NK Zagreb
Full name | Nogometni klub Zagreb | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) |
Pjesnici (The Poets) Bijeli (The Whites) | |||
Founded |
1903 (as HŠK Zagreb) | |||
Ground | Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj | |||
Capacity | 8,850[1] | |||
Chairman | Dražen Medić | |||
Manager | Dražen Madunović | |||
League | Croatian First League | |||
2014–15 | 5th | |||
Website | Club home page | |||
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Nogometni klub Zagreb (English: Zagreb Football Club), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (pronounced [zâːɡreb]), is a Croatian football club based in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, currently playing in the First Croatian Football League. The club was founded in 1908.[2] NK Zagreb's home ground since 1946 is Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj with reduced capacity of 8,850 where they only play their official competitive matches. The team's traditional home colours are white shirts, shorts and socks which is the reason why they are referred to as Bijeli in Croatian, meaning "The Whites". Another, much more popular nickname of the club is "The Poets", Pjesnici in Croatian, due to the location of their home ground at Kranjčevićeva street which is named after great Croatian poet Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević.
So far, NK Zagreb has won the Croatian Football Championship only once, in season 2001–02 which was for the first time (and only time) since its establishment in 1992 that the Croatian champion was not Dinamo Zagreb or Hajduk Split. Also, NK Zagreb participated several times in the European competitions like UEFA Champions League (2), UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (4), UEFA Intertoto Cup (10) and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (10).
History
Foundation
The club was founded in 1903 as PNIŠK (Prvi nogometni i športski klub, translated First Football and Sports Club), being one of the first to be formed in Croatia. First secretary was Dragutin Baki, the president was Vilhelm Witte, and the captain of the team and instructor was Czech Jan Todl.
Since there weren't any clubs to play with, the first official match was played between the club's players divided into two groups in 1904. Ticket income from the match was 3 krone and 3 filirs.
The first international match was played in 1905. against Magyar champions Ferencváros on Magyar Athleticai Club's pitch. Home team won with a high 11–1 score. The players who played for Zagreb were: Filipčić, Schwarz, Todl, Mutefelija, Slavnič, Ugrinić, Polivka, Uhrl, Višinger, Koruna, and Torbić.
After WWII
However, after World War II, NK Zagreb has been overshadowed by several larger, more successful clubs, especially their local rival Dinamo Zagreb.
One of the most notable matches Zagreb played was on 19 July 1973 when "Great drama in Maksimir" took place – a match between NK Zagreb and NK Osijek on Maksimir stadium. It was a second of two qualifying matches for entering the first league; the first one in Osijek ended 0–0 with attendance of 25,000. The second match was played in Maksimir because of great demand for tickets – the attendance was 64,138 which broke the stadium record and stands to this day. Zagreb won the match after penalty kicks (4–3).
Lineup for this team was: Horvat, Gašparini, Tucak, Antolić, Ivanišević, Lipovac, Markulin, Čopor (Hušidić), Močibob, Rukljač, Smolek (Bakota).
Modern era
Among NK Zagreb's more notable players was Ivica Olić who led the club to its first championship of the Prva HNL in 2002 with 21 goals scored in 29 appearances for NK Zagreb. Also worth mentioning here is Joško Popović (who played in the 1990s), 2nd top-goalscorer ever in Prva HNL.
In the championship of 2002, NK Zagreb broke the duopoly of NK Dinamo and NK Hajduk for the first (and until today the only) time.
Standard lineup for the champion team was: Vasilj, Stavrevski, Pirić, Ješe, Bulat, Poldrugač, Duro, Hasančić, Franja, Lovrek, Olić.
There are two other football competitions being played in Croatia – Cup and Supercup. NK Zagreb were finalist of Cup in 1997 and finalist of Supercup in 2002.
Stadium
Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj ulici (English: Kranjčevićeva Street Stadium), known as Stadion Concordije between 1921 and 1945, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Trešnjevka neighourhood in Zagreb, Croatia. The stadium at what was then called Tratinska cesta (English: Tratinska road) began construction in the 1910s and was completed in 1921. At the time of its completion it was the biggest stadium in Zagreb and was owned by Concordia. In 1931 the first floodlit match held in Zagreb was played at the stadium, in which Zagreb XI beat Real Madrid 2–1. After World War II, Concordia was disbanded for political reasons and the stadium was handed over to the newly formed Fiskulturno društvo Zagreb (English: Zagreb Sports Society), whose football section later evolved into today's NK Zagreb football club. NK Zagreb's third jersey is green in honour of Concordia, whose old stadium is now their own.
In November 1977 a large fire destroyed the west stand and in the following years the stadium went through several reconstructions and modifications. The most significant of these was an extensive overhaul and the construction of the adjoining facilities in preparation for the 1987 Summer Universiade. Later that year a lightning strike destroyed the floodlights during a match between NK Zagreb and NK Osijek and the stadium was without any floodlight capabilities for almost 20 years until 2008, when new ones were installed by the City of Zagreb.
After the season 2006–07 and prior to the game against Vllaznia in the Intertoto Cup stadium's capacity was reduced due to UEFA standards from 12,000 to 8,850 people by placing numbered plastic chairs in the west stand and reducing the space for visiting supporters at the eastern stand. The stadium consists of two stands. The west stand is fully seated and can hold 3,850 spectators. It houses the press box and the VIP area. The east stand has 5,000 standing places and is mainly used for travelling fans. The stadium also has a cycling track around the pitch which is used for track cycling events. In June 2008 UEFA inspection had visited the stadium and gave it a 3-star rating, but criticised the lack of floodlights (which have been installed two months later) and press box provisions.[3] The stadium can hold 8,850 people, which makes it the second biggest stadium in Zagreb, behind Stadion Maksimir. Currently within the stadium, there are two restaurants and a driving school. Today, the stadium is in function only on the day when the official match occur while friendlies and training sessions are conducted in a training camp "Zagrebello", where the headquarters and offices of NK Zagreb are also located.
Colours, logo, and nicknames
Zagreb's home colour white have been traditional colour since its foundation. It is little known that second color was red. It came from first coat of arms of Zagreb which contained the symbol of the city, the walls of the tower, and later three towers which was also the symbol of the city, its three forts and was red as well as the official coat of arms of the city at the beginning of the 20th century. The coat of arms was divided in two parts. In the upper part of the coat of arms was icon who symbolized the city of Zagreb while the lower part was filled with white and red lines. Over the years that followed, especially during the second world war, when Zagreb was banned many links with the "old" Zagreb were lost and abandoned. After the second world war, at one point, in combination was white and black jersey. In the end it was blue that was accepted for Zagreb's second colour. White with tiny blue combinations was used for home jersey while various shades of blue, dark, royal, light, sky, navy blue were used for away appearances. The coat of arms also changed for several times in that period, but always contained a city silhouette or city emblem, the fortress, the walls of the three-ture, with the gates opened. Colors varied in shades of blue with yellow, gold, white and black detailing until 2008. In the season 2007–08 Zagreb started to use full red jersey for away games and in April 2008 there was a change in the coat of arms, explained from club management as redesign that will allow a progress and new momentum in markentig and clubs position on the market, which in the end was not achieved by the administration. On the contrary, they achieved the opposite effect. The interest of the media, sponsors, spectators and fans every season is getting smaller. The club market is not working, financial dubiousness are getting bigger and bigger, while sport results are getting worse in each new season. The last four seasons club spent saving their first league status in the last round. Since then, the fans and club management are in constant conflict that is still ongoing.
A popular nickname for the club is "The Poets" (Pjesnici in Croatian; first mentioned by a radioreporter Ivo Tomić). Kranjčevićeva street, where their stadium is located, is named after Croatian poet Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević.
Supporters
The club ultras group are called "White Angels" (Bijeli Anđeli). The fans are strongly left-wing and are part of the anti-fascist movement.[4]
Anthem
Pjevaj grade sad
slavi pobjedu
nek od pjesme
Sljeme odjekuje.
Zagreb igra sad
i pobjeđuje
slavi grade pobjedu.
Na dresu ime grada
srce kuca za te
tebe grade volim
i za tebe živim
budi uvijek prvi
slavi svoje ime
tisućljeta ponosni smo njime.
Neka Bog te čuva
i pobijede te prate
nek se u te svi purgeri vrate.
Its English translation is:
Sing it now city
celebrate the victory
let mountain echoes
from the song.
Zagreb playing now
reaching victory
celebrate the win city.
On the jersey city name
heart beats for you
you're the one I love city
and you're the reason to live
be always first
glory your name
as we are proud of it for thousands of years.
May God take care of you
and victories to follow
let all the citizens reunify with you.
Honours
- Winners (1): 2013–14
- Runners up (1): 1996–97
- Runners up (1): 2002
- Winners (1): 1989–90
- Third place (1): 1988–89
Results by season
Season | League | Cup | European competitions | Top goalscorer | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Pos | Player | Goals | ||||
1992 | 1. HNL | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 34 | 9 | 33 | 2nd | DNQ | Renato Jurčec | 8 | ||
1992–93 | 1. HNL | 30 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 50 | 27 | 40 | 3rd | R2 | Joško Popović Robert Špehar |
9 | ||
1993–94 | 1. HNL | 34 | 20 | 9 | 5 | 58 | 30 | 49 | 2nd | SF | Robert Špehar | 19 | ||
1994–95 | 1. HNL | 30 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 41 | 26 | 53 | 4th | QF | Joško Popović | 9 | ||
1995–96 | 1. HNL | 32 | 8 | 9 | 15 | 31 | 50 | 33 | 6th | SF | Intertoto Cup | GS | Joško Popović | 10 |
1996–97 | 1. HNL | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 43 | 39 | 45 | 5th | RU | Vjekoslav Škrinjar | 5 | ||
1997–98 | 1. HNL | 32 | 14 | 8 | 10 | 51 | 39 | 50 | 5th | SF | Cup Winners' Cup | R1 | Mate Baturina | 18 |
1998–99 | 1. HNL | 32 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 47 | 53 | 36 | 10th | R1 | Nino Bule | 13 | ||
1999–00 | 1. HNL | 33 | 9 | 12 | 12 | 42 | 49 | 39 | 8th | SF | Nino Bule | 9 | ||
2000–01 | 1. HNL | 32 | 11 | 5 | 16 | 51 | 58 | 38 | 6th | SF | Krunoslav Lovrek | 11 | ||
2001–02 | 1. HNL | 30 | 20 | 7 | 3 | 71 | 24 | 67 | 1st | QF | Intertoto Cup | R1 | Ivica Olić | 21 |
2002–03 | 1. HNL | 32 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 40 | 52 | 36 | 6th | QF | Champions League | QR2 | Radomir Đalović | 8 |
2003–04 | 1. HNL | 32 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 33 | 41 | 36 | 10th | R2 | Intertoto Cup | R1 | Radomir Đalović | 9 |
2004–05 | 1. HNL | 32 | 15 | 5 | 12 | 50 | 42 | 50 | 3rd | QF | Mladen Bartolović | 9 | ||
2005–06 | 1. HNL | 32 | 11 | 4 | 17 | 26 | 43 | 37 | 10th | R1 | Mladen Pelaić | 5 | ||
2006–07 | 1. HNL | 33 | 18 | 4 | 11 | 57 | 40 | 58 | 3rd | QF | Krunoslav Lovrek | 18 | ||
2007–08 | 1. HNL | 33 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 51 | 40 | 44 | 6th | SF | Intertoto Cup | R1 | Krunoslav Lovrek | 14 |
2008–09 | 1. HNL | 33 | 13 | 8 | 12 | 38 | 39 | 47 | 5th | SF | Davor Vugrinec | 11 | ||
2009–10 | 1. HNL | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 43 | 49 | 33 | 14th | QF | Davor Vugrinec | 18 | ||
2010–11 | 1. HNL | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 32 | 39 | 35 | 13th | QF | Ivan Krstanović | 19 | ||
2011–12 | 1. HNL | 30 | 13 | 6 | 11 | 36 | 42 | 45 | 6th | SF | Damir Šovšić | 5 | ||
2012–13 | 1. HNL | 33 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 28 | 60 | 27 | 12th ↓ | R2 | Besart Abdurahimi | 12 | ||
2013–14 | 2. HNL | 33 | 20 | 7 | 6 | 59 | 26 | 67 | 1st ↑ | R2 | Gabrijel Boban | 18 | ||
2014–15 | 1. HNL | 36 | 13 | 7 | 16 | 45 | 54 | 46 | 5th | R1 | Gabrijel Boban | 13 |
European record
Summary
Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Last season played |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UEFA Champions League | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2002–03 |
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 1997–98 |
UEFA Intertoto Cup | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 2007 |
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 16 | 13 | 1969–70 |
Total | 26 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 35 | 32 |
Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 9 January 2010
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.
Note: This summary includes matches played in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was not endorsed by UEFA and is not counted in UEFA's official European statistics.
By season
Season | Competition | Round | Opponent | Home | Away | Agg. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1964–65 | Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | R1 | GAK | 3–2 | 6–0 | 9–2 |
R2 | Roma | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | ||
1965–66 | Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | R1 | RFC Liège | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
R2 | Steagul Roșu Brașov | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–3 | ||
1969–70 | Inter-Cities Fairs Cup | R1 | Charleroi | 1–3 | 1–2 | 2–5 |
1995–96 | Intertoto Cup | Group 6 |
LASK Linz | 0–0 | – | – |
Keflavík | – | 0–0 | – | |||
Metz | 0–1 | – | – | |||
Partick Thistle | – | 2–1 | – | |||
1997–98 | Cup Winners' Cup | QR | Sloga Jugomagnat | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 |
R1 | Tromsø | 3–2 | 2–4 | 5–6 | ||
2001–02 | Intertoto Cup | R1 | Pobeda | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 |
2002–03 | Champions League | QR2 | Zalaegerszeg | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 (a) |
2003–04 | Intertoto Cup | R1 | Koper | 2–2 | 0–1 | 2–3 |
2007–08 | Intertoto Cup | R1 | Vllaznia Shkodër | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 (a) |
Record by country of opposition
- Correct as of 14 June 2011
Country | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Albania | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 50.00 |
Austria | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 66.67 |
Belgium | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 25.00 |
France | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0.00 |
Iceland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | 0.00 |
Italy | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.00 |
Hungary | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 50.00 |
Macedonia | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 50.00 |
Norway | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 50.00 |
Romania | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 0.00 |
Scotland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 100.00 |
Slovenia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 0.00 |
Totals | 26 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 35 | 32 | +3 | 36.84 |
Pld – Matches played; W – Matches won; D – Matches drawn; L – Matches lost; GF – Goals for; GA – Goals against
Players
Current squad
- As of 22 January 2015
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Source: nkzagreb.hr, Last updated unknown
Managerial history
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Player Records
- Most appearances in UEFA club competitions: 8 appearances[5]
- Top scorers in UEFA club competitions: 3 goals[5]
Club management
Administration
- President: Dražen Medić
- Vice President: Tomislav Čilić
- General Director: Vincenzo Cavaliere
- Sports Director:
- Technical Director: Igor Šestić
- Head of Accounting and Finance: Anđelka Matić
- Secretary: Iva Silla
- Spokesman: Zlatko Abramović
Source: nkzagreb.hr, Last updated unknown
Coaching staff
- Coach: Željko Kopić
- Asst. Coach: Zlatko Bašic
- Fitness coach: Vedran Naglić
- Goalkeeping Coach: Željko Nježić
- Youth Team Coach: Dražen Madunović, Ivo Milić
Source: nkzagreb.hr, Last updated unknown
References
- ↑ "Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj" [Kranjčevićeva Street Stadium] (in Croatian). nkzagreb.hr. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
- ↑ "Nogometni klub Zagreb" [Zagreb Football Club] (in Croatian). mapiranjetresnjevke.com. Retrieved 2015-05-01.
- ↑ "Pripreme počinju u srijedu" (in Croatian). Sportnet.hr. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
- ↑ http://rebelultras.com/latest-news/europe/white-angels-zagreb/
- 1 2 "Zagreb profile". UEFA.com. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to NK Zagreb. |
- Official website (Croatian)
- NK Zagreb at UEFA.com
- White Angels supporters' club (Croatian)
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