2022–23 Croatian Football League Explained

The 2022–23 Croatian Football League (officially SuperSport Hrvatska nogometna liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 32nd season of the Croatian top division football, the national championship for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 15 July 2022. Due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the last round before the winter break was held on 12–13 November. The league resumed on 21 January and concluded on 28 May 2023.

Teams

The following teams competed in the 2022–23 HNL.

Changes

Varaždin (promoted after a one-year absence) was promoted from the 2021–22 Druga HNL. Hrvatski Dragovoljac (relegated after single season in the top flight) was relegated to 2022–23 Prva NL.

Stadia and locations

Dinamo Zagreb	Gorica	Hajduk Split	Istra 1961
Stadion Maksimir	Gradski stadion Velika Gorica		Stadion Aldo Drosina
Capacity: 24,851	Capacity: 4,536	Capacity: 33,987	Capacity: 9,921
Lokomotiva	<		--CLUBS-->	Osijek
Stadion Kranjčevićeva			Stadion Gradski vrt
Capacity: 3,690			Capacity: 18,856
Rijeka	Slaven Belupo	Šibenik	Varaždin
Stadion Rujevica		Stadion Šubićevac	Stadion Varteks
Capacity: 8,191	Capacity: 3,054	Capacity: 3,701	Capacity: 8,818

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Ref.
			24,851	[2]
			4,536	[3]
			33,987	[4]
			9,921	[5]
		Kranjčevićeva1	3,690	[6]
			18,856	[7]
			8,191	[8]
			3,054	[9]
			3,701	[10]
			8,818	[11]

• ¹ Lokomotiva host their home matches at Stadion Kranjčevićeva. The stadium is originally the home ground of fifth-level side NK Zagreb.

Rank	Counties of Croatia	Number of teams	Club(s)
1	City of Zagreb	2	Dinamo Zagreb, Lokomotiva
2	Istria	1	Istra 1961
Koprivnica-Križevci	Slaven Belupo
Osijek-Baranja	Osijek
Primorje-Gorski Kotar	Rijeka
Split-Dalmatia	Hajduk Split
Šibenik-Knin	Šibenik
Varaždin	Varaždin
Zagreb County	Gorica

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Sponsors
			Adidas	PSK
	Željko Sopić		Alpas	Admiral Bet
	Ivan Leko		Macron	Tommy
Istra 1961	Gonzalo García		Kelme	Germania
	Silvijo Čabraja		Macron	—
			2Rule	Mészáros és Mészáros Kft.
			Joma	Sava Osiguranje
			Jako	Belupo
Šibenik		Mario Ćurić	Macron	Favbet
Varaždin			Legea	BURA VENTURES

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Šibenik	[12]	Resigned				Pre-season
Rijeka	[13]	Mutual consent				Pre-season
Rijeka	[14]			(caretaker)		9th
Gorica		Sacked				9th
Osijek						5th
Rijeka	(caretaker)	End of Caretaker spell				10th
Hajduk Split		Mutual consent				4th
Šibenik						7th
Rijeka						8th
Gorica						10th
Hajduk Split		Removed from position				2nd
Šibenik		Sacked				9th
Osijek						3rd
Dinamo Zagreb						1st
Osijek		Mutual consent				4th

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.

Statistics

Top scorers

^[15]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Marko Livaja	Hajduk Split	19
2	Matija Frigan	Rijeka	14
3	Fran Brodić	Varaždin	12
	Luka Ivanušec	Dinamo Zagreb
	Ramón Miérez	Osijek
6	Ante Erceg	Istra 1961	11
7	Jan Mlakar	Hajduk Split	10
	Bruno Petković	Dinamo Zagreb
9	Sandro Kulenović	Lokomotiva	9
10	Monsef Bakrar	Istra 1961	8
	Dion Drena Beljo	Osijek
	Mijo Caktaš	Osijek
	Mislav Oršić	Dinamo Zagreb

Awards

Annual awards

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season[16]	Marko Livaja	Hajduk Split
Manager of the Season[17]	Zoran Zekić	Slaven Belupo
Young Player of the Season[18]	Martin Baturina	Dinamo Zagreb

Team of the Year[19]
Goalkeeper	Dominik Livaković (Dinamo Zagreb)
Defence	Stefan Ristovski (Dinamo Zagreb)	Dino Perić (Dinamo Zagreb)	Josip Šutalo (Dinamo Zagreb)	Dario Melnjak (Hajduk Split)
Midfield	Tonio Teklić (Varaždin)	Martin Baturina (Dinamo Zagreb)		Josip Mišić (Dinamo Zagreb)
Attack	Matija Frigan (Rijeka)	Marko Livaja (Hajduk Split)		Luka Ivanušec (Dinamo Zagreb)

External links

• Official website
• Prva HNL at UEFA.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ova HNL sezona je gotova: Jedva čekate iduću? Donosimo sve najbitnije detalje i datume . gol.hr . 29 May 2022 . hr.
2. Web site: Stadion . gnkdinamo.hr . 22 July 2022.
3. Web site: Povijest kluba . hnk-gorica.hr . 22 July 2022.
4. Web site: Poljud Stadium . hajduk.hr . 22 July 2022.
5. Web site: Stadion Aldo Drosina . nkistra.com . 22 July 2022.
6. Web site: Nogometni stadion Zagreb . sportskiobjekti.hr . 22 July 2022.
7. Web site: Stadion Gradski vrt . nk-osijek.hr . 6 July 2018.
8. Web site: Stadion HNK Rijeka . hnl.hr . 22 July 2022.
9. Web site: Gradski stadion "Ivan Kušek Apaš" . nk-slaven-belupo.hr . 22 July 2022.
10. Web site: Stadion Šubićevac . prvahnl.hr . 13 August 2020.
11. Web site: Stadion Anđelko Herjavec . prvahnl.hr . 13 August 2020.
12. Web site: Računica nakon poraza od Dinama najavio odlazak s klupe Šibenika: "Nema nastavka!" . gol.hr . 29 May 2022 . hr.
13. Web site: Goran Tomić više nije trener Rijeke . 28 May 2022 . HNK Rijeka . 29 May 2022 . hr.
14. Web site: Dragan Tadić više nije trener HNK Rijeka . 16 August 2022 . HNK Rijeka . 16 August 2022 . hr.
15. Web site: HNL 2022/2023 live scores, results, Football Croatia. Flashscore.
16. Web site: Najbolji igrač SuperSport HNL-a 2022/2023 . 2023-07-21 . facebook.com/HUNS.hr . hr.
17. Web site: Najbolji trener SuperSport HNL-a 2022/2023 . 2023-07-21 . facebook.com/HUNS.hr . hr.
18. Web site: Najbolji mladi igrač SuperSport HNL-a 2022/2023 . 2023-07-21 . facebook.com/HUNS.hr . hr.
19. Web site: Najboljih 11 SuperSport HNL-a. 2023-07-21 . facebook.com/HUNS.hr. hr.