December 21, 2021 - Marko Livaja is officially the best footballer in the Croatian First League (HNL)!  

In a selection chosen by the Croatian Frist League captains, the Hajduk striker received 20 more points than Josip Drmić from Rijeka.

1. Marko Livaja - 76 points
2. Josip Drmić - 56 points
3. Bruno Petković - 50 points
4. Arijan Ademi - 30 points
5. Petar Bočkaj, Luka Ivanušec, Ivica Ivušić, Marin Jakoliš, Ramon Mierez - all 10 points each

"This is also one big motive for me. I want to thank the captains who voted for me, my teammates because without them, this award would certainly not have taken place, then the president, the director, and everyone at the Club. I hope that we will all continue on this path and that next year will be even more successful. We still have room for improvement, our preparations will be good, and I believe that we will be even better in the continuation of the championship. Finally, I want to dedicate the award to my family, who is always by my side," Livaja said after being awarded the trophy.

The award was presented to Marko in the Hajduk Salon at Poljud by Silvijo Škrlec, a journalist from Tportal, and the initiator of this traditional election, which has been held for 19 years.

The Hajduk striker is the first from the Split club to win the best player award since 2003, while Arijan Ademi won the title last season. In the past, names like Niko Kranjčar and Marija Mandžukić also had this honor.

The importance of Marko Livaja for Hajduk is much greater than the 17 goals and seven assists he has recorded in just 22 games this season. In the history of the HNL, several players created an advantage on their own - Luka Modrić and Niko Kranjčar did it with their play, Eduardo da Silva with a brutal goal-scoring performance. However, no one has ever put all the segments together like Hajduk's Livaja. 

Source: Hajduk.hr

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August 26, 2021 - HNK Hajduk formally introduced its women's team on Wednesday, ŽNK Hajduk!

In the White Salon at Poljud, a contract on business and technical cooperation was signed with ŽNK Marjan, which will change its name and become ŽNK Hajduk, announced the Split club.

The contract was signed by the HNK Hajduk Management Board President Lukša Jakobušić and the President of ŽNK Marjan Matea Bešlić. In this way, Hajduk is involved in modern European trends by monitoring the development of European football following the UEFA strategy.

The ŽNK Hajduk first team will start competing in mid-September, and the main sponsor of the first team is the company "SuperSport," whose logo will be featured on the front of the jersey. Players Matea Granić, Lucija Mudrinić, Ana Bakalar, Karla Jonjić and Anja Prskalo, and Hajduk's first-team players Stipe Biuk and Marin Ljubičić participated in signing the business-technical cooperation.

"At the beginning of our mandate, we mentioned establishing a women's team as one of the goals. For almost a year, we scanned the situation in women's football in Croatia and Split. We spoke to ŽNK Split and ŽNK Marjan, and we are glad that today we decided on this business-technical cooperation, which was signed for a year plus two more potential years. I hope that in three years, ŽNK Hajduk will become an integral part of the Hajduk family. Until then, we as a Club will provide them with logistical support; they will get our visibility and huge marketing potential. They will continue to work as an association. The goal for this season is to enter the first league, and next year, with the strength of Hajduk they will fight for the top. Better said, the goal is everything that Hajduk strives for, and that is to fight for titles in all teams," said Lukša Jakobušić.

"This is a historic moment for women's football in Split, but I also believe in Croatia because our biggest club gets its own women's team. I think that this will be a signpost for everyone else in Croatia in which direction to go. So far, our cooperation has been, I would say, on a friendly basis, and from now on, we will be an equal part of Hajduk. We will proudly wear the Hajduk jersey. I am convinced that quality results in the coming period will not be lacking. Thanks to President Jakobušić for recognizing a partner in Marjan, who will give Hajduk something more," said Matea Bešlić, the youngest president of a football club in Croatia.

The Hajduk women's team already has over a hundred girls who train diligently. Seniors will compete in the 2nd HNLŽ, cadets and pioneers in the United Croatian League, and beginners in the Dalmatian League. In mid-September, a football school for girls will start at Poljud, and the interest will certainly be exceptional.

"We have the quality to step forward; the playing staff is outstanding, we are one of the youngest teams in the league, but extremely talented. Under the name Hajduk, in addition to better working conditions, we will also get recognition. ŽNK Hajduk will be a source of pride for everyone who has Hajduk at heart," said the 24-year-old coach of ŽNK Marjan Tamara Benković, the youngest senior coach of a team in Croatian women's football who Josip Pirić will assist, an experienced coach, who founded ŽNK Marjan in 2003.

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June 10, 2021 - Another Hajduk fan campaign has launched after the successful signing of Marko Livaja. Perišić, it's time! 

After the incredible fan energy that went into Marko Livaja staying at Hajduk for another three years, fans of the Split club are embarking on a new campaign, reports Gol.hr.

The Hajduk Zagreb Society of Friends has launched an initiative on its Facebook page to bring back Ivan Perišić to Hajduk.

"After Livaja, it's time for a new action: #Perišićuvrimeje (#Perišićitstime). Inter has financial problems, and we have a great desire for Perišić to return and, just like Livaja did this year, to play for the Hajduk senior team finally.

You won the Champions League; you were the champion of Germany with both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern; you recently conquered Italy by winning the Scudetto with Inter. Where are you going?

Get rid of the contract with Inter, arrange an amicable termination and return home. The whole of Dalmatia is waiting for you, and we on the continent, there are a lot of us, thank God," DPH Zagreb said.  

Perišić has a contract with Inter for another year, until June 30, 2022, but as Hajduk fans claim, the Nerazzurri have financial difficulties. After all, coach Antonio Conte recently turned them down just after winning the title because he was not on the same wavelength as the club's leaders regarding sports policy, i.e., transfers. The Chinese owners have announced cost-cutting and debt relief, and Conte wanted an extra step forward and new reinforcements to make Inter as competitive as possible in the Champions League.

Recently, Perišić was in Split with Livaja at the Hajduk juniors match when they celebrated the title. He did not make any statements, but the very arrival at the junior game ignited the imagination of the fans so that they could watch them both at Poljud in the upcoming season.

How things will develop, we will see in the coming weeks. Until a few months ago, it seemed impossible for Livaja to return to Hajduk at this stage of his career and look at what happened! 

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June 9, 2021 - After a campaign that saw the participation of Hajduk fans worldwide, Marko Livaja has agreed to stay at the Split club! 

HNK Hajduk announced the news on its website on Wednesday: 

"To the delight of its entire fan base, HNK Hajduk is proud to announce that Marko Livaja will continue to defend the colors of our Club.

The club and the player have reached an agreement to extend the contract until the summer of 2024, and Marko will, from now on, wear the number 10 jersey.

Livaja returned to Poljud in February this year, and since then, has played 17 official matches for the Whites, scoring seven goals and eight assists. He delighted the entire public with his performances on the pitch, delighting all our fans, and he was the main wheel and leader of the team in the second part of the season.

Marko will be with the team from the first day of preparations, which officially begins on Monday, June 14 at Poljud."

"First of all, I want to thank all the fans. Since I came, and especially in the last month, you have emitted so much positive energy towards my family and me, countless messages of support, approval, and wishes for my stay. Even if I wanted to leave, it wouldn't be possible with all this you've done. From the very beginning, I desired to try to make something here that will be remembered. I think we still have unfinished business, and I am glad that together we are fighting for the highest goals," said Marko after signing the contract.

"This is a significant day for the Club; we are happy to have signed a long-term contract with Marko Livaja. He was the wish not only of us but of the entire fan base. Thanks to Marko, his wife Iris, and his whole family because they believe in Hajduk and what we do. Thanks also to the mediator who assisted in this work, Vincenzo Cavalieri. Thanks also to all the fans who participated in the #LivajaOstani campaign, which played a crucial role in his decision. Now we continue together, ready for new challenges and the fight for trophies," concluded the sports director of Mindaugas Nikolicius.

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May 28, 2021 - HNK Hajduk has named its new coach, Swedish expert Jens Gustafsson, after parting ways with Paolo Tramezzani earlier this week. 

Hajduk's statement transmitted in full:

"HNK Hajduk and Jens Gustafsson have agreed on a two-year contract, based on which the 42-year-old Swedish expert will take over the position of the first-team coach.

Jens Gustafsson was born in Helsingborg on October 15, 1978. He started his football career in Helsingborg and also played for the Swedish clubs Brage and Falkenberg.

He started his coaching career with the U-17 team of Halmstad, where he was very quickly promoted to the first team coach and stayed there for three and a half years. He was the coach of the U-21 national team of Sweden and was hired as an assistant coach at AIK. For the last four and a half years, he has been the head coach of Norrköping, with whom he has achieved excellent results in the Swedish league.

In addition to graduating from the football academy and passing the UEFA PRO license, Jens Gustafsson also has a university degree in Behaviorism.

He is a modern coach who prefers an attacking style of football, and in Sweden, he excelled in working with young players with whom he regularly raised their value and playing abilities. In his seven-season coaching career so far, he has led over three hundred first-league games.

During his last tenure as Norrköping coach, he led a total of 166 games, recording 91 wins, 38 draws, and 37 losses. His team averaged 1.87 points, averaging 1.90 and conceding 1.19 goals.

We wish Mr. Gustafsson a lot of luck and success in Hajduk!" Hajduk concluded. 

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May 27, 2021 - Paolo Tramezzani is no longer the coach of Split club HNK Hajduk. 

As of today, Paolo Tramezzani is no longer the coach of the HNK Hajduk first team. After a conversation, an agreed termination of cooperation was agreed with the now-former coach of the Split club. 

Paolo Tramezzani took over the first team in January this year, which won fourth place at the end of the season and a place in the qualifying round of the Europa League. He led Hajduk in a total of 24 games and achieved 14 victories, four draws, and six defeats. He is accompanied by his assistants Attila Malfatti and Valerio Zuddas.

"Thank you to Mr. Tramezzani for everything he has done for the Club, and we wish him good luck in the continuation of his career.

HNK Hajduk will inform the public about the new coach of our first team promptly," Hajduk concluded on its website. 

"First of all, thank you to the club for allowing me to send this message, and thanks. The message is sincere and from the heart, and I want to thank the club, the president, and the sports director for making a courageous decision to invite me to the club at a very delicate time," said Tramezzani after the agreed termination.

"For my part, I hope I helped achieve the goals, and for me, it was a wonderful experience that brought me a lot of joy. I realized when I came to be the coach of Hajduk it is a great privilege. It is a very desirable bench on which better coaches were sitting in front of me, big names, and I hope I did not disappoint anyone in what was my job. I want to thank everyone in the city on my own behalf and behalf of my family. Their passion and love and way of everyday behavior, as if they accepted me as their own. I don't like tears if they are not joyful," said Tramezzani and added:

"Because I've already shed tears of pain in my life, for things, unfortunately, much more important. But I carry with me in one part of my heart all the people I could meet in these four and a half months. I'm grateful to them for that. I'm a little bit disappointed that I did not experience the atmosphere with the fans at the stadium, and that is one thing I missed a lot because of their passion and love. I want to thank everyone who worked with me, really everyone; I would not list them because I will surely forget someone. From the medical service, the technical staff, my staff, and above all, a big thank you goes to all my players because a great relationship has been established with them. It was a beautiful adventure, a beautiful journey. So, I thank everyone, and I will always remain a fan of this club, and Hajduk and Split will always remain in my heart." 

As Index.hr exclusively finds out, Hajduk's sports director Nikoličius Mindaugas and president Lukša Jakobušić have already held talks with the main candidate for the new coach.

Allegedly, it is 51-year-old Portuguese expert Jose Manuel Gomes. The former coach of Almeria, Maritim, Reading, and many other clubs met with Hajduk leaders in Zagreb and is close to an agreement, says Index.

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January 18, 2021 - Paolo Tramezzani is the new coach of Hajduk!

Hajduk.hr announced on Monday that the 50-year-old Italian expert signed a contract until the summer of 2022 and will take over the management of the first team immediately.

The new Hajduk coach was born on July 30, 1970 in the city of Castelnovo ne ’Monti, and began his playing career at Inter Milan. In addition to Inter, he played for Prato, Cosezna, Lucchese, Venezia, Cesena, Piacenza, Tottenham, Pistoiese, Atalanta, Empoli and Pro Patria.

He began his coaching career as the assistant coach of Gianni de Biasi in the national team of Albania, which then qualified for the European Championship for the first time in history. He continued on his own in 2016 as the coach of the Swiss first league side Lugano, and under his leadership, the club qualified the group stage of the Europa League for the first time in history. Lugano was at the bottom of the league table and eventually finished third with an average of 1.94 points scored that season, which is why he was named coach of the year in Switzerland.

In 2017, Tramezzani took over the leadership of Swiss first league team Sion and later left for personal reasons. In 2018, he took over APOEL in Cyprus, with which he became the champion, and in Cyprus, he was named the best coach of the first league with an average of 2.16 points. After APOEL, in 2019, he took over the Italian second division team Livorno, and his last coaching job was in 2020 in Sion.

Tramezzani's coaching staff will also include his first assistant Attila Malfatti and assistant coach Valerio Zuddas, and the rest of the professional staff will be filled by two fitness coaches who have already participated in the work of the first team, Toni Modrić and Šime Veršić, assistant coach Toni Golem and goalkeeper coach Hrvoje Sunara.

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December 22, 2020 - Lovre Kalinic is back at Poljud! The experienced 30-year-old goalkeeper will come to Hajduk Split on loan from Aston Villa until June 30, 2021.

Kalinic started his goalkeeping career at Hajduk at the age of nine and moved through all the younger age categories at the club. As a senior for Hajduk, he played seven first-league seasons, making a total of 134 official appearances.

He left Hajduk in December 2016 for Ghent, Belgium, where he was in goal for two seasons, after which he moved to Aston Villa. He spent the first half of 2020 on loan in Toulouse, France, and then returned to Aston Villa.

Kalinic recorded 11,962 official minutes for Hajduk, and as many as 50 times, his net remained free from goals. Lovre is also the club record holder, going 775 minutes without conceding a goal in HNL matches. The former Hajduk goalkeeper set that record from August 10 to October 24, 2015, when he did not concede a goal for a full eight games in a row. He made a total of 19 official appearances for the Croatia national team.

"I take this opportunity to thank President Jakobušić for initiating the story of my return. His wish was really great on my part as well, although I was offered several options from Belgium on the table. Many will say that Hajduk is currently poor in terms of results, but Hajduk is still a huge club. I was particularly intrigued by the story and project of a president who wants to create a strong and powerful club. From the first conversation, I felt positive, which is why I didn’t hesitate much. I’m looking forward to it, and I’m happy to be back. I can’t wait to join the team. We all need to come together and start working on big things," said Kalinic.

"Lovre, welcome, and we wish you good luck and success in the white jersey," Hajduk concluded on its website when announcing Lovre's return. 

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December 16, 2020 - Hajduk and HNS met on Tuesday in Split to discuss installing a new Poljud pitch, which should begin in May next year.

An operational meeting was held on Tuesday at Poljud between representatives of HNK Hajduk, led by the President of the Management Board Lukša Jakobušić, and the Croatian Football Federation, led by the Executive Director Marijan Kustić. The topic of the meeting, which lasted a little less than an hour, was installing a new lawn on the main pitch of Poljud Stadium.

The following conclusions were reached:

"The common conclusion is that it is not possible to carry out the complete works for laying down a new pitch until January 30. The reason is the upcoming holidays, i.e., the impossibility to acquire and begin the construction process, preparatory works, installation, and putting the lawn into full operation in such a short time. The option to start work in January was considered. Still, the completion would be only at the beginning of March, which would prevent Hajduk from playing at least four championship matches in the month of the Club's 110th birthday, which includes the biggest Croatian derby at its stadium.

- It was agreed that due to logistical, technical, and time constraints, the replacement of the lawn would start in May, which gives enough time to enter the next season with a new pitch.

- HNS and Hajduk will sign an agreement on the installation of a hybrid lawn at the beginning of 2021. The city will give consent to Hajduk to change the pitch.

- An additional reason for setting up the pitch in May is the possibility to donate our current field to one of the second division teams in Dalmatia. According to the previous request, it was agreed in principle that the field would be donated to the Dalmatian second league club Croatia Zmijavci, and this is possible only after the end of our and their season," stated Hajduk on its official website. 

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November 20, 2020 - The City of Trogir and Hajduk are moving forward with the construction of a modern football camp, Hajduk’s most important infrastructure project in the 21st century.

On Thursday, HNK Hajduk president Lukša Jakobušić held an operational meeting in Trogir accompanied by the President's head of office Jelena Mikačić, Trogir Mayor Ante Bilić, and his associates, Deputy Mayor Viktor Novak and City Council President Ante Piteša.

This is a continuation of the project initiated by the former Hajduk President Marin Brbić, who in July signed a contract for the construction of a capital infrastructure project at the Divulje barracks near Split Airport as a solid foundation for the development and progress of the Split club.

Several important topics were discussed with the priority of transferring land from the Ministry of Defense to the City of Trogir. It is usually a longer process, but with joint efforts, all participants in the meeting believe it will be completed soon. Among other things, project financing was discussed, and various options for external funding sources were considered. Mayor Bilić reported that the City is already working intensively on land parceling and that registration in the cadastre can be expected in about 10 days. Also, the City has already initiated Amendments to the Spatial Plan at the City Council.

A working, conceptual solution already exists, but given the space's value, it was agreed to make an architectural and urban tender for this scope. They will contact the Society of Architects Split, with which the City of Trogir has been cooperating for the last few years to conduct the competition as professionally and as well as possible. Upon completion of the project and complex financial construction, there are permits. The camp's construction is planned in phases, and the joint conclusion of the City and Hajduk is that the camp will be in full operation in the next four years.

"This was a working meeting with the representatives of the city of Trogir, whom I thank for their exceptional cooperation and concreteness. We don’t want to waste time, but be productive. The camp's construction is, along with the success and result of the first team and the creation of a winning mentality, one of the most important projects of my term. I am aware that four years are concise for realizing the project, but the plan is for the camp to be built and put into operation during that period. I will personally participate in the project until a member of the Board is appointed who will, among other things, be in charge of building the camp," said Jakobušić, who gifted jerseys to the representatives of the City of Trogir after the meeting.

"We are happy that this project remains among the priorities for President Jakobušić, as well as with the steps we agreed on at our first operational meeting. Since the signing of the contract and the council session, we have communicated with the Ministry of Defense, and I believe that the transfer of ownership will soon be formally completed. Hajduk's camp is important for Trogir for many reasons, primarily because of the new modern sports infrastructure that does not exist in this part of Europe that will benefit our citizens, and depending on the final appearance of the project, be part of our additional tourist offer. Initially, we planned to build the stadium on our own. Still, the renovation of our Batarija with the infrastructure that we will get through this camp with Hajduk as a partner is a better solution from its aspect. There is no need to talk about the pride of my fellow citizens that Trogir will become the second home of Hajduk. There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but the plan presented to us seems sustainable and rational," said the Mayor of Trogir Ante Bilić.

Source: Hajduk website

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