1996–97 Croatian First Football League

The 1996–97 Croatian First Football League was the sixth season of the Croatian top-level football league since its establishment.

Croatian First Football League

Season	1996–97
Champions	Croatia Zagreb 3rd Croatian title 7th domestic title
Relegated	Several clubs
Champions League	Croatia Zagreb
UEFA Cup	Hajduk Split
Cup Winners' Cup	NK Zagreb
Intertoto Cup	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Matches played	240
Goals scored	649 (2.7 per match)
Top goalscorer	Igor Cvitanović (20)
Biggest home win	Croatia Zagreb 7–0 Istra Hajduk Split 7–0 Marsonia
Biggest away win	NK Zagreb 0–6 Croatia Zagreb Marsonia 0–6 Croatia Zagreb
Highest scoring	Rijeka 5–3 Marsonia Zadarkomerc 3–5 Varteks
Average attendance	2,903
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

Stadia and personnel

Team	Manager1	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Cibalia	Tomislav Radić	Vinkovci
Croatia Zagreb	Otto Barić	Zagreb	Stadion Maksimir	37,168
Hajduk Split	Ivan Buljan	Split	Stadion Poljud	35,000
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Blaž Slišković	Velika Gorica	Stadion Radnik	8,000
Inker Zaprešić	Đuro Bago	Zaprešić
Istra Pula	Ivica Šangulin	Pula
Marsonia	Miroslav Buljan	Slavonski Brod
Mladost 127	Zlatko Toth	Suhopolje	Stadion Park	5,000
Orijent	Ilija Lončarević	Rijeka	Stadion Krimeja	6,000
Osijek	Milan Đuričić	Osijek	Stadion Gradski vrt	19,500
Rijeka	Branko Ivanković	Rijeka	Stadion Kantrida	10,275
Segesta	Zlatko Kranjčar	Sisak
Šibenik	Vinko Begović	Šibenik	Stadion Šubićevac	8,000
Varteks	Ivan Marković	Varaždin	Stadion Varteks	10,800
Zadarkomerc	Ante Čačić	Zadar	Stadion Stanovi	5,860
NK Zagreb	Krešimir Ganjto	Zagreb	Stadion Kranjčevićeva	8,850

• ¹ On final match day of the season, played on 1 June 1997.

Prva A HNL

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Croatia Zagreb (C)	30	26	3	1	90	23	+67	81	Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2	Hajduk Split	30	18	6	6	53	22	+31	60	Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round
3	Hrvatski Dragovoljac	30	13	10	7	51	37	+14	49	Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage
4	Rijeka	30	13	7	10	44	32	+12	46
5	NK Zagreb	30	13	6	11	43	39	+4	45	Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round
6	Varteks	30	12	6	12	34	35	−1	42
7	Šibenik	30	11	8	11	35	30	+5	41
8	Osijek	30	12	5	13	40	38	+2	41
9	Mladost 127	30	10	10	10	37	36	+1	40
10	Zadarkomerc	30	11	7	12	39	45	−6	40
11	Segesta (R)	30	9	12	9	35	34	+1	39	Qualification to relegation play-offs
12	Marsonia (R)	30	11	5	14	38	50	−12	38
13	Cibalia (R)	30	11	0	19	35	56	−21	33
14	Orijent (R)	30	5	11	14	28	53	−25	26	Relegation to Croatian Second Football League
15	Istra Pula (R)	30	6	7	17	25	54	−29	25
16	Inker Zaprešić (R)	30	6	3	21	22	65	−43	21

Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd goal difference 4th goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	CIB	CZG	HAJ	HRD	INK	IST	MAR	MLA	ORI	OSI	RIJ	SEG	ŠIB	VAR	ZAD	ZAG
Cibalia		0–1	3–0	2–0	2–0	3–2	2–0	3–0	0–3	1–2	1–4	2–0	2–1	2–0	1–2	0–2
Croatia Zagreb	3–0		2–1	2–1	5–1	7–0	4–2	2–3	3–2	3–2	3–0	3–3	4–0	6–1	2–0	4–1
Hajduk Split	4–0	1–2		0–0	4–0	2–3	7–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	5–1	1–0
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	2–1	0–3	0–0		4–1	2–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	3–2	5–1	4–1	0–0	3–1	4–2
Inker Zaprešić	2–1	1–2	0–2	1–0		1–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	0–0	0–2	0–3	2–1	1–4	0–1	1–2
Istra Pula	1–0	0–3	1–1	1–4	1–0		0–2	2–2	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	3–0	3–2
Marsonia	1–0	0–6	2–1	1–2	4–1	1–0		2–0	3–0	0–3	1–0	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	4–1
Mladost 127	2–1	1–1	1–2	0–4	3–2	3–1	2–0		5–1	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	3–0	0–0
Orijent	2–1	1–3	0–2	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–1		2–0	2–2	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–1
Osijek	1–2	0–4	0–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	2–1	2–1	5–1		4–0	1–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	0–2
Rijeka	3–0	1–2	1–3	2–2	4–0	2–0	5–3	0–0	4–0	2–0		2–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–0
Segesta	3–1	0–1	0–0	3–0	4–0	3–0	2–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–0		1–0	1–3	2–2	1–1
Šibenik	5–0	0–0	0–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	2–0	5–1	2–0	0–1	0–0		0–0	2–1	2–0
Varteks	2–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	4–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–2		1–0	1–1
Zadarkomerc	2–3	1–2	2–2	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–1	4–2	1–0	2–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	3–5		1–0
NK Zagreb	6–1	0–6	2–0	4–0	4–0	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–2	3–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0

Source: RSSSF.org
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Prva B HNL

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Samobor (P)	30	22	6	2	70	21	+49	72	Qualification to relegation play-offs
2	Slaven Belupo (P)	30	16	6	8	51	26	+25	54
3	Dubrovnik (R)	30	15	8	7	54	33	+21	53
4	Slavonija Požega	30	16	5	9	44	30	+14	52	Relegation to Croatian Second Football League
5	Mosor	30	15	5	10	42	28	+14	50
6	Ponikve	30	14	3	13	50	47	+3	45
7	Belišće	30	12	8	10	41	35	+6	44
8	Čakovec	30	13	4	13	41	45	−4	43
9	Zagorec Krapina	30	12	6	12	51	42	+9	42
10	Primorac	30	13	2	15	32	49	−17	41
11	Uskok Klis	30	10	5	15	42	54	−12	35
12	Junak	30	9	8	13	29	46	−17	35
13	Graničar Županja	30	10	5	15	34	47	−13	35
14	Neretva	30	9	6	15	25	50	−25	33
15	Napredak Velika Mlaka	30	7	5	18	37	56	−19	26
16	Olimpija Osijek	30	3	6	21	27	61	−34	15

Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd goal difference 4th goals scored
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Relegation play-offs

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Samobor	2	2	0	0	4	2	+2	6	Advanced to Croatian First Football League
2	Marsonia	2	1	0	1	5	2	+3	3	Relegation to Croatian Second Football League
3	Dubrovnik	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5	0

Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd goal difference 4th goals scored

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Cibalia	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2
2	Segesta	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2
3	Slaven Belupo	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2

Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd goal difference 4th goals scored

Replay

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Slaven Belupo	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	4	Advanced to Croatian First Football League
2	Segesta	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	Relegation to Croatian Second Football League
3	Cibalia	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2	1

Source: RSSSF.org
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd goal difference 4th goals scored

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Igor Cvitanović	Croatia Zagreb	20
2	Dragan Vukoja	Hrvatski Dragovoljac	19
3	Mark Viduka	Croatia Zagreb	18
4	Jurica Vučko	Hajduk Split	16
5	Silvio Marić	Croatia Zagreb	13
	Davor Vugrinec	Varteks
7	Miljenko Mumlek	Varteks	16
8	Admir Hasančić	Rijeka	10
	Neno Katulić	Marsonia
	Dumitru Mitu	Osijek
	Josip Skoko	Hajduk Split

See also

• 1996–97 Croatian Football Cup

External links

• 1996–97 in Croatian Football at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation