RK Maribor Branik

Maribor Branik
Nickname(s) Vijoličasti (The Purples)
Vijolice (The Violets)
Founded 2003 (2003) (as MRD Maribor Branik)[1]
Arena Tabor Hall
Capacity 3,800
President Andrej Bauman
Head coach Slavko Ivezič[2]
League Slovenian First League
2014–15 3rd
Colours
Club colours               
Home
Away
Website
Official site
Sports departments of Branik
Football
(Active)		 Football
(Defunct)		 Basketball
Handball Volleyball
(Women's)		 Water polo

Rokometni Klub Maribor Branik (English: Maribor Branik Handball Club), commonly referred to as RK Maribor Branik or simply Branik, is a handball club from Maribor, Slovenia. Currently, it competes in the Slovenian First League. The team plays its home matches at the Tabor Hall, a 3,800 capacity multi-purpose sports venue in Maribor. Between 2004 and 2010, the team was known as RK Klima Petek Maribor due to sponsorship reasons.[1] Their biggest success was reaching the final of the Slovenian Handball Cup in the 2009–10 season[1] and reaching the quarter-finals of the EHF Cup in the 2012–13 season.[1]

History

Handball in Maribor

A match between Branik and Piran in 1964

The first handball team in Maribor was formed in 1925, when the women's selections of the 1. SSK MB played their first Czech handball match at the Ljudski vrt.[1] In 1928, the 1. SSK Maribor have won the national league.[1] The first men's handball team was formed in 1949, named Polet.[1][3] They were renamed to Branik in 1951, when they participated in the Yugoslav First League qualifiers.[1] In 1954, Branik have won their first Slovenian Republic League title, and were promoted to the Yugoslav First League.[1] The women's team won the league one year later, in 1955.[1] Between 1955 and 1968, Branik did not achieve any major success and were even relegated to the local Styrian League in 1966, but returned to the top Slovenian division two years later.[1] They were relegated again in 1972, but once again returned in 1979 after spending a few years in the local regional leagues.[1] In 1977, the team was merged with Kovinar Tezno to form Maribor.[1] The team was struggling in the next decade and did not achieve any major results. After the independence of Slovenia, the team was reformed with a help from some former handball players, including Marko Šibila. They reached the 3. DRL (Third National Handball League).[1]

Maribor Branik

In 2003, a new club called Maribor Branik was founded. In their first season, the team was promoted to the 2. DRL East.[1] In 2005–06, they were promoted to the 1. B DRL, where they stayed until the 2008–09 season.[1] They were the runners-up and were promoted to the elite Slovenian First League of Handball. In the same year, they finished in the third place in the Slovenian Handball Cup.[1] In their first season in the top division, they finished eight and were the runners-up in the Slovenian Handball Cup, where they lost to Celje in the final, which was held at the Tabor Hall.[4] As the runners-up, they gained a place in the 2010–11 EHF Cup Winner's Cup. They reached the quarter-finals, where they lost to the Spanish side San Antonio.[1] In the same season, the team finished in the fifth place in the Slovenian League. They again finished in the fifth position in the 2011–12 season, and were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2011–12 EHF Challenge Cup by Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel.[1] The club's most successful season is the 2012–13, when they reached the group stages of the EHF Cup, defeating Dudelange, Kópavogs and Siscia in the qualifications.[5] They were drawn in the group with Danish team Tvis Holstebro, Norwegian Elverum and Polish Wisła Płock.[6] With seven points out of six games, they qualified to the quarter-finals of the competition.[7] They were eliminated by Göppingen with 57–56 on aggregate.[8] In 2013–14 and 2014–15 Maribor finished in the third place in the Slovenian League, which is their best result since the club establishment.[9] The club was about to enter the regional SEHA League alongside Celje and Gorenje in the 2014–15 season, but all three Slovene clubs rejected entrance due to an unacceptable financial demands.[10][11]

Arena

Maribor Branik play their matches at the Tabor Hall in the Tabor suburb of Maribor. The capacity of the hall is 3,800, but for the handball games, the capacity is reduced. The reserve venue for Maribor Branik is the Ljudski vrt Sports Hall, a 2,100[12] capacity all-seater indoor hall at the left bank of the river Drava.

Supporters and rivalry

The club had a supporters group called Maribor Supporters. They started to attend a games in the 2008–09 season, when the club was playing in the Slovenian Second League. However, the supporters group was official established in 2011. In February 2012 there was an incident, when the small number of Maribor Supporters chanted a song about the Srebrenica massacre against the Bosnian team Gradačac in the first leg of the 2011–12 EHF Challenge Cup.[13][14] The group was banned from attending the Branik's home games.[13] Maribor Branik do not have any major rivals, however, matches between Maribor Branik and RK Celje are considered as the Styrian derby,[15] named after the Styria region in Slovenia, with Maribor and Celje being the two biggest cities in the region. The games against RK Jeruzalem Ormož and RK Trimo Trebnje are also considered as derbies.[16]

Colours, kits and crest

Crest
Branik's former crest, used between 2003 and 2012

Originally, the club's colours were white and black, as this is the main colour of the Branik Sports Association.[17] However, at the start of the 2011–12 season, RK Maribor Branik changed their main colour to purple for better recognition,[18] as purple is considered as one of the city's colours due to popularity of NK Maribor, the most successful association football club in the country.[18] Maribor Branik's main home kit colour is purple with black shorts, while the away kit is all-white.[19] The third kit is all-black, but it is rarely used. The club's first crest was a shield-shape with a black and white abstract silhouette of a handball player. In 2012, they changed the colours of the crest to purple and white.

Team

Current squad

RK Maribor Branik roster
Goalkeepers
  •  12 Slovenia Gregor Čudič
  •  99 Slovenia Urh Kastelic
  •  – Slovenia Domen Škalički

Wingers

  •  4 Slovenia Darko Cingesar
  •  9 Slovenia Grega Jamnik
  •  13 Slovenia Tadej Sok
  •  25 Slovenia Matic Verdinek
  •  39 Slovenia Uroš Štumpfl
 Line players
  •  37 Serbia Igor Čagalj
  •  80 Croatia Kristian Bećiri

Back players

  •  5 Slovenia Nejc Žmavc
  •  7 Croatia Ante Kaleb
  •  8 Croatia Nikola Špelić
  •  10 Slovenia Tine Poklar
  •  18 Slovenia Gašper Hrastnik
  •  20 Slovenia Dušan Fidel
  •  24 Slovenia Aleksander Špende
  •  34 Serbia Vojislav Brajović
  •  – Slovenia Andraž Velkavrh
 Technical staff[2]
  • Head Coach: Slovenia Slavko Ivezič
  • Assistant Coach: Slovenia Aleš Anzič
  • Secretary: Slovenia Matjaž Hladnik
  • Physio / masseur: Slovenia Uroš Mavrič

Roster 2015/16
Updated: February 2016

Season-by-season records

Season Division League Pos. Cup Supercup European competition Head coach
2003–04 4 3. League 3 — — —
2004–05 3 2. National League 13 Round of 32 — — Sebastijan Kovačič
Milan Šimac
2005–06 3 2. National League 2 — — — Milan Šimac
Kristjan Ladič
2006–07 2 1. B League 5 Round of 32 — — Sebastjan Oblak
Primož Hoenigmann
2007–08 2 1. B League 3 Round of 16 — — Sebastjan Oblak
2008–09 2 1. B League 2 3rd place — — Bojan Čotar
2009–10 1 First League 8 Runners-up — —
2010–11 1 First League 5 Round of 16 Runners-up EHF Cup Winners' Cup Marko Šibila
2011–12 1 First League 5 4th place — EHF Challenge Cup
2012–13 1 First League 4 Quarter-final — EHF Cup
2013–14 1 First League 3 Round of 32 —
2014–15 1 First League 3 Round of 32 — Marko Šibila
Boris Denić
2015–16 1 First League Quarter-final — Boris Denić
Slavko Ivezič

Maribor Branik in European handball

The table includes matches from the official EHF competitions only.[20]

Competitions
  • R1 = First round
  • R2 = Second round
  • R3 = Third round
  • L16 = Last 16
  • QF = Quarter-final
  • G = Group stage
Matches
  • Pld = Number of matches played
  • W = Matches won
  • D = Matches drawn
  • L = Matches lost
  • GF = Goals scored
  • GA = Goals against
  • GD = Goal difference

Season Competition Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate
2010–11 EHF Cup Winners' Cup R3 Czech Republic Karviná 28–22 33–28 61–50
L16 Serbia Kolubara 32–27 40–26 72–53
QF Spain San Antonio 28–34 27–35 55–69
2011–12 EHF Challenge Cup R3 Serbia Radnički Kragujevac 26–22 23–27 49–49 (a)
L16 Bosnia and Herzegovina Gradačac 30–22 26–31 56–53
QF Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv 29–28 29–31 58–59
2012–13 EHF Cup R1 Luxembourg Dudelange 39–24 27–28 66–52
R2 Iceland Kópavogs 42–25 35–25 77–50
R3 Croatia Siscia 35–22 29–30 64–52
G Denmark Tvis Holstebro 31–27 26–26 &
—
G Norway Elverum 34–29 27–30 &
—
G Poland Wisła Płock 26–23 26–30 &
—
QF Germany Göppingen 26–26 30–31 56–57
2013–14 R2 Austria Bregenz 37–23 25–26 62–49
R3 Slovakia Tatran Prešov 30–28 26–34 56–62
2014–15 R2 Sweden Kristianstad 26–25 24–36 50–61
2015–16 R3 Romania Dinamo București 27–26 26–31 53–57

By competition

As of 5 December 2015.
EHF competitions
Competition Pld W D L GF GA GD Win%
EHF Cup 22 11 2 9 654 607 +47 50.00
Cup Winners' Cup 6 4 0 2 188 172 +16 66.67
Challenge Cup 6 3 0 3 163 161 +2 50.00
Total 34 18 2 14 1,005 940 +65 52.94

Honours

League

Third place (2): 2013–14, 2014–15
Runners-up (1): 2008–09
Runners-up (1): 2005–06

Cup

Runners-up (1): 2009–10
Semi-finals (2): 2008–09, 2011–12
Runners-up (1): 2010

Notable former players

The following former Maribor Branik players have made at least one appearance for the senior national team in the official EHF recognized matches.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Croatia

Macedonia

Montenegro

Serbia

Slovenia

Source: Handball Federation of Slovenia.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Zgodovina kluba" [Club history] (in Slovenian). RK Maribor Branik official website. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Strokovni štab" [Staff] (in Slovenian). RK Maribor Branik official website. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "History" (in Slovenian). Handball Federation of Slovenia official website. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  4. ↑ Simon Lorbek (14 March 2010). "Celjani v izjemni predstavi premagali Maribor" [Celje defeated Maribor in a great performance] (in Slovenian). www.vecer.com. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  5. ↑ M.L. (2 December 2012). "Tudi Mariborčani bodo igrali v skupinskem delu Pokala EHF" [Maribor will play in the group stage of the EHF Cup] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  6. ↑ R.K. (6 December 2012). "Koprčani in Mariborčani dobili nasprotnike" [Koper and Maribor get their opponents] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
  7. ↑ "Norvežani boljši nasprotnik" (in Slovenian). RK Maribor Branik official website. 23 March 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  8. ↑ M.V. (27 April 2013). "Drama: Mariborčane v zadnji sekundi pokopal Rnić" [Rnić eliminated Maribor in the last seconds of the game] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
  9. ↑ RK Maribor Branik. (22 May 2014). "Za konec visoka zmaga nad Ribnico" [Big win against Ribnica for the end] (in Slovenian). RK Maribor Branik official website. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  10. ↑ A.V. (24 June 2014). "Slovencev ne bo v Ligi Seha" [SEHA League without Slovene clubs] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  11. ↑ RK Maribor Branik. (24 June 2014). "RK Maribor Branik ne bo igral v SEHA ligi" [RK Maribor Branik will not play in the SEHA League] (in Slovenian). RK Maribor Branik official website. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  12. ↑ www.maribor.si. "Športna dvorana Lukna" [Lukna Sports Hall] (in Slovenian). City of Maribor official website. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  13. 1 2 T.O. (13 February 2012). "Nekaj nevzgojenih fantov pokvarilo tekmo v Mariboru" [A few fans spoiled the game in Maribor] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  14. ↑ (rk) (13 February 2012). "Nepopisna sramota: Mariborski navijači žalili žrtve genocida v Srebrenici" [Indescribable shame: Maribor fans insulted Srebrenica massacre victims] (in Slovenian). www.dnevnik.si. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  15. ↑ Ž.K. (27 February 2013). "Štajerski derbi navdušil, zmaga Celjanom" [Styrian derby delighted fans, victory for Celje] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  16. ↑ RK Maribor (24 September 2013). "V pokalu najprej s Trebanjci" (in Slovenian). RK Maribor Branik official website. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  17. ↑ "Ustanovitev mariborskega športnega društva Branik" (in Slovenian). Official Branik Sports Association website. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  18. 1 2 Maja Mastnak (8 September 2011). "V vijoličnem naskok proti vrhu" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  19. ↑ Martina Lunder (8 September 2011). "Z vijoličasto barvo novim uspehom naproti" (in Slovenian). www.totimaribor.si. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  20. ↑ "Maribor Branik in the EHF competitions". EHF official website. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  21. ↑ "Večna lestvica nastopov" [All-time appearances] (in Slovenian). Handball Federation of Slovenia official website. Retrieved 24 March 2013.

External links

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