2021–22 Croatian First Football League

Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga

Season	2021–22
Champions	Dinamo Zagreb (23rd Croatian title)
Relegated	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Champions League	Dinamo Zagreb
Europa Conference League	Hajduk Split Osijek Rijeka
Matches played	180
Goals scored	504 (2.8 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marko Livaja (28)
Biggest home win	Dinamo Zagreb 8–0 Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Biggest away win	Šibenik 0–5 Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Highest scoring	Istra 1961 3–6 Rijeka
Longest winning run	Dinamo Zagreb 6 games
Longest unbeaten run	Osijek 13 games
Longest winless run	Hrvatski Dragovoljac 15 games
Longest losing run	Hrvatski Dragovoljac 8 games
Highest attendance	30,524 Hajduk Split 0–0 Osijek
Lowest attendance	50 Hrvatski Dragovoljac 1–1 Lokomotiva
Total attendance	502,012
Average attendance	2,789
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

The 2021–22 Croatian First Football League (officially Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 31st season of the Croatian First Football League, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. Contested by 10 teams, the season started on 16 July 2021 and ended on 21 May 2022. Dinamo Zagreb, the defending champions, successfully defended their title.

Teams

On 23 April 2021, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2020–21 season was complete. For the 2021–22 Prva HNL, eleven clubs were issued a top level license: Cibalia, Dinamo Zagreb, Gorica, Hajduk Split, Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Istra 1961, Lokomotiva, Osijek, Rijeka, Slaven Belupo and Varaždin. All of these clubs except Cibalia and Hrvatski Dragovoljac were also issued a license for participating in UEFA competitions.

The following teams will compete in the 2021–22 Prva HNL.

Changes

Hrvatski Dragovoljac (promoted after a seven-year absence) was promoted from the 2020–21 Druga HNL. Varaždin (relegated after two years in the top flight) was relegated to 2021–22 Druga HNL.

Stadia and locations

Dinamo Zagreb	Gorica	Hajduk Split	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Stadion Maksimir	Gradski stadion Velika Gorica	Stadion Poljud	Stadion Kranjčevićeva
Capacity: 35,123	Capacity: 5,000	Capacity: 34,198	Capacity: 5,350
220px	240px		220px
Istra 1961	Zagreb Gorica Hajduk Split Istra 1961 Osijek Rijeka Slaven Šibenik Zagreb clubs: Dinamo Dragovoljac Lokomotiva Locations of teams in 2021–22 Prva HNL		Lokomotiva
Stadion Aldo Drosina			Stadion Kranjčevićeva
Capacity: 10,000			Capacity: 5,350
240px			240px
Osijek	Rijeka	Slaven Belupo	Šibenik
Stadion Gradski vrt	Stadion Rujevica	Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš	Stadion Šubićevac
Capacity: 17,061	Capacity: 8,279	Capacity: 3,205	Capacity: 3,412
240px	240px	240px

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Ref.
Dinamo Zagreb	Zagreb	Maksimir	35,123
Gorica	Velika Gorica	ŠRC Velika Gorica	5,000
Hajduk Split	Split	Poljud	34,198
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Zagreb	Kranjčevićeva1	5,350
Istra 1961	Pula	Stadion Aldo Drosina	10,000
Lokomotiva	Zagreb	Kranjčevićeva2	5,350
Osijek	Osijek	Gradski vrt	17,061
Rijeka	Rijeka	Rujevica	8,279
Slaven Belupo	Koprivnica	Stadion Ivan Kušek-Apaš	3,205
Šibenik	Šibenik	Šubićevac	3,412

• ¹ Hrvatski Dragovoljac host their home matches at Stadion Kranjčevićeva. The stadium is originally the home ground of third-level side NK Zagreb.
• ² Lokomotiva host their home matches at Stadion Kranjčevićeva. The stadium is originally the home ground of third-level side NK Zagreb.

Rank	Counties of Croatia	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	City of Zagreb	3	Dinamo Zagreb, Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Lokomotiva
2	Koprivnica-Križevci	1	Slaven Belupo
	Osijek-Baranja		Osijek
	40px Primorje-Gorski Kotar		Rijeka
	40px Split-Dalmatia		Hajduk Split
	40px Šibenik-Knin		Šibenik
	Zagreb County		Gorica

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
Dinamo Zagreb	Ante Čačić	Arijan Ademi	Adidas	PSK
Gorica	Samir Toplak	Matija Dvorneković	Alpas	Admiral Bet
Hajduk Split	Valdas Dambrauskas	Lovre Kalinić	Macron	Tommy
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Dragan Tadić	Zvonimir Šubarić	Macron	—
Istra 1961	Gonzalo García	Slavko Blagojević	Kelme	Croatia Osiguranje
Lokomotiva	Silvijo Čabraja	Josip Pivarić	Adidas	—
Osijek	Nenad Bjelica	Mile Škorić	2Rule	Mészáros és Mészáros Kft.
Rijeka	Goran Tomić	Hrvoje Smolčić	Joma	Sava Osiguranje
Slaven Belupo	Zoran Zekić	Goran Paracki	Adidas	Belupo
Šibenik	Dean Računica	Mario Ćurić	Macron	—

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Šibenik	Sergi Escobar	Signed by Castellón	23 May 2021	Mario Rosas	14 June 2021	Pre-season
Gorica	Siniša Oreščanin	Sacked	24 May 2021	Krunoslav Rendulić	30 May 2021	Pre-season
Hajduk Split	Paolo Tramezzani	Mutual consent	27 May 2021	Jens Gustafsson	28 May 2021	Pre-season
Lokomotiva	Samir Toplak	Contract expired	28 May 2021	Silvijo Čabraja	8 June 2021	Pre-season
Slaven Belupo	Tomislav Stipić	Sacked	10 June 2021	Dean Klafurić	11 June 2021	Pre-season
Istra 1961	Danijel Jumić	Contract expired	11 June 2021	Gonzalo García	11 June 2021	Pre-season
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Miroslav Kuljanac	Sacked	22 August 2021	Davor Mladina	22 August 2021	10th
Slaven Belupo	Dean Klafurić	Sacked	27 August 2021	Zoran Zekić	31 August 2021	8th
Hajduk Split	Jens Gustafsson	Sacked	1 November 2021	Valdas Dambrauskas	2 November 2021	4th
Dinamo Zagreb	Damir Krznar	Resigned	1 December 2021	Željko Kopić	1 December 2021	3rd
Šibenik	Mario Rosas	Sacked	5 January 2022	Ferdo Milin	5 January 2022	7th
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Davor Mladina	Sacked	12 January 2022	Dragan Tadić	12 January 2022	10th
Šibenik	Ferdo Milin	Sacked	12 February 2022	Marko Kartelo (caretaker)	13 February 2022	7th
Gorica	Krunoslav Rendulić	Sacked	3 March 2022	Samir Toplak	3 March 2022	7th
Šibenik	Marko Kartelo (caretaker)	Removed from position	4 March 2022	Ivica Matas (caretaker)	4 March 2022	8th
Šibenik	Ivica Matas (caretaker)	Signing of Računica	7 March 2022	Dean Računica	7 March 2022	8th
Dinamo Zagreb	Željko Kopić	Sacked	21 April 2022	Ante Čačić	21 April 2022	1st

Results

Each team plays home-and-away against every other team in the league twice, for a total of 36 matches each played.

First round

Home \ Away	DIN	GOR	HAJ	HRV	IST	LOK	OSI	RIJ	SLA	ŠIB
Dinamo Zagreb	—	1–0	0–2	8–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–3	0–2	2–0
Gorica	0–2	—	1–3	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	3–4	1–0	3–1
Hajduk Split	1-0	0–0	—	2–0	4–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	2–0	1–0
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	0–4	0–1	0–1	—	0–1	2–2	1–2	2–2	1–2	1–1
Istra 1961	0–2	1–2	1–3	3–1	—	2–1	2–0	3–6	1–2	3–4
Lokomotiva	1–0	0–1	2–2	3–2	4–0	—	1–1	0–2	3–0	1–1
Osijek	0–2	3–2	1–1	1–0	3–0	3–1	—	1–0	0–0	3–0
Rijeka	3–3	2–0	2–3	4–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	—	2–1	2–1
Slaven Belupo	1–4	1–2	3–2	0–1	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–2	—	1–1
Šibenik	1–2	1–2	2–0	6–2	3–1	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	—

Second round

Home \ Away	DIN	GOR	HAJ	HRV	IST	LOK	OSI	RIJ	SLA	ŠIB
Dinamo Zagreb	—	2–1	3–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	3–0	2-0	3–0	3–0
Gorica	0–1	—	0-4	4–0	1-1	3–3	1–1	1-0	0–3	2–3
Hajduk Split	0–0	1–0	—	2-1	3–1	4-0	0–0	1–3	3–1	2–1
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	0–2	0–2	0–3	—	0–0	1–1	1-3	2–1	1–1	3–1
Istra 1961	1-2	2–1	1–1	3–0	—	2–2	2–3	0–2	3–1	1–2
Lokomotiva	1–1	2–0	3–3	2-1	1–1	—	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–1
Osijek	1-0	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	—	1–0	1–2	3–1
Rijeka	1–2	1–2	0–3	1–0	1–0	3-2	3–1	—	3–0	4–2
Slaven Belupo	0-1	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	2–2	—	1–1
Šibenik	0–2	0–1	1–3	0–5	2-1	1–4	0-3	3–5	2–1	—

Statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 21 May 2022

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marko Livaja	Hajduk Split	28
2	Josip Drmić	Rijeka	21
3	Dion Drena Beljo	Istra 1961	15
4	Mislav Oršić	Dinamo Zagreb	14
5	Marko Dabro	Lokomotiva	13
6	Robert Murić	Rijeka	11
7	Marin Jakoliš	Šibenik	10
	Ivan Krstanović	Slaven Belupo
	Sandro Kulenović	Lokomotiva
	Haris Vučkić	Rijeka
	Ivan Delić	Šibenik

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Marko Livaja	Hajduk Split
Manager of the Season	Goran Tomić	Rijeka
Young Player of the Season	Lukas Kačavenda	Lokomotiva

Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb)
Defence	Stefan Ristovski (Dinamo Zagreb)	Josip Elez (Hajduk Split)		Josip Šutalo (Dinamo Zagreb)
Midfield	Petar Bočkaj (Dinamo Zagreb)	Filip Krovinović (Hajduk Split)	Domagoj Pavičić (Rijeka)	Arijan Ademi (Dinamo Zagreb)	Mislav Oršić (Dinamo Zagreb)
Attack	Josip Drmić (Rijeka)			Marko Livaja

External links

• Official website
• Prva HNL at UEFA.com