Croatian Football Season 2023/24

[Marin32]

Of course I prefer a single final but I could understand a 2 leg final if whole competition or most part of it is at same way. But when the only 2 leg tie is the final it doesn't make any sense. Even worse the 2nd leg is at 30/5 only 2 weeks before the beginning of EURO.
What was the reason for the change?

At last year's final (Hajduk 2-0 Šibenik, played at Rujevica, Rijeka) Ultras ruined part of the stadium and Rijeka sent the bill to Croatia's FA as they were the organizators. And as you could guess HNS doesn't like spending money.

Can't Croatia's FA simply put a fine to the clubs for the damages and take the money from them ?

They really just wanted to get rid of it and were saying "oh but then a team in the final would get more money because of ticket sales" and so on.

[mspm89]

Certain Croatian user(s) kept hyping Hajduk up all season to finally break their drought, but I hadn't checked the table myself. Instead, it most likely will be Rijeka with their 2nd league title in the last what? 8 years?

[Marin32]

Certain Croatian user(s) kept hyping Hajduk up all season to finally break their drought, but I hadn't checked the table myself. Instead, it most likely will be Rijeka with their 2nd league title in the last what? 8 years?

7 years. And deservedly so. They won 12 out of their last 13 games (only lost to Dinamo away from a penalty in the last second). Including a comeback at Hajduk. Not to mention that they aren't individually the best, they have great synergy and nice football and are really the only team worth watching.

Btw, the schedule for the cup final(s) changed at the request of both clubs.

15th May in Zagreb.
22nd May in Rijeka.

[babaluj1]

Dinamo destroyed Hajduk with two victories in Split in the last 7 days. Dinamo won the championship game with a lot of luck, in a match where Hajduk missed its chances. To make matters worse for Hajduk, Marko Livaja was also injured. In the second game in Split, Dinamo literally ran over Hajduk, especially in the first half. Hajduk fell apart and dropped out of the race for the league title, as well as from the Cup. What Hajduk may still be able to do is get second place in the championship, but even that will be difficult with so many injured players and coach Karoglan who is not up to the tasks the club expects from him. Hajduk should beat Rijeka tomorrow in the Adriatic derby to maintain some kind of connection behind the leaders. Rijeka and Dinamo will decide between themselves the winner of the Cup, as well as the champion.

[Marin32]

Rudeš 2-3 Osijek
Lokomotiva 1-1 Gorica
Varaždin 0-1 Slaven
Dinamo 4-1 Istra
Rijeka 1-0 Hajduk

Rijeka swept Hajduk aside and are sailing towards the title. Deservedly so. Rijeka v Dinamo in a few weeks will be very interesting. Osijek in the lead in the top 4 battle.

29/36

1. Rijeka 29 57:20 65
2. Dinamo 28 52:23 60
3. Hajduk 29 39:18 55
4. Lokomotiva 29 39:31 41
5. Osijek 29 49:38 42
6. Gorica 29 29:35 35
7. Varaždin 28 32:37 33
8. Istra 29 25:47 28
9. Slaven 29 33:54 27
10. Rudeš 29 12:64 7

Matchday 30:

Friday
Rudeš - Slaven 17:00

Saturday
Varaždin - Lokomotiva 16:50
Gorica - Dinamo 19:00

Sunday
Hajduk - Osijek 16:30
Istra - Rijeka 19:00

[Marin32]

Hajduk's supervisory board sacked the club president Jakobušić after the 4th loss in a row and exiting the title race. But also for not fulfilling the club strategy and plans that he himself put forth (winning the championship twice in the 2021-27 cycle and being top 2 every year, participating in the UCL, UEL, ECL knockouts, etc.). He will be remembered by Hajduk fans as the president that brought Hajduk from the dead during the 20/21 season and kept on growing.

Club coach Mislav Karoglan also left the manager position. He first offered to resign after the Cup exit on Wednesday, but it was denied. Now he and the sports director decided that a mutual termination was the best choice. Jure Ivanković, the assistant manager will be the caretaker until the end of season.

The next president is already decided by the SB and will be announced publicly in a few weeks. He will decide on the future of the sports director, coaches and the vision of the club for the next 4 years.

[babaluj1]

After another unsuccessful season, Hajduk is starting a general cleaning. The president of the club, Jakobušić, as well as the coach Karoglan, have been fired. The third place in the championship and the semi-finals of the Cup cannot satisfy Hajduk fans. Jakobušić greatly improved the club in terms of organization, the number of club members increased to over 100,000, Hajduk brought in a lot of famous players during his tenure, won 2 Cups, but the results in the championship and European qualifications were absent.
In Hajduk, they made the most mistakes with the coaches, that's why there was neither a nice flowing game, nor real results. And the winter preparations were a total failure, it is unbelievable that half of their first team was injured. A hard crash, let's hope that in the next season with new leadership, it will be more successful. The same applies to Osijek, which failed this season.

[Marin32]

Rudeš 1-3 Slaven
Varaždin 0-2 Lokomotiva
Gorica 0-2 Dinamo
Hajduk 1-2 Osijek
Istra 0-2 Rijeka

Away wins. No change in the title and Europe battles. Hajduk's 5th loss in a row (matching a 1980(!) club record), 4 of those are at home. Utter apathy in Split. Rudeš is officially relegated

29/36

1. Rijeka 30 59:20 68
2. Dinamo 29 54:23 63
3. Hajduk 30 40:20 55
4. Osijek 30 51:39 45
5. Lokomotiva 30 41:31 44
6. Gorica 30 29:37 35
7. Varaždin 29 32:39 33
8. Slaven 30 36:55 30
9. Istra 30 25:49 28
10. Rudeš 30 13:67 7

Postponed matches:

Wednesday
Dinamo - Varaždin 17:00


Matchday 31:

Saturday
Osijek - Istra 17:00
Slaven - Hajduk 19:10

Sunday
Lokomotiva - Dinamo 17:00
Rijeka - Gorica 19:30

Monday
Rudeš - Varaždin 17:00

[nogomet]

Lokomotiva hosts Dinamo and then Rijeka in back-to-back rounds. Lokomotiva lost only one league game this entire calendar year, so these games may decide the title in the end should Dinamo or Rijeka slip up there.

[Greyn]

Last 2 matches between Lokomotiva and Dinamo ended with a 2-2 draw and a 3-0 away win for Lokomotiva. Does it mean that "close cooperation" between these two clubs is over? I hope so, since it would make the HNL a much more "healthy" league without free points for any club. Presently we have such a cooperation in Poland between Lech Poznań and Warta Poznań and it pisses me off. Lech basically starts every season with +6 points.

[Marin32]

Last 2 matches between Lokomotiva and Dinamo ended with a 2-2 draw and a 3-0 away win for Lokomotiva. Does it mean that "close cooperation" between these two clubs is over? I hope so, since it would make the HNL a much more "healthy" league without free points for any club. Presently we have such a cooperation in Poland between Lech Poznań and Warta Poznań and it pisses me off. Lech basically starts every season with +6 points.

They're still very friendly clubs, and leftovers (Lokomotiva being a sort of youth academy of Dinamo, often also the haven for Dinamo loans) of the extremely close cooperations are still there. But at least in the sporting sense, as in actual matches, it's basically gone.

[Greyn]

Good to hear that. Additionally Lokomotiva is fighting for an European spot, so I think they should try to win their match vs Dinamo as much as vs Rijeka.

A bit sad to see Hajduk collapsing. Hopefully it is just a temporary crisis. Maybe they will somehow reach ECL GS next season. They need some sort of success to improve atmosphere in the club and continue developing.

[babaluj1]

The 31st round of Lokomotiva-Dinamo, the 32nd round of Lokomotiva-Rijeka, the 33rd round of Rijeka- Dinamo, the 34th round of Dinamo-Osijek and the 35th round of Osijek-Rijeka should be followed. These are the games that will decide the new champion, it would be good if German or Italian judges would judge it. The same applies to the match between Osijek and Lokomotiva in the 33rd round for the fourth place. Let it be fair and let the better team win.

[Marin32]

The 31st round of Lokomotiva-Dinamo, the 32nd round of Lokomotiva-Rijeka, the 33rd round of Rijeka- Dinamo, the 34th round of Dinamo-Osijek and the 35th round of Osijek-Rijeka should be followed. These are the games that will decide the new champion, it would be good if German or Italian judges would judge it. The same applies to the match between Osijek and Lokomotiva in the 33rd round for the fourth place. Let it be fair and let the better team win.

I think the most probable scenario is foreign referees only at Rijeka - Dinamo (+ the final)

[babaluj1]

The 31st round of Lokomotiva-Dinamo, the 32nd round of Lokomotiva-Rijeka, the 33rd round of Rijeka- Dinamo, the 34th round of Dinamo-Osijek and the 35th round of Osijek-Rijeka should be followed. These are the games that will decide the new champion, it would be good if German or Italian judges would judge it. The same applies to the match between Osijek and Lokomotiva in the 33rd round for the fourth place. Let it be fair and let the better team win.

I think the most probable scenario is foreign referees only at Rijeka - Dinamo (+ the final)

Who trusts Croatian football referees? We all remember that they already stole one league title from Rijeka in the last round 1999. when they did not concede a regular goal against Osijek. Four days after that, there was an even bigger robbery in the Cup final, where the referees massacred Cibalia, which was a much better team against Osijek, because Osijek was promised the Cup.
https://www.index.hr/sport/clanak/dvije ... 85706.aspx
In order for such robberies not to be repeated, quality foreign referees should be engaged in the finish of the championship. We all know that the Croatian Football Association = Dinamo.