# 2005–06 Croatian First Football League

The 2005–06 Croatian First Football League (officially known as the Prva HNL Ožujsko for sponsorship reasons) was the fifteenth season of the Croatian First Football League, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 20 July 2005 and ended on 13 May 2006. Hajduk Split were the defending champions, having won their eighteenth championship title the previous season. Dinamo Zagreb won the title, after a win against Osijek on 6 May 2006, which started his eleventh year dominance.

## Teams
### Stadia and personnel

| Team | Manager$^1$ | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Cibalia | Goran Meštrović | Vinkovci | Stadion HNK Cibalia | 10,000 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | Josip Kuže | Zagreb | Stadion Maksimir | 37,168 |
| Hajduk Split | Luka Bonačić | Split | Stadion Poljud | 35,000 |
| Inter Zaprešić | Đuro Bago | Šibenik | Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić | 5,000 |
| Kamen Ingrad | Ivica Matković | Velika | Stadion Kamen Ingrad | 8,000 |
| Međimurje | Stanko Mršić | Čakovec | Stadion SRC Mladost | 8,000 |
| Osijek | Ivo Šušak | Osijek | Stadion Gradski vrt | 19,500 |
| Pula Staro Češko | Krunoslav Jurčić | Pula | Stadion Veruda | 3,000 |
| Rijeka | Dragan Skočić | Rijeka | Stadion Kantrida | 10,275 |
| Slaven Belupo | Elvis Scoria | Koprivnica | Gradski stadion u Koprivnici | 4,000 |
| Varteks | Zlatko Dalić | Varaždin | Stadion Varteks | 10,800 |
| NK Zagreb | Miloš Rus | Zagreb | Stadion Kranjčevićeva | 8,850 |
* $^1$ On final match day of the season, played on 13 May 2006.

## First stage

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Dinamo Zagreb | 22 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 61 | 11 | +50 | 56 | Qualification to championship group |
| 2 | Rijeka | 22 | 14 | 3 | 5 | 42 | 28 | +14 | 45 | Qualification to championship group |
| 3 | Osijek | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 25 | 32 | −7 | 34 | Qualification to championship group |
| 4 | Varteks | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 34 | 35 | −1 | 31 | Qualification to championship group |
| 5 | Hajduk Split | 22 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 28 | 21 | +7 | 29 | Qualification to championship group |
| 6 | Kamen Ingrad | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 26 | 30 | −4 | 29 | Qualification to championship group |
| 7 | Pula Staro Češko | 22 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 29 | 26 | +3 | 28 | Qualification to relegation group |
| 8 | NK Zagreb | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 19 | 27 | −8 | 27 | Qualification to relegation group |
| 9 | Cibalia | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 24 | 35 | −11 | 26 | Qualification to relegation group |
| 10 | Slaven Belupo | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 29 | 38 | −9 | 22 | Qualification to relegation group |
| 11 | Inter Zaprešić | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 17 | 34 | −17 | 22 | Qualification to relegation group |
| 12 | Međimurje | 22 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 26 | 43 | −17 | 21 | Qualification to relegation group |

### Rounds 1–22 results

| Home \ Away | DIN | RIJ | VAR | OSI | HAJ | KAM | PUL | SLA | CIB | ZAG | MEĐ | INT |
| Dinamo Zagreb | | 5–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 |
| Rijeka | 0–1 | | 3–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 |
| Varteks | 2–5 | 1–4 | | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 |
| Osijek | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Hajduk Split | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 6–0 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–2 |
| Kamen Ingrad | 1–5 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–1 |
| Pula Staro Češko | 2–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | | 1–0 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 3–0 |
| Slaven Belupo | 0–2 | 1–3 | 4–3 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 4–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Cibalia | 0–4 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| NK Zagreb | 0–4 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Međimurje | 1–5 | 2–4 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | | 1–2 |
| Inter Zaprešić | 0–6 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | |

## Championship group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Dinamo Zagreb (C) | 32 | 24 | 4 | 4 | 78 | 21 | +57 | 76 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Rijeka | 32 | 20 | 5 | 7 | 61 | 36 | +25 | 65 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Varteks | 32 | 15 | 2 | 15 | 51 | 48 | +3 | 47 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 4 | Osijek | 32 | 13 | 5 | 14 | 31 | 48 | −17 | 44 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup second round |
| 5 | Hajduk Split | 32 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 40 | 35 | +5 | 40 | |
| 6 | Kamen Ingrad | 32 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 33 | 47 | −14 | 38 | |

### Rounds 23–32 results

| Home \ Away | DIN | HAJ | KAM | OSI | RIJ | VAR |
| Dinamo Zagreb | | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| Hajduk Split | 1–0 | | 4–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 2–2 |
| Kamen Ingrad | 1–3 | 1–0 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| Osijek | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | | 0–2 | 0–2 |
| Rijeka | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–1 | | 2–1 |
| Varteks | 3–5 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | |

## Relegation group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation |
| 7 | Pula Staro Češko | 32 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 44 | 36 | +8 | 45 | |
| 8 | Slaven Belupo | 32 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 46 | 48 | −2 | 41 | |
| 9 | Cibalia | 32 | 9 | 10 | 13 | 33 | 47 | −14 | 37 | |
| 10 | NK Zagreb | 32 | 11 | 4 | 17 | 26 | 43 | −17 | 37 | |
| 11 | Međimurje (O) | 32 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 40 | 51 | −11 | 36 | Qualification to relegation play-off |
| 12 | Inter Zaprešić (R) | 32 | 8 | 7 | 17 | 30 | 53 | −23 | 31 | Relegation to Croatian Second Football League |

### Rounds 23–32 results

| Home \ Away | CIB | INT | MEĐ | PUL | SLA | ZAG |
| Cibalia | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Inter Zaprešić | 4–3 | | 0–1 | 1–4 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Međimurje | 4–0 | 2–2 | | 2–0 | 3–4 | 2–0 |
| Pula Staro Češko | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 4–1 |
| Slaven Belupo | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | | 3–0 |
| NK Zagreb | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | |

### Relegation play-off

Playoff wasn't needed after the second-placed Croatian Second Football League team, Belišće, failed to secure a license to compete in Prva HNL. Therefore, Međimurje automatically kept their first-league status for the 2006–07 season.

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Ivan Bošnjak | Dinamo Zagreb | 22 |
| 2 | Eduardo da Silva | Dinamo Zagreb | 21 |
| 3 | Davor Vugrinec | Rijeka | 15 |
| 4 | Leon Benko | Varteks | 14 |
| 4 | Ahmad Sharbini | Rijeka | 14 |
| 6 | Srđan Lakić | Kamen Ingrad | 13 |
| 7 | Igor Mostarlić | Međimurje | 12 |
| 8 | Ivan Jolić | Varteks | 11 |
| 8 | Stiven Rivić | Pula Staro Češko | 11 |
| 10. | Niko Kranjčar | Hajduk Split | 10 |
| 10. | Dino Kresinger | Međimurje | 10 |