The Croatian 1 HNL is also known as the Croatian First Football League. This is the leading domestic football league competition in Croatia and it has gone through a number of different name changes over the years as a result of different sponsorship deals. The Croatian First Football League was first started back in 1992.
The winner of the Croatian First Football League will gain entry in the UEFA Champions League qualification stages. Dinamo Zagreb has dominated the Croatian First Football League since its formation, having won 20 titles in this timeframe.
The history of the Croatian 1 HNL
It was in 1991 that the Croatian 1 HNL was officially created. This came after the splitting up of the Yugoslav First League. The Croatian First Football League is under the operation of the Croatian Football Federation. The system of the league and the number of teams taking part has changed a few times over the years.
In the first couple of seasons of the Croatian First Football League, there were two points given to a team when winning a game, for example, changing to three points a few years later. The Croatian First Football League season kicks off towards the end of July or at the beginning of August. It runs all of the way up until May. There is a two-month break that comes into effect during December, January and February.
In the first iteration of the Croatian First Football League in 1992, there were a dozen clubs taking part. This number expanded out to 18 clubs the following year, which is the most teams in history to have partaken in this competition. The number of teams in the Croatian First Football League has changed a lot in the intervening years. As of the 2019/2020 season, there were just ten teams partaking in the league competition.
In previous years, the Croatian First Football League has been split into two groups. In its 29th season in 2019/2020, there are ten teams taking part. Half of these teams had previously taken part in the Yugoslav First League. Of the dozen teams to have founded the league, just four of them have never been relegated from the Croatian First Football League. These are Rijeka, Osijek, Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb.
As mentioned, Dinamo Zagreb has been the champion in 20 of the 29 Croatian First Football League seasons. Between the 2005/2006 season and the 2015/2016 season, Dinamo Zagreb won eleven consecutive Croatian First Football League titles. Hajduk Split has won six titles in the history of the Croatian First Football League, the last of which came in the 2004/2005 season. The other teams to have won a Croatian First Football League title are NK Zagreb and Rijeka.
Performance of Croatian First Football League teams in Europe
The teams in the Croatian First Football League always have the goal of making progress into the European competitions. These events hold a lot of prestige, no tot mention the large prize money that comes along with doing well.
There have only been five occasions when Croatian First Football League teams have made it to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. The only Croatian team to have made it to the group stages of this competition was Hajduk Split. This came during the 1994/1995 season when it came second behind Benfica in the group stages. However, they lost out to the eventual champions that year, Ajax in the quarter-finals.
Currently, the Croatian First Football League is ranked at number 15 in the UEFA’s rankings of the domestic football league competitions in Europe. This puts the Croatian First Football League ahead of the likes of the Danish Superliga, the Swiss Super League and the Cypriot First Division.
Attendance levels of Croatian First Football League games have dropped somewhat in recent years. A lot of this could have to do with the dominance of Dinamo Zagreb in recent years. For the 2018/2019 season, there were 180 matches with the total attendance being 478,760 for the season. On average, there were 2,660 people attending Croatian First Football League matches.
Betting on the Croatian First Football League
Most bookmakers will have a wide variety of markets available for you to bet on games in the Croatian First Football League. While Dinamo Zagreb has been dominating for many years, the other teams in the league are a lot more evenly matched. This can present different betting opportunities for you. There is also the ability to utilise handicap betting when Dinamo Zagreb is involved in a given fixture.
