The 2017–18 Croatian First Football League (officially Hrvatski Telekom Prva liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 27th season of the Croatian First Football League, 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 14 July 2017 and ended on 19 May 2018.

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 ...

were the defending champions, who have won their first Croatian league title and ended Dinamo Zagreb's consecutive 11-season reign the previous season. Dinamo Zagreb ultimately reclaimed the title by May 2018, their 19th since the league's inception, with Rijeka ending close second. The league was contested by 10 teams.

Teams

On 21 April 2017, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2017–18 season was complete. For the 2017–18 Prva HNL, only seven clubs were issued a top level license:

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 ...

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

, Inter Zaprešić, Lokomotiva,

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

and Slaven Belupo. All of these clubs except Inter Zaprešić were also issued a license for participating in

UEFA competitions UEFA competitions (), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur association football and futsal. Th ...

. In the second stage of licensing, clubs that were not licensed in the first stage can appeal on the decision. On 23 May 2017, it was announced that all remaining Prva HNL clubs except RNK Split were granted top level license. Four teams from Druga HNL acquired the top level license: Gorica, Rudeš,

Solin Solin is a town and a suburb of Split, in Split-Dalmatia county, Croatia. It is situated right northeast of Split, on the Adriatic Sea and the river Jadro. Solin developed on the location of ancient city of ''Salona'', which was the capital o ...

and NK Zagreb.

Stadia and locations

* ¹ Lokomotiva and Rudeš host their home matches at

Stadion Kranjčevićeva Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj ulici (''Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević, Kranjčević Street Stadium''), also known as Stadion Concordije between 1921 and 1945, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Trešnjevka neighbourhood, in the Croatian capital ...

as their own grounds failed to get license for top level football. The stadium was originally the home ground of third-level side NK Zagreb.

Teams by county

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

League table

Results

Each team plays home-and-away against every other team in the league twice, for a total of 36 matches each played.

Positions by round

Relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, ninth placed team Istra 1961 will contest a two-legged relegation play-off tie against

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, ...

, runners-up of the 2017–18 Croatian Second Football League.

First leg

Second leg

''Istra 1961 won 3–2 on aggregate.''

Statistics

Top scorers

SofaScore
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Awards

Annual awards

References

External links

Official website

Croatian First League
at UEFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Croatian First Football League, 2017-18 2017-18 1 2017–18 in European association football leagues