Croatian Football Cup
| Founded | 1992 |
|---|---|
| Region | Croatia |
| Number of teams | 48 |
| Current champions |
Dinamo Zagreb (14th title) |
| Most successful club(s) |
Dinamo Zagreb (14 titles) |
| Website | Official website |
 2016–17 Croatian Football Cup
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The Croatian Football Cup (Croatian: Hrvatski nogometni kup) is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the Croatian First Football League championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (CFF) and usually runs from late August to late May. Cup winners automatically qualify for next season's UEFA Europa League, except when cup winners are also First League champions, in which case cup finalists take their berth in the Europa League.
The cup was established in 1992, after Croatian clubs had abandoned the Yugoslav First League and Yugoslav Cup competitions following the breakup of Yugoslavia. As of the most recent 2015–16 season a total of 25 cup seasons were held. The competition has historically been dominated by Eternal Derby sides - the most successful club is Dinamo Zagreb (formerly known in the 1990s as "HAŠK Građanski" and "Croatia Zagreb") who appeared in 19 finals and won 14 titles, followed by Hajduk Split who won 6 titles out of 10 finals they appeared in.
Either Dinamo or Hajduk appeared in all but two cup finals (1999 and 2006) and only three other clubs have managed to win the cup - Rijeka (3 wins) and Inter Zaprešić and Osijek (1 win each). Although clubs can qualify for the cup via regional county cups, which are usually contested by second, third or fourth level sides, Istra 1961 (formerly known as Uljanik Pula) is the only team to have reached the cup final from outside the top level in 2003.
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