# 2016–17 Croatian Second Football League

The 2016–17 Croatian Second Football League (officially FavBet Druga liga for sponsorship reasons) is the 26th season of the Croatian Second Football League, the second level football competition for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 19 August 2016 and ended on 28 May 2017.
The league is contested by twelve teams and played in a triple round robin format, with each team playing every other team three times over 33 rounds. At the end of the previous season Cibalia were promoted, returning to the top flight after three seasons.
The fixtures were announced on 17 July 2016.

## Teams

On 22 April 2016, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2016–17 season was completed. For the 2016–17 Druga HNL, only eight clubs outside of top level were issued a second level license: Dugopolje, Dinamo II, Gorica, Imotski, Lučko, Rijeka II, Sesvete and Solin. In the second stage of licensing procedure clubs that were not licensed in the first round appealed the decision. On 23 May 2016, all remaining Druga HNL were granted second division license, along with third level clubs Novigrad and Vinogradar.

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Coach | City / Town | Stadium | 2015–16 result | Capacity |
| Dinamo II | Mario Cvitanović | Zagreb | Stadion Hitrec-Kacian | 0266th | 5,000 |
| Dugopolje | Miroslav Bojko | Dugopolje | Stadion Hrvatski vitezovi | 0277th | 5,200 |
| Gorica | Davor Mladina | Velika Gorica | Stadion Radnika | 0244th | 8,000 |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | Iztok Kapušin | Zagreb | Stadion NŠC Stjepan Spajić | 03010th | 5,000 |
| Imotski | Vjeran Simunić | Imotski | Stadion Gospin dolac | 0299th | 4,000 |
| Lučko | Dražen Biškup | Zagreb | Stadion Lučko | 0288th | 1,500 |
| Novigrad | Nino Bule | Novigrad | Stadion Lako | 0411st (3. HNL West) | 1,000 |
| Rudeš | Igor Bišćan | Zagreb | ŠC Rudeš | 0255th | 1,000 |
| Sesvete | Denis Bezer | Zagreb | Sv. Josip Radnik | 0233rd | 1,200 |
| Solin | Mirko Labrović | Solin | Stadion pokraj Jadra | 0411st (3. HNL South) | 4,000 |
| Šibenik | Zoran Slavica | Šibenik | Stadion Šubićevac | 0222nd | 8,000 |
| NK Zagreb | Dražen Madunović | Zagreb | Stadion Kranjčevićeva | 01212th (1. HNL) | 8,850 |

### Number of teams by county

| Position | County | Number | Teams |
| 1 | City of Zagreb | 6 | Dinamo Zagreb II, Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Lučko, Rudeš, Sesvete and Zagreb |
| 2 | Split-Dalmatia | 3 | Dugopolje, Imotski and Solin |
| 3 | Istria | 1 | Novigrad |
| 3 | Šibenik-Knin | 1 | Šibenik |
| 3 | Zagreb County | 1 | Gorica |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Rudeš (C, P) | 33 | 17 | 9 | 7 | 43 | 27 | +16 | 60 | Promotion to the Croatian First Football League |
| 2 | Gorica | 33 | 15 | 12 | 6 | 53 | 31 | +22 | 57 | Qualification to the promotion play-off |
| 3 | Solin | 33 | 16 | 7 | 10 | 40 | 36 | +4 | 55 | |
| 4 | Sesvete | 33 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 53 | 36 | +17 | 52 | |
| 5 | Dinamo Zagreb II | 33 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 39 | 32 | +7 | 47 | Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion to the Croatian First Football League |
| 6 | Dugopolje | 33 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 36 | 32 | +4 | 46 | |
| 7 | Šibenik | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 32 | 33 | −1 | 45 | |
| 8 | Novigrad | 33 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 42 | |
| 9 | Lučko | 33 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 34 | 48 | −14 | 38 | |
| 10 | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 33 | 9 | 9 | 15 | 30 | 39 | −9 | 36 | Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League |
| 11 | Imotski (R) | 33 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 36 | 58 | −22 | 31 | Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League |
| 12 | NK Zagreb (R) | 33 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 34 | 50 | −16 | 29 | Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League |

## Results
### Matches 1–22

| Home \ Away | DIN | DUG | GOR | HRD | IMO | LUČ | NOV | RUD | SES | SOL | ŠIB | ZAG |
| Dinamo Zagreb II | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Dugopolje | 1–0 | | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| Gorica | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | | 2–3 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Imotski | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 2–3 |
| Lučko | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| Novigrad | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Rudeš | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 7–1 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Sesvete | 2–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 4–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 |
| Solin | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 3–2 | | 1–1 | 5–4 |
| Šibenik | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | | 1–1 |
| NK Zagreb | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–5 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | |

### Matches 23-33

| Home \ Away | DIN | DUG | GOR | HRD | IMO | LUČ | NOV | RUD | SES | SOL | ŠIB | ZAG |
| Dinamo Zagreb II | | 0–1 | | | | 1–1 | 1–0 | | | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 |
| Dugopolje | | | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | | | | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Gorica | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 2–2 | | 5–0 | | | 1–1 | | |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 0–1 | | | | 4–0 | | 2–0 | | | 1–0 | 0–1 | |
| Imotski | 2–0 | | | | | | 2–1 | | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Lučko | | | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | | 1–1 | 0–2 | | | |
| Novigrad | | 1–1 | | | | 0–1 | | | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Rudeš | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 2–0 | | | | | |
| Sesvete | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | | | 1–3 | | | | |
| Solin | | 2–1 | | | | 2–0 | | 0–1 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Šibenik | | | 2–2 | | | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | | | 2–0 |
| NK Zagreb | | | 0–2 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 0–4 | | | |

## Top scorers

    As of 28 May 2017
| Rank | Player | Club(s) | Goals |
| 1 | Benjamin Tatar | Gorica | 13 |
| 2 | Mario Jelavić | Solin | 12 |
| 3 | Edin Šehić | NK Zagreb | 10 |
| 4 | Tomislav Havojić | Rudeš | 9 |
| 4 | Vedran Mesec | Sesvete | 9 |
| 4 | Miro Slavica | Šibenik | 9 |
| 4 | Tomislav Štrkalj | Sesvete | 9 |
| 8 | Marin Pejić | Gorica | 8 |
| 8 | Martin Vukorepa | Šibenik | 8 |