European Qualifiers: Hajduk and Osijek Out, Rijeka Drops to Conference League

August 15, 2024 – It was not a good night for Croatian clubs, who suffered shock eliminations in the early stages of the Europa League and the Conference League qualifiers.

Rijeka was eliminated in the third qualifying round of the Europa League, losing 2-0 to Swedish club Elfsborg (3-1). Osijek was eliminated in the same phase of the Conference League on penalties against Azerbaijani club Gzira, after the matches ended 1-1 and 2-2. Hajduk was also eliminated in the Conference, losing at home against Slovakian club Ružomberok (1-0), after the first match ended goalless.

Thursday, August 15, 2024, is a dark day in the history of Croatian football, and it’s shocking to see how Croatian clubs have fallen out of Europe. Osijek was eliminated because they conceded a goal in the seventh minute of stoppage time in the first game, while the same thing happened in the return match. Then, in the penalty shootout, they missed four out of five shots.

Rijeka was eliminated from the Europa League, but unlike Hajduk and Osijek, they continue their European journey in the play-offs of the Conference League, where they will play against Olimpija from Ljubljana. Rijeka, however, has suffered poor results at the beginning of the season, resulting in the dismissal of coach Željko Sopić.

Hajduk was also left without Europe. After playing 0-0 in the first game, Hajduk conceded an own goal in the 7th minute of the return match against Ružomberok. They dominated and had 70% possession. They had dozens of chances and couldn’t finish. And all this against a team that almost did not create a serious chance in the game.

All three Croatian clubs were eliminated as holders from unseeded clubs. Football Meets Data, a platform about football statistics and analytics, calls this an absolute disaster for Croatia and one of the lowest points of Croatian football. The same source highlights another particularly devastating fact for Croatian clubs in the European framework.

“They played 12 games this summer, all against clubs from leagues below Europe’s top 22. Despite this, they won only 4 games. Two against Estonian clubs and one each against a club from the Faroe Islands and the second Romanian league.”

What’s even worse for Croatian football and its fight for the best possible European coefficient is that Osijek and Hajduk were eliminated early even with a great draw. But that was still not enough for them to pass. And all this before Dinamo even started their Champions League campaign…

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

the fields marked with * are required

Email: *
First name:
Last name:
Gender:	Male Female
Country:
Birthday:	[DD] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 [MM] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 [YYYY] 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Please don't insert text in the box below!