NK Čakovec
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| NK Čakovec | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Nogometni klub Čakovec | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Crveni (The Reds) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1920 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Stadion SRC Mladost Čakovec, Croatia (Capacity 7,000) |
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| Manager | Slavko Stipanović | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Treća HNL (Eastern Div.) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006-07 | Druga HNL, 16th (relegated) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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NK Čakovec is a Croatian football club based in the city of Čakovec in the north of the country. The club most recently played in the Prva HNL for two seasons between 2000 and 2002, but was then relegated and has been playing in the Croatian Second League for five seasons before being relegated to the third division in 2007. The SRC Mladost stadium with a total capacity of 7,000 has been their home stadium since the mid-1980s and since 2003 a new club NK Međimurje also plays its home matches there. The team is also supported by a group of fans known as the Demons (Croatian: Demoni).
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[edit] History
[edit] Early history
The history of the club began in 1920 with a group of craftsmen from Čakovec founding the first sports club in town. The original name of the club was Čakovečki športski klub, which can be translated as the Čakovec Sports Club, and the name was commonly abbreviated to ČŠK. The club won its first and up to date the only title as they were the champions in the Championship of Drava Banovina in 1938.
[edit] History in Hungary and Yugoslavia
During World War II, Čakovec was occupied by Hungary and the club had to play in Hungarian competitions until the city was liberated in 1945. The name of the club was then changed to NK Jedinstvo Čakovec and this name was used in the next 20 years before the club went into ownership of local clothing and textile factory called MTČ and started to carry the same name. The club existed under this name all the way until 1990, although it was also known as MTČ-Sloga when it was merged with local club NK Sloga Čakovec for a couple of years in the mid-1980s.
[edit] History in Croatia
NK Čakovec was first promoted into the Northern Croatian Second League in 1992, but was then relegated back into the Croatian Third League after finishing 15th. The club returned into the Second League in 1994 and was then known as NK Čakovec Union for two seasons between 1994 and 1996 as it was primarily owned by local catering company called Union. They also played for one season in the short-living Croatian First B League and continued to play in the Croatian Second League after the breakup of the First B League in 1997. The club was given its current name in December 1996, when a group of local businessmen took the leadership of it in order to save it from a difficult material situation. In 1998, they were for the first time very close to promotion into the "real" Prva HNL as they entered the relegation/promotion play-off after finishing first in the Northern Croatian Second League, but did not manage to do that after a goalless draw with Jadran Poreč and a 1-2 loss against HNK Segesta. In the next season, they finished fourth in the united Croatian Second League and finally managed to get promotion into the Prva HNL for the 2000-01 season after finishing second in the 1999-2000 season of the united Croatian Second League.
The team was significantly strengthened for their inaugural season in the Prva HNL as the club signed several players with experience of playing football in top divisions. Their first match was away against Hrvatski dragovoljac, where they suffered a 0-2 loss, but in their first home match against local rivals NK Varteks they managed to get their first point with a 2-2 draw in a dramatic match. Their first win in the Prva HNL came on Day 4, when they surprisingly won 2-0 at home over one of the top Croatian clubs Hajduk Split, which won the championship at the end of that season. The win was even more surprising as Čakovec was playing with only nine players in the final minutes of the match after two of their players were sent off. The team continued to deliver some good results, including a goalless draw against Dinamo Zagreb at home, and fought for a place in the Championship League for a long time during the regular season, but eventually fell short of this success by finishing 7th. They had to play in the Relegation League until the end of the season and eventually finished their first season in the Prva HNL in the second place in the Relegation League and on the 8th place in the overall standings with an overall score of 10 wins, 9 draws and 13 losses.
The team started their second season in the Prva HNL with two wins in two matches and broke on the top of the table, but won only 7 of the remaining 28 matches, having had 5 draws and unenviable 16 losses. These results were only good enough to take 14th place among 16 teams that played in the Prva HNL that season and the club was relegated back into the Croatian Second League after the 2001-02 season. After the relegation, many of top players left the club and some of them were later transferred to Čakovec' new club NK Međimurje, who were the city's representative in the Prva HNL between 2004 and 2008.
NK Čakovec has been playing mediocre ever since their relegation, although they finished third in the Northern Croatian Second League in 2003 and 2005. In the 2005-06 season, they finished 8th overall in the Northern Croatian Second League and went on to play in the united Croatian Second League in the 2006-07 season. In April 2007, however, they lost all chances of staying in the league and are currently playing in the Eastern Division of the Treća HNL, the Croatian third division.
[edit] Current squad
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