2015–16 Croatian Second Football League
# 2015–16 Croatian Second Football League

The 2015–16 Croatian Second Football League (also known as Druga HNL or 2. HNL) is the 25th 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 14 August 2015 and will end on 21 May 2016.

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. At the end of the previous season Inter Zaprešić were promoted, returning to the top flight after two seasons, while Bistra were relegated in their début season. Pomorac were also relegated due to financial insolvency. Bistra and Pomorac were replaced by Dinamo II and Šibenik, after winning their respective Croatian Third Football League divisions.

## Teams

On 20 April 2015, Croatian Football Federation announced that the first stage of licensing procedure for 2015–16 season was completed. For the 2015–16 Druga HNL, only nine clubs were issued a second level license: Dinamo II, Gorica, Hajduk Split II, Imotski, Istra 1961, Mosor, Rijeka II, Rudeš and Sesvete. In the second stage of licensing procedure clubs that were not licensed in the first round appealed the decision. On 20 May 2015, all remaining Druga HNL were granted second division license, along with third level clubs Šibenik and Dinamo II.

### Stadia and locations

| Club | City / Town | Stadium | 2014-15 result | Capacity |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Cibalia | Vinkovci | Stadion HNK Cibalia | 0266th | 10,000 |
| Dinamo II | Zagreb | Stadion Hitrec-Kacian | 0411st (3. HNL West) | 5,000 |
| Dugopolje | Dugopolje | Stadion Hrvatski vitezovi | 0277th | 5,200 |
| Gorica | Velika Gorica | Stadion Radnika | 0233rd | 8,000 |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | Zagreb | Stadion NŠC Stjepan Spajić | 03010th | 5,000 |
| Imotski | Imotski | Stadion Gospin dolac | 0255th | 4,000 |
| Lučko | Zagreb | Stadion Lučko | 0299th | 1,500 |
| Rudeš | Zagreb | ŠC Rudeš | 0244th | 1,000 |
| Segesta | Sisak | Gradski stadion Sisak | 0288th | 8,000 |
| Sesvete | Zagreb | Sv. Josip Radnik | 0222nd | 1,200 |
| Šibenik | Šibenik | Stadion Šubićevac | 0411st (3. HNL South) | 8,000 |
| Zadar | Zadar | Stadion Stanovi | 01010th (1. HNL) | 6,000 |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Position in table |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Zadar | Igor Štimac | Resigned | 16 July 2015 | Zvonimir Jurić (caretaker) | 16 July 2015 | Pre-season |
| Zadar | Zvonimir Jurić (caretaker) | End of caretaker tenure | 7 August 2015 | Josip Butić | 7 August 2015 | Pre-season |
| Gorica | Dražen Biškup | Mutual consent | 4 September 2015 | Damir Grlić (caretaker) | 4 September 2015 | 11th |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | Iztok Kapušin | Signed by Celje | 7 September 2015 | Alen Horvat | 8 September 2015 | 8th |
| Cibalia | Damir Milinović | Mutual consent | 7 September 2015 | Miroslav Bojko | 8 September 2015 | 4th |
| Gorica | Damir Grlić (caretaker) | End of caretaker tenure | 9 September 2015 | Damir Milinović | 9 September 2015 | 10th |
| Cibalia | Miroslav Bojko | Resigned | 5 April 2016 | Stanko Mršić | 12 April 2016 | 2nd |
| Šibenik | Mirko Labrović | Sacked | 17 April 2016 | Krešimir Sunara | 18 April 2016 | 1st |
| Šibenik | Krešimir Sunara | Sacked | 23 May 2016 | Goran Tomić | 23 May 2016 | 2nd |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Cibalia (C, P) | 33 | 20 | 10 | 3 | 54 | 20 | +34 | 70 | Promotion to the Croatian First Football League |
| 2 | Šibenik | 33 | 20 | 9 | 4 | 54 | 21 | +33 | 69 | Qualification to the promotion play-off |
| 3 | Sesvete | 33 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 56 | 40 | +16 | 52 | |
| 4 | Gorica | 33 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 40 | 40 | 0 | 47 | |
| 5 | Rudeš | 33 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 47 | 44 | +3 | 43 | |
| 6 | Dinamo Zagreb II | 33 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 34 | 37 | −3 | 43 | Reserve teams are ineligible for promotion to the Croatian First Football League |
| 7 | Dugopolje | 33 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 38 | 41 | −3 | 40 | |
| 8 | Lučko | 33 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 40 | 47 | −7 | 40 | |
| 9 | Imotski | 33 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 40 | 50 | −10 | 40 | |
| 10 | Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 33 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 29 | 39 | −10 | 40 | Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League |
| 11 | Segesta (R) | 33 | 10 | 8 | 15 | 44 | 54 | −10 | 38 | Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League |
| 12 | Zadar (R) | 33 | 5 | 8 | 20 | 30 | 73 | −43 | 23 | Relegation to the Croatian Third Football League |

## Results

### Matches 1–22

| Home \ Away | CIB | DIN | DUG | GOR | HRD | IMO | LUČ | RUD | SEG | SES | ŠIB | ZAD |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Cibalia | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| Dinamo Zagreb II | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 |
| Dugopolje | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 1–2 |
| Gorica | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 5–0 |
| Imotski | 1–3 | 3–1 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 1–3 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 4–2 |
| Lučko | 0–3 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Rudeš | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 3–1 | | 3–3 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 3–0 |
| Segesta | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 4–1 | | 2–1 | 0–4 | 1–1 |
| Sesvete | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | | 4–0 | 2–0 |
| Šibenik | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | | 5–0 |
| Zadar | 0–3 | 1–1 | 0–5 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–5 | 1–4 | |

### Matches 23–33

| Home \ Away | CIB | DIN | DUG | GOR | HRD | IMO | LUČ | RUD | SEG | SES | ŠIB | ZAD |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Cibalia | | 3–0 | | 1–0 | | 0–0 | 3–1 | | | 2–1 | | 4–0 |
| Dinamo Zagreb II | | | | | 0–2 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | |
| Dugopolje | 1–2 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | | 1–4 | 3–0 | | | | | 1–0 |
| Gorica | | 2–1 | | | | 3–0 | | | | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–3 |
| Hrvatski Dragovoljac | 0–2 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | | | | 1–0 | 2–3 | | | |
| Imotski | | 2–0 | | | 2–0 | | | | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Lučko | | | | 0–4 | 0–1 | 2–4 | | | 1–1 | | | 5–0 |
| Rudeš | 1–2 | | 1–0 | 4–0 | | 3–0 | 1–4 | | | | | 3–0 |
| Segesta | 2–0 | | 3–3 | 2–0 | | 3–1 | | 2–2 | | | | |
| Sesvete | | | 3–1 | | 2–2 | | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 2–0 | |
| Šibenik | 0–0 | | 2–0 | | 3–1 | | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | | | |
| Zadar | | 1–1 | | | 1–2 | | | | 2–2 | 5–2 | 1–1 | |

## Top scorers

As of 21 May 2016; Source: Druga-HNL.com Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine

| Rank | Player | Club(s) | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Frane Vitaić | Cibalia | 15 |
| 2 | Igor Prijić | Dugopolje, Segesta | 14 |
| 3 | Ivan Prskalo | Sesvete | 12 |
| 4 | Theophilus Solomon | Šibenik | 11 |
| 5 | Ivan Antunović | Sesvete | 10 |
| 5 | Vlatko Blažević | Zadar | 10 |
| 5 | Ivan Bubalo | Dugopolje | 10 |
