A wild, unpredictable 2024-25 HNL season has met its end! HNK Rijeka defeats Slaven Belupo 2-0 on home soil and are crowned champions of Croatia for the second time in club history, and the first time since 2017.
Rijeka, Dinamo, and Hajduk were all mathematically in contention for the title ahead of the final matchday. All three sides won their final match, leaving Rijeka and Dinamo tied for first with 65 points. However, given their head-to-head advantage over Dinamo, Rijeka are officially the winners of one of the most contested titles in all of Europe this season.
This will be a season to forget for Hajduk supporters, as the club held the league lead for quite some time in the closing months. Dinamo fans will also be upset upon realizing that a win against Lokomotiva last weekend would have seen them win their eighth HNL title in a row, given today’s results. Despite rocky finishes from each of the top three sides, it was Rijeka who managed to make the fewest mistakes and come out on top.
Toni Fruk, Niko Janković, and Stjepan Radeljić were absolute studs for the champions this season. Rijeka, congratulations on winning the 2024-25 HNL title!
Klasnic saying Stiller’s mom croatian?
Pletikosa doing a good job so far, but looks like he missed a good one.
Oh well.
Everybody knew Stiller’s mom is Croatian for a long time (he revealed it years ago in an interview)
But being Croatian and feeling Croatian are 2 different things
Croatia only needs players that feel Croatian to play for Croatia
Like Ivanovic, Petar Sucic, Marco P most recently
See interview/article Hoffenheim website from Dec 2021 (he was listening in on Yugo teammates and they never realized he understood them !)
If you mean Angelo Stiller, then yes. AI confirmed it, his mother has Croatian heritage.
Jagusic goal for U21 vs Qatar (3-0 after 65 min)
Jaga rocks!
Check out his IG stories – there is a video of it – incredible volley (2nd/better angle on his agent’s (msportspro_) IG story too)
for sure
So if the Croatian Women win today against Ukraine, does that prevent them from being demoted or relegated in Nations League??
Or, are they relegated regardless of the result, based on points?
I still haven’t seen anything in the media about this possible Gvardiol injury, so hopefully its false. In other news…there are reports that Modric may be signing with AC Milan. I haven’t been following Milan for a while now, but it could be a good move. I always thought Serie A would be a good fit for Luka, especially now that he’s getting older.
x.com/HNS_CFF/status/1929903306119270454
Training today
Josko cutely chasing Juranovic with/for the ball
Happy go lucky ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ Marco ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ w/ his million $ smile (& killer left foot)
“Velika muka za hrvatsku reprenzentaciju! Gvardiol ispao s Svijetskog Prvenstva!”
Looks like gvardiol has torn his Achilles and out for the World Cup
Nothing in the media about the injury and just watched HRT news and saw Gvardiol running with the rest of the boys in preparation for the upcoming matches.
Only a jealous Čedo would joke about something like this
Shit! It’s a good thing Dalic called up Visković to see how he does.
How long is Gvardiol put for? I would imagine it would be a long time for an Achilles tendon.
Is it actually true.
no
I was hoping Inter would win, hate the fact that a French team took it. But it’s not as bad as a English team winning it.
Isto.
Pretty amazing though they lost Neymar-Messi-Mbappe … and got better.
Any team but an English team, I agree.
Yes, except City…we need Croatians to start winning the CL again.
Considering Marco has a game today (and won’t join till Sunday and will be jet lagged)
A bit surprised Pero not attending todays Inter PSG, could join right after the game
Would have been a nice way to join his future teammates and sit w other Inter players who are injured, not included in CL squad, etc etc
Even more VIDEO evidence that Dalic isn’t actually following anyone
See 0:57 – that’s Vuskovic saying hi to Dalic – something is wrong with Vuskovic two fingers on right hand (maybe broken finger, sprain or something) – and look at the expression on Dalic’s face when he sees it – he’s in complete SHOCK, clearly seeing it if the first time (and not hearing about it b4) – and asks “what is this ?” bhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
x.com/HNS_CFF/status/1928449760991621495
Here is Vuskovic training today – look at 0:03 – you see the right hand bandaged up, in particular the two fingers
x.com/HNS_CFF/status/1928797482395291967
Well done to Dalic for keeping track of the fitness levels and injuries of the players’ he’s calling up
Unreal
R U OK?
I think he is trying to beat Maminjo gore most posts on this site!!
Maminjo at least offers tact. (And readable punctuation.)
Feels like I’m having a stroke when reading anonymous posts
Classy Lovren posts on IG a pic of him and Maguire (where you can’t see their hands, so can’t see them drinking)
Trashy Maguire posts on IG a pic of him and Lovren, where he cut off his own hand (so you can’t see his drinking), but keeps Lovren hand with a tall beer
Trashy Maguire – you think you won the battle, but we will the war – you’re a moron for not realizing we got cameras EVERYWHERE – he’s a video of you drinking, holding sunglasses at night (were your pupils dilated by any chance) and fan girl-ing and groupie-ing over DJ Trevon
***.tiktok.com/@papayaclub/video/7510388825051467030
Insta-stalker
Bit weird mate
Maxine Bernauer deported for 1.5 (after buying him for 1.2 in 2023)
Saint-Etienne exercising buy option even though they got relegated to France 2nd tier – we’ll never know why Dinamo bought him to begin with, he only played in 2nd and 3rd tier France pre-DZ, instead of playing one of their own
Why hasn’t Boban deported Kanga yet ?
The deported list is a beautiful thing, keeps increasing by the day !
So many spots of Croatian youth to step into
Boban doing God’s work
I love seeing it. Deport them all. Bring in the young kids from the selo. Keep developing our guys. Za dom
I think guys like Kanga and Mmaee are signed to longer term deals.
So, they’ll keep a few of these guys if they can’t get some team to take them on (and probably hope to recoup some sale value).
What a joke.
Mmaee played for Ferencvaros (and inferior team in an inferior league) and for whatever reason, Dinamo goes and signs him to an 850,000 per year deal. The guy was a free transfer. Ferencvaros didn’t even care.
Kanga, same story. Plays for Cardiff City (which is a THIRD division club) and somehow has 0 goals in 16 games with them.
…and Dinamo actually PAYS a couple of million just to be able to sign him? LoL, WTF?
Why chase and overpay guys like this?
Not sure Boban cares about contract length lol
He’s deporting Mbuku (even though he’s signed till 2027) and some nobody Spanish guy they paid 100k for
Dinamo must have had very good lawyers drafting these contracts w these sneaky outs (to send players back) and cut pay (like Petko) that players agents/lawyers didn’t catch (or looked the other way)
Never heard of this before in football – it’s crazy – none of the contracts are enforceable !
Check out Dalic press today saw it in SN he even said HNL teams sell their good Croatian players (to pay the bills) and sign foreigners that NOBODY wants
Dalic on top of things
Said today his tracking Radeljic as potential for a NT call-up
Nose-pickers must have missed he’s already been capped 3 times for Bosnia
What an idiot.
Dalic LOL.
Just goes to show how lazy he is.
Is he really ‘tracking’ a player that is ineligible to play for us?
Isn’t this one of the first things you confirm before wasting any effort on tracking a player?
The good news is that Dalic probably just watched the Slaven vs Rijeka cup match and saw Jankovic and Radeljic play for the first time ever (and he just made that off the cuff comment). He’s not really tracking anyone.
Not sure he’s even doing that, watching Slaven vs. Rijeka (don’t recall the cameras showing him in the crowd, which they would have done), maybe he’s sitting at home with bonbons watching on his couch ?
Bosnian press having a field day over his “blunder”
But anyways, why would he be tracking Radeljic anyways ? Do we need yet another so-so 27 yo CB – we don’t have enough – he finally got rid of Erlic (for now), we have DCC and Pong – all the same age – in what world is a Rijeka CB (after Galesic went to Dinamo) going to get the nod over Pong, DCC and even Erlic ? Makes no sense
The other thing – last September – he said he can only pick from Dinamo – now he says (implicitly) he can only pick from Rijeka – the shame is instead of widening the scope of the question asked – to include another names – like say Vinko Rozic (who apparently Blackburn Rovers is trying to buy) and is eligible for Bosnia (he is last capped for Bosnia U21, previously Croatia junior teams) – he just flubs the q – he should have listed other players with “dual-nationalities” like Vinko Rozic (I’m sure there are others) so they think they are on his radar (even if not the case)
So anyway/everyway you look at it’s a massive fail
Congrats to Rijeka for winning the league, and now the cup!
Good news for Dinamo who now qualifies directly for Europa League.
Better news for Varteks
Wow, Boban is really cleaning house…Petkovic is out. Maybe its for the best, i think he’s past his “best before date”. It will free up cash for new signings.
I’m not too fussed about the salaries, so long as it’s for guys that we can call up. I think each HNL team should be obliged to develop talent and provide for the National Team.
Paying two players like Moharrami and Bernauer about a million Euro (for not even playing) is crazy when you consider that Sučić, Baturina, Stojković COMBINED make less than that.
However, Pjaca and Petković (who are overpaid) isn’t as bad to me because they are Croats who can be called up to the National Team.
I’m still fine with grabbing some foreign talent (guys like Torrente and Pierre-Gabriel have been good for Dinamo) to fill in gaps where we need them…but we need to exhaust our domestic options FIRST.
It made zero sense to bring in Wilfried Kanga (and pay 2M transfer) when you already had Kulenović and Petković.
Just absolute reckless spending, and to no benefit to the National Team.
We’re a low population country, competing with the France and Spains of the World. We don’t need to develop their players for them.
I would love to one day see us adopt the “Atletic Bilbao model” where our club squads are ONLY made up of Croats.
Agreed. It looks like Boban is taking this “Croatians first” approach, which will better for our NT in the long run. I don’t mind filling in the gaps with foreigners, as long as they are good investments, unlike flops like Kanga.
Boban is MAGA 😉
MCGA, MHGA for sure.
I know most people here dont understand politics or can’t have a conversation about politics but Boban has voted for SDP.
“If You Are Not a Liberal at 25, You Have No Heart. If You Are Not a Conservative at 35 You Have No Brain.”
Famous quote.
In Boban’s case, some people take time to grow up.
Athletes are sheltered from the real World. They’re like big kids until they retire and reach their 40s. Then they slowly realize what it’s like it the real World.
I’m sure he’s slowly starting to understand the World now, that many people at age 35 begin to see already.
Boban used to be an ambassador (or whatever he was) at UEFA so needed to play the game and show he’s “pro-Europe”
We’re now seeing his true (and beautiful) colours
Republican Jesus
Let he who HASN’T raw dogged a porn star just after the birth of his fifth child with his third wife cast the first stone.
Famous quote.
Unfortunately, German Anjela Merkel School of Management schooled graduates are managing the local rosters.
Chelsea won the Conference League + secured the Champions League, so the Conference League titleholder replacement spot will be used by one of:
Dinamo Zagreb will enter the Europa League directly instead of Chelsea if Rijeka win the Croatian Cup.
OR
Shakhtar Donetsk will enter the Europa League directly instead of Chelsea if Rijeka do not win the Croatian Cup.
Annual salaries for Dinamo this past season (in Euros)…
Bruno Petković 1,600,000
Marko Pjaca 1,600,000
Arijan Ademi 1,100,000
Josip Mišić 900,000
Samy Mmaee 840,000
Stefan Ristovski 730,000
Dino Perić 600,000
Sadegh Moharrami 470,000
Maxime Bernauer 470,000
Raúl Torrente 470,000
Sandro Kulenović 470,000
Martin Baturina 450,000
Dario Špikić 350,000
Théophile-Catherine 200,000
Petar Sučić 72,000
Théophile-Catherine was at 900,000 in 2023 but took less money on his contract extension.
Wilfried Kanga 750,000
(but Dinamo had to pay 2 million Euro transfer for him)
Petar about to get a big increase.
Sucic Sociedad MVP
Mentioned below. Congrats to him; he didn’t do much for me in the games I watched aside from a couple nice strikes from distance. The team tumbled quite a bit in the standings this year.
Sad to report one of my most confident wagers during the season was betting on that putrid Manchester United team in the second leg of Europa versus that also-putrid Real Sociedad team.
Real Sociedad stopped being competitive when Sučić was injured. I suppose that’s why he got the award. It’s pretty impressive when you look at their roster
From what I read on Spanish media, a lot of fans were quite surprised that Sucic got the award, as he hasn’t been really highly rated a major part of the season :/.
One thing that struck me were some mentions about Sucic’s comments and behaviour throughout that rubbed the fans in the wrong way?
Does anyone here have more info on that?
Could it be possible that against all odds, Fruk & P.Sucic could turn into better players than the likes of L.Sucic & Baturina in the end?
Maybe Real Sociedad is probably trying to increase Sucic’s value, so they give him these award and create hype in the media.
Maybe they think he may have more longer term issues with that knee, and they probably want to cash out.
Either that, or he’s just a very ‘liked’ teammate and they gave it to him (similar to how Kovacic won one of these for Chelsea a few years ago).
Regarding your last sentence…Absolutely.
Petar Sucic (to me) is a great young player who is already ahead of Baturina right now…but I wouldn’t jump to say he will be better long term just yet.
Also, I’d keep an eye on Luka Stojkovic at Dinamo. He’s closed the gap on both Sucic and Baturina too.
He had (what looked like) a career-limiting knee injury that kept him out all of last season…then came in late this season, and was asked to play out of position.
Once he was 100 percent healthy in 2025, he was red hot and played fantastic.
Very curious to see how Stojkovic does next season, with a proper year under his belt and playing in his best suited role (once Baturina is gone).
I know very little about Fruk, but his story about being injured for a while, then having surgery that kept him out for a year after that…it says a lot. The guy missed some key development years, yet still managed to close the gap and become the top player in the HNL.
Any one of these guys could blow up (or go bust). This is why it’s great that we have several of them (especially now with guys like Jagusic, Vrbancic, etc. coming up from other HNL teams). We only need a couple of them to really pan out.
Dinamo sold Marko Soldo for 400k to Osijek last summer
Triggered a buy-back clause in March and buying him back for 1.0m
This is why Dinamo pushed for B teams and to have them play in 2nd tier next yr
Instead of loosing 600k on Soldo, they could have just had him play in B team
Soldo, Jagusic, Jankovic etc etc
Dinamo will get so much stronger starting next year – all this selling or loaning their players to competitors is going to go away
Eventually we should see Dinamo establish a Celtic-like lead/dominance in the HNL
Vinko Rozic is another e.g.
Soldo wanted minutes in the 1.HNL.
He wouldn’t have gone to some Dinamo II team that plays in the 2.HNL.
I think the holdup with Jagušić signing with Dinamo is also for the same reason.
He’s getting first team minutes right now at Slaven.
There’s no guarantee he starts at Dinamo, who have Stojković, Mudražija, Soldo and other possible reinforcements in the midfield.
Dinamo has won 18 of the last 20 titles. Celtic are trying to establish a Dinamo like dominance.
Moharrami going back home
So 2 down
He stole 397′ this year that could have better gone to Noa Mikic (who is know also leaving) who only player 20′ or some other youth
He’s likely going to Poland.
can we get some commentary on the type of season luka sucic had? was very underwhelming from a goal/assist level but how did his play look otherwise?
Oddly enough i just saw he was announced as Sociedad’s MVP of the season…
Franjo Ivanovic moving to a club in top 5 league ?
x.com/IvicaMedo/status/1926909640844943861
n.b. The owner of USG also owns Brighton
Most recent press says Sporting are looking at him to replace Gykores who they are selling to Arsenal (or whoever) for 60 pounds
That seems a bit extreme (big shoes to fill) but here is press on that. Also Besiktas.
In SN article today, he says he has offers, but wants to play in CL next year
Per SN
Toni Fruk
Slight problem v-a-v transfer / fee split
50% Fiorentina
5% Nenadu Crnku (Gorica)
x% Fruk
y% other intermediaries
Net 25-30% to Rijeka. Apprently Miskovic trying to get Fiorentina to take less (good luck)
Additionally, Fiorentina have matching rights, but Fruk doesn’t want to go back to Serie A, as he had bad experience. He told club doctors he had pain in his heel thru calves and knees, they couldn’t find any problem, so sent him to a mental hospital to find out what’s wrong in his head. Long story short, they eventually figured out he had a broken bone in his heel and he was out for almost a year after surgery and than got covid, etc
Clubs from Germany and Spain looking at him (and other top 5 leagues)
He’s working w/ Dani Olmo’s coach (who compares him to Dani Olmo)
He’s due to make his debut vs. Gibraltar (as previously recommended and predicted by Anonymous)
sportske.jutarnji.hr/sn/nogomet/transferi/klub-ga-je-slao-na-psihijatriju-zivio-je-u-vlaznoj-garsonijeri-radi-s-olmovim-trenerom-i-zele-ga-u-lige-petice-15588394
RB Leipzig are looking at him to replace Xavi Simmons and Sesko (who are expected to leave) with Fruk
Similar to Franjo, that seems a bit extreme (big shoes to fill)
RB Leipzig aren’t in Europe next year (first time in awhile)
If kovacic out, who fills in the midfield?
Do the sucic cousins still play soccer?
I would think Majer will most likely get picked. Although I don’t know that he is that type of midfielder, he is more of an attacking mid. I hope he puts Baturina or Petar Sučić because they are naturally suited to that role, in the middle 2. Plus Majer has been off for a while so he is out of form potentially or just getting back into it.
I also believe that Majer is better where Krama is currently in the 4-2-3-1 in the middle of the front 3. But Krama will naturally get that spot first and he is not a bad option there. This, of course, all depends on whether or not Dalic sticks with the system he had during the Nations League which I don’t see why he would change it at this point. This especially the case since I am now hearing that Marco Pašalić has been called up by Dalic, some have said as much on here. So we have that extra winger finally, hopefully he can showcase his potential at this tournament.
We have a lot of midfielders, although Kovačić has had an incredible season. It would be interesting to see how confident these young guys are in their natural positions for once.
Petar playing really well.
3 goals in his last 4.
Nice ones too.
Hate to see Hajduk not take it , but parity is good to have I guess. It they kept Perisic it might have been a blow out.
And if Rijeka didn’t sell SEVEN players in the last two windows…
Does anyone know what this mean for Dinamo in Europe next season? Do they go straight to Europa? Do they have to qualify this summer.
I’m so used to seeing UCL qualifying in the summer. Want to know what we can watch this summer.
Dinamo will go straight to Europa league (no qualifiers needed) if Rijeka wins the cup.
If Slaven wins the cup (on Thursday) then Dinamo will have to play qualifiers just to get into the Conference League
Follow @FootballMeetsData on X for all the permutations, scenarios, etc
Jokov Medic coming in
35 y.o. Theophile-Catherine out
1 down
3 to go
That dude cost them 900.000 Euro per season in salary and he had zero transfer value.
At least you could flip Medic in a couple of years for a few hundred thousand to cover the salary.
Crazy
How did it get to this stage ?
All these C-tier foreign rejects taking space for Croatians
Great article in SN that Boban left at HT yesterday and he plans to clean house of all the crap to make room for youth (and we have the 750k cap now too)
He’s got two teams to fill up A and B team in 2nd tier so lots of young Croatian should come through to these teams and hopefully a few pan out for the NT
good luck trying to compete in europe if you wont pay players more than 750k
They competed just fine last season, and I’m sure they would’ve done just the same without paying guys like Mmaee that kind of money.
Well done Rijeka, glad that they won and unfortunately for us Hajduk supporters the wait goes on 20 years and counting.
Rijeka has a good chance to win the double as they host Slaven mid-week with the first leg ending 1 – 1. They also won the double in 2017.
As far as Europe is concerned, they have no chance of making the Champions League however if they get a lucky draw they might be able to make the Europa League? Even if they fail to qualify for the EL as the champions of HNL they are almost certain to be in the Conference League.
It’s official, Dalic has called up Marco 😍 😍 😍 😍 😍
The “treat ’em mean, keep ’em keen” routine surely helped, thank you Orlando
Now he has to actually play him (Dalic pls keep watching Marco’s last goal for Orlando on loop for a couple hours, it will eventually click in your head why we need him on the field)
x.com/HNS_CFF/status/1926950562882322918
#EveryWinger😍 😍 😍Marco😍 😍 😍Pasalic😍 😍 😍WillEventuallyMatter
Late call but nevertheless good decision by Dalic.
I would definitely give him a run against Gibraltar and if required against Chechia in Osijek. Good news is that the match against Gibraltar will we played in Portugal on grass rather than on their artificial turf.
Not sure if Kovacic will be available for the two WC qualifiers? some media reports last week were suggesting that Kovacic may undergo foot surgery and may not be available? I hope he plays against Chechia as we need him for this crucial match.
It’s not late per se. Dalic said at the press conference on the day he released the squad that he wanted to call up Marco, but was waiting for Orlando to agree to release him
Kovacic confirmed again today he’s having surgery on Jun 2nd and previous report said out 2-3 months – he is doing it now as he wants to be back for pre-season Man City in Aug and NT games in Sep
Best league in Europe this season, in regards to the title. This only makes the league stronger
Congrats to Rijeka!
Congrats to ivanovic who got the party started for the newly-crowned Belgian champs in the 11th and subbed off in the 89th.
Is it his last game in Belgium?
Tough to say
The best thing for NT is he stays and gets min 8 games in CL next year w WC in sight l
The good news is club will get >40m from CL next year
Hopefully they don’t have to sell players and can bring in reinforcements for CL
But
Teams and scouts will take note that USG won first title and wouldn’t be surprised if some can’t refuse offers come in for at least 1 or 2 players
Hopefully Ivanovic doesn’t get sold to a “bigger” club and ends up sitting on the bench next year (that would be terrible for the NT)
Mi smo prvaci – a Hajduk nije, opet
Bahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhaahhahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahah
Hopefully Rijeka can at least qualify for Europa League.
Very unlikely they can qualify for Champions League, especially since they have to start from the 2nd qualifying round (as an unseeded team too).
I doubt it. I’ll be happy if we win the double and finish top 3 next year. Have to imagine Fruk is sold, maybe Jankovic and Radeljic too.
Their mayor (Filipovic) is trying to capitalize with a social media post claiming that their stadium will be done in the next few years (even though I don’t think they’ve even broken ground yet).
Would be nice to watch the HNL with Dinamo, Rijeka, Slaven, and Lokomotiva all playing in new stadiums (on par or better than Osijek’s new stadium) in the next few years.
Congrats Armada. Dinamo fan here, but good for the league to have someone else win.
It’s good for the league for as many HNL teams as possible to make it to Champions League, Europa, and Conference League.
If Dinamo won, they would have made Champions League as a seeded team in the final qualifying round. Rijeka doesn’t get that luxury and will be unseeded in the 2nd qualifying round.
But, hopefully Rijeka, Hajduk and Varteks (?) qualify for Europa and Conf. League and do well.
Dinamo will likely do well in Europa.