It hasn’t been the best European summer for Croatia’s biggest clubs.
Of the four Croatian representatives, only Dinamo remains in European competitions. Osijek was first to drop out of Europa League, losing to the Glasgow Rangers in the second qualifying round, while Hajduk and Rijeka finished their run last night in the third qualifying round after losing to Steaua and Sarpsborg, reports Goal.hr on August 17, 2018.
These results have brought Croatia one of the weakest showings in European competitions in the last ten seasons – and before the Champions League and Europa League playoffs, Croatia is ranked only 21st by points won this season.
Dinamo, who will, at the very least, enter the group stage of Europa League, has so far brought Croatia three and a half points. Hajduk finished with two and a half (two wins and one draw), Osijek with two (one win and two draws) and Rijeka with half a point (one draw).
These four clubs together collected eight and a half points, or 2,125 when the total number of points was divided by the number of clubs.
Points won this season (and the number of clubs still in the competition)
1. Serbia 3.875 (2)
2. Denmark 3.500 (3)
3. Slovakia 3.375 (2)
4. Scotland 3,250 (2)
5. Norway 3.125 (3)
6. Cyprus 3 (3)
7. Belarus 3 (1)
8. Slovenia 3 (1)
Therefore, in front of the Croatian league, is Slovenia, Belarus, Cyprus, and Norway – and even Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Israel!
Serbian clubs showed the best in the qualifiers, with Partizan, Red Star, Radnički, and Spartak collecting 15.5 points, or 3.875 on average. Partizan advanced to the playoffs with five wins and one draw, and Red Star with four wins and two draws.
With six wins, five draws, three defeats, and only one club in the playoff stage, Croatia has fallen into the lower house of European leagues. The Czech Republic still has four clubs in the competition, Denmark, Norway, and Cyprus each have three, Serbia, Slovakia, Romania, Austria, and Scotland have two, and Belarus, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Israel, Sweden, Hungary, Luxembourg, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Macedonia, and Moldova each have one – like Croatia.
Looking at this stage of the competition, worse than the Croatian league is only the Polish league, whose four clubs were eliminated.
On UEFA’s coefficient table, Croatia currently holds the 15th place, which would bring two clubs into the Champions League, but Dinamo remains alone in the fight for the Croatian coefficient, against four Czech, and three Swiss and Cyprus clubs that are (very) close.
1. Spain 86,855 (7)
2. England 65,534 (7)
3. Italy 64,868 (7)
4. Germany 59,427 (7)
5. France 50,581 (6)
6. Russia 44,966 (6)
7. Portugal 38,732 (3)
8. Ukraine 34,900 (4)
9. Belgium 34,200 (5)
10. Turkey 30,700 (4)
11. Austria 26,250 (2)
12. Denmark 25,650 (3)
13. Netherlands 25,133 (2)
14. Greece 24,100 (3)
15. Croatia 23,750 (1)
16. Czech Republic 23,675 (4)
17. Switzerland 23,600 (3)
18. Cyprus 21,800 (3)
19. Serbia 20,125 (2)
20. Belarus 19,875 (1)
