2007–08 Croatian First Football League

The 2007–08 Croatian First Football League (officially known as the T-Com Prva HNL for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth season of the Croatian First Football League, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 20 July 2007 and ended on 10 May 2008. Dinamo Zagreb were the defending champions, having won their eleventh championship title the previous season, and they defended the title again, after a win against Međimurje on 12 April 2008.

T-Com Prva HNL

Season	2007–08
Dates	20 July 2007 – 10 May 2008
Champions	Dinamo Zagreb 10th Croatian title 14th domestic title
Relegated	Međimurje
Champions League	Dinamo Zagreb
UEFA Cup	Slaven Belupo Hajduk Split (via Cup)
Intertoto Cup	Rijeka
Matches played	198
Goals scored	573 (2.89 per match)
Top goalscorer	Želimir Terkeš (21)
Biggest home win	Hajduk 7–1 Inter
Biggest away win	Inter 0–4 Dinamo
Highest scoring	Hajduk 7–2 Inter Zagreb 7–2 Zadar
Average attendance	2,759
← 2006–07 2008–09 →

Promotion and relegation

Kamen Ingrad were automatically relegated to Druga HNL as they finished last in the previous season, while Inter Zaprešić were automatically promoted from Druga HNL after winning the 2006–07 title. In a two-legged playoff between Zadar and Pula, Zadar were promoted to Prva HNL by beating Pula with 6–2 on aggregate (3–0, 3–2).

Teams

 

 

Dinamo
NK Zagreb

 

Cibalia

 

Hajduk

 

Inter

 

Međimurje

 

Osijek

 

Rijeka

 

Sl. Belupo

 

Šibenik

 

Varteks

 

Zadar

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Locations of teams in 2007–08 Prva HNL

Stadia and personnel

Team	Manager^1	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Cibalia	Srećko Lušić	Vinkovci	Stadion HNK Cibalia	10,000
Dinamo Zagreb	Zvonimir Soldo	Zagreb	Stadion Maksimir	37,168
Hajduk Split	Robert Jarni	Split	Stadion Poljud	35,000
Inter Zaprešić	Milivoj Bračun	Zagreb	Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić	5,000
Međimurje	Miljenko Dovečer	Čakovec	Stadion SRC Mladost	8,000
Osijek	Ilija Lončarević	Osijek	Stadion Gradski vrt	19,500
Rijeka	Zlatko Dalić	Rijeka	Stadion Kantrida	10,275
Slaven Belupo	Krunoslav Jurčić	Koprivnica	Gradski stadion u Koprivnici	4,000
Šibenik	Ivica Kalinić	Šibenik	Stadion Šubićevac	8,000
Varteks	Dražen Besek	Varaždin	Stadion Varteks	10,800
Zadar	Dalibor Zebić	Zadar	Stadion Stanovi	5,860
NK Zagreb	Miroslav Blažević	Zagreb	Stadion Kranjčevićeva	8,850

• ¹ On final match day of the season, played on 10 May 2008.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dinamo Zagreb (C)	33	26	4	3	91	34	+57	82	Qualification to Champions League first qualifying round
2	Slaven Belupo	33	16	6	11	45	29	+16	54	Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round^[a]
3	Osijek	33	16	6	11	43	34	+9	54
4	Rijeka	33	14	11	8	53	41	+12	53	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
5	Hajduk Split	33	14	10	9	57	41	+16	52	Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round^[a]
6	NK Zagreb	33	11	11	11	51	40	+11	44
7	Varteks	33	11	7	15	46	53	−7	40
8	Cibalia	33	11	7	15	40	48	−8	40
9	Zadar	33	11	7	15	49	61	−12	40
10	Šibenik	33	9	12	12	34	52	−18	39
11	Inter Zaprešić (O)	33	8	9	16	27	59	−32	33	Qualification to relegation play-off
12	Međimurje (R)	33	3	6	24	37	81	−44	15	Relegation to Croatian Second Football League

Source: Sportnet.hr
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored
For deciding champions, qualification for the UEFA Cup and relegation: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th head-to-head away goals scored
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Hajduk Split qualified for the UEFA Cup as a runner-up of the 2007–08 Croatian Football Cup.

Results

Matchdays 1–22

In the first part of the season, matchdays 1–22 were played, with each team playing against every other team twice (home and away). This part of the season started on 20 July 2007, and finished with the last round matches on 8 March 2008.

Home \ Away	CIB	DIN	HAJ	INT	MEĐ	OSI	RIJ	SLA	ŠIB	VAR	ZAD	ZAG
Cibalia		1–2	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	3–0	3–3	1–0	0–2	3–1
Dinamo Zagreb	2–1		1–0	5–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	4–0	5–0	1–2	5–1	6–3
Hajduk Split	2–2	1–2		7–1	3–3	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	3–1	4–1	2–1
Inter Zaprešić	1–0	0–4	0–1		3–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	0–0	2–1	1–1
Međimurje	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–3		0–1	0–1	2–0	2–2	4–1	2–4	0–3
Osijek	5–1	1–3	0–1	1–0	4–0		2–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–1
Rijeka	3–0	2–4	4–0	2–1	3–1	1–1		1–0	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–1
Slaven Belupo	2–2	5–2	2–2	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–0		1–0	6–0	4–2	1–0
Šibenik	2–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	4–2	1–0	3–2	0–2		4–3	0–0	0–0
Varteks	2–1	4–3	1–3	1–2	2–0	1–2	1–2	1–1	3–0		2–0	0–1
Zadar	1–1	1–2	0–0	3–0	4–0	5–1	0–0	1–0	2–2	2–0		1–0
NK Zagreb	4–1	1–3	1–0	3–0	1–1	0–2	2–2	0–2	3–1	0–0	7–2

Source: Sportnet.hr
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 23–33

In the second part of the season, matchdays 23–33 were played, with each team playing every other team one additional time (either at home or away). This part of the season started with matchday 23 on 15 March 2008, and finished with the last round on 10 May 2008.

Home \ Away	CIB	DIN	HAJ	INT	MEĐ	OSI	RIJ	SLA	ŠIB	VAR	ZAD	ZAG
Cibalia				1–1	3–0				2–0	0–1		2–2
Dinamo Zagreb	4–0			1–0		3–2	6–1	1–0	5–1
Hajduk Split	1–2	1–1		7–2		0–2		2–0	4–1
Inter Zaprešić						1–2	2–1	0–0		1–0		0–0
Međimurje		1–2	2–2	4–0					0–1		2–3
Osijek	2–1				3–1		1–0	1–0		2–0		2–1
Rijeka	2–0		1–1		5–2					2–2	5–3	1–1
Slaven Belupo	2–0				4–0		1–1			2–1	2–0	1–0
Šibenik				0–0		1–0	0–0	0–0				0–2
Varteks		1–1	4–0		3–2				1–1		5–2
Zadar	1–0	2–5	1–3	3–1		1–1			0–2
NK Zagreb		0–0	2–1		6–1					3–1	0–0

Source: Sportnet.hr
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-off

Following the end of season, a home-and-away relegation/promotion play-off was contested between Inter Zaprešić (11th placed team in the First League) and Hrvatski Dragovoljac (2nd placed team in the 2007–08 Second Football League). Matches were played on 17 and 21 May 2008, with Inter Zaprešić retaining their top level status by beating Hrvatski Dragovoljac 2–0 on aggregate.

First leg

17 May 2008

Inter Zaprešić	2–0	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Gulić   50' Sivonjić   59'	Report (in Croatian)

Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić, Zaprešić

Attendance: 2,000

Referee: Vlado Svilokos (Sisak)

Second leg

21 May 2008

Hrvatski Dragovoljac	0–0	Inter Zaprešić
	Report (in Croatian)	Krznar   33'

Stadion NŠC Stjepan Spajić, Zagreb

Attendance: 1,500

Referee: Draženko Kovačić (Križevci)

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Želimir Terkeš	Zadar	21
2	Radomir Đalović	Rijeka	18
3	Nikola Kalinić	Hajduk Split	17
4	Krunoslav Lovrek	NK Zagreb	14
5	Luka Modrić	Dinamo Zagreb	13
6	Senijad Ibričić	NK Zagreb	12
	Željko Malčić	Cibalia
	Mario Mandžukić	Dinamo Zagreb
9	Boško Balaban	Dinamo Zagreb	11
	Anas Sharbini	Rijeka
	Josip Tadić	Dinamo Zagreb
	Ognjen Vukojević	Dinamo Zagreb

See also

• 2007–08 Croatian Football Cup
• 2007–08 Croatian Second Football League

References

External links

• Season statistics at HRNogomet
• 2007–08 in Croatian Football at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation