The 2012–13 Croatian First Football League (officially known as the MAXtv Prva Liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 22nd 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 21 July 2012 and ended on 26 May 2013. The league was contested by 12 teams, down from 16 in 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 ...

were the defending champions, having won their seventh consecutive title in 2011–12.

Format changes

The league was contested by twelve teams, four fewer than in the previous season, with each club playing every other club three times for a total of 33 rounds (last time the system was used in the 2008–09 season). On 13 April 2012, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2012–13 season was completed. For the 2012–13 Prva HNL, only three out of twenty applied clubs were issued a top level license:

, Lokomotiva and NK Zagreb. In the second stage of licensing procedure clubs that didn't get a license appealed on the decision and provided new facts and arguments. On 15 May 2012, it was announced that all remaining Prva HNL clubs from the previous season were granted top level license, except for

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 ...

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...

and

Varaždin Varaždin ( or ; , also known by #Name, alternative names) is a city in Northern Croatia, north-east of Zagreb. The total population is 46,946, with 38,839 in the city settlement itself (2011). The city is best known for its baroque buildings, ...

. Only one team from

Druga HNL The Prva nogometna liga (), commonly Prva NL or 1. NL, is the second tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was formed in 1991 with the breakup of Yugoslavia and the dissolution of the Yugoslav Second League. The 1. NL is ope ...

acquired the top level license: Hrvatski Dragovoljac, however, they didn't manage to finish the season within top two places which would secure them promotion. Since none of the top two teams from Druga HNL acquired top level license, the 12th placed team from the 2011–12 Prva HNL were allowed to stay. If that wasn't the case, Inter Zaprešić and

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

would have needed to play a two-legged play-off match to decide who gets relegated since they were equal on all of the tiebreakers.

Teams

The following is a complete list of teams which contested the 2012–13 Prva HNL.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Every team will play three times against each other team for a total of 33 matches. The first 22 matchdays will consist of a regular double round-robin schedule. The league standings at this point will then be used to determine the games for the last 11 matchdays.

Top goalscorers

''As of 21 July 2013; Source:
Sportnet.hrUEFA.com
'

Awards

Annual awards

References

External links

*
Prva HNL
at UEFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Prva Hnl, 2012-13 2012-13 Cro 1