Croatian Season 2003-2004 Review:
Dinamo and Hajduk share the spoils yet again

Ozren Podnar reports from Zagreb

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Club season over in Croatia

An interesting and a dramatic season in Croatia has ended with Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb sharing the trophies again, as so many times in the past. This time around Hajduk won the League and Dinamo the Cup, just as in 1993/94 and 2000/01. In 1992/93, 1999/00 and 2002/03 it was the other way around and Dinamo ended up champions and Hajduk Cup winners. This is not to suggest that there is even an implicit "agreement" to share the spoils - either club would love more than anything to see the other languishing in the relegation zone rather than give them any breaks.

The two leading clubs confirmed their stunning superiority over the rest by leaving the third-placed Rijeka over 30 points in their wake. The most curious fact is that only Hajduk and Dinamo finished the season with a positive balance, i.e. with more wins than losses. Even the third-placed Rijeka had a negative record after 32 rounds of the 12-team League competition.

The title race, more exclusive than even the Scottish league with its perennial two-team rivalry, was uncertain until the last day, when Hajduk crucially beat Varteks Varazdin at home 2-0, making Dinamo's 4-1 win over Osijek insignificant.

Hajduk finished on top with 78 points, two more than Dinamo, who in turn had better a head-to-head record and a vastly superior goals difference. Hajduk's triumph came as a a surprise even though the Dalmatians had held a five-point advantage at the beginning of the third lap (the Croatian League consists of a 22-match regular season, plus a mini-league with the six top clubs playing an additional ten rounds on a home-and-away basis).

Five points may not sound like a definitive advantage in Leagues like the Spanish or French, where Real Madrid and Monaco dropped even larger leads to Valencia and Lyon respectively, but in Croatia and its notorious inequality between the two frontrunners and the rest, Hajduk believed their league win was as good as wrapped up.

Still, Dinamo held Hajduk to a goalless draw in Split and then came within reach when Hajduk drew again away to Varteks, coached by ex-Dinamo coach Miroslav Blazevic. Only three points adrift, Dinamo hosted Hajduk on 29th day knowing that a win would put them on top.

In a wonderful display of power, the "blues" defeated their southern rivals 3-1, with a couple of headed goals by former Derby County hero Branko Strupar. Hajduk then sacked Zoran Vulic and named Petar Nadoveza as his replacement until the end of the season.

With only three games left to play, Dinamo were already "smelling" the title, but Hajduk refused to give up, relying on their rivals' difficult schedule.

While Dinamo had to visit two traditionally difficult grounds, Zadar and Rijeka, Hajduk had three simpler games at home to Rijeka and Varteks, and away to Osijek. Both Zadar and Rijeka promised they would do their best to aid Hajduk by giving their all against Dinamo, in the name of Croatia's coastal region solidarity and the clubs' common rivalry against the hated wealthy northerners from the capital of Zagreb.

The race was practically decided on the 30th day when Hajduk easily defeated a mediocre Rijeka side in Split, whereas Zadar gave their season's best performance to hold Dinamo to a 1-1 draw. Dinamo was furious at Zadar's full commitment, absent in most other games, but there was nothing they could do besides regretting.
"If we were unable to subdue a much weaker side like Zadar, we do not deserve to win the League." said a dejected young coach Nikola Jurcevic.

Dinamo's only hope was that either Osijek or Varteks would stop Hajduk in the two remaining matches, but these hopes proved unrealistic. The Dalmatians won at Osijek with a goal from the international Mato Neretljak, and finally overwhelmed Varteks, in spite of Blazevic's promises he would give Dinamo - and himself - a hand. Should Varteks have prevented Hajduk's promotion, they would, and not Rijeka, have qualified for the UEFA Cup regardless of the Cup finals outcome.

Dinamo, however, comforted themselves four days after relinquishing the championship prize. Having drawn 1-1 at Varteks in the first leg, they only had to keep the score blank at home in order to secure their seventh Croatian cup in the past eleven seasons. And that was exactly what they did, untypically playing for a 0-0 draw, trading their attacking flair for safety.

While Dinamo has for now confirmed Jurcevic as their coach for next season, Hajduk has brought back Ivan Katalinic from Rijeka. Katalinic, nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible", led Hajduk to three titles between 1992 and 1995 but has been largely unsuccessful since then, dreaming of his return to Poljud.

Ozren Podnar

2004 | 2005

Trophy winners in Croatia since independence

Season	League	FA Cup	SuperCup
1992	Hajduk	Inker	Hajduk
1992-93	Dinamo	Hajduk	Hajduk
1993-94	Hajduk	Dinamo	Hajduk
1994-95	Dinamo	Hajduk	Hajduk
1995-96	Dinamo	Dinamo	Hajduk
1996-97	Dinamo	Dinamo	Hajduk
1997-98	Dinamo	Dinamo	Hajduk
1998-99	Dinamo	Osijek	Hajduk
1999-2000	Dinamo	Hajduk	Hajduk
2000-01	Hajduk	Dinamo	Hajduk
2001-02	Zagreb	Dinamo	Dinamo
2002-03	Dinamo	Hajduk	Dinamo
2004-04	Hajduk	Dinamo