The 2002–03 Croatian First Football League was the twelfth season of the
Croatian First Football League
The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establishe ...
, the national championship for men's
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
teams in
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 24 July 2002 and ended on 31 May 2003.
NK Zagreb
Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian football club based in the capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of Croatian footbal ...
were the defending champions, having won their first championship title the previous season.
Dinamo Zagreb
Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...
won the title, after a win against
Varteks on 17 May 2003.
Teams
The league format was changed from the previous
2001–02 season and the number of teams were reduced from sixteen to twelve for the 2002–03 Prva HNL. Because of this, the four bottom-placed teams were automatically relegated to
Croatian Second Football League
The Croatian Second Football League (), commonly Druga NL or 2. NL, is the third tier of the Croatian football league system. The league was established in 1991, following the dissolution of the Yugoslav League. It is operated by the Croatian ...
at the end of the season, while the 11th placed
Šibenik
Šibenik (), historically known as Sebenico (), is a historic town in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka (Croatia), Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is one of the oldest Croatia, Croatian self-governing cities ...
and 12th placed
Kamen Ingrad qualified for the
Relegation play-offs
Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...
. Both clubs then went on to win the two-legged play-off ties against second level sides
Vukovar '91 and
Istra Pula. Therefore, no team was promoted from the
2001–02 Croatian Second Football League and all twelve teams which contested the 2002–03 Prva HNL were also top flight members in the previous season.
Changes from last season
Teams relegated to the
2002–03 Croatian Second Football League
* 13th placed:
Hrvatski Dragovoljac
* 14th placed:
Čakovec
Čakovec (; ; ; ) is a city in Northern Croatia, located around north of Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and close to the borders with Slovenia and Hungary. Čakovec is both the county seat and the largest city of Međimurje County, the northernmo ...
* 15th placed:
Marsonia
* 16th placed:
TŠK Topolovac
Summaries
The following is an overview of teams which competed in the 2002–03 Prva HNL. Manager list is correct as of 24 July 2002, first day of the season.
First stage
Rounds 1–22 results
Championship group
Rounds 23–32 results
Relegation group
Rounds 23–32 results
Relegation play-off
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Top goalscorers
Source
1.hnl.net
See also
*
2002–03 Croatian Second Football League
*
2002–03 Croatian Football Cup
The 2002–03 Croatian Football Cup was the twelfth edition of Croatia's Association football, football knockout competition. GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb were the defending champions, and the cup was won by HNK Hajduk Split, Hajduk Split.
Ca ...
External links
Season statistics at HRNogomet
at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:2002-03 Prva HNL
Croatian Football League seasons
Cro
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