Croatia Cup Update

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.