

1–1

Šibenik

1–1

0–0

2–3

3–1

1–1

0–0

0–2

1–2

2–2

4–0

0–1

Varteks

2–0

2–0

0–1

4–0

1–1

1–1

0–1

1–1

4–0

4–0

2–1

Zadar

2–2

0–0

0–3

1–1

4–3

0–1

3–5

1–1

1–1

2–1

0–4

NK Zagreb

2–1

3–0

3–0

2–0

2–0

2–1

2–0

1–0

3–0

2–2

2–0

Updated to games played on 13 June 1992.
Source: prva-hnl.hr (Croatian)
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
²The match between Inker and Rijeka was suspended with the scoreline 1–0 for Rijeka. The game was later awarded to Inker and registered with the score 3–0.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

• Most goals in a match: 9 goals – Hajduk Split 9–0 Dubrovnik (11 March 1992).
• Widest winning margin: 9 goals – Hajduk Split 9–0 Dubrovnik (11 March 1992).
• First hat-trick of the season: Nenad Bjelica for Osijek against Šibenik (2 May 1992).

Top goalscorers

Position	Player	Club	Goals[1]
1	Ardian Kozniku	Hajduk Split	12
2	Igor Cvitanović	Varteks	9
	Robert Špehar	Osijek	9
	Goran Vlaović	HAŠK Građanski	9
5	Željko Adžić	HAŠK Građanski	8
	Renato Jurčec	NK Zagreb	8
	Goran Vučević	Hajduk Split	8
8	Nenad Bjelica	Osijek	7
	Grgica Kovač	Varteks	7
	Ivica Mornar	Hajduk Split	7
	Zoran Škerjanc	Rijeka	7
	Dževad Turković	Varteks	7

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Date
Nenad Bjelica	Osijek	Šibenik	2 May 1992
Dean Ljubančić	Rijeka	Istra Pula	2 May 1992

Source: prva-hnl.hr (Croatian)

See also

• 1992 Croatian Football Cup

References

1. "Lista strijelaca (zbirno)" (PDF). Prva-HNL.hr (in Croatian). Udruga profesionalnih klubova Prve hrvatske nogometne lige. Retrieved 21 October 2009.

External links

• League table and results at Prva HNL official website (Croatian)
• 1992 in Croatian football at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.com