Prva HNL Player of the Year
Encyclopedia
The Prva HNL Player of the Year award is an annual association football award given by the Croatia
n newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija
. It is awarded to the best football player who plies his trade in the Prva HNL (or "1. HNL"), Croatian top flight and winners are chosen by the newspaper's sports editors. Winners for the preceding year are usually announced around 1 January and all players who had spent the entire calendar year
playing in the league are eligible for the award, regardless of their nationality.
The award was established in 1992. Igor Cvitanović
holds the record for most wins with three awards won between 1992 and 1997, followed by Stipe Pletikosa
and Niko Kranjčar
with two wins each. The current award holder is Sammir of Dinamo Zagreb.
Another similar award is the Yellow Shirt Award
which is based on aggregate player ratings in matches throughout the season as judged by the country's only sports daily Sportske novosti
.
Notes on club name changes:
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija
Slobodna Dalmacija
Slobodna Dalmacija is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Split.The first issue of Slobodna Dalmacija was published on June 17, 1943 by Tito's Partisans in a cave on Mosor, a mountain near Split, which was occupied by the Italian army during that time. The paper was later published in various...
. It is awarded to the best football player who plies his trade in the Prva HNL (or "1. HNL"), Croatian top flight and winners are chosen by the newspaper's sports editors. Winners for the preceding year are usually announced around 1 January and all players who had spent the entire calendar year
Calendar year
Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day. By convention, a calendar year consists of a natural number of days. To reconcile the calendar year with an astronomical cycle , certain years...
playing in the league are eligible for the award, regardless of their nationality.
The award was established in 1992. Igor Cvitanović
Igor Cvitanovic
Igor Cvitanović is a retired Croatian football striker.He is currently the all-time top goalscorer of the Croatian First League with a total of 126 goals, and also scored 122 domestic league goals for Croatian club Dinamo Zagreb, 117 of which were in the Croatian First League...
holds the record for most wins with three awards won between 1992 and 1997, followed by Stipe Pletikosa
Stipe Pletikosa
Stipe Pletikosa is a Croatian football goalkeeper who plays for the Russian Premier League club FC Rostov and the Croatian national team, for which he has made 86 appearances.-Hajduk Split:...
and Niko Kranjčar
Niko Kranjcar
Niko Kranjčar is a Croatian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur and the Croatia national team.He represented two of the biggest clubs in his homeland, playing for Dinamo Zagreb before sparking controversy by making a move to their fierce rivals Hajduk Split in 2005...
with two wins each. The current award holder is Sammir of Dinamo Zagreb.
Another similar award is the Yellow Shirt Award
Sportske novosti Yellow Shirt award
The Sportske novosti Yellow Shirt award or SN Yellow Shirt for short is an annual football award given by the only Croatian sports daily Sportske novosti...
which is based on aggregate player ratings in matches throughout the season as judged by the country's only sports daily Sportske novosti
Sportske novosti
Sportske novosti is a Croatian daily sports newspaper based in Zagreb.It was first published as a weekly magazine on 9 August 1945 . It changed its name to Narodni sport on 10 December 1945...
.
Winners
† denotes shared wins| Year | Player (Wins) | Club(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 † |  (1) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 1992 † | (1) |
Varteks / HAŠK Građanski |
| 1992 † | (1) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 1993 | (1) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... / Croatia Zagreb |
| 1994 |  (1) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 1995 | (1) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 1996 | (2) |
Croatia Zagreb |
| 1997 † | (3) |
Croatia Zagreb |
| 1997 † | (1) |
Croatia Zagreb |
| 1998 | (1) |
Croatia Zagreb |
| 1999 | (1) |
Croatia Zagreb |
| 2000 | (1) |
Osijek NK Osijek NK Osijek is a Croatian football club, from Osijek in eastern Croatia.- History :NK Osijek's early roots are found in club called NK Udarnik that was formed in 1945 under FPR Yugoslavia's new communist authorities on the ashes of dissolved HŠK Slavija... |
| 2001 | (1) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 2002 † | (1) |
NK Zagreb NK Zagreb NK Zagreb is a Croatian football club, from the Croatian capital of Zagreb.NK Zagreb's home is the Stadion Kranjčevićeva with capacity of 8,850. The club's fans are known as the White Angels... / Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2002 † | (2) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 2003 | (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2004 | (1) |
Zadar NK Zadar NK Zadar is a Croatian football club based in Zadar, a city on the Adriatic coast. The club was founded in 1945.Josip Skoblar, Đovani Roso, Dado Pršo and Luka Modrić, are among their most notable former players.... / Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 2005 | (2) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 2006 | Eduardo Eduardo da Silva Eduardo Alves da Silva , commonly known as Eduardo, sometimes nicknamed as Dudu, is a Brazilian-born Croatian footballer who plays for Ukrainian Premier League club Shakhtar Donetsk and the Croatia national team... (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2007 | (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2008 | (1) |
Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and... |
| 2009 | (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
| 2010 |  Sammir (1) |
Dinamo Zagreb |
Notes on club name changes:
- Dinamo Zagreb changed their name to "HAŠK Građanski" in June 1991 and then again in February 1993 to "Croatia Zagreb". They reverted back to "Dinamo Zagreb" in February 2000.
- The present-day NK Varaždin was called "Varteks" from 1958 until June 2010.