| Season | 2000–01 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Hajduk Split 4th Croatian title 13th domestic title |
| Runner up | Dinamo Zagreb |
| Relegated | None |
| Champions League | Hajduk Split |
| UEFA Cup | Dinamo Zagreb Osijek Varteks |
| Intertoto Cup | Slaven Belupo NK Zagreb |
| Matches | 192 |
| Goals | 548 (2.85 per match) |
| Best Player | Boško Balaban |
| Top goalscorer | Tomislav Šokota (20) |
| Biggest home win | Slaven Belupo 7–1Varteks Hajduk Split 6–0Varteks |
| Biggest away win | Marsonia 0–5Hajduk Split Hrvatski Dragovoljac 0–5Croatia Zagreb |
| Highest scoring | Slaven Belupo 7–1Varteks Croatia Zagreb 6–2Slaven Belupo Osijek 6–2Hrvatski Dragovoljac Šibenik 3–5Hrvatski Dragovoljac |
| Average attendance | 2,882 |
2001–02 → | |
The2000–01 Croatian First Football League was the tenth season of theCroatian First Football League, Croatia's topassociation 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 byHajduk Split, who won their thirteenth title, after a win againstVarteks on 27 May 2001, which was ended theDinamo Zagreb (then Croatia Zagreb)'s five-year dominance.
A total of twelve teams contested the league, including ten sides from the1999–2000 season and two promoted teams from the1999–2000 Croatian Second Football League,Čakovec andMarsonia. 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).
Teams promoted from1999–2000 Croatian Second Football League
Teams relegated to2000–01 Croatian Second Football League
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 | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Čakovec | Pre-season | |||||
| Varteks | 24 May 2000 | Pre-season | ||||
| Marsonia | Resigned | 21 August 2000 | 21 August 2000 | 12th | ||
| Hajduk Split | Sacked | 21 August 2000[1] | 21 August 2000[1] | 2nd | ||
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | Sacked | 22 October 2000 | 22 October 2000 | 9th | ||
| Cibalia | Resigned | 15 October 2000 | 15 October 2000 | 11th | ||
| Marsonia | Resigned | 1 November 2000 | 3 November 2000 | 12th | ||
| Rijeka | Sacked | 13 November 2000 | 13 November | 9th | ||
| Dinamo Zagreb | Removed from position | 20 November 2000[2] | 20 November 2000[2] | 2nd | ||
| Rijeka | Removed from position | 15 December 2000[3] | 15 December 2000[3] | 9th | ||
| Čakovec | Resigned | 3 February 2001[4] | 4 February 2001[4] | 8th | ||
| Marsonia | ||||||
| Šibenik | Resigned | 28 February 2001[5] | 28 February 2001[5] | 8th | ||
| Dinamo Zagreb | Sacked | 3 April 2001[2] | 3 April 2001[2] | 1st | ||
| Osijek | Sacked | 3 April 2001[6] | 3 April 2001[6] | 2nd | ||
| NK Zagreb | Sacked | 16 April 2001[7] | 16 April 2001[7] | 6th | ||
| Varteks | Sacked | 1 May 2001[8] | 1 May 2001[8] | 5th | ||
| Rijeka | Sacked | 2 May 2001[9] | 15 December 2000[9] | 11th |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dinamo Zagreb | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 49 | 23 | +26 | 46 | Qualification tochampionship group |
| 2 | Osijek | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 49 | 28 | +21 | 44 | |
| 3 | Hajduk Split | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 39 | 16 | +23 | 41 | |
| 4 | NK Zagreb | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 43 | 38 | +5 | 34 | |
| 5 | Varteks | 22 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 42 | 36 | +6 | 32 | |
| 6 | Slaven Belupo | 22 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 28 | 23 | +5 | 32 | |
| 7 | Čakovec | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 19 | 28 | −9 | 27 | Qualification torelegation group |
| 8 | Šibenik | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 21 | 30 | −9 | 26 | |
| 9 | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 28 | 45 | −17 | 23 | |
| 10 | Cibalia | 22 | 3 | 11 | 8 | 23 | 38 | −15 | 20 | |
| 11 | Rijeka | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 32 | −15 | 19 | |
| 12 | Marsonia | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 28 | 49 | −21 | 16 |
| Home \ Away | CIB | ČAK | DIN | HAJ | HRD | MAR | OSI | RIJ | SLA | ŠIB | VAR | ZAG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cibalia | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | |
| Čakovec | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 6–1 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 3–2 | |
| Hajduk Split | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–5 | 1–3 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | |
| Marsonia | 3–3 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 0–5 | 2–2 | 2–5 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | |
| Osijek | 3–0 | 4–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 6–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 4–3 | |
| Rijeka | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | |
| Slaven Belupo | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 7–1 | 1–0 | |
| Šibenik | 3–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 3–5 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–3 | |
| Varteks | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–3 | 6–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | |
| NK Zagreb | 4–2 | 3–0 | 3–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–5 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 4–2 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hajduk Split(C) | 32 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 66 | 23 | +43 | 66 | Qualification toChampions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Dinamo Zagreb | 32 | 19 | 8 | 5 | 70 | 36 | +34 | 65 | Qualification toUEFA Cup qualifying round |
| 3 | Osijek | 32 | 17 | 6 | 9 | 61 | 47 | +14 | 57 | |
| 4 | Varteks | 32 | 12 | 9 | 11 | 56 | 56 | 0 | 45 | |
| 5 | Slaven Belupo | 32 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 39 | 37 | +2 | 44 | Qualification toIntertoto Cup first round |
| 6 | NK Zagreb | 32 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 51 | 58 | −7 | 38 |
| Home \ Away | DIN | HAJ | OSI | SLA | VAR | ZAG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinamo Zagreb | 1–0 | 3–1 | 6–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | |
| Hajduk Split | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 6–0 | 4–2 | |
| Osijek | 1–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | |
| Slaven Belupo | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | |
| Varteks | 3–1 | 2–4 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | |
| NK Zagreb | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–3 |
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Šibenik | 32 | 12 | 7 | 13 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 43 | |
| 8 | Čakovec | 32 | 10 | 9 | 13 | 28 | 37 | −9 | 39 | |
| 9 | Cibalia | 32 | 5 | 18 | 9 | 31 | 45 | −14 | 33 | |
| 10 | Rijeka | 32 | 9 | 6 | 17 | 30 | 44 | −14 | 33 | |
| 11 | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 32 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 35 | 57 | −22 | 33 | |
| 12 | Marsonia(O) | 32 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 41 | 68 | −27 | 29 | Qualification torelegation play-off |
Due to the expansion of Prva HNL to 16 clubs in the2001–02 season, four clubs from the2000–01 Druga HNL were automatically promoted. Those should have been top four clubs, but since third-placedCroatia Sesvete and sixth-placedBelišće 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 andTŠK Topolovac respectively). Therefore, the 12th placedMarsonia 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.
| Solin Građa | 5–2 | Marsonia |
|---|---|---|
| Giljušić Turković Guč Kalinić Bačić | Olić |
| Marsonia | 3–0 | Solin Građa |
|---|---|---|
| Olić |