# 2016–17 Croatian First Football League

The 2016–17 Croatian First Football League (officially MAXtv Prva liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 26th season of the Croatian First Football League, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The fixtures were announced on 15 June 2016. The season started on 15 July 2016 and finished on 27 May 2017. The league was contested by 10 teams. Rijeka won their first ever title, which broke Dinamo Zagreb's dominance of eleven consecutive titles.

## Teams

On 22 April 2016, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2016–17 season was complete. For the 2016–17 Prva HNL, only seven clubs were issued a top level license: Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Istra 1961, Lokomotiva, Rijeka, Slaven Belupo and NK Zagreb. These clubs were also issued a license for participating in UEFA competitions. In the second stage of licensing, clubs that were not licensed in the first stage appealed the decision. On 23 May 2016, it was announced that all remaining Prva HNL clubs were granted top level license. Only two teams from Druga HNL acquired the top level license: Cibalia and Šibenik.
The following teams participated in the 2016–17 Prva HNL.

### Stadia and locations

| Stadium | City | Home club | Licensed club(s) | Capacity |
| Maksimir | Zagreb | Dinamo Zagreb | | 38,079 |
| Poljud | Split | Hajduk Split | | 34,448 |
| Gradski vrt | Osijek | Osijek | | 22,050 |
| Stadion HNK Cibalia | Vinkovci | Cibalia | | 9,958 |
| Aldo Drosina | Pula | Istra 1961 | | 8,923 |
| Kranjčevićeva | Zagreb | Zagreb | Lokomotiva | 8,850 |
| Rujevica | Rijeka | Rijeka | | 6,134 |
| ŠRC Zaprešić | Zaprešić | Inter Zaprešić | | 5,228 |
| Park Mladeži | Split | RNK Split | | 4,075 |
| Gradski stadion | Koprivnica | Slaven Belupo | | 3,134 |

### Personnel and kits

| Club | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Sponsors |
| Cibalia | Mladen Bartolović | Frane Vitaić | Jako | |
| Dinamo Zagreb | Ivaylo Petev | Domagoj Antolić | Puma | |
| Hajduk Split | Joan Carrillo | Zoran Nižić | Macron | Tommy |
| Inter Zaprešić | Samir Toplak | Ivan Čović | Joma | Veleučilište Baltazar Zaprešić |
| Istra 1961 | Darko Raić-Sudar | Goran Roce | Nike | Croatia Osiguranje |
| Lokomotiva | Mario Tokić | Luka Capan | Nike | Crodux |
| Osijek | Zoran Zekić | Borna Barišić | Nike | Osječko |
| Rijeka | Matjaž Kek | Mate Maleš | Jako | Sava Osiguranje |
| Slaven Belupo | Željko Kopić | Vedran Purić | adidas | Belupo |
| RNK Split | Bruno Akrapović | Tomislav Duka | Jako | Skladgradnja |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| Lokomotiva | Sreten Ćuk | Signed by Persepolis | 30 May 2016 | Valentin Barišić | 30 May 2016 | Pre-season |
| Hajduk Split | Damir Burić | Removed from position | 2 June 2016 | Marijan Pušnik | 2 June 2016 | Pre-season |
| Dinamo Zagreb | Zoran Mamić | Signed by Al-Nassr | 20 June 2016 | Zlatko Kranjčar | 23 June 2016 | Pre-season |
| Lokomotiva | Valentin Barišić | Removed from position | 6 July 2016 | Mario Tokić (caretaker) | – | Pre-season |
| Istra 1961 | Andrej Panadić | Resigned | 18 July 2016 | Goran Tomić | 26 July 2016 | 6th |
| RNK Split | Goran Sablić | Resigned | 18 July 2016 | Vjekoslav Lokica | 20 July 2016 | 10th |
| Lokomotiva | Mario Tokić (caretaker) | Signing of Ivković | – | Tomislav Ivković | 23 July 2016 | 7th |
| Dinamo Zagreb | Zlatko Kranjčar | Resigned | 18 September 2016 | Željko Sopić (caretaker) | – | 3rd |
| Dinamo Zagreb | Željko Sopić (caretaker) | Signing of Petev | – | Ivaylo Petev | 29 September 2016 | 3rd |
| Lokomotiva | Tomislav Ivković | Signed by Al-Faisaly | 14 November 2016 | Mario Tokić | 14 November 2016 | 6th |
| Cibalia | Stanko Mršić | Removed from position | 15 November 2016 | Siniša Sesar (caretaker) | – | 9th |
| Istra 1961 | Goran Tomić | Signed by Shenzhen | 29 November 2016 | Darko Raić-Sudar (caretaker) | – | 5th |
| Hajduk Split | Marijan Pušnik | Removed from position | 1 December 2016 | Joan Carrillo | 5 December 2016 | 3rd |
| Istra 1961 | Darko Raić-Sudar (caretaker) | Signing of Tot | – | Marijo Tot | 30 December 2016 | 8th |
| Cibalia | Siniša Sesar (caretaker) | Signing of Pacult | – | Peter Pacult | 7 January 2017 | 10th |
| RNK Split | Vjekoslav Lokica | Resigned | 9 February 2017 | Bruno Akrapović | 12 February 2017 | 9th |
| Cibalia | Peter Pacult | Resigned | 23 March 2017 | Mladen Bartolović | 27 March 2017 | 10th |
| Istra 1961 | Marijo Tot | Removed from position | 19 May 2017 | Darko Raić-Sudar (caretaker) | – | 7th |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rijeka (C) | 36 | 27 | 7 | 2 | 71 | 23 | +48 | 88 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Dinamo Zagreb | 36 | 27 | 5 | 4 | 68 | 24 | +44 | 86 | Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round |
| 3 | Hajduk Split | 36 | 20 | 9 | 7 | 70 | 31 | +39 | 69 | Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round |
| 4 | Osijek | 36 | 20 | 6 | 10 | 52 | 37 | +15 | 66 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Lokomotiva | 36 | 12 | 8 | 16 | 41 | 38 | +3 | 44 | |
| 6 | Istra 1961 | 36 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 33 | 49 | −16 | 39 | |
| 7 | Slaven Belupo | 36 | 9 | 11 | 16 | 36 | 45 | −9 | 38 | |
| 8 | Inter Zaprešić | 36 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 26 | 57 | −31 | 28 | |
| 9 | Cibalia (O) | 36 | 4 | 9 | 23 | 26 | 79 | −53 | 21 | Qualification to Relegation play-offs |
| 10 | RNK Split (R) | 36 | 3 | 9 | 24 | 12 | 52 | −40 | 18 | Relegation to Croatian Third Football League |
* ↑ Since winners of 2016–17 Croatian Football Cup, Rijeka, qualified for Champions League, the spot awarded to the cup winner (Europa League third qualifying round) was passed to the runners-up and all other spots were adjusted accordingly.

## Results

Each team plays home-and-away against every other team in the league twice, for a total of 36 matches each played.
| Home \ Away | CIB | DIN | HAJ | INT | IST | LOK | OSI | RIJ | SLA | SPL | CIB | DIN | HAJ | INT | IST | LOK | OSI | RIJ | SLA | SPL |
| Cibalia | — | 0–2 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 3–0 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 6–0 | — | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 4–0 |
| Hajduk Split | 6–1 | 0–4 | — | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | — | 6–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 5–2 |
| Inter Zaprešić | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–3 | — | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Istra 1961 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 4–1 | — | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Lokomotiva | 4–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 2–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| Osijek | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | 2–3 | 3–0 | 4–0 |
| Rijeka | 2–0 | 5–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | — | 3–2 | 2–0 |
| Slaven Belupo | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 0–0 | — | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | — | 0–1 |
| RNK Split | 2–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 3–0 | — | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | — |

## Relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, ninth placed Cibalia qualified for a two-legged relegation play-off tie against Gorica, runners-up of the 2016–17 Croatian Second Football League.

### Second leg

Cibalia won 5–1 on aggregate.

## Statistics
### Top scorers

    As of 27 May 2017
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Márkó Futács | Hajduk Split | 18 |
| 2 | El Arabi Hillel Soudani | Dinamo Zagreb | 17 |
| 3 | Franko Andrijašević | Rijeka | 16 |
| 3 | Armin Hodžić | Dinamo Zagreb | 16 |
| 5 | Muzafer Ejupi | Osijek | 14 |
| 6 | Alexander Gorgon | Rijeka | 12 |
| 7 | Roman Bezjak | Rijeka | 11 |
| 7 | Ante Erceg | Hajduk Split | 11 |
| 7 | Mario Gavranović | Rijeka | 11 |
| 7 | Jakov Puljić | Inter Zaprešić | 11 |

## Awards
### Annual awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| Player of the Season | Franko Andrijašević | Rijeka |
| Manager of the Season | Matjaž Kek | Rijeka |
| Young Player of the Season | Lovro Majer | Lokomotiva |
Team of the Year :
| Goalkeeper | Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb) | Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb) | Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb) | Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb) | Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb) | Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb) | Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb) |
| Defence | Stefan Ristovski (Rijeka) | Stefan Ristovski (Rijeka) | Marko Lešković (Dinamo Zagreb) | Marko Lešković (Dinamo Zagreb) | Josip Elez (Rijeka) | Josip Elez (Rijeka) | Borna Barišić (Osijek) |
| Midfield | Hillal Soudani (Dinamo Zagreb) | Josip Mišić (Rijeka) | Josip Mišić (Rijeka) | Franko Andrijašević (Rijeka) | Franko Andrijašević (Rijeka) | Filip Bradarić (Rijeka) | Filip Bradarić (Rijeka) |
| Attack | Mario Gavranović (Rijeka) | Mario Gavranović (Rijeka) | Mario Gavranović (Rijeka) | Márkó Futács (Hajduk Split) | Márkó Futács (Hajduk Split) | Márkó Futács (Hajduk Split) | Márkó Futács (Hajduk Split) |