The 2000–01 Croatian First Football League was the tenth season of the Croatian First Football League, also known as 1. HNL, Croatia's top association football league, since its establishment in 1992. It began on 30 July 2000 and ended on 27 May 2001. Dinamo Zagreb were the defending champions, having won their fifth consecutive title the previous season. The 2000–01 Prva HNL was contested by 12 teams and was won by Hajduk Split, who won their thirteenth title, after a win against Varteks on 27 May 2001, which was ended the Dinamo Zagreb (then Croatia Zagreb)'s five-year dominance.
Teams A total of twelve teams contested the league, including ten sides from the 1999–2000 season and two promoted teams from the 1999–2000 Croatian Second Football League, Čakovec and Marsonia. Marsonia had returned to top flight after one previous three-season spell in the Prva HNL between 1994 and 1997, while Čakovec saw its top flight debut after coming close to promotion in 1998 and 1999 (they lost the promotion play-offs on both occasions).
Changes from last season Teams promoted from 1999–2000 Croatian Second Football League Champions: Marsonia Runners-up: Čakovec
Teams relegated to 2000–01 Croatian Second Football League 11th placed: Istra Pula 12th placed: Vukovar '91
Summaries
The following is an overview of teams which competed in the 2000–01 Prva HNL. The list of managers is correct as of 30 July 2000, the first day of the season.
Team Manager Home city Stadium CapacityCibalia Davor MladinaVinkovciStadion HNK Cibalia 9,920Čakovec Ilija LončarevićČakovecStadion SRC Mladost 8,000Dinamo Zagreb Ilija LončarevićZagrebStadion Maksimir 37,168Hajduk Split Zoran VulićSplitStadion Poljud 35,000Hrvatski Dragovoljac Milivoj BračunZagrebStadion NŠC Stjepan Spajić 5,000Marsonia Stjepan DeverićSlavonski BrodGradski stadion uz Savu 10,000Osijek Stanko MršićOsijekStadion Gradski vrt 19,500Rijeka Nenad GračanRijekaStadion Kantrida 10,275Slaven Belupo Mladen FrančićKoprivnicaGradski stadion 4,000Šibenik Milo NižetićŠibenikStadion Šubićevac 8,000Varteks Ivan KatalinićVaraždinStadion Varteks 10,800NK Zagreb Branko KaračićZagrebStadion Kranjčevićeva 8,850
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Position in table Čakovec Ilija Lončarević Pre-season Varteks Ivan Katalinić 24 May 2000 Pre-season Marsonia Stjepan Deverić Resigned 21 August 2000 Marijan Zovko 21 August 2000 12th Hajduk Split Petar Nadoveza Sacked 21 August 2000 Zoran Vulić 21 August 2000 2nd Hrvatski Dragovoljac Milivoj Bračun Sacked 22 October 2000 Predrag Jurić (p) 22 October 2000 9th Cibalia Davor Mladina Resigned 15 October 2000 Davor Čop 15 October 2000 11th Marsonia Marijan Zovko Resigned 1 November 2000 Zlatko Kranjčar 3 November 2000 12th Rijeka Nenad Gračan Sacked 13 November 2000 Boris Tičić (c) 13 November 9th Dinamo Zagreb Marijan Vlak Removed from position 20 November 2000 Hrvoje Braović 20 November 2000 2nd Rijeka Boris Tičić (c) Removed from position 15 December 2000 Predrag Stilinović 15 December 2000 9th Čakovec Ilija Lončarević Resigned 3 February 2001 Rajko Magić 4 February 2001 8th Marsonia Zlatko Kranjčar Marijan Zovko Šibenik Milo Nižetić Resigned 28 February 2001 Vjekoslav Lokica 28 February 2001 8th Dinamo Zagreb Hrvoje Braović Sacked 3 April 2001 Ilija Lončarević 3 April 2001 1st Osijek Stanko Mršić Sacked 3 April 2001 Vlado Bilić 3 April 2001 2nd NK Zagreb Branko Karačić Sacked 16 April 2001 Zlatko Kranjčar 16 April 2001 6th Varteks Ivan Katalinić Sacked 1 May 2001 Branko Janžek 1 May 2001 5th Rijeka Predrag Stilinović Sacked 2 May 2001 Ivan Katalinić 15 December 2000 11th
First stage
Rounds 1–22 results
Championship group
Rounds 23–32 results
Relegation group
Rounds 23–32 results
Relegation play-off Due to the expansion of Prva HNL to 16 clubs in the 2001–02 season, four clubs from the 2000–01 Druga HNL were automatically promoted. Those should have been top four clubs, but since third-placed Croatia Sesvete and sixth-placed Belišće had decided to step back from promotion, 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th placed second-level teams were automatically promoted for the following season (Kamen Ingrad, Pomorac Kostrena, Zadar and TŠK Topolovac respectively). Therefore, the 12th placed Marsonia played a two-legged relegation play-off against the 7th placed team of Druga HNL, Solin. The tie ended in a 5–5 aggregate score and Marsonia won it on away goals, thereby staying in the Prva HNL for the following season.
Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals1 Tomislav Šokota Dinamo Zagreb202 Marijo Dodik Slaven Belupo1713 Ivica Olić Marsonia1624 Boško Balaban Dinamo Zagreb14 Stanko Bubalo Hajduk Split6 Ivan Leko Hajduk Split137 Paul Matas Šibenik12 Saša Bjelanović Varteks9 Zvonimir Deranja Hajduk Split11 Veldin Karić Varteks Krunoslav Lovrek NK Zagreb
Notes 1 Including six goals scored in Slaven Belupo's 7–1 home win against Varteks on 22 October 2000, which is the record for most goals scored by a single player in a Prva HNL match. 2 Ivica Olić scored 11 goals during the regular Prva HNL season and this is the tally as recorded by official records kept by Prva HNL. However, he scored an additional 5 goals in Marsonia's two-legged relegation play-off against second-level side Solin, and the total of 16 goals was included in top scoring tables published in the Croatian media at the end of the season.
See also 2000–01 Croatian Football Cup 2000–01 Croatian Second Football League 2000–01 in Croatian football
References
External links Season statistics at HRNogomet 2000–01 in Croatian Football at Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation