Only 4 clubs remain in the 2008-2009 edition of the Croatia Cup and as usual, it is dominated by HNL-1 clubs as the all of the semifinalists play in the HNL-1 this season. These clubs include Dinamo Zagreb (the defending HNL-1 and Croatia Cup champion), NK Zagreb, Cibalia, and Hajduk Split (Dinamo Zagreb's biggest rival.
Below are my top 32 rankings for the Croatia Cup (the top 4 cannot change at all as the semifinals do not start until March 2009). The clubs that were eliminated are ranked 5-32 based on when they were eliminated and their goal differences, number of goals scored as well as my opinion on how they played, etc. (the only clubs not ranked are those that were eliminated in the preliminary round).
1. Dinamo Zagreb-- it looks like the defending champion is as dominant as ever. While the other semifinalists had to depend on penalties in the quarterfinals, DInamo Zagreb was able to crush their opponent (Zagora) 7-2 on aggragate in two legs. Zagora is a third division club so Dinamo did not have that much to worry about in this match being that they are an extremely strong club leading the pack in the first division league standings (see my last post).
2. NK Zagreb-- The other division 1 club from Zagreb defeated my favorite division 1 club (Rijeka) 4-2 on penalty kicks.
3. Cibalia- advanced to the semifinals with a 4-2 penalty kick result against Pomorac-- the only division 2 club in the quartefinals.
4. Hajduk Split-- defeated Slaven Belupo 7-6 on penalties to round out the top 4. Currently second in the HNL-1 standings, Hajduk could reclaim the Croatia Cup from rival Dinamo Zagreb, but I really doubt it the way they had to squeeze past Slaven Belupo.
5. Rijeka-- my favorite Croatian club (aside from Dinamo Zagreb) did make it to the quarterfinals--sorry for the mistake I made in my last post saying that they were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Zadar (they actually defeated Zadar in that match). I blame this on the fact that I cannot follow this competition that closely in New York. NK Rijeka was eliminated by NK Zagreb 4-2 on PK's after tying 2-2 on both legs leading to a 4-4 aggragate score. This puts Rijeka just outside the semifinals at #5.
6.Pomorac-- as a division 2 club, this club fared very well against some of the best HNL-1 has to offer. Cibalia defeated them on PKs.
7. Slaven Belupo-- was defeated by Hajduk Split on PKs.
8. Zagora-- Although Dinamo Zagreb crushed Zagora, this div 3 club proved to be a rather strong club when playing against some other good clubs. Since they are a division 3 club, they had to come all the way from the preliminaries in order to make it this far in this tournament and they had to defeat one division 2 club (Karlovac) and one divsion 1 club (Osijek) to do just this.
9. Zadar--eliminated by Rijeka in the second round on penalty kicks.
10. Karlovac
11. Inter Zapresic
12. Moslavina
13. Varteks
14. Konavljanin
15. Oriolik
16. Hrvatski Dragovoljac (translation: Croatian volunteers)-- this division 2 club has a lot of significance even though they are not one of the strongest Croatian clubs out there. The club is based in the neighborhood known as Novi Zagreb (New Zagreb) located in Zagreb, the country's capital city. The club was created in 1975 as NK Trnsko 75 and the name was changed to ONK Novi Zagreb one year later and then NK Novi Zagreb in 1990. When Croatia achieved their independence and the war began in 1991, the club was suspended since many of the members volunteered to fight on the war. The name of the club was changed once again to Hrvatski Dragovoljac in 1994 when the club resumed play in honor of those who fought and lost their lives for Croatia's independence. Since Croatia's army was just starting to build at that time, the government relied on citizen volunteers. The club also adopted a new logo which incorporated black as the team's color, symbolizing mourning. The club has also been pretty success since 1994. In 1995, the club was promoted to the now defunct Croatian First B-League, on which they finished first and qualified for the championship playoff to qualify for Croatia's 1st division where the finished 5th in their first season. In 1997, the club reached 3rd place in division 3 and qualified for the now defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup (a competition for European club who were not able to qualify for the UEFA Cup. UEFA has abandoned this competition and incorporated with the UEFA Cup by adding a preliminary round for the UEFA Cup for clubs that would have only made it to the Intertoto Cup). Hrvatski Dragovoljac repeated these successes for two more seasons with fourth and fifth place finishes in the HNL-1. Eventually they started to slip down the standings until 2002 when they were relegated back into the second division where they are playing now.
17. Istra 1961
18. Sibenik-- a first division club, was eliminated by Moslavina, a club in HNL-2, eliminated in the first round.
19. Osijek-- like Sibenik, Osijek is HNL-1 member this season and was also eliminated by a lower division club. However, Osijek's situation is worseas they were eliminated by Zagora, a third division.
20. Suhopolje
21. Medimurje
22. Mladost Cernik
23. Vukovar 91-- another club with a significant name. It is based in the city of Vukovar, which was under siege and completely destroyed at the beginning of the war in 1991.
24. Belisce
25. Lucko (pronounced Looch-co)
26. Graficar Vodovod
27. Polet Busevec
28. Orijent
29. HASK
30. Gaj Mace
31. Metalac Sisak
32.Kamen Ingrad-- this club withdrew from the competition allowing Oriolik to qualify for the round of 16 ahead of them without playing. The name of the club was adopted in 1999 after a construction company that became the club's sponsor. The club had been very successful since then. For example, in 2002 they entered the HNL-1 as well as the UEFA Cup in 2003, in which they lost to Schalke, a German club, in the first round. However, in 1002, they were relegated to the 2nd division after finishing the season in last place. Financial difficulties in the operations of their primary sponsor started to reflect in their performance and they started to slip down further until they were relegated to the third division at the end of the 2007-2008 season. In July 2008, they announced that they will not compete in any competitions during the 2008-2009 season and that their future was uncertain although the club is still continuing to run their youth teams. However, their stadium will be used as a temporary home for recently promoted first division side Croatia Sesvete.
Fore more information regarding the Croatia Cup in English, see its entry on Wikipedia.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
HNL 2008-2009 Soccer Update
It is more or less the middle of the Croatian soccer season as all of the Croatian clubs are now getting ready for winter break (HNL's 2nd division will not start playing again until February which is when they will complete their season). As a result, I thought this might be a good time to update the progress of the HNL (Croatia's domestic soccer league).
The format of the league is really quite simple. In the prva HNL (first division) which consists of 12 clubs, every club plays every other club 3 times for a total of 33 matches. The club that is at the top of the standings is crowned champion of the 2008-2009 season (no playoff is used to determine the winner. However, the HNL champion does qualify for the first round of qualifying in the 2009-2010 edition of the UEFA Champions League. The second place finisher qualifies for the second round of qualifiers of the 2009-2010 Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup)-- which can be considered as somewhat of a consolation prize for those clubs that could not qualify for the Champions League. The third place finisher advances to the first qualification round of the Europa League 2009-2010. The rest of the clubs are eliminated from any international play. Clubs that finished 4th through 10th remain in the first division, but the club that finished at 11th after the 33 matches must play against the second place finisher of the druga HNL (2nd division) for one last chance to remain a member of the first division. If the the 2nd division club wins, that club will be promoted to the first division while the first division club is demoted to the 2nd division. If the 1st division club wins, the clubs remain where they are for the 2009-2010 season. The 1st division club that finishes in last place in the league is automatically demoted into the second division while the first place club in the second division takes their place. No second division club can qualify for a 2009-2010 international competition through league play. They must win the Croatia Cup (an elimination tournament that includes clubs from all levels of the HNL) to do so. The last place club in the second division in demoted to the third division (the lowest in Croatia's league system). Like the 2nd division, third division clubs must win the Croatia Cup in order to qualify for the Europa League (only the first division champion can qualify for the Champions League).
With that said, here is how the standings look right now as the clubs cease league play for winter break as well as what international competition they qualify for if they remain in that position for the remainder of the season:
In the first division, each club has played 18 matches a piece (about 55% of the season).
1. Dinamo Zagreb: if Dinamo Zagreb remains in first place, they are crowned HNL champions and qualify for the UEFA Champions League 09-10 Qualifying Round (if they lose in this round, they can still play in the Europa League)
2. Hajduk Split: Dinamo Zagreb's biggest rival are is currently only 1 point behind Dinamo Zagreb. should they remain in this position, they will advance to next season's Europa league 2nd Qualifying round.
3. Sibenik: will qualify for the Europa League 09-10 last qualifying round if they stay in this position. A fourth club will be sent to represent Croatia in the 09-10 Europa by way of the Croatia Cup. I at club ranked 1 to 3 win the Croatia Cup as well, the runner up will take the last spot unless that club is ranked 1 to 3 as well. Should this happen, the club ranked 4th will most likely take the Europa league spot (although I am not absolutely postive).
4. Slaven Belupo
5. Rijeka (my second favorite Croatian club--after Dinamo Zagreb. if they can play a little bit better in the first division or if they can make it farther in the Croatia Cup, I will start taking them more seriously (they are the closest club to the island of Krk where I visit almost every summer. They were eliminated in the second round of this season's Croatia Cup in a close series against Zadar (currently in danger of relegation into the 2nd division). Rijeka lost by one goal in the penalty shoot out.
6. Varteks
7. NK Zagreb
8. Osijek
9. Cibalia
10. Croatia Sesvete
11. Inter Zapresic: if they remain at this spot at season's end, they will have to play and win against the second place club in the second division (currently Istra 1961) in order to remain in the first division. If they lose, the second place club in the 2nd division will be promoted to the first division while they will be demoted.
12. Zadar: will be relegated to the second division if they remain in this position
HNL 2
For this league, I will only give a short description of what is going on. After 15 matches played per club, Slavonac is currently at the top with 35 points. The clubs in this division are really only playing for one thing-- to be promoted into the 12 club first division, and Slavonac is currently in a good spot to do so. While Slavonac will get an automatic qualification into HNL 1 in the 2009-2010 season, second place club Istra 1961 (only 4 points behind Slavonac) will most likely have to play in a playoff against the 11th ranked club in HNL 1. The final four clubs are relegated to HNL 3 (the lowest level in Croatian soccer). For more information (in English) regarding divison 2, click here.
Click here for more info regarding this season's Croatia Cup and here for more on the HNL First Division.
The format of the league is really quite simple. In the prva HNL (first division) which consists of 12 clubs, every club plays every other club 3 times for a total of 33 matches. The club that is at the top of the standings is crowned champion of the 2008-2009 season (no playoff is used to determine the winner. However, the HNL champion does qualify for the first round of qualifying in the 2009-2010 edition of the UEFA Champions League. The second place finisher qualifies for the second round of qualifiers of the 2009-2010 Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup)-- which can be considered as somewhat of a consolation prize for those clubs that could not qualify for the Champions League. The third place finisher advances to the first qualification round of the Europa League 2009-2010. The rest of the clubs are eliminated from any international play. Clubs that finished 4th through 10th remain in the first division, but the club that finished at 11th after the 33 matches must play against the second place finisher of the druga HNL (2nd division) for one last chance to remain a member of the first division. If the the 2nd division club wins, that club will be promoted to the first division while the first division club is demoted to the 2nd division. If the 1st division club wins, the clubs remain where they are for the 2009-2010 season. The 1st division club that finishes in last place in the league is automatically demoted into the second division while the first place club in the second division takes their place. No second division club can qualify for a 2009-2010 international competition through league play. They must win the Croatia Cup (an elimination tournament that includes clubs from all levels of the HNL) to do so. The last place club in the second division in demoted to the third division (the lowest in Croatia's league system). Like the 2nd division, third division clubs must win the Croatia Cup in order to qualify for the Europa League (only the first division champion can qualify for the Champions League).
With that said, here is how the standings look right now as the clubs cease league play for winter break as well as what international competition they qualify for if they remain in that position for the remainder of the season:
In the first division, each club has played 18 matches a piece (about 55% of the season).
1. Dinamo Zagreb: if Dinamo Zagreb remains in first place, they are crowned HNL champions and qualify for the UEFA Champions League 09-10 Qualifying Round (if they lose in this round, they can still play in the Europa League)
2. Hajduk Split: Dinamo Zagreb's biggest rival are is currently only 1 point behind Dinamo Zagreb. should they remain in this position, they will advance to next season's Europa league 2nd Qualifying round.
3. Sibenik: will qualify for the Europa League 09-10 last qualifying round if they stay in this position. A fourth club will be sent to represent Croatia in the 09-10 Europa by way of the Croatia Cup. I at club ranked 1 to 3 win the Croatia Cup as well, the runner up will take the last spot unless that club is ranked 1 to 3 as well. Should this happen, the club ranked 4th will most likely take the Europa league spot (although I am not absolutely postive).
4. Slaven Belupo
5. Rijeka (my second favorite Croatian club--after Dinamo Zagreb. if they can play a little bit better in the first division or if they can make it farther in the Croatia Cup, I will start taking them more seriously (they are the closest club to the island of Krk where I visit almost every summer. They were eliminated in the second round of this season's Croatia Cup in a close series against Zadar (currently in danger of relegation into the 2nd division). Rijeka lost by one goal in the penalty shoot out.
6. Varteks
7. NK Zagreb
8. Osijek
9. Cibalia
10. Croatia Sesvete
11. Inter Zapresic: if they remain at this spot at season's end, they will have to play and win against the second place club in the second division (currently Istra 1961) in order to remain in the first division. If they lose, the second place club in the 2nd division will be promoted to the first division while they will be demoted.
12. Zadar: will be relegated to the second division if they remain in this position
HNL 2
For this league, I will only give a short description of what is going on. After 15 matches played per club, Slavonac is currently at the top with 35 points. The clubs in this division are really only playing for one thing-- to be promoted into the 12 club first division, and Slavonac is currently in a good spot to do so. While Slavonac will get an automatic qualification into HNL 1 in the 2009-2010 season, second place club Istra 1961 (only 4 points behind Slavonac) will most likely have to play in a playoff against the 11th ranked club in HNL 1. The final four clubs are relegated to HNL 3 (the lowest level in Croatian soccer). For more information (in English) regarding divison 2, click here.
Click here for more info regarding this season's Croatia Cup and here for more on the HNL First Division.
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