Highest % of Foreign Players Ever in Croatian Football League

Dinamo have the most foreigners in the league (photo: Gordan Laušić)

Last season there were 180 Croatian footballers playing abroad in Leagues across Europe alone…

Whilst there have never been as many Croatians playing football for foreign clubs as there is today, the same can be said for the number of foreigners playing in the Croatian first division. Out of the total of 290 Croatian first division players, 74 of them, or 25.5%, are foreigners, the highest ratio of foreigners ever in the league, writes Jutarnji list.

Champions Dinamo Zagreb lead the way, followed by fellow title contenders Rijeka, Hajduk Split, Istria and RNK Split. Most of the other clubs are made up of mainly local players.

Dinamo Zagreb have the most foreigners on their books, exactly half of their roster. Slovenian Petar Stojanović is the club’s latest signing in a long list of foreigners over the last couple seasons. Fernandes, Sigali, Soudani, Matel, Goncalo and Machado to name a few.

Currently at Hajduk Split foreigners make up 32% of the squad, including recent signings Jefferson, Velazquez and Bilij. Fellow Split club RNK Split have this season increased the number of foreign signings, and now have more than Hajduk (33%).

Lokomotiva and Osijek are two clubs with the fewest amount of foreigners with only 12% of their squads made up of players from abroad.