NK Rijeka

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HNK Rijeka

Full name

Hrvatski Nogometni Klub Rijeka

Nickname(s)

galebovi s kvarnera (Kvarner seagals)

Founded

1925 (as U.S. Fiumana)
1946 (as Kvarner)
1954 (as HNK Rijeka)

Ground

Kantrida Stadium, Rijeka, Croatia
(Capacity 12,000)

Chairman

Robert Ježić

Manager

Zlatko Dalić

League

Prva HNL

2007-08

Prva HNL, 2nd





Home colours





Away colours

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

1 History
2 Colours and badge
3 Stadium
4 Supporters
5 Current squad
6 Recent transfers
7 Noted players
8 Noted Managers
9 Honours
10 Records
11 Notable games
12 External links

[edit] History

The club was founded first in 1925 as Unione Sportiva Fiumana. Fiumana played in First Division (Prima divisione) that was 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 1929-1930 and 1941-1942 seasons. The club was renamed Kvarner in 1946, due to Rijeka (Fiume at the time) passing from Italy to Yugoslavia. During its early period in the Yugoslav, the club had moderate success in various Yugoslav and local club championships. It changed its name to "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 was demoted to the Second League. It topped that league many times but it until 1973/74 to return to the First League, where it would remain all the way 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 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, like Real Madrid and Juventus.

Rijeka has been playing in the Prva HNL since the independence of the country 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.

[edit] Colours and badge

NK Rijeka colours are white and sky-blue.

[edit] Stadium

NK Rijeka plays their home matches on Kantrida Stadium, or just simply Kantrida, it can hold 11,000 spectators.

[edit] Supporters

The fans are known as Armada Rijeka.

[edit] Current squad

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Velimir Radman
2	DF	Deni Erceg
3	MF	Mateo Bertoša
4	DF	Duje Baković
5	DF	Igor Čagalj
6	DF	Luka Vučko
7	FW	Alen Škoro
8	MF	Sergej Jakirović
9	FW	Georgi Ivanov
10	MF	Anas Sharbini (captain)
11	FW	Nino Bule
12	GK	Dragan Žilić

No.	Position	Player
14	MF	Hrvoje Štrok
16	DF	Fausto Budicin
19	MF	Zedi Ramadani
20	FW	Ivan Božić
21	FW	Radomir Đalović
22	MF	Andre Luiz
24	MF	Nikola Šafarić
26	DF	Vedran Turkalj
28	DF	Mario Tadejović
29	MF	Dario Jertec (on loan from NK Dinamo Zagreb)
30	GK	Andrej Prskalo
N/A	FW	Nedim Halilovic

[edit] Recent transfers

In:

Dario Bodrušić - Dinamo Tirana

Out:

Filip Marčić - FC Midtjylland

[edit] Noted players

[edit] Noted Managers

Nenad Gračan
Elvis Scoria
Zlatko Dalić

[edit] Honours

Yugoslav Cup: 2

1978, 1979

Croatian Cup: 2

2005, 2006

Balkans Cup: 1

1978

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

[edit] Records

[edit] Notable games

In the 1984/85 season, Rijeka played 2nd stage of UEFA Cup against Real Madrid. In the first leg at Kantrida, Real had to admit the superiority of Rijeka with the result 3:1. On the second game in Madrid, the controversial decisions of Belgian referee Schoeters helped Real knock Rijeka out of the competition. Schoeters pointed to the spot in 67th minute after fictional penalty situation and even showed 3 strange red cards to Rijeka players, the result was 3:0 for Real. That helped the obviously weaker Real to continue competition.

In the 1998/99 season, Rijeka battled for first place in the league with Croatia Zagreb until the end of the last game. According to wide-spread opinion, Rijeka lost the title due to the unfair judging, which was a product of the fact that Croatia Zagreb was then viewed as a state-club and a must-be-champion.

[edit] External links

1. HNL 2008-09

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Cibalia • Croatia Sesvete • Dinamo Zagreb • Hajduk Split • Inter Zaprešić
Osijek • Rijeka • Šibenik • Slaven Belupo • Varteks • Zadar • NK Zagreb