The Croatian Football Federation ( hr, Hrvatski nogometni savez, HNS) is the governing body of

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. It was originally formed in 1912 and is based in the capital city of

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

. The organisation is a member of both

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

, and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the game of football in Croatia. The current president of HNS is Marijan Kustić. The HNS sanctions all competitive football matches in Croatia, beginning with the

HNL HNL may refer to: * Croatian Football League (''Hrvatska nogometna liga''), the top level of the Croatian football league system * Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, IATA airport code HNL, in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States * ''Hindustan Newsp ...

on down to 3. NL, as well as the

Croatian Cup Croatian Cup may refer to: *Croatian Football Cup *Croatian Football Super Cup * Croatian Women's Football Cup *Croatian Basketball Cup, also known as Krešimir Ćosić Cup *Croatian Handball Cup *Croatian Water Polo Cup *Croatian Minute Movie Cup ...

, while low-tiered leagues are sanctioned by inter-county and county associations. It is also responsible for appointing the management of the men's,

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

and youth national football teams. As of 2009, the HNS had 118,316 registered players (650 of them professionals) and a total of 1,732 registered association football and

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

clubs.

History

Early years (1912–1945)

The organisation traces its roots to the Croatian Sports Federation (''Hrvatski športski savez''), which was founded on 8 October 1909 in Zagreb, at the time when Croatia was part of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. The federation organised all sports in the country and its first president was Hinko Würth, the chairman of

HAŠK HAŠK ''(full name Hrvatski akademski športski klub, en, Croatian Academic Sports Club)'' was a Croatian football club established in Zagreb in 1903 which ceased operating in 1945. The club was one of the most successful sides in Zagreb and th ...

football club. Present-day HNS considers its foundation date to be 13 June 1912, when the football section of the Croatian Sports Federation was established, and its head,

Milovan Zoričić Milovan Zoričić (1884 in Zagreb – 1971) was a Croatian football official and criminal judge. Zoričić was one of the founders of HAŠK Zagreb in 1904. He translated the rules of football into Croatian in 1908. He also worked as a referee an ...

, as its first president. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the dissolution of

, representatives from Građanski,

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

and Concordia football clubs met in Zagreb on 14 April 1919 and founded the Football Association of Yugoslavia (''Jugoslavenski nogometni savez''), as a successor of the Croatian Sports Federation's football section, and appointed Hinko Würth as its president. The organization then became the chief governing body of football in the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

and launched the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

, the first country-wide national competition held initially in a cup format. Five other regional sub-federations were also created (based in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, Split and

Subotica Subotica ( sr-cyrl, Суботица, ; hu, Szabadka) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, ...

), each organizing their own regional tournament with winners qualifying for the national championship. In 1929, following disagreements between the Zagreb and Belgrade sub-federations, the Football Association of Yugoslavia was dissolved. It was then re-established in May 1930 in Belgrade, this time with the Serbian-language name ''Fudbalski savez Jugoslavije''. The Belgrade-based association then continued organizing the national league until 1939, when the

Banovina of Croatia The Banovina of Croatia or Banate of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Banovina Hrvatska, Бановина Хрватска) was an autonomous province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1939 and 1941. It was formed by a merg ...

was created as an administrative region within Kingdom of Yugoslavia. On 6 August 1939 the Croatian Football Federation (''Hrvatski nogometni savez'' or HNS) was established as a football governing body in the newly created province, and Croatian and Slovenian clubs soon began leaving the Yugoslav League to join the HNS-run Croatian-Slovenian Football League in protest of the alleged centralization of sports around Belgrade. The split was eventually rectified with the promise of an increase in the number of Croatian and Slovenian clubs in the league, and because of this a shortened ten-round league was played in the 1939–40 Yugoslav First League season. In 1940 HNS also played a part in organizing the first ever Croatia national football team matches which played four international friendlies between April and December 1940. However the federation was not yet recognized by FIFA as Croatia was at the time still a province of Yugoslavia. In April 1941 Kingdom of Yugoslavia was invaded by Axis Powers and was effectively dissolved. However, the Croatian Football Federation continued to run a competition called the Croatian national football league in the territory of

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

(NDH), a fascist puppet state which enjoyed relative peace during World War II, and which included most of present-day countries of Croatia and

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. On 17 July 1941 HNS was admitted to FIFA as the top level federation of NDH, and the national team representing NDH played fourteen international matches in the period from 1941 to 1944.

HNS in Yugoslavia (1945–1990)

Following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Croatia became a part of

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

and the Belgrade-based Football Association of Yugoslavia took over as the main football-governing body in the country. Also, the new communist government issued a decree in 1945 which effectively dissolved all football clubs which were active during the war as a form of punishment for their participation in the fascist-run football championship. Among others, Zagreb-based powerhouses Concordia,

and Građanski all ceased to exist, their property was nationalised, and several other clubs, most notably

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

, were formed to take their place. On the other hand,

was spared as their players had escaped from their Italian-occupied home city of Split during World War II and joined

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод ...

in 1944. For this reason, Hajduk Split is the only major Croatian club which can claim continuity since its foundation in 1911. In the period from 1945 to 1990 the Belgrade-based Yugoslav Football Federation was in charge of football in the entire country, while Zagreb was turned into its major regional hub and administrative branch. In this period Croatian clubs competed within the Yugoslav league system and Croatian players were eligible for the

Yugoslavia national football team The Yugoslavia national football team; hr, Jugoslavenska nogometna reprezentacija; sl, Jugoslovanska nogometna reprezentanca; mk, Фудбалска репрезентација на Југославија, Fudbalska reprezentacija na Jugosl ...

. In the following decades Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split became two of the Yugoslav Big Four (along with Belgrade-based

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: **AK Partizan, athletics ** Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling ** Džudo Klub Partizan, judo **FK Partizan, association fo ...

and

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

), a quartet of clubs which significantly dominated football in communist Yugoslavia. Dinamo and Hajduk won a combined total of 11

titles and 16

Yugoslav Cup The Yugoslav Cup ( hr, Pokal Jugoslavije; sr, Куп Југославије; sl, Pokal Jugoslavije, mk, Куп на Југославија), officially known between 1923 and 1940 as the King Alexander Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Kup kralja Aleksandra, ...

. In addition, Croatian club

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

won 2 Yugoslav Cup titles. Dinamo Zagreb also won the

1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The ninth Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was played over the 1966–67 season. The competition was won by Dinamo Zagreb over two legs in the final against Leeds United. For the first time in the history of the cup, replays were scrapped, with sides going ...

, which made them the first Yugoslav side to win a continental competition, and were the only Yugoslav club with European silverware until Red Star's

1990–91 European Cup The 1990–91 European Cup was the 36th season of the European Cup, a tournament for men's football clubs in nations affiliated to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). It was won for the first time by Red Star Belgrade on penaltie ...

win 24 years later.

Modern era (1990–present)

When the

breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

began to unfold in the early 1990s, the political situation was reflected on football pitches. On 13 May 1990 an infamous riot occurred at

Maksimir Maksimir () is one of the districts of Zagreb, Croatia, population 48,902 (2011 census). Maksimir stadium and Maksimir Park are located in it. It was named for Bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac. The urban center of the Maksimir district is located arou ...

in Zagreb and interrupted the Dinamo Zagreb – Red Star league fixture. On 3 June 1990 the pre-scheduled Yugoslavia–Netherlands friendly was held at the same stadium, and some 20,000 Croatian fans booed the Yugoslav national anthem and cheered for the Dutch team instead. On 26 September 1990 Hajduk Split fans staged a violent pitch invasion at

Poljud Gradski stadion u Poljudu ( en, City Stadium in Poljud), better known as Stadion Poljud ( en, Poljud Stadium) or simply Poljud, is a multi-use stadium in Split, Croatia, which has been the home ground of Hajduk Split football club since 1979. Th ...

during a league fixture against

. On 17 October 1990 the first match of the newly established Croatia national football team was held, a friendly against the United States, and following the end of the 1990–91 season Croatian clubs decided to abandon Yugoslav competitions. After Croatia had officially declared independence on 8 October 1991, the Croatian Football Federation sought international recognition, and was finally re-admitted to FIFA on 3 July 1992 and to UEFA on 17 June 1993. In February 1992 the inaugural season of the Croatian top league

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

kicked off, and in March 1992 the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

of the

was launched. In late 2010, the Federation held an election for its President, with Vlatko Marković opposed by Igor Štimac. Marković won by a single vote, and the assembly was marred with controversies. Štimac later appealed, calling for another meeting of the Federation. His supporters organized a new assembly and elected him the new President despite the opposing faction's boycott, leading to an impasse. In July 2012, the Federation held an election for its President, with Davor Šuker as the only candidate. All 46 delegates voted in favour of Suker's candidature.

Presidents

;Notes * The first three presidents 1912–1919 were heads of football sections within the Croatian Sports Federation, the top sports governing body in Croatia, which was at the time a province within

. Following World War I and the formation of the

the organisation was re-established in Zagreb in 1919 as the Football Association of Yugoslavia and designed as a national-level governing body. Its seat was moved to Yugoslavia's capital Belgrade ten years later in 1929. Although city-level subfederations continued to exist in the 1920s and 1930s there was no separate regional organisation which would govern the sport in Croatia between 1919 and 1939, hence the 20-year gap. * In 1939 the

was created as an autonomous province within Yugoslavia, and a new provincial federation carrying the present-day football federation's name was established. Ivo Kraljević headed this body between 1939 and 1941. * Following the April 1941

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was p ...

the

(NDH), an Axis-allied puppet state which included most of the territories of present-day Croatia and

, was established. The Zagreb-based football federation thus began to govern football in the entire territory of NDH and continued to organize national-level league championship during World War II. During this period NDH was admitted to

and organised 14 international friendlies involving Croatia. Presidents between 1941 and 1945 headed the HNS during this era. * After 1945 and the establishment of the communist

, the HNS again became one of its regional federations, charged with governing football in SR Croatia, which became one of Yugoslavia's six federal republics. Presidents from 1945–1990 headed the HNS in this period. * After Croatia proclaimed independence in 1991 and the

the HNS became the top football governing body of the newly independent nations. The country was internationally recognized by early 1992, and HNS was admitted to FIFA (again) in July 1992 and to UEFA in June 1993. ;List of presidents (1912–1990) *

(1912–1914) * Vladimir Očić (1914) * Milan Graf (1914–1919) * Ivo Kraljević (1939–1941) *

Rudolf Hitrec Rudolf Hitrec (12 April 1903 in Zagreb – 13 January 1970 in Zagreb) was a Croatian footballer and international manager. Club career He played for Concordia Zagreb from 1919 to 1921 and Građanski Zagreb from 1921 to 1930. He won the nationa ...

(1941–1942) * Vatroslav Petek (1942–1944) * Rinaldo Čulić (1944–1945) * Mijo Hršak (1945–1947) * Lazo Vračarić (1947–1950) * Boris Bakrač (1950–1953) * Vlado Ranogajec (1953–1957) * Mirko Oklobdžija (1957–1959) * Pero Splivalo (1959–1965) * Luka Bajakić (1965–1966) *

Bruno Knežević Bruno Knežević (12 March 1915 – 26 March 1982) was a Croatian footballer. He was president of the Football Federation of Croatia, a subassociation of the Football Federation of Yugoslavia, from 1968 to 1971. International career He made h ...

(1966–1971) * Ivan Kolić (1971–1976) * Vlado Bogatec (1976–1978) * Ljubo Španjol (1978–1981) * Željko Huber (1981–1982) * Dušan Veselinović (1982–1984) * Milivoj Ražov (1984–1985) * Adam Sušanj (1985–1986) * Antun Ćilić (1986–1988) * Paško Viđak (1988–1990) ;List of presidents (1990–present) * Mladen Vedriš (September 1990 – July 1994) *

Damir Matovinović Damir Matovinović (born April 6, 1940) is a Croatian retired football referee. He is mostly known for supervising one match (between Brazil and New Zealand) at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , ...

(acting; 8 July 1994 – 10 March 1995) * Đuro Brodarac (10 March 1995 – 8 June 1995) *

Nadan Vidošević Nadan Vidošević (born 30 January 1960) is a Croatian politician, businessman and entrepreneur arrested on 12 November 2013, on the charge of misappropriating 32.9 million kunas (US$5,784.363) from Croatian Chamber of Commerce. He was a long-time ...

(8 June 1995 – 17 August 1996) * Josip Šoić (17 August 1996 – 2 June 1997) *

Branko Mikša Branko Mikša (born 13 February 1947) is a Croatian retired politician. He was Minister of Trade (1992), Minister of Tourism and Trade (1992–93), and later Mayor of Zagreb from April 1993 to March 1996, following the 1993 local election. Du ...

(2 June 1997 – 5 October 1998) * Vlatko Marković (18 December 1998 – 5 July 2012) * Davor Šuker (5 July 2012 – 29 July 2021) * Marijan Kustić (29 July 2021 – present)

Competitions

It organizes the following competitions: ;Men's football *

; First league * 1. NL (or ''Prva NL''); Second league * 2. NL (or ''Druga NL''); Third league * 3. NL (or ''Treća NL''): Fourth league *

Croatian Football Cup The Hrvatski nogometni kup ( eng, Croatian football cup), also colloquially known as Rabuzinovo sunce (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after th ...

* Croatian Football Super Cup ;Women's football * 1. HNLŽ (or ''Prva HNL za žene''); First Women's Division * 2. HNLŽ (or D''ruga HNL za žene''); Second Women's Division * Croatian Women's Cup ;Youth football * 1. HNL Academy; First league for academy sides, with three age categories for boys: Under 19 (''Juniori''), Under 17 (''Kadeti'') and Under 15 (''Pioniri''), and two for girls Under 17 (''Kadetkinje'') and Under 15 (''Pionirke''). ;Futsal * 1. HMNL (or Prva HMNL): First league * 2. HMNL (or Druga HMNL): Second league * 1. HMNLŽ (or Prva HMNLŽ): First women's league ;Beach Soccer * 1. HNLP (or Prva HNLP)

National teams

The Croatian Football Federation also organises national football teams representing Croatia at all age levels: ;Men's *

Croatia national football team The Croatia national football team ( hr, Hrvatska nogometna reprezentacija) represents Croatia in international Association football, football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football ...

(currently managed by

Zlatko Dalić Zlatko Dalić (; born 26 October 1966) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player. He is the manager of the Croatia national team since 2017 and led them to a runners-up finish at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and third place at the ...

) * Croatia U21 national football team (currently managed by

Igor Bišćan Igor Bišćan (; born 4 May 1978) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Croatia national under-21 team. In his playing career, he was a versatile player and could play almost every position in th ...

) * Croatia U20 national football team (currently managed by Ognjen Vukojević) * Croatia U19 national football team (currently managed by Josip Šimunić) * Croatia U18 national football team (currently managed by Josip Šimunić) * Croatia U17 national football team (currently managed by

Tomislav Rukavina Tomislav Rukavina (born 14 October 1974) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Croatia national U-17 team. Club career In 1992 Rukavina started his football career in his hometown of Osijek, bef ...

) * Croatia U16 national football team (currently managed by

) * Croatia U15 national football team (currently managed by Sergej Milivojević) ;Women's * Croatia women's national football team (currently managed by Nenad Gračan) * Croatia women's U19 national football team (currently managed by Božidar Miletić) * Croatia women's U17 national football team (currently managed by Stella Gotal) * Croatia women's U15 national football team (currently managed by Božidar Miletić) ;Futsal *

Croatia national futsal team The Croatia national futsal team represents Croatia during international futsal competitions and is controlled by the Croatian Football Federation and represents the country in international futsal competitions, such as the FIFA Futsal World Cup an ...

(currently managed by Marinko Mavrović) * Croatia U19 national futsal team (currently managed by Duje Maretić) * Croatia women's national futsal team (currently managed by Luka Marinović) ;Beach soccer * Croatia beach soccer national team (currently managed by Emanuel Melon)

References

External links

Official website

at FIFA.com
Croatia
at

UEFA.com Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

{{Authority control

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Football in Croatia Futsal in Croatia

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Sports organizations established in 1912 1912 establishments in Austria-Hungary