2010-11 League Preview: The Prva HNL (Croatia)

Now that the World Cup is kaput, club football is just around the corner.  In addition to the usual EPL previews, this year we at UF are going to be examining some of the other leagues around the world!

Let’s start with a rather obscure league….

Country: Croatia

Total Population: 4,500,000

Official League Name: Prva HNL, 1. HNL, or T-Com Prva HNL (bing bong bing bing bing bing bing)

International Cups: 1 UEFA Champions League (1 spot to second qualifying round) and 2 Europa League (1 spot to second qualifying round and 1 to the first qualifying round)

Average Attendance Last Season: A paltry 2,000 per match

Largest Stadium:

37,000 – Stadion Maksimir (Dinamo Zagreb)

Smallest Stadium:

3,000 – Stadion Veruda (Istra 1961)

2010-11 Teams:
Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Cibalia, Šibenik, Osijek, Karlovac, Slaven Belupo, Lokomotiva, Rijeka, Varaždin, Istra 1961, Zadar, Inter Zaprešić, NK Zagreb, RNK Split, Hrvatski Dragovoljac

Parity?
Nope. Since Yugoslavia disbanded and the Prva HNL was founded in 1992, the Croatian league has long been dominated by Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split.  Dinamo Zagreb (which was called Croatia Zagreb until 1999) in particular has reigned supreme, having won 12 titles in 19 years, including the previous five seasons. Not surprisingly, the biggest derby in the Prva HNL is between Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split, which has elegantly been dubbed “the Eternal derby.”

Relegation/League Structure:
The Prva HNL expanded to 16 teams in 2009, meaning that four teams were promoted at the start of last season. Unfortunately, most Croatian teams do not qualify for UEFA or top-flight Croatian licenses thanks to inadequate grounds. After considerable back-and-forth, the league suits decided to return the Prva HNL to 12 teams next season—meaning five teams will be relegated at the end of the 2010-11 season, which should be awesome to watch—with a further reduction to 10 teams occurring later. This will likely change though, because the Croatian league officials apparently can’t make up their mind about anything.

Drama:
The league is in a great deal of flux, with a number of clubs having great financial troubles and also a number of clubs—including Dinamo Zagreb—having managerial changes this offseason. The decision to expand to 16 teams was disastrous, and attendance has been steadily dwindling in the league (one wonders if the economic downturn affected things as well). That said, the league is hardly bereft of talent, with Dinamo Zagreb in particular having produced Luka Modric, Eduardo, Vedran Corluka and Niko Kranjcar. Meanwhile, Croatia’s captain Darijo Srna started out at Hadjuk Split before moving to Shakhtar Donetsk, and Nikola Kalinic moved from Hadjuk Split to Blackburn in 2009. So, the talent is there, but as a whole the Croatian league seems at best to be a feeder for talent to move elsewhere.

The other controversy that emerged is an alleged match-fixing scandal involving Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian Cup last season. A good run-down of the allegations can be found here. The investigation is on-going and is part of a larger effort commenced by German authorities to crack down on corruption worldwide. So far, 22 people have been arrested — including members of the Croatian FA — and it sounds as though even Dinamo Zagreb’s Champions League matches may have been affected.  A dark cloud is surely hovering over the Prva HNL this season.

Question Marks:
Will Zagreb or Split win the title?  The season actually started in late July, and both teams got off to rocky starts (a loss and a draw, respectively).  The teams each won their matches this past weekend, but it will be interesting to see if the managerial changes and betting scandals bring down either of the clubs.

Key Transfers:
34-year-old defender Dario Simic moved from Monaco back to Zagreb, the club he first started at. Going the other way, Bayer Leverkusen poached a couple of young Croatian players in Zvonko Pamic (Karlovac) and Domagoj Vida (Osijek). Dejan Lovren, a young, promising defender, moved from Dinamo to Lyon, where he is expected to see a fair amount of first-team action.  But the most interesting move, however, was Istra 1961 who signed one of the lost Flying Traore brothers — Mohamed.

Get to Know the Gaffers:

Velimir Zajec (Dinamo Zagreb)

Zajec, who was last the caretaker coach of  Portsmouth after ‘Arry Redknapp briefly left for Southampton in 2004, takes over from Krunoslav Jurcic, who resigned after only one season.

Ivan Katalinic (RNK Split)

Katalinic takes over at RNK Split, having spent time at no less than fifteen (!) other clubs since 1995 — including three spells with RNK’s rival Hadjuk.

Key Players:
Only four Croatian league players were named by Slaven Bilic into the national side for Croatia’s upcoming international friendlies. And all of them play in defense or goalkeeper: Danijel Subasic (goalie for Dinamo Zagreb), Jurica Buljat and Ivan Strinic (both defenders for Hajduk). Otherwise, the league’s best players include Sammir (Brazilian midfielder for Dinamo Zagreb), Mehmad Alispahic and Ermin Zec (both forwards for HNK Sibenik).

Rising Stars:
Unfortunately, much of the young talent in the Croatian league has already been poached by clubs across Europe, with the Croatian teams eager to receive the transfer money. Names to remember for the future, however, are 19-year-olds Andrej Kramaric — who scored 7 goals in 25 games for Dinamo last season — and Ante Vukusic — who scored 6 in 22 games last season for Hadjuk. Elsewhere, 21-year-old Milan Badelj has ably taken over the creative midfield role for Dinamo after Luka Modric left for Spurs. Mario Antolovic is a promising young goalkeeper for Cibalia.

Prediction:
I’ll go out on a limb and say that Dinamo Zagreb will win their sixth title in a row, but it will be interesting to see if the continuing match-fixing investigation has an impact this season.