1992 Croatian First Football League


The 1992 Croatian First Football League was the first season of the top Croatian football league. It was the inaugural season of the league established following Croatia's independence from Yugoslavia. Affected by the political and social upheavals stemming from the breakup of Yugoslavia and the early stages of the 1991–95 war, the season was drastically shortened and played over the course of less than four months, from 29 February to 13 June.
The league featured 12 Croatian-based clubs, all of which had previously competed at various levels in the Yugoslav football pyramid. Four of the clubs came from the Yugoslav First League, another four from the Yugoslav Second League, and the remaining four from lower levels.
The format used was a double round robin tournament, with each club playing every other club twice in home and away matches, for a total of 22 rounds. However, five of the clubs based in areas most affected by fighting had to host their matches in other towns around the country, effectively playing the entire season in exile. These were Cibalia and Osijek and Zadar, Šibenik and Dubrovnik.
After four of the five displaced clubs which had played the season in haphazard conditions eventually finished in the bottom four places, the Croatian Football Federation decided against relegating any of them, and opted to expand the format to 16 clubs in the following 1992–93 season.

Clubs

Club1City / TownStadiumHead coach1990–91 result
CibaliaVinkovciMladost2 Mile Petković2088th in Yugoslav Div 2
DubrovnikDubrovnikLapad2 Mario Bonić21616th in Yugoslav Div 2
Hajduk SplitSplitPoljud Stanko Poklepović1066th in Yugoslav Div 1
HAŠK GrađanskiZagrebMaksimir Zdenko Kobeščak1022nd in Yugoslav Div 1
Inker ZaprešićZaprešićStadion Inkera Ilija Lončarević3022nd in Yugoslav Div 3 West
Istra PulaPulaAldo Drosina Sergio Scoria4044th in Yugoslav Div 4 West3
OsijekOsijekGradski vrt2 Stjepan Čordaš1099th in Yugoslav Div 1
RijekaRijekaKantrida Marijan Jantoljak11515th in Yugoslav Div 1
ŠibenikŠibenikŠubićevac2 Nikica Cukrov21212th in Yugoslav Div 2
VarteksVaraždinStadion Varteksa Branko Ivanković3066th in Yugoslav Div 3 West3
ZadarZadarStanovi2 Goran Krešimir Vidov3011st in Yugoslav Div 3 West
NK ZagrebZagrebKranjčevićeva Ivo Šušak2022nd in Yugoslav Div 2

League table

Relegation

At the end of the season no teams were relegated as it was decided that the league would expand to 16 clubs for the 1992–93 Croatian First Football League season.

European competitions

During the season Hajduk Split and HAŠK Građanski took part in European competitions on account of qualification secured at the end of the 1990–91 Yugoslav football season - Dinamo/HAŠK ended up as runners-up in the 1990–91 Yugoslav First League and qualified for 1991–92 UEFA Cup while Hajduk Split won the 1990–91 Yugoslav Cup and qualified for the 1991–92 European Cup Winners' Cup.
However, due to violent fighting in parts of the country, UEFA ordered both clubs to host their European matches abroad, in Austria. Dinamo played their UEFA Cup first round fixture against Trabzonspor in Klagenfurt on 11 September 1991, while Hajduk Split played their Cup Winners' Cup first round match against Tottenham Hotspur on 17 September 1991 in Linz.
At the end of the 1992 season, neither Hajduk Split nor Inker Zaprešić could qualify for European competitions in the following 1992–93 season as the Croatian Football Federation, the league's governing body, had not been accepted as full member by UEFA. Since its application was finally accepted by UEFA in June 1993, the first Croatian-qualified clubs entered European competitions in the 1993–94 season.

Results

Season statistics

Hat-tricks

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