| Founded | 1992 |
|---|---|
| Region | Croatia |
| Teams | 48 |
| Qualifier for | UEFA Europa League |
| Current champions | Rijeka (7th title) |
| Most championships | Dinamo Zagreb (17 titles) |
| Broadcaster | MAX Sport |
| Website | Official website |
 2025–26 Croatian Football Cup | |
TheCroatian Football Cup (Croatian:Hrvatski nogometni kup), is an annually heldfootball tournament forCroatianfootball clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after theHNL championship. It is governed by theCroatian Football Federation (HNS) and usually runs from late August to late May. Cup winners automatically qualify for next season'sUEFA Europa League, except when cup winners are also Prva HNL champions, in which case their berth in the Europa Conference League goes to the best-placed team in the Prva HNL who have not qualified for theUEFA competitions through their league performance.[1]
The cup was established in 1992,[2] after Croatian clubs had abandoned theYugoslav First League andYugoslav Cup competitions following thebreakup of Yugoslavia. As of the most recent2021–22 season a total of 31 cup seasons were held. The competition has historically been dominated by the twoEternal Derby sides—the most successful club isDinamo Zagreb (formerly known in the 1990s as HAŠK Građanski and Croatia Zagreb) who appeared in 23 finals and won 16 titles, followed byHajduk Split who won 8 titles out of 13 finals they appeared in.[3]
Either Dinamo or Hajduk appeared in all but four cup finals (in1999,2006,2020 and2025) and only three other clubs have won the cup—Rijeka (seven wins),Inter Zaprešić (one win) andOsijek (one win).[3] Although clubs can qualify for the cup via regional county cups, which are usually contested bysecond-,third- or fourth-level sides,Uljanik Pula in2003 was the only team in the history of the competition to have reached the cup final from outside the top level.
Although in theory any club can take part in the cup, 48 teams enter the competition proper, based on three criteria:[1]
The 32 clubs which qualify via regional cups always enter in the preliminary round, which consists of 16 single-legged fixtures.[1] In case of a draw at the end of normal time, thirty minutes ofextra time is played, and if scores are still level, apenalty shootout is held to determine the winner of the tie.[1]Sixteen winners of the preliminary ties go on to the first round proper (round of 32), where they are joined by the sixteen best-ranked clubs according to cup coefficient (this usually means allFirst League clubs and a handful of best-ranked lower level teams). Round of 32 (R1) and round of 16 (R2) are also played as single-legged fixtures. Until the 2014–15 season, from the quarter-finals onward, the competition employed atwo-legged tie format, with winners progressing through on aggregate score. Since 2015–16, quarter-finals are also played as single-legged fixtures and, since 2017–18, the same applies for semi-finals.In case the score is still level at the end of regular time, extra time is played. If the score remains level after extra time, a penalty shootout takes place to determine tie winners.[1] With the exception of 1997 and 1999 finals, all finals were also played as two-legged fixtures until the rules were most recently changed for the 2014–15 season and a single-match final was made permanent.[4]
Clubs are awarded points for participation in specific round of the Cup. There are two exceptions in awarding points, first is clubs from preliminary round doesn't receive any points and second is a final where winner receives double of runner up. Points are summed through the season and added to five year ranking.[5]
| Round | Awarded clubs | Points[6] | Accumulative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preliminary round | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| First round | 16 | 1 | 1 |
| Second round | 8 | 2 | 3 |
| Quarter-finals | 4 | 4 | 7 |
| Semi-finals | 2 | 8 | 15 |
| Runner up | 1 | 16 | 31 |
| Winner | 1 | 32 | 63 |
Points used in this ranking will be used for qualification for the 2026–27 season and seeding for the season 2025–26.[7]
| Seeding for 2025−26 Cup[8] |
| (R) | Replay |
| Two-legged tie | |
| * | Match went toextra time |
| † | Match decided by apenalty shoot-out (from 2015 after extra time) |
| ‡ | Winning team wonThe Double |
| Italics | Team from outside the toplevel of Croatian football |
| Club | Winners | Last final won | Runners-up | Last final lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dinamo Zagreb[A] | 17 | 2024 | 7 | 2019 |
| Hajduk Split | 8 | 2023 | 5 | 2018 |
| Rijeka | 7 | 2025 | 3 | 2024 |
| Osijek | 1 | 1999 | 1 | 2012 |
| Inter Zaprešić[B] | 1 | 1992 | 0 | — |
| Varaždin[C] | 0 | — | 6 | 2011 |
| Slaven Belupo[E] | 0 | — | 3 | 2025 |
| Lokomotiva | 0 | — | 2 | 2020 |
| Istra 1961[D] | 0 | — | 2 | 2021 |
| Šibenik | 0 | — | 2 | 2023 |
| NK Zagreb | 0 | — | 1 | 1997 |
| Cibalia | 0 | — | 1 | 1999 |
| RNK Split | 0 | — | 1 | 2015 |
| Rank | Name | Winners | Club(s) | Winning years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ivan Katalinić | 2 | Hajduk Split | 1993, 1995 |
| Zlatko Kranjčar | 2 | Croatia Zagreb | 1996, 1998 | |
| Ilija Lončarević | 2 | Inker Zaprešić,Dinamo Zagreb | 1992, 2001 | |
| Stanko Poklepović | 2 | Osijek,Hajduk Split | 1999, 2010 | |
| Zoran Mamić | 2 | Dinamo Zagreb | 2015, 2016 | |
 Matjaž Kek | 2 | Rijeka | 2014, 2017 |
| National teams | |
|---|---|
| League system | |
| Domestic cups | |
| Seasons | |
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