In the past 15 years, only two Croatian clubs have reached the group stages of European competitions, and the introduction of the Conference League has not brought the expected breakthrough for others.
Croatian club football is falling further behind on the European stage, and it's hard to pinpoint a single main reason because there are several. Although Croatia has typically had four, and sometimes five, representatives in qualifying rounds in most seasons, the results have been dismal, in the past 15 years, only two different clubs have managed to qualify for the group stages of European competitions.
Almost the entire burden of accumulating Croatia's coefficient in serious European stages has fallen on Dinamo, which is responsible for as much as 90 percent of the points in that period. The remaining 10 percent goes to Rijeka, while other clubs have remained completely invisible when it mattered most.
The introduction of the Conference League, the third European competition, five seasons ago was supposed to be an ideal opportunity for Croatian clubs. The draws often opened up for them, with opponents of a similar footballing caliber standing in their way. However, neither Hajduk nor Osijek capitalized on these opportunities, missing what Večernji list describes as a "million" chances against clubs from Albania, Azerbaijan, Slovakia, and other nations.
Hajduk stands out as the biggest "villain" in this story, closely followed by Osijek. Both clubs had numerous favorable circumstances in the Conference League era, yet neither managed to make a significant breakthrough and join Dinamo and Rijeka in the group stages. It is precisely this lack of results that is a key factor in the HNL's growing lag on the European rankings.
