# 1996–97 HNK Rijeka season

The 1996–97 season was the 51st season in Rijeka's history. It was their 6th season in the Prva HNL and 23rd successive top tier season.

## Competitions

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Prva HNL | 18 August 1996 | 1 June 1997 | Matchday 1 | 4th | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 44 | 32 | +12 | 043.33 |
| Croatian Cup | 14 August 1996 | 4 September 1996 | First round | Second round | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 32 | 14 | 7 | 11 | 49 | 34 | +15 | 043.75 |

### Prva HNL
#### Classification

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Hajduk Split | 30 | 18 | 6 | 6 | 53 | 22 | +31 | 60 | Qualification to UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 30 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 51 | 37 | +14 | 49 | Qualification to Intertoto Cup group stage |
| 4 | Rijeka | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 44 | 32 | +12 | 46 | |
| 5 | NK Zagreb | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 43 | 39 | +4 | 45 | Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round |
| 6 | Varteks | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 34 | 35 | −1 | 42 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | D | D | L | W | L | L | L | D | D | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | W | D | W | L | L | L | D | W | L | D | W | W |
| Position | 3 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |

## Matches
### Prva HNL

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Attendance | Rijeka Scorers | Report |
| 1 | 18 Aug | H | Istra | 2 – 0 | 4,000 | Perković, Samardžić | HRnogomet.com |
| 2 | 25 Aug | A | Orijent | 2 – 2 | 6,000 | Ostojić, o.g. | HRnogomet.com |
| 3 | 1 Sep | H | Šibenik | 0 – 0 | 3,500 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 4 | 8 Sep | A | Osijek | 0 – 4 | 1,500 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 5 | 15 Sep | H | Varteks | 1 – 0 | 2,500 | Balaban | HRnogomet.com |
| 6 | 22 Sep | A | Marsonia | 0 – 1 | 1,700 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 7 | 29 Sep | H | Croatia Zagreb | 1 – 2 | 6,000 | Brkić | HRnogomet.com |
| 8 | 13 Oct | A | Hajduk Split | 0 – 1 | 8,000 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 9 | 20 Oct | H | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 2 – 2 | 2,000 | Brkić, Milinović | HRnogomet.com |
| 10 | 27 Oct | H | Mladost 127 | 0 – 0 | 2,000 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 11 | 3 Nov | A | Cibalia | 4 – 1 | 1,500 | Hasančić (2), Brkić, Perković | HRnogomet.com |
| 12 | 17 Nov | H | Segesta | 2 – 0 | 2,500 | Ivančić, Brkić | HRnogomet.com |
| 13 | 24 Nov | A | Zadarkomerc | 0 – 2 | 1,000 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 14 | 1 Dec | H | Inker Zaprešić | 4 – 0 | 1,000 | Hasančić, Tokić, Jedvaj, Perković | HRnogomet.com |
| 15 | 8 Dec | A | Zagreb | 0 – 3 | 400 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 16 | 2 Mar | A | Istra | 2 – 0 | 3,500 | o.g., Brkić | HRnogomet.com |
| 17 | 9 Mar | H | Orijent | 4 – 0 | 6,000 | Brkić (2), Anić, Hasančić | HRnogomet.com |
| 18 | 16 Mar | A | Šibenik | 1 – 0 | 2,000 | Hasančić | HRnogomet.com |
| 19 | 23 Mar | H | Osijek | 2 – 0 | 3,500 | Brkić, Seferović | HRnogomet.com |
| 20 | 5 Apr | A | Varteks | 0 – 0 | 3,000 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 21 | 12 Apr | H | Marsonia | 5 – 3 | 3,000 | Seferović, Hasančić (2), o.g., Brkić | HRnogomet.com |
| 22 | 20 Apr | A | Croatia Zagreb | 0 – 3 | 2,000 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 23 | 26 Apr | H | Hajduk Split | 1 – 3 | 7,000 | Tokić | HRnogomet.com |
| 24 | 3 May | AR | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 2 – 3 | 700 | Tokić, Ivančić | HRnogomet.com |
| 25 | 7 May | A | Mladost 127 | 0 – 0 | 2,500 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 26 | 11 May | H | Cibalia | 3 – 0 | 3,000 | Perković, Hasančić, Milinović | HRnogomet.com |
| 27 | 18 May | A | Segesta | 0 – 1 | 1,000 | | HRnogomet.com |
| 28 | 21 May | H | Zadarkomerc | 1 – 1 | 1,000 | Cimirotič | HRnogomet.com |
| 29 | 25 May | A | Inker Zaprešić | 2 – 0 | 300 | Anić, Hasančić | HRnogomet.com |
| 30 | 1 Jun | H | Zagreb | 3 – 0 | 3,000 | Hasančić, Perković, Cimirotič | HRnogomet.com |
Source: HRnogomet.com

### Croatian Cup

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Rijeka Scorers | Report |
| R1 | 14 Aug | A | Varaždin | 5 – 1 | Marković, Milinović, Hasančić, Perković, Ivančić | HRnogomet.com |
| R2 | 4 Sep | AR | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 0 – 1 (aet) | | HRnogomet.com |
Source: HRnogomet.com

### Squad statistics

Competitive matches only. Appearances in brackets indicate numbers of times the player came on as a substitute.
| Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Name | League | League | Cup | Cup | Total | Total |
| Mladen Žganjer | 14 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 16 (0) | 0 |
| Đoni Tafra | 16 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 16 (0) | 0 |
| Mladen Ivančić | 20 (4) | 2 | 1 (1) | 1 | 21 (5) | 3 |
| Damir Milinović | 26 (0) | 2 | 2 (0) | 1 | 28 (0) | 3 |
| Mario Tokić | 25 (2) | 3 | 2 (0) | 0 | 27 (2) | 3 |
| Mladen Romić | 25 (1) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 27 (1) | 0 |
| Dario Smoje | 12 (2) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 12 (2) | 0 |
| Borimir Perković | 21 (2) | 5 | 2 (0) | 1 | 23 (2) | 6 |
| Senad Brkić | 17 (0) | 9 | 0 (0) | 0 | 17 (0) | 9 |
| Admir Hasančić | 21 (1) | 10 | 1 (0) | 1 | 22 (1) | 11 |
| Stjepan Ostojić | 15 (8) | 1 | 2 (0) | 0 | 17 (8) | 1 |
| Dalibor Višković | 21 (2) | 0 | 1 (1) | 0 | 22 (3) | 0 |
| Zdenko Jedvaj | 16 (1) | 1 | 1 (0) | 0 | 17 (1) | 1 |
| Jasmin Agić | 10 (10) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 10 (10) | 0 |
| Boško Anić | 14 (0) | 2 | 0 (0) | 0 | 14 (0) | 2 |
| Sead Seferović | 10 (6) | 2 | 0 (0) | 0 | 10 (6) | 2 |
| Boško Balaban | 11 (8) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 11 (9) | 1 |
| Branko Panić | 6 (5) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 6 (5) | 0 |
| Sebastjan Cimirotič | 8 (2) | 2 | 0 (0) | 0 | 8 (2) | 2 |
| Renato Pilipović | 0 (7) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (7) | 0 |
| Davor Dželalija | 6 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 6 (0) | 0 |
| Jasmin Samardžić | 0 (6) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (7) | 1 |
| Alen Horvat | 2 (1) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 4 (1) | 0 |
| Elvis Brajković | 5 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 |
| Igor Benedejčič | 5 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 |
| Renato Marković | 2 (7) | 0 | 2 (0) | 1 | 4 (7) | 1 |
| Igor Bernobić | 1 (2) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 1 (3) | 0 |
| Nenad Zorić | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 |
| Andrej Živković | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (2) | 0 |