Luke Matthews


As the international break comes to a close, the Croatian domestic league will resume its early season excitement and give a welcome boost to those fans disappointed that the national team will not be in South Africa. All teams have now played ten games and this is usually the part of the season where the league table starts to take shape. However, this is the Prva HNL and this is no normal league.

The league of formerly 12 teams has now being extended to include 16, meaning four new competitors are welcomed into the top flight. The newly promoted teams are champions, Istra 1961, runners-up NK Karlovac, third-placed NK Locamotiva Zagreb (who are basically Dinamo Zagreb’s reserve team) and fifth placed NK Medimurje. The instant question is what happened to the fourth placed team? Well, poor old NK Slavonac could not satisfy the Croatian Football Federation’s suitable ground test as their stadium only has a capacity of 1,000, resulting in them losing their place in the Prva HNL.

Despite the new faces no-one has told Dinamo Zagreb about the increased competition as they look like they are doing their very best to have the title wrapped up by Christmas. Champions for the last four seasons, Dinamo are currently eight points clear of HNK Cibalia, who are themselves surprising everyone considering they finished forth from bottom last season. Newly promoted NK Karlovac currently lie in the other European place in third.

In another pointer to their dominance, Dinamo already have an astonishing goal difference of plus 33, so it is no surprise that their two strikers lead the goalscoring charts. In demand Croat Mario Mandžukic has scored eight goals so far this season while his Chilean team-mate, Pedro Morales leads the table with nine.

At the other end of the table fans and pundits alike are surprised to see none of the newly promoted teams occupying the three relegation places. Inter Zaprešic and Croatia Sesvete sit fourteenth and fifteenth respectively but both are only a few points from safety. However, it is bottom placed NK Zagreb who look like being in real trouble. Ten games in and the team who narrowly missed out on Europa League qualification last season (finishing fifth) only have one point. The club have recently attempted to steady the ship by bringing in ex-Derby County defender Igor Stimac as manager but to no avail as the club remain winless. It could be a long, long season for NK Zagreb supporters.

Another group of supporters who have been having a tough time of late are the Torcida, fans of Hajduk Split. The other giants of Croatian football and Dinamo’s biggest rivals have had a dreadful start to the season. They currently sit in seventh place in the Prva HNL and were knocked out of Europe in the qualifying stages. 13 points currently separate Hajduk from Dinamo at the top of league, a gap which looks almost irreversible, especially when troubles Hajduk have been having behind the scenes are taken into consideration.

Problems started last summer when Hajduk became a privatised club. The new owners brought in new directors but these were all replaced this summer after the club failed to win any silverware last term. The majority of Hajduk fans are opposed to how the new directors are running the club; especially their decision to sell arguably the side’s best two players, striker Nikola Kalinic to Blackburn Rovers and creative midfielder, Drago Gabric to Trabzonspor.

There have also been plenty of changes in the dugout. Amazingly, Hajduk are currently on their fourth coach of the season. Ante Mise started the campaign in charge but was sacked after a shock 1-0 home defeat to Zadar in only the club’s second league game.

Ivica Kalinic was then brought in from Sibenik as Mise’s replacement but disaster struck when Kalinic had a near-heart attack on the bench during his first match in charge against Zilina. Kalinic was hospitalised for a fortnight but is said to be close to making a full recovery.

The reigns were then temporarily handed to Josko Spanjic, Mise’s original assistant, while a permanent replacement was found.

The man chosen to revive Hajduk’s season is ex-Napoli boss, Edoardo Reja. It is the first time since 1987 that Hajduk have opted for a foreign manager. The man who is responsible for the recent resurgence of Napoli (Serie C1 to Serie A in only two seasons), and has, sensibly, already ruled out challenging for the title this season.

The fans of the club will now be praying for some stability under their new Italian coach and maybe some glory in the Croatian cup. However, little will disguise the fact that their bitter rivals, Dinamo Zagreb are well on course for a fifth title in as many years. For Hadjuk at least there’s always next year.

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