The defending champions were Dinamo Zagreb, having won their 11th title the previous year by defeating Varaždin in the final.
A total of 32 clubs entered the preliminary round: 21 regional cup winners organised at the county level and 11 regional cup finalists (from the top 11 counties with the greatest number of registered football clubs) with the exception of Međimurje.
First round proper consisted of 16 single-legged matches, with 16 winners of the preliminary round joined by 16 clubs with the highest cup coefficients (including 10 out of the remaining 12 top level clubs, excluding Lučko and Lokomotiva, whose cup coefficients were too low to enter competition).
The draw for the first round was held on 29 August, where the club with the lowest cup coefficient hosts the one with the highest and so on.
It was the last stage of the competition employing the single leg format as from the quarter-finals onwards all fixtures were double-legged events.