2011–12 Croatian First Football League

The season started on 23 July 2011 and ended on 12 May 2012.

On 5 July 2010 the Croatian Football Federation Executive committee reached a decision to reduce the number of teams competing in Prva HNL to twelve for the 2011–12 season of the competition. This meant that the bottom five placed teams would be relegated and only the champion of the 2010–11 Druga HNL would earn a promotion to Prva HNL. This decision was confirmed by the Croatian Football Federation Assembly on 14 July 2010. The twelve-teams format would only be a temporary solution before the number of teams is further reduced to ten for either 2012–13 or 2013–14 Prva HNL season.

The decision to reduce the number of teams competing in Prva HNL was supported by 30 out of 48 Croatian Football Federation representatives, with 13 representatives voting against the proposal and five of them undecided. On behalf of the executive committee, Ante Vučemilović explained that the current format with sixteen teams does not contribute to development of football in Croatia and the standard of its domestic competitions.

However, CFF Assembly on 17 December 2010 delayed the execution of this changes by one year. Instead, the league will stay at 16 teams with only the last three teams being relegated and the first three teams from 2010 to 2011 Druga HNL earning promotion (if they are granted with top level license). In case of 16 teams not acquiring top level license, format with 12 teams will be applied.

On 4 April 2011, CFF announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2011–12 season was completed. For the 2011–12 Prva HNL, only eight clubs were issued a top level license: Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Inter Zaprešić, Istra 1961, Lokomotiva, Slaven Belupo, Varaždin and NK Zagreb. Out of these eight, only Lokomotiva and NK Zagreb weren't issued a license for participating in UEFA competitions. In the second stage of licensing procedure clubs that didn't get a license appealed on the decision and provided new facts and arguments. On 4 May 2011, it was announced that all remaining Prva HNL clubs were granted top level license. Additionally, Cibalia, Rijeka and RNK Split obtained a license for UEFA competitions. Only three teams from Druga HNL acquired the top level license: Dugopolje, Gorica and Lučko, where the latter two are set to play outside of their home venues.

However, Dugopolje didn't manage to finish the season within top five places which would secure them promotion. The remaining clubs were given a deadline until 6 June 2011 to confirm their participation in the 2011–12 season. All clubs of the previous Prva HNL season have done so, with Druga HNL teams Lučko and Gorica applying on the last day. This meant that the format with 16 teams was prolonged by one more season, meaning five clubs are going to be relegated at the end of this season. The status of 14th placed Lokomotiva was in question after the 3rd placed team from Druga HNL, Pomorac, contested the decision of CFF and tried to obtain the license through arbitration. On 9 June 2011, arbitrary committee rejected the appeal with two votes against one. Istra 1961 appealed on the decision to include Gorica in the Prva HNL on terms of their license conditions concerning stadium infrastructure. The appeal was successful and on 20 June 2011 arbitrary committee revoked Gorica's top level license allowing Istra 1961 to remain in the Prva HNL.

The following is a complete list of teams who will contest the 2011–12 Prva HNL. The league will be contested by 15 clubs from the previous season plus the newly promoted NK Lučko who replaced the bottom placed team from the previous season, NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac. Druga HNL champions HNK Gorica were initially promoted, but after the appeal from NK Istra 1961, their license was revoked.

 

 

Cibalia

 

Zagreb

 

Inter

 

Istra 1961

 

Hajduk
RNK Split

 

Karlovac

 

Osijek

 

Rijeka

 

S. Belupo

 

Šibenik

 

Varaždin

 

Zadar

 

Zagreb clubs:

 

Dinamo
Lokomotiva
Lučko
NK Zagreb

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Locations of teams in 2011–12 Prva HNL

Personnel and kits

As of 2 May 2012

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Cibalia	Samir Toplak	Mario Lučić	Jako	Croatia Osiguranje
Dinamo Zagreb	Ante Čačić	Milan Badelj	Puma	Konzum
Hajduk Split	Mišo Krstičević	Srđan Andrić	Umbro
Inter Zaprešić	Borimir Perković	Tomislav Šarić	Joma	VŠPU "B.A.Krčelić"
Istra 1961	Igor Pamić	Fausto Budicin	Legea
Karlovac	Sanjin Lucijanić	Matija Štefančić	Macron	HS Produkt
Lokomotiva	Tomislav Ivković	Leonard Mesarić	Puma
Lučko	Željko Kopić	Krunoslav Rendulić	Jako
Osijek	Stanko Mršić	Ivo Smoje	Jako	Croatia Osiguranje
Rijeka	Elvis Scoria	Igor Čagalj	Jako	Croatia Osiguranje
Slaven Belupo	Roy Ferenčina	Alen Maras	Adidas	Belupo
RNK Split	Tonći Bašić	Andrija Vuković	Jako	Skladgradnja
Šibenik	Goran Tomić	Hrvoje Spahija	Jako	Zagrebačka banka
Varaždin	Branko Janžek	Ivan Conjar	Legea/Givova	Croatia osiguranje
Zadar	Dalibor Zebić	Jakov Surać	Jako
NK Zagreb	Dražen Besek	Hrvoje Štrok	Givova

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Dinamo Zagreb	Vahid Halilhodžić	Mutual consent	24 May 2011	Krunoslav Jurčić	26 May 2011	Pre-season
Lokomotiva	Krunoslav Jurčić	Signed by Dinamo Zagreb	26 May 2011	Marijo Tot	1 June 2011	Pre-season
Hajduk Split	Ante Miše	Removed from position	27 May 2011	Krasimir Balakov	27 May 2011	Pre-season
Rijeka	Elvis Scoria	Mutual consent	16 June 2011	Alen Horvat	21 June 2011	Pre-season
RNK Split	Ivan Katalinić	Sacked	14 August 2011	Tonći Bašić	14 August 2011	10th
Lučko	Dražen Biškup	Sacked	23 August 2011	Željko Kopić	23 August 2011	15th
Cibalia	Stanko Mršić	Sacked	28 August 2011	Samir Toplak	30 August 2011	13th
Varaždin	Samir Toplak	Resigned	29 August 2011	Tomica Kocijan	30 August 2011	16th
Šibenik	Vjekoslav Lokica	Mutual consent	1 September 2011	Goran Tomić	1 September 2011	12th
Karlovac	Srećko Lušić	Mutual consent	5 September 2011	Damir Petravić	6 September 2011	14th
NK Zagreb	Luka Pavlović	Resigned	26 September 2011	Gordan Ciprić	26 September 2011	9th
Rijeka	Alen Horvat	Sacked	4 October 2011	Ivo Ištuk	4 October 2011	8th
Varaždin	Tomica Kocijan	Sacked	15 October 2011	Branko Janžek	15 October 2011	16th
Lokomotiva	Marijo Tot	Mutual consent	29 October 2011	Ante Čačić	29 October 2011	11th
Dinamo Zagreb	Krunoslav Jurčić	Sacked	7 December 2011	Ante Čačić	23 December 2011	1st
Lokomotiva	Ante Čačić	Signed by Dinamo Zagreb	23 December 2011	Tomislav Ivković	24 December 2011	6th
Karlovac	Damir Petravić	Resigned	31 December 2011	Krešimir Ganjto	4 January 2012	15th
Karlovac	Krešimir Ganjto	Sacked	1 March 2012	Sanjin Lucijanić	1 March 2012	15th
Rijeka	Ivo Ištuk	Sacked	18 March 2012	Dragan Skočić	19 March 2012	7th
Hajduk Split	Krasimir Balakov	Signed by Kaiserslautern	22 March 2012	Mišo Krstičević	22 March 2012	2nd
NK Zagreb	Gordan Ciprić	Sacked	27 March 2012	Dražen Besek	27 March 2012	11th
Osijek	Vlado Bilić	Mutual consent	31 March 2012	Stanko Mršić	31 March 2012	12th
Inter Zaprešić	Ilija Lončarević	Sacked	22 April 2012	Borimir Perković	22 April 2012	12th
Rijeka	Dragan Skočić	Sacked	30 April 2012	Elvis Scoria	2 May 2012	12th