2017–18 Croatian Second Football League
# 2017–18 Croatian Second Football League

The 2017–18 Croatian Second Football League (also known as Druga HNL and 2. HNL) was the 27th season of the Croatian Second Football League, the second level football competition for men's association football teams in Croatia, since its establishment in 1992. The season started on 18 August 2017 and ended on 23 May 2018.

The league is contested by twelve teams and played in a triple round robin format, with each team playing every other team three times over 33 rounds.

## Teams

On 21 April 2017, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2016–17 season was completed. For the 2017–18 Druga HNL, eight clubs outside of top level were issued a second level license: Rudeš, Solin, Gorica, Dinamo Zagreb II, Dugopolje. In the second stage of licensing procedure clubs that were not licensed in the first round appealed the decision. On 23 May 2017, all remaining Druga HNL were granted second division license, along with third level clubs Kustošija, Hajduk Split II, Varaždin and Trnje.

### Stadia and locations

| Club | Coach | City / Town | Stadium | 2016–17 result | Capacity |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dinamo Zagreb II | Igor Jovičević | Zagreb | Stadion Hitrec-Kacian | 0265th | 5,000 |
| Dugopolje | Miroslav Bojko | Dugopolje | Stadion Hrvatski vitezovi | 0276th | 5,200 |
| Gorica | Ivan Prelec | Velika Gorica | Stadion Radnika | 0242nd | 8,000 |
| Hajduk Split II | Siniša Oreščanin | Split | Stadion Poljud second training ground | 0251st in (3. HNL South) | 2,000 |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | Igor Pamić | Zagreb | Stadion NŠC Stjepan Spajić | 03010th | 5,000 |
| Kustošija | | Zagreb | Stadion NK Kustošija | 0292nd in (3. HNL West) | 2,550 |
| Lučko | Denis Bezer | Zagreb | Stadion Lučko | 0289th | 1,500 |
| Novigrad | Nino Bule | Novigrad | Stadion Lako | 0418th | 1,000 |
| Sesvete | Sergej Jakirović | Zagreb | Sv. Josip Radnik | 0234th | 1,200 |
| Solin | Mirko Labrović | Solin | Stadion pokraj Jadra | 0413rd | 4,000 |
| Šibenik | Borimir Perković | Šibenik | Stadion Šubićevac | 0227th | 6,824 |
| Varaždin | Mario Kovačević | Varaždin | Stadion Varteks | 0122nd in (3. HNL East) | 8,850 |

### Number of teams by county

| Position | County | Number | Teams |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | City of Zagreb | 5 | Dinamo Zagreb II, Hrvatski Dragovoljac, Kustošija, Lučko and Sesvete |
| 2 | Split-Dalmatia | 3 | Dugopolje, Hajduk Split II and Solin |
| 3 | Istria | 1 | Novigrad |
| 3 | Šibenik-Knin | 1 | Šibenik |
| 3 | Varaždin | 1 | Varaždin |
| 3 | Zagreb County | 1 | Gorica |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Gorica (C, P) | 33 | 18 | 8 | 7 | 44 | 29 | +15 | 62 | Promotion to the Croatian First Football League |
| 2 | Varaždin | 33 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 50 | 32 | +18 | 61 | Qualification to the promotion play-off |
| 3 | Dinamo Zagreb II | 33 | 18 | 7 | 8 | 43 | 25 | +18 | 61 | Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion to the Croatian First Football League |
| 4 | Sesvete | 33 | 16 | 6 | 11 | 46 | 38 | +8 | 54 | |
| 5 | Hajduk Split II | 33 | 15 | 5 | 13 | 44 | 32 | +12 | 50 | Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion to the Croatian First Football League |
| 6 | Dugopolje | 33 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 34 | 37 | −3 | 46 | |
| 7 | Šibenik | 33 | 11 | 9 | 13 | 39 | 43 | −4 | 42 | |
| 8 | Kustošija | 33 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 34 | 39 | −5 | 40 | |
| 9 | Solin | 33 | 9 | 7 | 17 | 31 | 48 | −17 | 34 | |
| 10 | Lučko | 33 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 27 | 40 | −13 | 34 | |
| 11 | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 33 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 37 | 48 | −11 | 34 | Qualification to the relegation play-off |
| 12 | Novigrad (R) | 33 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 32 | 50 | −18 | 31 | Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League |

* ↑ Dinamo Zagreb II and Hajduk Split II are ineligible for promotion
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: Varaždin 6, Dinamo 0
* 1 2 3 Head-to-head points: Solin 9, Lučko 5, Dragovoljac 2

## Results

### Matches 1–22

| Home \ Away | DIN | DUG | GOR | HAJ | HRV | KUS | LUČ | NOV | SES | SOL | ŠIB | VAR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dinamo Zagreb II | — | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 |
| Dugopolje | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Gorica | 0–2 | 2–1 | — | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Hajduk Split II | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 0–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | — | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Kustošija | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Lučko | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Novigrad | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | — | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Sesvete | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | — | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 |
| Solin | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Šibenik | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 |
| Varaždin | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | — |

### Matches 23–33

| Home \ Away | DIN | DUG | GOR | HAJ | HRV | KUS | LUČ | NOV | SES | SOL | ŠIB | VAR |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Dinamo Zagreb II | — | — | 1–0 | 0–2 | — | 4–0 | — | — | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | — |
| Dugopolje | 2–0 | — | — | 1–3 | — | 2–2 | — | — | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — |
| Gorica | — | 2–1 | — | — | 3–1 | — | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | — | 1–1 | 4–2 |
| Hajduk Split II | — | — | 4–1 | — | 1–1 | — | 3–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | — |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 1–2 | 0–1 | — | — | — | — | — | 1–3 | — | 1–0 | — | 0–1 |
| Kustošija | — | — | 1–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | — | 4–0 | — | — | — |
| Lučko | 0–1 | 2–0 | — | — | 2–3 | — | — | 1–0 | — | — | — | 2–3 |
| Novigrad | 1–1 | 3–0 | — | — | — | 0–1 | — | — | — | 3–2 | — | 0–1 |
| Sesvete | — | — | 0–1 | — | 2–2 | — | 2–1 | 5–0 | — | — | 3–2 | 0–2 |
| Solin | — | — | 1–1 | 0–2 | — | 2–4 | 0–0 | — | 3–2 | — | — | — |
| Šibenik | — | — | — | — | 2–1 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 3–2 | — | 2–0 | — | — |
| Varaždin | 2–1 | 2–0 | — | 0–1 | — | 2–0 | — | — | — | 6–0 | 4–3 | — |

## Relegation play-offs

At the end of the season, eleventh placed team Hrvatski Dragovoljac was to contest a two-legged relegation play-off tie against RNK Split, runners-up of the 2017–18 Croatian Third Football League South Division. The matches, however, were not played because RNK Split did not receive a licence for Druga HNL.

## Top scorers

    As of 20 May 2018

| Rank | Player | Club(s) | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Domagoj Drožđek | Varaždin | 16 |
| 2 | Kristijan Lovrić | Lučko (2), Kustošija (11) | 13 |
| 3 | Valentino Majstorović | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 11 |
| 3 | Borna Miklić | Dinamo Zagreb II | 11 |
| 5 | Ivan Delić | Hajduk Split II | 9 |
| 5 | Dejan Glavica | Varaždin | 9 |
| 7 | Ivan Božić | Dinamo Zagreb II | 8 |
| 7 | Ivan Mamut | Sesvete | 8 |
| 7 | Marko Tolić | Sesvete | 8 |
