The following article presents a summary of the 2008–09 football (soccer) season in Croatia, which was the 18th season of competitive football in the country.

Contents 1 National team 1.1 Friendly matches 1.2 World Cup qualifiers 2 League tables 2.1 Prva HNL 2.2 Druga HNL 2.3 Treća HNL 2.3.1 Division East 2.3.2 Division South 2.3.3 Division West 3 Honours 4 Croatian clubs in Europe 4.1 Summary 4.2 Dinamo Zagreb 4.3 Slaven Belupo 4.4 Hajduk Split 4.5 Rijeka 5 References

[edit] National team

The home team is on the left column; the away team is on the right column.

[edit] Friendly matches

20 August 2008	Slovenia	2 – 3	Croatia	Ljudski vrt, Maribor Attendance: 8,000 Referee: Claudio Circhetta (Switzerland)
	Šuler  4' Šišić  55' (pen)	Report (Croatian)	Rakitić  37',  64' Srna  59' (pen)

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11 February 2009	Romania	1 – 2	Croatia	Steaua Stadium, Bucharest Attendance: 6,000 Referee: Cristian Balaj (Romania)
	Marica  22'	Report (Croatian)	Rakitić  28' Kranjčar  75'

[edit] World Cup qualifiers

Croatia is currently in Group 6 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification process.^[1]

6 September 2008	Croatia	3 – 0	Kazakhstan	Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb Attendance: 17,424 Referee: Stefan Johannesson (Sweden)
	N. Kovač  13' Modrić  36' Petrić  81'	Report

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10 September 2008	Croatia	1 – 4	England	Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb Attendance: 35,218 Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia)
	Mandžukić  78'	Report	Walcott  26' 59' 82' Rooney  63'

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11 October 2008	Ukraine	0 – 0	Croatia	Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv Attendance: 38,500 Referee: Eric Braamhaar (Netherlands)
		Report

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15 October 2008	Croatia	4 – 0	Andorra	Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb Attendance: 14,441 Referee: István Vad (Hungary)
	Rakitić  16'  87' (pen.) Olić  32' Modrić  75'	Report

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1 April 2009	Andorra	0 – 2	Croatia	Comunal, Andorra la Vella Attendance: 1,100 Referee: Leontios Trattou (Cyprus)
		Report	Klasnić  15' Eduardo  35'

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6 June 2009	Croatia	2 – 2	Ukraine	Stadion Maksimir, Zagreb Attendance: 32,073 Referee: Terje Hauge (Norway)
	Petrić  2' Modrić  68'	Report	Shevchenko  13' Gai  54'

[edit] League tables

[edit] Prva HNL

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dinamo Zagreb  (C)	33	23	5	5	71	26	+45	74	2009–10 UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round
2	Hajduk Split	33	21	5	7	59	25	+34	68	2009–10 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round
3	Rijeka	33	17	5	11	50	44	+6	56	2009–10 UEFA Europa League Second qualifying round
4	Slaven Belupo	33	16	7	10	46	39	+7	55	2009–10 UEFA Europa League First qualifying round 1
5	NK Zagreb	33	13	8	12	38	39	−1	47
6	Šibenik	33	13	7	13	44	35	+9	46
7	Osijek	33	10	11	12	40	41	−1	41
8	Cibalia	33	10	8	15	33	53	−20	38
9	Inter Zaprešić	33	9	9	15	41	50	−9	36
10	Varteks	33	10	5	18	41	55	−14	35
11	Zadar	33	7	8	18	28	49	−21	29
12	Croatia Sesvete	33	6	8	19	31	66	−35	0252	Relegation play-offs

Source: Sportske Novosti (Croatian)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored.
¹Because both cup finalists, Dinamo and Hajduk, qualified for Europe through their league position, all three UEFA Europa League spots were given to teams according to their league positions, so the fourth-placed team also earned a spot in Europa League.
²Croatia Sesvete were deducted 1 point due to unpaid debts to Imotski over player Darko Vučić.^[2]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (Q) = Qualified to respective phase of tournament; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.

[edit] Druga HNL

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Istra 1961  (C) (P)	30	18	6	6	46	20	+26	60	Promotion to Prva HNL
2	Karlovac  (P)	30	18	5	7	50	24	+26	59
3	Lokomotiva  (P)	30	18	5	7	50	30	+20	59
4	Slavonac CO  (R)	30	15	12	3	39	18	+21	0571
5	Međimurje  (P)	30	16	2	12	61	34	+27	50	Promotion to Prva HNL
6	Hrvatski Dragovoljac  (Q)	30	13	10	7	38	36	+2	49	Qualification to Relegation play-offs
7	Solin	30	14	5	11	37	31	+6	47
8	Vinogradar	30	11	7	12	40	50	−10	40
9	Imotski	30	10	4	16	31	45	−14	34
10	Suhopolje	30	8	9	13	33	37	−4	33
11	Segesta	30	8	9	13	33	47	−14	33
12	Junak	30	9	6	15	35	51	−16	33
13	Pomorac	30	9	5	16	29	45	−16	32
14	Mosor	30	8	6	16	25	44	−19	30
15	Moslavina	30	7	7	16	33	51	−18	28	Relegation to Template:Fb competition 2009–10 Treća HNL
16	Trogir  (R)	30	3	12	15	32	49	−17	21

Updated to games played on 30 May 2009
Source: Sportnet.hr (Croatian)
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored.
¹Slavonac CO had to step back from promotion after they were not able to find a satisfiable ground.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (Q) = Qualified to respective phase of tournament; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.

[edit] Treća HNL

[edit] Division East

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	Grafičar Vodovod	33	19	9	5	66	28	+38	66
	2	Graničar	33	20	6	7	69	47	+22	66
	3	Križevci	33	18	7	8	54	32	+22	61
P	4	Vukovar '91	33	17	7	9	52	39	+13	58
	5	NK Đakovo	33	17	6	10	46	33	+13	57
	6	Slavija Pleternica	33	16	5	12	57	42	+15	53
	7	Virovitica	33	15	8	10	51	39	+12	53
	8	Bjelovar	33	15	7	11	54	49	+5	52
	9	Nedelišće	33	13	5	15	48	61	-13	44
	10	Višnjevac	33	14	1	18	47	57	-10	43
	11	Mladost Cernik	33	12	5	16	41	45	-4	41
	12	Mladost Prelog	33	11	8	14	54	61	-7	41
	13	Olimpija Osijek	33	11	8	14	53	60	-7	41
	14	NAŠK	33	10	7	16	47	52	-5	37
R	15	Croatia Đakovo	33	10	3	20	37	61	-24	33
R	16	Koprivnica	33	8	8	17	48	58	-10	32
R	17	Belišće	33	10	2	21	48	66	-18	32
R	18	Marsonia	17	1	2	14	12	54	-42	5

[edit] Division South

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	RNK Split	34	23	8	3	79	20	+59	77
	2	Raštane	34	20	8	6	70	35	+35	68
	3	Zmaj	34	19	7	8	44	28	+16	64
	4	Velebit	34	17	8	9	54	35	+19	59
	5	Primorac (BnM)	34	17	5	12	59	42	+17	56
	6	GOŠK (D)	34	15	7	12	38	42	-4	52
	7	Zagora	34	14	8	12	47	44	+3	50
	8	Konavljanin	34	15	3	16	47	55	-8	48
	9	Hrvace	34	13	8	13	56	46	+10	47
	10	Primorac 1929	34	15	2	17	52	62	-10	47
	11	Jadran (KS)	34	10	10	14	50	54	-4	40
	12	Jadran LP	34	12	4	18	31	49	-18	40
	13	Dugopolje	34	12	3	19	44	45	-1	39
	14	Neretva	34	9	11	14	39	54	-15	38
R	15	Neretvanac	34	10	7	17	38	57	-19	37
R	16	Omiš	34	9	8	17	28	41	-13	35
R	17	Val	34	11	1	22	35	66	-31	34
R	18	GOŠK (KG)	34	8	6	20	30	66	-36	30

[edit] Division West

			P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
C	1	Rudeš	34	22	10	2	63	24	+39	76
P	2	Lučko	34	19	7	8	75	45	+30	64
	3	Vrapče	34	16	8	10	58	45	+13	56
	4	Jadran Poreč	34	17	5	12	46	34	+12	56
	5	Polet Buševec	34	14	6	14	59	51	+8	48
	6	HAŠK	34	15	3	16	56	53	+3	48
	7	Novalja	34	13	9	12	40	39	+1	48
	8	Rovinj	34	10	14	10	59	48	+11	44
	9	Rudar Labin	34	12	8	14	48	51	-3	44
	10	Nehaj	34	12	8	14	37	41	-4	44
	11	Vrbovec	34	12	8	14	39	45	-6	44
	12	Grobničan	34	13	4	17	40	58	-18	43
	13	Orijent	34	12	8	14	45	41	+4	42
	14	Medulin 1921	34	11	9	14	43	49	-6	42
R	15	Radnik	34	11	7	16	38	46	-8	40
R	16	Maksimir	34	10	10	14	34	52	-18	40
R	17	Istra Pula	34	10	7	17	36	67	-31	35
R	18	Samobor	34	6	11	17	35	62	-27	29

[edit] Honours

Competition	Winner	Details
Croatian Cup	Dinamo Zagreb	Croatian Cup 2008–09 Beat Hajduk Split 4–3 on penalties (3–3 on aggregate)
1.HNL	Dinamo Zagreb	Prva HNL 2008–09
2.HNL	Istra 1961	Druga HNL 2008–09
3.HNL East Division	Grafičar Vodovod
3.HNL South Division	RNK Split
3.HNL West Division	Rudeš

[edit] Croatian clubs in Europe

[edit] Summary

Club	Competition	Final round
Dinamo Zagreb	UEFA Champions League UEFA Cup	Third qualifying round Group stage
Slaven Belupo	UEFA Cup	First round
Hajduk Split	UEFA Cup	Second qualifying round
Rijeka	UEFA Intertoto Cup	First round

[edit] Dinamo Zagreb

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score[3]	Dinamo scorer(s)	Report
Champions League - First qualifying round
16 July	Windsor Park, Belfast (A)	Linfield	2–0	Mario Mandžukić, Dino Drpić	uefa.com
23 July	Maksimir, Zagreb (H)	Linfield	1–1	Mario Mandžukić	uefa.com
Champions League - Second qualifying round
30 July	Športni park, Domžale (A)	Domžale	3–0	Ivica Vrdoljak, Sammir, Josip Tadić	uefa.com
6 August	Maksimir, Zagreb (H)	Domžale	3–2	Igor Bišćan, Mirko Hrgović, Dino Drpić	uefa.com
Champions League - Third qualifying round
13 August	RSC Olimpiyskiy, Donetsk (A)	Shakhtar Donetsk	0–2		uefa.com
27 August	Maksimir, Zagreb (H)	Shakhtar Donetsk	1–3	Boško Balaban	uefa.com
UEFA Cup - First round
18 September	Maksimir, Zagreb (H)	Sparta Prague	0–0		uefa.com
2 October	AXA Arena, Prague (A)	Sparta Prague	3–3	Pedro Morales, Dejan Lovren, Milan Badelj	uefa.com
UEFA Cup - Group stage
23 October	Maksimir, Zagreb (H)	NEC	3–2	Mario Mandžukić, Boško Balaban, Ivica Vrdoljak	uefa.com
6 November	White Hart Lane, London (A)	Tottenham Hotspur	0–4		uefa.com
27 November	Maksimir, Zagreb (H)	Spartak Moscow	0–1		uefa.com
3 December	Stadio Friuli, Udine (A)	Udinese	1–2	Igor Bišćan	uefa.com

[edit] Slaven Belupo

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score[3]	Slaven scorer(s)	Report
UEFA Cup - First qualifying round
17 July	Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali (A)	Marsaxlokk	4–0	Matija Kristić, Dalibor Poldrugač, Franjo Tepurić,Bojan Vručina	uefa.com
31 July	Gradski stadion, Koprivnica (H)	Marsaxlokk	4–0	Mario Bilen, Kristijan Čaval, Bojan Vručina (2)	uefa.com
UEFA Cup - Second qualifying round
14 August	Kleanthis Vikelidis, (A)	Aris	0–1		uefa.com
28 August	Gradski stadion, Koprivnica (H)	Aris	2–0	Bojan Vručina (2)	uefa.com
UEFA Cup - First round
18 September	Gradski stadion, Koprivnica (H)	CSKA Moscow	1–2	Mario Jurić	uefa.com
30 September	Luzhniki, Moscow (A)	CSKA Moscow	0–1		uefa.com

[edit] Hajduk Split

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score[3]	Hajduk scorer(s)	Report
UEFA Cup - First qualifying round
17 July	Poljud, Split (H)	Birkirkara	4–0	Senijad Ibričić, Nikola Kalinić, Tomislav Bušić, Mario Tičinović	uefa.com
31 July	Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali (A)	Birkirkara	3–0	Ivan Strinić, Mladen Bartolović, Senijad Ibričić	uefa.com
UEFA Cup - Second qualifying round
14 August	Riazor, La Coruña (A)	Deportivo La Coruña	0–0		uefa.com
28 August	Poljud, Split (H)	Deportivo La Coruña	0–2		uefa.com

[edit] Rijeka

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score[3]	Rijeka scorer(s)	Report
Intertoto Cup - First round
21 June	Kantrida, Rijeka (H)	Renova	0–0
28 June	Gradski stadion, Skopje (A)	Renova	0–2

[edit] References

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