HNK Rijeka

Rijeka

File:Rijeka09.png
Full name	Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka
Nickname(s)	Riječki bijeli (The Rijeka's White)
Founded	1925 (as U.S. Fiumana) 1946 (as Kvarner) 1954 (as HNK Rijeka)
Ground	Stadion na Kantridi
Capacity	12,000
Chairman	Ivan Turčić
Manager	Nenad Gračan
League	Prva HNL
2009–10	Prva HNL, 9th
Home colours Away colours

HNK Rijeka is a Croatian football club, from Rijeka on the Croatian coast.

History

The club was founded in 1926 as Unione Sportiva Fiumana from the merger of the earlier clubs Gloria Fiume and Olympia Fiume. Fiumana played in the First Division (Prima divisione), which was the second level of the Italian Football Championship, and reached the National Division (Divisione Nazionale), the first level of Italian football in 1928. After 1929, it competed in Serie B in the 1929-1930 and 1941-1942 seasons.

The club was renamed NK Kvarner in 1946, due to Rijeka (Fiume at the time) passing from Italy to Yugoslavia. During its early period in Yugoslavia, the club had moderate success in various Yugoslav and local club championships. It changed its name to NK Rijeka on June 3, 1954, and advanced to the Yugoslav First League in the 1957/58 season. It remained in the top tier until the 1969/70 season, when it got relegated to the Second League. It topped that league many times but it wasn't until 1973/74 when it returned to the First League, where it would remain until the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Rijeka won the Yugoslav Cup in 1978 and 1979, was a runner-up in 1987, won the Croatian Cup in 2005 and in 2006, and participated several times in various UEFA championships. Although it has never advanced to the final stages of the competition, Rijeka has topped and shocked some of the biggest clubs in the history of soccer on its home field during the 1980s, including Real Madrid and Juventus.

Rijeka has been playing in the Prva HNL since the independence of Croatia in 1991, generally finishing near the top. Notably it finished second in 1999 and 2006 and third in 2004. Due to many format changes of the league, Rijeka has played more games in the competition than any other team. In the 2004/2005 season, its player Tomislav Erceg was the top scorer of the Prva HNL with 17 goals.

Stadium

NK Rijeka plays their home matches on Kantrida Stadium, or just simply Kantrida, it can hold 12,124 spectators.

Supporters

The fans are known as Armada Rijeka.

Current squad

As of 20 June 2010

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

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	CRO	Velimir Radman
2	DF	BEL	Mikael Yourassowsky
3	DF	CRO	Denis Ljubović
5	DF	BIH	Igor Čagalj
6	DF	BIH	Kenan Čejvanović
7	MF	CRO	Valentino Stepčić
8	MF	BIH	Davor Landeka
9	FW	CRO	Vedran Gerc
10	FW	CRO	Sandi Križman
12	GK	CRO	Ivan Mance
13	FW	CRO	Ivan Bijelić
14	MF	CRO	Hrvoje Štrok
15	MF	CRO	Antonini Čulina
16	DF	CRO	Fausto Budicin (captain)
17	MF	CRO	Damir Kreilach
20	MF	ARG	Ramón Fernández

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
21	FW	MNE	Radomir Đalović
28	DF	CRO	Mario Tadejević
32	GK	CRO	Adnan Hodžić
—	GK	CRO	Dino Raspor
—	DF	CRO	Kristijan Čaval
—	MF	CRO	Marin Grujević
—	MF	CRO	Marko Simanović
—	MF	CRO	Andro Švrljuga
—	MF	CRO	Neven Vukman
—	MF	CRO	Diego Živulić
—	FW	CRO	Armando Mance
—	FW	CRO	Alen Matovina
—	FW	CRO	Mato Pehar
—	FW	CRO	Ivan Rodić
—	FW	BRA	Luis Gustav

Notable players

• Josip Skoblar
• Mladen Mladenović
• Dubravko Pavličić
• Mauro Ravnić
• Borče Sredojević
• Neshet Zhaveli
• Danijel Šarić
• Davor Vugrinec
• Damir Desnica
• Elvis Brajković
• Nenad Gračan
• Saša Peršon
• Borimir Perković
• Zedi Ramadani

• Mario Tokić
• Boško Balaban
• Barnabás Sztipánovics
• Ernest Erbstein
• Igor Budan
• Dario Knežević
• Matjaž Florjančič
• Adrijan Fegic
• Sebastjan Cimerotič
• Igor Benedejčič
• Nastja Čeh
• Fredi Bobič
• Dumitru Mitu

• Dragan Žilić
• Elvir Bolić
• Admir Hasančić
• Rodolfo Volk
• Gino Gardassanich
• Mario Varglien
• Giovanni Varglien
• Georgi Ivanov
• Yoshika Matsubara
• Leo Milasinovic

Notable managers

• Miroslav Blažević
• Zlatko Dalić
• Nenad Gračan
• Elvis Scoria

Honours

• Template:Sport honours

• Template:Sport honours

• Template:Sport honours

• 3 times best club from Croatia in Yugoslav First Division (1965, 1984, 1987)
• 7 times second best club from Croatia in Yugoslav First Division

Recent seasons

Season	League									Cup	European competitions		Top goalscorer
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos				Player	Goals
1992	1. HNL	22	10	5	7	26	22	25	6th	SF			Zoran Škerjanc	7
1992–93	1. HNL	30	14	11	5	41	24	39	4th	R2			Zoran Ban Elvis Scoria	8
1993–94	1. HNL	34	11	17	6	40	27	39	6th	RU			Mladen Mladenović	20
1994–95	1. HNL	30	8	10	12	22	32	34	11th	QF
1995–96	1. HNL	36	11	8	17	46	56		9th	QF
1996–97	1. HNL	30	13	7	10	44	32	46	4th	R2
1997–98	1. HNL	32	9	14	9	36	37		7th	R2
1998–99	1. HNL	32	22	4	6	53	33		2nd	R2			Igor Musa Barnabás Sztipánovics	14
1999–2000	1. HNL	33	14	7	12	54	39	49	4th	QF	Champions League	QR2	Boško Balaban	15
2000–01	1. HNL	32	9	6	17	30	44	33	10th	R1	UEFA Cup	R1	Ante Milicic	10
2001–02	1. HNL	30	15	6	9	46	37	51	5th	QF			Natko Rački	13
2002–03	1. HNL	32	9	6	17	40	41	33	9th	R1	Intertoto Cup	R1	Sandro Klić	12
2003–04	1. HNL	32	11	9	12	36	41	42	3rd	SF			Sandro Klić	11
2004–05	1. HNL	32	11	14	7	52	40	47	4th	W	UEFA Cup	QR2	Tomislav Erceg	17
2005–06	1. HNL	32	20	5	7	61	36	65	2nd	W	UEFA Cup	QR2	Ahmad Sharbini Davor Vugrinec	15
2006–07	1. HNL	33	12	6	15	51	53	42	7th	SF	UEFA Cup	QR1	Ahmad Sharbini	21
2007–08	1. HNL	33	14	11	8	53	41	53	4th	R2			Radomir Đalović	18
2008–09	1. HNL	33	17	5	11	50	44	56	3rd	QF	Intertoto Cup	R1	Anas Sharbini	14
2009–10	1. HNL	30	10	10	10	49	44	40	9th	R2	Europa League	QR3	Radomir Đalović	10

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: PR = Preliminary round; QR = Qualifying round; R1 = First round; R2 = Second round; Group = Group stage; QF = Quarter-final; SF = Semi-final; RU = Runner-up; W = Competition won;

European record

Season	Competition	Round		Club	Home	Away	Agg.
1999–00	UEFA Champions League	QR2		Partizan	0–3	1–3	1–6
2000–01	UEFA Cup	QR		Valletta	3–2	2–3	5–5 (3–1 p)
		R1		Celta Vigo	0–0	0–0	0–0 (0–1 aet)
2002	UEFA Intertoto Cup	R1		St Patrick's Athletic	3–2	0–1	3–3
2004–05	UEFA Cup	QR2		Gençlerbirliği	2–1	0–1	2–2
2005–06	UEFA Cup	QR2		Litex Lovech	2–1	0–1	2–2
2006–07	UEFA Cup	QR1		Omonia	2–2	1–2	3–4
2008	UEFA Intertoto Cup	R1		Renova	0–0	0–2	0–2
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	QR2		Differdange	3–0	0–1	3–1
		QR3		Metalist Kharkiv	1–2	0–2	1–4

External links

• Official website Template:Hr icon
• Rijeka at uefa.com
• Armada Rijeka official website
• HNK Rijeka fansite