The 1946 Croatian Football Championship was a two-stage competition for clubs from

PR Croatia The Socialist Republic of Croatia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Hrvatska, Социјалистичка Република Хрватска), commonly abbreviated as SR Croatia and referred to as simply Croatia, was a ...

which served as a qualifying tournament for the new post-war First League in

communist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, 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 Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

, in front of runners-up

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

, 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 Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

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 Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

-based club

Metalac Metalac a.d. ( sr-cyr, Металац) is a Serbian manufacturing company based in Gornji Milanovac, Serbia. With around 2,000 employees, it is one of the largest companies in Moravica District. History Metalac was founded in 1959 in Gornji Mila ...

. A separate qualifying tournament was organized for clubs from the newly acquired territories of

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

and the city of

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

(). The newly established SD Kvarner (also known as "SCF Quarnero" in Italian) from Rijeka won a playoff against US Operaia from

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

to represent the military-administered Zone B, in the

Julian March The Julian March ( Croatian and ), also called Julian Venetia (; ; ; ), is an area of southern Central Europe which is currently divided among Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia.

. A club from

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of 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"

City of Zagreb preliminaries "B"

City of Zagreb championship

Zagreb Provincial championship

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

City of Osijek championship

*1 :

FD Jedinstvo Osijek FD or similar may refer to: Science and technology *Canon FD lens mount, a standard for connecting a lens to a camera *Familial dysautonomia, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system *Fermi–Dirac statistics (F–D statistics), in quantum s ...

*2 :

FD Udarnik Osijek FD or similar may refer to: Science and technology *Canon FD lens mount, a standard for connecting a lens to a camera *Familial dysautonomia, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system *Fermi–Dirac statistics (F–D statistics), in quantum s ...

*3 :

FD Tipograf Osijek FD or similar may refer to: Science and technology *Canon FD lens mount, a standard for connecting a lens to a camera *Familial dysautonomia, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system *Fermi–Dirac statistics (F–D statistics), in quantum s ...

*4 :

FD Sloga Osijek FD or similar may refer to: Science and technology *Canon FD lens mount, a standard for connecting a lens to a camera *Familial dysautonomia, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system *Fermi–Dirac statistics (F–D statistics), in quantum s ...

*5 :

FD Bratstvo Osijek FD or similar may refer to: Science and technology *Canon FD lens mount, a standard for connecting a lens to a camera *Familial dysautonomia, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system *Fermi–Dirac statistics (F–D statistics), in quantum s ...

Region of Banija championship

* SFD Sloboda Sisak 8-1 ; 3-0

OFD Turkulin Petrinja OFD may refer to: *Oakland Fire Department *Occupancy frequency distribution *OFD Ostfriesischer Flugdienst, a German regional airline *Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, an extensive cave system in South Wales *One Fine Day (American TV series), ''One Fine Day'' ( ...

District of Karlovac championship

Udarnik Karlovac In the terminology of the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, and other communist countries, an udarnik (, plural udarniks or udarniki; rus, уда́рник, p=ʊˈdarnʲɪk), also known in English as a shock worker or strike worker (collectively ...

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 NK may refer to: Businesses *Imerys, a French mining multinational (Euronext ticker:NK) *Nordiska Kompaniet, a Swedish department store *Northrup-King Seed Company, U.S. *Spirit Airlines, U.S. (IATA:NK) * NK.pl, a Polish social network (2006–2021 ...

Region of Slavonia championship

Semifinals

Sloga Vinkovci Sloga translated from Serbian simply means "concord" in English. It is also a name of the Federation of United Serbs "Sloga" or ''Savez Sjedinjenih Srba "Sloga"'' formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1909 with the merger of three federations—the Serbi ...

5-1 ; 1-5 ; 0-3 FD Proleter Belisce *

SFD Naprijed Sisak SFD may stand for: * Sacramento Fire Department, Sacramento, California * Salford Central railway station, Greater Manchester, England (National Rail station code) * Seattle Fire Department, Seattle, Washington * Software Freedom Day * Start frame ...

2-0 ; 1-0

Final

2-0 ; 0-3 FD Proleter Belisce

District of Varazdin championship

District of Bjelovar championship

Bjelovar Bjelovar (, , Czech language, Czech: ''Bělovar'' or ''Bělovár,'' Kajkavian dialect, Kajkavian: ''Belovar,'' Latin: ''Bellovarium'') is a city in central Croatia. In the Demographics of Croatia, 2021 census, its population was 36,316 . It is ...

qualified to play-offs.

Region of Dalmatia championship

Preliminary round

Zadar Zadar ( , ), historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian, ; see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Croatia. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar ...

1-0 ; 1-2 Sibenik

Final

* RSD Split 0-2 ; 1-6 FD Hajduk Split

Play-offs

* RSD Split 4-0

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

* Sibenik 1-2; 0-4 RSD Split

Play-offs

Round 1

1-5 ; 1-2 RSD Tekstilac Varazdin *

4-2 ; 1-3 FD Dubrava Zagreb *

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

Additional play-off

Lokomotiva Zagreb Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb (), commonly known as Lokomotiva Zagreb or simply Lokomotiva, is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. It competes in the Croatian First Football League, the country's top division. Founded in 1 ...

1-0 ; 3-0 FD Dubrava Zagreb

Final Stage

City of Rijeka championship

Rijeka/Istria Final

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

References

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{{1946–47 in European football (UEFA) Croatian First league seasons

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...