1997–98 Croatian First Football League

The 1997–98 Croatian First Football League was the seventh season of the Croatian top-level football league since its establishment.

1. HNL

Season	1997–98
Dates	3 August 1997 – 10 May 1998
Champions	Croatia Zagreb 4th Croatian title 8th domestic title
Champions League	Croatia Zagreb
UEFA Cup	Hajduk Split Osijek
Cup Winners' Cup	Varteks
Intertoto Cup	Hrvatski Dragovoljac
Matches played	192
Goals scored	494 (2.57 per match)
Best Player	Mario Bazina
Top goalscorer	Mate Baturina (19)
Biggest home win	Zadarkomerc 6–0 Slaven Belupo
Biggest away win	Samobor 0–6 NK Zagreb
Highest scoring	Hrvatski Dragovoljac 6–2 Slaven Belupo Varteks 2–6 Croatia Zagreb
Average attendance	3,602
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

Teams

Stadia and personnel

Team	Manager1	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Croatia Zagreb	Zlatko Kranjčar	Zagreb	Stadion Maksimir	37,168
Hajduk Split	Zoran Vulić	Split	Stadion Poljud	35,000
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	Ilija Lončarević	Velika Gorica	Stadion Radnik	8,000
Mladost 127	Vinko Begović	Suhopolje	Stadion Park	5,000
Osijek	Milan Đuričić	Osijek	Stadion Gradski vrt	19,500
Rijeka	Nenad Gračan	Rijeka	Stadion Kantrida	10,275
Samobor	Božidar Štefković	Samobor	Gradski stadion u Samoboru	5,000
Slaven Belupo	Nenad Lušić	Koprivnica	Gradski stadion u Koprivnici	4,000
Šibenik	Ivan Buljan	Šibenik	Stadion Šubićevac	8,000
Varteks	Dražen Besek	Varaždin	Stadion Varteks	10,800
Zadarkomerc	Ivan Katalinić	Zadar	Stadion Stanovi	5,860
NK Zagreb	Valentin Barišić	Zagreb	Stadion Kranjčevićeva	8,850

• ¹ On final match day of the season, played on 10 May 1998.

First stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia Zagreb	22	15	4	3	46	18	+28	49	Qualification to championship group
2	Hajduk Split	22	13	4	5	36	20	+16	43
3	NK Zagreb	22	12	5	5	35	23	+12	41
4	Hrvatski Dragovoljac	22	10	6	6	31	18	+13	36
5	Osijek	22	9	5	8	29	26	+3	32
6	Zadarkomerc	22	8	4	10	25	24	+1	28
7	Rijeka	22	5	11	6	20	24	−4	26	Qualification to relegation group
8	Varteks	22	6	6	10	24	32	−8	24
9	Slaven Belupo	22	6	5	11	20	43	−23	23
10	Mladost 127	22	6	5	11	17	24	−7	23
11	Samobor	22	6	4	12	23	35	−12	22
12	Šibenik	22	4	5	13	19	38	−19	17

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

Rounds 1–22 results

Home \ Away	CZG	HAJ	HRD	MLA	OSI	RIJ	SAM	SLA	ŠIB	VAR	ZAD	ZAG
Croatia Zagreb		2–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	3–1	4–1	1–0	2–1	3–1	3–0
Hajduk Split	1–0		1–0	3–2	2–2	2–1	2–1	3–0	3–0	2–0	1–2	2–1
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	2–1	3–1		2–1	2–1	3–0	0–0	6–2	2–1	0–1	0–0	0–0
Mladost 127	0–1	0–0	1–0		0–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–1
Osijek	2–2	1–0	1–0	1–0		2–0	2–0	2–2	3–1	1–0	2–0	1–3
Rijeka	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–1		0–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1
Samobor	1–2	0–2	1–3	2–0	2–1	2–0		5–1	2–0	3–2	0–0	0–6
Slaven Belupo	1–1	0–3	0–3	2–0	2–1	0–0	1–0		1–0	2–0	2–1	0–2
Šibenik	1–3	1–4	1–0	0–1	4–3	1–1	2–0	0–0		1–1	1–1	2–1
Varteks	2–6	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1		2–0	1–2
Zadarkomerc	2–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–0	4–1	6–0	1–0	0–2		0–1
NK Zagreb	0–4	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	1–0	2–1	4–1	2–1	1–0

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

Championship group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Croatia Zagreb (C)	10	7	3	0	28	10	+18	49	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Hajduk Split	10	4	2	4	17	16	+1	36	Qualification to UEFA Cup second qualifying round
3	Osijek	10	5	1	4	13	12	+1	32
4	Hrvatski Dragovoljac	10	4	2	4	7	12	−5	32	Qualification to Intertoto Cup first round
5	NK Zagreb	10	2	3	5	16	16	0	30
6	Zadarkomerc	10	2	1	7	11	26	−15	21

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

Rounds 23–32 results

Home \ Away	CZG	HAJ	HRD	OSI	ZAD	ZAG
Croatia Zagreb		2–1	4–0	4–2	6–1	2–2
Hajduk Split	1–1		1–0	2–0	5–2	2–1
Hrvatski Dragovoljac	0–2	1–0		0–2	1–0	1–0
Osijek	1–1	2–0	1–2		2–1	1–0
Zadarkomerc	0–3	4–2	0–0	2–1		1–2
NK Zagreb	2–3	3–3	2–2	0–1	4–0

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

Relegation group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
7	Rijeka	10	4	3	3	16	13	+3	28
8	Šibenik	10	5	3	2	16	8	+8	27
9	Slaven Belupo	10	5	0	5	11	13	−2	27
10	Varteks	10	4	2	4	10	12	−2	26	Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round
11	Mladost 127 (O)	10	4	1	5	13	11	+2	25	Qualification to relegation play-off
12	Samobor (R)	10	3	1	6	11	20	−9	21	Relegation to Croatian Second Football League

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

Rounds 23–32 results

Home \ Away	MLA	RIJ	SAM	SLA	ŠIB	VAR
Mladost 127		3–1	2–0	2–0	1–1	2–1
Rijeka	3–2		1–1	4–1	0–0	4–1
Samobor	2–1	3–1		3–0	2–4	0–3
Slaven Belupo	1–0	1–0	3–0		2–1	2–0
Šibenik	1–0	0–1	4–0	2–1		1–1
Varteks	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–2

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

Relegation play-off

The match was played on 7 June 1998.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Mladost 127	2–1	Segesta

Statistics

• The top scorer was NK Zagreb's Mate Baturina, with 19 goals.
• The player of the year was Mario Bazina from NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mate Baturina	NK Zagreb	19
2	Mario Bazina	Hrvatski Dragovoljac	12
	Vladimir Petrović	Croatia Zagreb
4	Tomislav Erceg	Hajduk Split	11
	Admir Hasančić	Rijeka
6	Petar Krpan	Osijek	10
7	Igor Cvitanović	Croatia Zagreb	9
	Joško Popović	Šibenik
	Klaudio Vuković	Samobor
10	Mark Viduka	Croatia Zagreb	8

See also

• 1997–98 Croatian Football Cup

External links

• 1997–98 in Croatian Football at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation