The Hrvatski nogometni kup (English: Croatian football cup), also colloquially known as Rabuzinovo sunce (lit. 'Rabuzin's Sun'), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after the HNL championship. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS) and usually runs from late August to late May. Cup winners automatically qualify for next season's UEFA Europa League, except when cup winners are also Prva HNL champions, in which case their berth in the Europa Conference League goes to the best-placed team in the Prva HNL who have not qualified for the UEFA competitions through their league performance.[1]
The cup was established in 1992,[2] after Croatian clubs had abandoned the Yugoslav First League and Yugoslav Cup competitions following the breakup of Yugoslavia. As of the most recent 2021–22 season a total of 31 cup seasons were held. The competition has historically been dominated by the two Eternal Derby sides—the most successful club is Dinamo Zagreb (formerly known in the 1990s as HAŠK Građanski and Croatia Zagreb) who appeared in 23 finals and won 16 titles, followed by Hajduk Split who won 8 titles out of 13 finals they appeared in.[3]
Either Dinamo or Hajduk appeared in all but three cup finals (in 1999, 2006 and 2020) and only three other clubs have won the cup—Rijeka (six wins), Inter Zaprešić (one win) and Osijek (one win).[3] Although clubs can qualify for the cup via regional county cups, which are usually contested by second-, third- or fourth-level sides, Uljanik Pula in 2003 was the only team in the history of the competition to have reached the cup final from outside the top level.
Although in theory any club can take part in the cup, 48 teams enter the competition proper, based on three criteria:[1]
The 32 clubs which qualify via regional cups always enter in the preliminary round, which consists of 16 single-legged fixtures.[1] In case of a draw at the end of normal time, thirty minutes of extra time is played, and if scores are still level, a penalty shootout is held to determine the winner of the tie.[1]Sixteen winners of the preliminary ties go on to the first round proper (round of 32), where they are joined by the sixteen best-ranked clubs according to cup coefficient (this usually means all First League clubs and a handful of best-ranked lower level teams). Round of 32 (R1) and round of 16 (R2) are also played as single-legged fixtures. Until the 2014–15 season, from the quarter-finals onward, the competition employed a two-legged tie format, with winners progressing through on aggregate score. Since 2015–16, quarter-finals are also played as single-legged fixtures and, since 2017–18, the same applies for semi-finals. In case the score is still level at the end of regular time, extra time is played. If the score remains level after extra time, a penalty shootout takes place to determine tie winners.[1] With the exception of 1997 and 1999 finals, all finals were also played as two-legged fixtures until the rules were most recently changed for the 2014–15 season and a single-match final was made permanent.[4]
Clubs are awarded points for participation in specific round of the Cup. There are two exceptions in awarding points, first is clubs from preliminary round doesn't receive any points and second is a final where winner receives double of runner up. Points are summed through the season and added to five year ranking.[5]
Points used in this ranking will be used for qualification for the 2025–26 season and seeding for the season 2024–25.[7]