1946 Croatian Football Championship

The 1946 Croatian Football Championship was a two-stage competition for clubs from PR Croatia which served as a qualifying tournament for the new post-war First League in communist Yugoslavia, and its inaugural 1946–47 edition.

Croatia, as one of six republics in the newly formed Yugoslavia, was given two places in the new national league. Through a series of regional preliminaries and playoffs eight clubs earned a spot in the final stage, in which they played each other twice in a 14-round double round-robin format.

The final stage was won by Hajduk Split, in front of runners-up Dinamo Zagreb, on goal difference. Both clubs qualified to play in the Yugoslav top level in the 1946–47 season. A third Croatian club, Lokomotiva, which had finished second in the Zagreb qualifying tournament, also earned a spot in the 1946–47 national league via additional inter-regional qualifiers, in which they reached the final and lost to Belgrade-based club Metalac.

A separate qualifying tournament was organized for clubs from the newly acquired territories of Istria and the city of Rijeka (Fiume). The newly established SD Kvarner (also known as "SCF Quarnero" in Italian) from Rijeka won a playoff against US Operaia from Pula to represent the military-administered Zone B, in the Julian March. A club from Trieste, representing Zone A, Ponziana, was also later added directly to the Yugoslav national league.

Regional qualifiers were played early in the year, and the final stage was played between May and August. The three Croatian clubs thus joined the first 12-club season of the Yugoslav league championship which kicked off in late August 1946. (Kvarner and Ponziana were two additional clubs which joined mid-season, in October 1946, after five rounds had already been played).

City of Zagreb preliminaries "A"

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	FD Lokomotiva Zagreb	7	6	0	1	20	4	+16	12
2	Narodna obrana	7	5	1	1	23	9	+14	11
3	FD Tekstilac Zagreb	7	4	1	2	31	8	+23	9
4	32 divizija	7	4	1	2	21	7	+14	9
5	FD Postar Zagreb	7	3	2	2	16	11	+5	8
6	FD Jedinstvo Zagreb	7	2	1	4	13	20	−7	5
7	Slaven Kustosija	7	1	0	6	5	24	−19	2
8	FD Milicija Zagreb	7	0	0	7	0	46	−46	0

Source: rsssf.org

City of Zagreb preliminaries "B"

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	FD Dinamo	7	7	0	0	40	5	+35	14
2	FD Metalac	7	6	0	1	19	6	+13	12
3	II armija	7	5	0	2	39	6	+33	10
4	FD Dubrava	7	3	1	3	16	11	+5	7
5	FD Element	7	2	1	4	14	16	−2	5
6	FD Amater	7	2	1	4	14	29	−15	5
7	FD Grafičar	7	1	0	6	2	37	−35	2
8	FD Građevinar	7	0	1	6	4	38	−34	1

Source: rsssf.org

City of Zagreb championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	FD Dinamo	7	6	0	1	41	8	+33	12
2	FD Lokomotiva	7	6	0	1	16	12	+4	12
3	FD Metalac	7	4	1	2	15	8	+7	9
4	FD Amater	7	3	1	3	14	17	−3	7
5	FD Tekstilac	7	3	0	4	10	12	−2	6
6	FD Element	7	2	1	4	10	27	−17	5
7	FD Poštar	7	2	1	4	5	14	−9	5
8	FD Jedinstvo	7	0	0	7	10	23	−13	0

Source: rsssf.org

Zagreb Provincial championship

• Borac Zagreb 0-1 ; 1-8 FD Dubrava Zagreb

City of Osijek championship

• 1 : FD Jedinstvo Osijek
• 2 : FD Udarnik Osijek
• 3 : FD Tipograf Osijek
• 4 : FD Sloga Osijek
• 5 : FD Bratstvo Osijek

Region of Banija championship

• SFD Sloboda Sisak 8-1 ; 3-0 OFD Turkulin Petrinja

District of Karlovac championship

Udarnik Karlovac qualified to play-offs.

District of Primorsko-goranska championship

FD Jedinstvo Susak qualified to play-offs.

Also played FD Crikvenica, Omladinac Senj, Plavi Jadran Pag, NK Naprijed Hreljin

Region of Slavonia championship

Semifinals

• Sloga Vinkovci 5-1 ; 1-5 ; 0-3 FD Proleter Belisce
• SFD Naprijed Sisak 2-0 ; 1-0 FD Jedinstvo Osijek

Final

• SFD Naprijed Sisak 2-0 ; 0-3 FD Proleter Belisce

District of Varazdin championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	RSD Tekstilac Varazdin	4	3	1	0	13	4	+9	7
2	Jedinstvo Cakovec	4	2	0	2	12	6	+6	4
3	Sloboda Varazdin	4	0	1	3	1	16	−15	1

Source: rsssf.org

District of Bjelovar championship

Bjelovar qualified to play-offs.

Region of Dalmatia championship

Preliminary round

• Zadar 1-0 ; 1-2 Sibenik

Final

• RSD Split 0-2 ; 1-6 FD Hajduk Split

Play-offs

• RSD Split 4-0 Dubrovnik
• Sibenik 1-2; 0-4 RSD Split

Play-offs

Round 1

• Bjelovar 1-5 ; 1-2 RSD Tekstilac Varazdin
• Udarnik Karlovac 4-2 ; 1-3 FD Dubrava Zagreb
• SFD Naprijed Sisak 2-1 ; 4-1 FD Amater Zagreb
• FD Metalac Zagreb 8-0 ; 3-1 FD Jedinstvo Susak

Round 2

• FD Dubrava Zagreb 3-2 ; 1-3 RSD Tekstilac Varazdin
• FD Jedinstvo Susak 6-0 ; 2-4 SFD Naprijed Sisak

Additional play-off

• Lokomotiva Zagreb 1-0 ; 3-0 FD Dubrava Zagreb

Final Stage

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	FD Hajduk Split	14	10	2	2	51	11	+40	22
2	FD Dinamo Zagreb	14	10	2	2	40	12	+28	22
3	FD Lokomotiva Zagreb	14	6	5	3	28	13	+15	17
4	RSD Tekstilac Varaždin	14	6	3	5	24	27	−3	15
5	FD Proleter Belišće	14	6	3	5	18	28	−10	15
6	FD Metalac Zagreb	14	4	5	5	20	20	0	13
7	RSD Split	14	3	0	11	14	42	−28	6
8	FD Jedinstvo Sušak	14	0	2	12	7	49	−42	2

Source: rsssf.org

City of Rijeka championship

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Magazzini generali Rijeka	16	12	3	1	59	19	+40	27
2	Cantieri Rijeka	16	10	3	3	66	23	+43	23
3	Lignum Rijeka	16	10	3	3	60	32	+28	23
4	Torpedo Rijeka	16	8	3	5	48	18	+30	19
5	ROMSA Rijeka	16	8	2	6	48	38	+10	18
6	Portuale Rijeka	16	5	2	9	30	39	−9	12
7	ASPM Rijeka	16	3	3	10	37	51	−14	9
8	Metallurgica Rijeka	16	4	1	11	31	75	−44	9
9	Dinamo Rijeka	16	2	0	14	18	102	−84	4

Source: rsssf.org

Rijeka/Istria Final

• SD Kvarner Rijeka 1-2 ; 4-1 US Operaia Pula

References

• rsssf