NK Međimurje

Međimurje Čakovec

Full name	Nogometni klub Međimurje Čakovec
Nickname(s)	Crveno-Crni (The Red and Blacks)
Founded	June 2003
Ground	Stadion SRC Mladost, Čakovec
Capacity	8,000
Chairman	Marijan Uršanić
Manager	Mario Kovačević
League	Treća HNL East
2014–15	Treća HNL East, 3rd
Home colours Away colours

NK Međimurje is a Croatian football club based in Čakovec. The club is named after Međimurje, the region in northern Croatia where Čakovec is located. They were relegated to the Croatian Second League after finishing 15th in the Croatian First League at the end of the 2009–10 season.

The club play their home games at the Stadion SRC Mladost, Čakovec, which has a total capacity of approximately 8,000. The club's supporters group is called the Angels.

History

The club was founded in June 2003 and started to compete in the Croatian Second League, where they replaced NK Omladinac, a club based in the Čakovec suburb of Novo Selo Rok. They finished top of the league at the end of the 2003–04 season, clinching promotion to the Croatian First League.

They started their first season in the top flight with three defeats in their opening three matches, before beating Zagreb 1–0 on the road on Day 4 to clinch their first win of the season. However, they continued to experience very little success after that, only grabbing two further wins in the following 18 matches and being bottom of the table as the league split in two groups in March 2005. Their performance improved in the bottom-6 group, the Relegation League, where they had a streak of seven games undefeated and finished 5th, overtaking Zadar on the final day of the season.

In their second top-flight season in 2005–06, they once again found themselves bottom of the table in March, although with 5 wins and only one point fewer than both Inter Zaprešić and Slaven Belupo. After three defeats in their opening three matches in the Relegation League, they managed a streak of seven games undefeated and overtook Inter Zaprešić after beating them on the penultimate day of the season.

In 2006–07, they experienced mixed fortunes in their opening seven games, but then managed four consecutive wins and even found themselves in 4th place after Day 11. They eventually finished the season in 9th place, their best result in the top flight, with 11 wins in 33 matches. The 2007–08 season, however, brought very little success and they found themselves bottom of the table for majority of the season. They eventually finished rock-bottom, with only 15 points and mere three wins from 33 matches, 18 points behind the 11th-place Inter Zaprešić, and were effectively relegated to the Croatian Second League.

In 2008–09, they finished fifth in the Croatian Second League, but were nevertheless directly promoted back to the Croatian First League for the 2009–10 season as the league was expanded to 16 teams and Slavonac CO, who finished above them, decided to withdraw from the top flight after failing to secure a proper stadium as their home ground.^[1]

In the first half of the 2009–10 season, they performed well at home, recording 5 wins and 2 draws in 9 matches, but poor performance on the road (they lost all 8 away matches) saw them start the second half of the season in 13th place, just above the relegation zone. Despite winning two away matches in the second half of the season, a series of draws and defeats (including a crushing 5–1 defeat at home to Rijeka) saw them dropping into the relegation zone with 6 matches left. A 4–1 defeat at Hajduk Split on the penultimate day of the season confirmed their 15th-place finish and relegation back to the second division.

Current squad

As of 12 April 2016 ^[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Dean Šafarić 2 FW Karlo Malenović 3 DF Patrik Šimunić 4 DF Matija Kristić 5 MF Ivan Režić 6 MF Mateo Branilović 7 FW Toni Petrović 8 MF Nikola Šafarić 9 MF Josip-Domagoj Hranilović 11 FW Leonard Vuk 13 DF Karlo Šimek 14 MF Gordan Golik 15 DF Leonard Mesarić 16 MF Jan Marcijuš 17 DF Karlo Samobolec 18 DF Josip Hlapčić 19 FW Pono Pintarić 20 DF Marko Ujlaki 30 GK Matija Jesenović

Club honours

• Croatian Second League
  • Winners (1): 2003–04
• Croatian Third League North
  • Winners (1): 2013–14
  • Runners-up (2): 2012–13
• Croatian Third League East
  • Winners (1): 2015–16
  • Third place (3): 2014–15

Seasons

Season	League									Cup	European competitions		Top goalscorer
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos				Player	Goals
2003–04	2. HNL	32	21	6	5	70	28	69	1st	DNQ
2004–05	1. HNL	32	9	6	17	29	52	33	11th	R2			Ivica Žuljević	12
2005–06	1. HNL	32	9	9	14	40	51	36	11th	R2			Igor Mostarlić	11
2006–07	1. HNL	33	11	4	18	40	60	37	9th	R1			Davor Piškor	10
2007–08	1. HNL	33	3	6	24	37	81	15	12th	R1			Edin Šaranović	7
2008–09	2. HNL	30	16	2	12	61	34	50	5th	R1			Marijan Vuka	19
2009–10	1. HNL	30	8	5	17	37	61	29	15th	R1			Bojan Golubović	13
2010–11	2. HNL	30	12	6	12	53	49	42	7th	R2			Mario Garba	12
2011–12	2. HNL	28	5	7	16	31	60	22	13th	PR			David Puclin	5
2012–13	3. HNL North	30	21	4	5	58	21	67	2nd	DNQ			Mustafa Menzil	10
2013–14	3. HNL North	30	20	6	4	90	25	65	1st	R2			Stjepan Kokot	21
2014–15	3. HNL East	30	16	6	8	56	29	54	3rd	R1			Mario Sačer	11
2015–16	3. HNL East	22	15	3	4	49	12	48	1st	DNQ			Toni Petrović	17
2016–17	2. HNL									R1

Key

League: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; Pts = Points won; Pos = Final position;

Cup / Europe: DNQ = Did not qualify; PR = Preliminary round; R1 = First round; R2 = Round of 16; QF = Quarter-final; SF = Semi-final; RU = Runner-up; W = Competition won;

References

1. "Međimurci direktno, Slavonac odustao" (in Croatian). Sportnet.hr. 2009-06-04. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
2. "Ekipa - igrači" (in Croatian). NK Slaven Belupo. Retrieved 21 February 2016.

External links

• Međimurje profile at UEFA.com
• Međimurje profile at Sportnet.hr (Croatian)
• Međimurje profile at Nogometni magazin (Croatian)