HNK Rijeka

croatian football club

football club
Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( english : croatian Football Club Rijeka ), normally referred to as NK Rijeka or just Rijeka, is a croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka.

Reading: HNK Rijeka

HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia ‘s top division, HT Prva liga, of which they have been members since its foundation in 1992. During the reconstruction of Stadion Kantrida, their traditional home earth has been Stadion Rujevica. Rijeka ‘s traditional home colours are all whiten. The baseball club was founded in 1906 as Club Sportivo Olimpia, [ 2 ] and following the disruptive political changes that swept the boundary line city of Rijeka in the pursuit decades, it changed its name to U.S. Fiumana in 1926, to S.C.F. Quarnero in 1946, to NK Rijeka in 1954 and ultimately HNK Rijeka in 1995. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] Rijeka is the third-most successful croatian football club, having won one Croatian First League championship, two Yugoslav Cups, six croatian Cups, one croatian Super Cup and the 1977–78 Balkans Cup .

history [edit ]

The golf club was founded in mid April 1904 as Club Sportivo Olimpia, by the Antonio Marchich, Aristodemo Susmel, Agesilao Satti, Carlo Colussi, Romeo and Alessandro Mitrovich, when the city of Rijeka was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a Corpus Separatum of the hungarian Crown. The club was founded as a tennis-lawn, foot-ball, liquid, cycle and athletics baseball club. [ 6 ] The first base activities of the football section found by historians in the news was held on the 25th of November 1906. This date is at the moment considered the official beginning of HNK Rijeka. [ 4 ] [ 2 ] This besides makes it the oldest documented still active association football cabaret in today ‘s Croatia. While many clubs in township and the region had often particular ethnic leanings, Olimpia had intentionally a very international soul with italian, croatian, Hungarian, german players all meet and working along each other. [ 7 ] Initially the club played its matches on the football field at Scoglietto, on the local Honved HQ, but moved to Kantrida stadium during the following decade ( the stadium was then called Campo Sportivo Olympia ). The initial official color of Olimpia were black and white, but the club will start act in a white kit in the second half of the 1910s .
One of the first historic derbies between Olimpia and Doria at the Kantrida stadium, during the 1910s . One of the last Olympia-Gloria matches before their fusion, on the 30th of November 1924. Olimpia will be joined in the follow 15 years by respective other local football clubs from the city of Rijeka, and will continue the bequest of Club Atletico Fiumano as the main city baseball club after Atletico discontinued its football section somewhere around 1910. [ 8 ] Among the many clubs being founded in town during these years, Doria will soon rise as a fierce arch-rival to Olimpia. Doria ( late renamd CS Gloria ) arise from the proletarian classes and the humiliate old city dwellers of the industry-rich interface township on the Adriatic. While Olympia symbolically represented a wealthier class of citizens, by and large players from wage-earning families performed in Gloria, so the club found its sympathisers among the poorer contribution of the population. [ 9 ] Olimpia was renamed into Olympia on 9 January 1918 during a meeting of its board and the newfangled president of the united states became the Fiuman writer Antonio de Schlemmer. During these years it achieved its first major successes : it became the ace of the Free State of Fiume championship in 1921, and it won several julian March and North-Eastern italian tournaments in the pursuit years, becoming the most successful club in the region .
On September 2, 1926, following Mussolini ‘s reforms of the FIGC and the 1924 coup d’etat by fascists which brought to the annexation of the independent free State of Fiume to fascist Italy, Olympia was forced to merge with its arch-rivals Gloria into the Unione Sportiva Fiumana. Pietro Pasquali was picked as the raw president of the clubhouse. Two years by and by, Fiumana was already playing in the italian Serie A, and some of the biggest italian clubs such as Ambrosiano ( today ‘s Inter, besides forced into a brand exchange by the new government ), Juventus and Napoli played at the Kantrida stadium ( renamed first as Stadio Borgomarina ). Despite a not therefore badly performance in Serie A, the club was not in the position of competing financially with the biggest club in Italy, saw many of its stars taken by the major italian club and it passed most of the ’30s and ’40s between the second gear and third base grade of the italian competitions. At the afford of the refurbished Kantrida ( nowadays called Stadio del Littorio ) in 1935, Fiumana hosted AS Roma, and in June 1941, it became champion of the recently created italian Serie C. Serie C ‘s last season before the fall of fascist Italy in 1943 saw Fiumana end in third base rate. Championships in this function of Europe will be paused until 1946, but Fiumana will keep playing several matches with other local teams and german occupational authorities. Worth mentioning is a final ceremony bet on between the old legends of Olympia and Gloria that was held on June the fifteenth 1944, played while allied planes were bombing the city ‘s surroundings. [ 7 ]
Following the liberation of the city from the Nazi occupation and the subsequent occupation by Yugoslav troops, and due to the uncertain future status of the city at the Paris peace conference, the club will resume its activities under the appoint Rappresentativa Sindacale Fiumana and playing several games against the most celebrated teams of the newly constituted Yugoslav state, beating Dinamo Zagreb 4–2, Akademičar Zagreb 7-2 and Metalac Beograd 2–0. [ 7 ] In the interim post-war year until the inaugural edition of the Yugoslav First League the R.S. Fiumana plays against some of its future Balkan rivals, and the authorities set besides up an unofficial city league among factories named after Fiumana ‘s deep captain Giovanni Maras, died heroically in a partisan action on the nearby Mount Risnjak. [ 10 ] Despite Maras and most of his colleagues ‘ partisan allegiance and hardships endured by many in nazi concentration camps, the mention Fiumana came soon to be considered besides recalling of the Italianness of a city the Yugoslav occupational united states army was trying to annex before the official peace treaty was signed. As in most other cities in Yugoslavia, in 1946 the communist authorities decided therefore to establish a fresh identity for the city ‘s most representative clubhouse [ 5 ] and rebranded and restructured the club into the bilingual Società Cultura Fisica Quarnero – Sportsko Društvo Kvarner ( the diagnose was initially only italian but soon became bilingual Italian-Croatian ). [ 11 ] The first step came from Ettore Mazzieri, then the city ‘s sport commissioner for the Jugoslav military administration and previously a Fiumana coach. Luigi Sošić was chosen as Quarnero ‘s president of the united states, and Fiumana ‘s players and managers plainly carried on their plays and oeuvre in the rename baseball club in its first few post/war seasons, before the italian exodus lento forced many to leave the city between 1947 and 1960. As all clubs in Jugoslavia had to undergo a transformation into general sport clubs following the stalinist exemplar imposed by Belgrade in 1945, [ 5 ] S.C.F. Quarnero incorporated 11 other sections in addition to football. It then developed several excellencies in box, fencing material, basketball and tennis. In these years the international tennis supporter Orlando Sirola started his career in the club. [ 7 ] The authorities in Belgrade decided that the football clubhouse should be invited to participate in the first Jugoslav football league in ’46-’47 as an external guest, representing the concern Zone B of the Julian March region, but only after a play-off with the Pula -based club Unione Sportiva Operaia. When Rijeka got ultimately assigned by allies to Jugoslavia in February 1947 and Tito besides broke all ties with Stalin in 1948, most Jugoslav clubs underwent a further re-organization of their mutant activities. therefore in 1948 the club became once again an all-football club, and the appoint was besides consequently modified once again into Club Calcio Quarnero – Nogometni Klub Kvarner. During the early period act in Yugoslavia ‘s competitions, Kvarner had moderate success in diverse national and local club championships. placid, the clubhouse was relegated at the end of their inaugural season in the Yugoslav First League in 1946–47, ascribable to a strictly political decision to favour Ponziana over it for the following first league season, because after securing Rijeka for Yugoslavia, the authorities were now trying to gain the hearts of Trieste ‘s residents through fun, in hope of annexing that city arsenic well. [ 12 ]
Losing many of its best players to the exodus, the club lingered between the second and third league for the next few years. Following new Italian-Yugoslav tensions that arose during the Trieste Crisis, and the subsequent de facto abolition of the city ‘s fully bilingual rights by the communist authorities in Belgrade, [ 13 ] the club changed its name once again, into the immediately wholly monolingual NK Rijeka ( Rijeka FC ) on the 2nd of July 1954. NK Rijeka started to use a blank kit out for the second fourth dimension in history during a match in Šibenik in the 1957-58 irregular league temper, while in the previous years it was constantly changing all types of colours and pattern combinations, according to what was available to the management in any given season. [ 14 ] From then on the chief home kit stayed white. NK Rijeka returned to the First League in 1958 and remained in the top grade for 11 consecutive seasons until 1969, when it got relegated once again to the Yugoslav Second League. [ 15 ] Despite finishing on acme in four ( out of five ) seasons in the moment tier, due to three failed play/off attempts, the club only gained promotion bet on to the top tier in 1974. Rijeka remained in crown tier until the separation of Yugoslavia in 1991 with varying results. [ 15 ] The cabaret ‘s greatest success during this period are 2 Yugoslav Cup titles in 1978 and 1979. Rijeka were besides a Cup runner-up in 1987, when they lost the final examination after a punishment shoot-out. [ 16 ] Rijeka never finished higher than the fourth position in the Yugoslav First League. In 1984, the club came closest to their first championship entitle, finishing entirely two points behind Red Star Belgrade. Rijeka were besides the best set croatian clubhouse in the Yugoslav First League in 1965, 1984 and 1987. [ 17 ]
Following the separation of Yugoslavia, in 1992 Rijeka joined the Croatian First Football League in its inaugural address season. In 1995 the club changes one final meter its diagnose to HNK Rijeka, adding the prefix “ croatian ” to its mention, following the exemplar of most clubs in the modern Republic of Croatia during the Croatian War for Independence. Today Rijeka remains one of only four founding member clubs of the HNL to never have been relegated and is considering one of the top-3 clubs in the state. In the croatian time the club won its first-ever league entitle in 2017, ending Dinamo Zagreb ‘s run of 11 consequtive titles, and was a runner-up doubly. [ 18 ] In the final round of the 1998–99 temper, a refereeing error denied Rijeka their first backing title. With one pit to play, Rijeka were one point ahead of Croatia Zagreb, needing a home win against Osijek to secure the title. With the match tied at 1–1, in the 89th hour, Rijeka fore Admir Hasančić converted a cross by Barnabás Sztipánovics. however, moments late, assistant referee Krečak raised his masthead and referee Šupraha disallowed Rijeka ‘s victorious goal for an alleged offside. [ 19 ] Following an probe, 3D analysis revealed Hasančić was not, in fact, in an offside position, and that Rijeka were wrongfully denied their foremost championship claim. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] An probe by Nacional revealed Franjo Tuđman, the president of the Republic of Croatia and an ardent Croatia Zagreb athletic supporter, earlier in 1999 ordered the area ‘s intelligence agencies to spy on football referees, officials and journalists, with the draw a bead on of ensuring the Zagreb club wins the league title. [ 21 ] Rijeka has besides won six croatian Cups, including back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006 and most recently in 2019 and 2020. It won the cup besides in 2014 and in 2017, which helped them secure a historic Double in that year. [ 22 ]

HNK Rijeka in the european competitions [edit ]

The first international game and acquire of CS Olimpia was against FC Brescia. Rijeka participated in UEFA competitions on 21 occasions, including nine consecutive appearances since 2013–14. The greatest success was the quarter-final of the 1979–80 european Cup Winners ‘ Cup, where they lost to italian giants Juventus 2–0 on sum. [ 23 ] The most memorable result in Europe was the family succeed ( 3–1 ) against eventual winners real Madrid in the 1984–85 UEFA Cup. [ 24 ] Controversially, in the return branch at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which Rijeka lost 3–0, three of their players were sent off. Madrid scored their first gear goal from a doubtful penalty in the 67th minute with Rijeka already down to ten men. Over the future ten minutes, two extra Rijeka players were sent murder, most notably Damir Desnica. While Desnica received the first chicken card because he did not stop play after Schoeters blew his whistle, the second yellow was issued because he allegedly insulted the reviewer. however, unbeknown to the referee, Desnica had been a deaf-and-dumb since birth. [ 17 ] With Rijeka reduced to eight players, Madrid scored two extra goals, progressed to the next round and finally won the trophy. In 2013, after winning 4–3 on aggregate against VfB Stuttgart, Rijeka qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group degree. [ 25 ] [ 26 ] Rijeka besides participated in the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage, where they defeated Feyenoord and Standard Liège and drew with title-holders and eventual winners Sevilla. [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] In 2017, Rijeka reached the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League play-off, where they lost 3–1 on aggregate to Greek champions Olympiacos, and automatically qualified for the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League group stagecoach. In the group stage they recorded a celebrated home win ( 2–0 ) against AC Milan but once again failed to progress to the smasher stages. [ 30 ]

private possession [edit ]

In February 2012, Gabriele Volpi – an italian businessman and the founder of Orlean Invest, equally well as the owner of football golf club Spezia and water polo club Pro Recco – injected much needed capital into the golf club. With the denationalization action complete by September 2013, Volpi, through Dutch-based Stichting Social Sport Foundation, became the owner of 70 % of the club, with the City of Rijeka in control of the remaining 30 %. [ 31 ] [ 32 ] On 29 December 2017 it was announced that president Damir Mišković, through London-based Teanna Limited, acquired the majority stake in the club from Stichting Social Sport Foundation. [ 33 ] [ 34 ]

criminal record transfers [edit ]

In January 2015, Rijeka sold their star striker Andrej Kramarić to Leicester City for a club-record £9.7 million transfer fee. [ 35 ]

stadium [edit ]

The Kantrida stadium in season 1921-22 . Rujevica stadium, NK Rijeka ‘s stream home. The cabaret initially played at the Honved train field, in front of today ‘s Popular University of Rijeka in the cardinal Scoglietto suburb of Rijeka. During the second decade of the XX. hundred the baseball club was allowed to build a newfangled and very advanced for the time facility in Scoglietto, and toward the end of the decade it started using Stadium Kantrida as its main field, naming it Campo Sportivo Olympia. Kantrida was the club ‘s traditional home plate grate for over 95 years ( with a little suspension between 1947 and 1951, due to refurbishing ), until July 2015. With a new project for a refurbish and bigger Kantrida Stadium being presented, and the field awaiting demolition and reconstruction, in August 2015, Rijeka have been based at the newly built Stadion Rujevica, a mod all-seater with a capacity of 8,279. Stadion Rujevica is part of Rijeka ‘s modern education center and serves as the club ‘s irregular home ground. Following the destruction of old Kantrida, a new, state-of-the artwork, 14,600-capacity all-seater stadium should be built on the same location. In addition to the stadium, investors are planning to build a commercial complex that will include a shop plaza and a hotel. [ 36 ] The project is on stop at the momemnt ascribable to the covid crisis and the club is looking for far support and co-investors to make the stick out fully feasible. [ 37 ]

accompaniment [edit ]

Rijeka ‘s ultras group are called Armada Rijeka, or simply Armada. The group has been active since 1987, but some forms of organized ( albeit not registered as associations ) support were award and following the golf club already in the decades before, and the earliest we know reach well into the ’20s of the XX. hundred. During most home matches, the majority of the seats are occupied by season tag holders. For the 2017–18 season the golf club had 5,922 season ticket holders and 8,403 members .

Rivalries [edit ]

Rijeka ‘s greatest competition nowadays is with Hajduk Split. Since 1946, the Adriatic bowler hat is contested between the two most popular croatian football clubs from the Adriatic seashore, Rijeka and Hajduk. other rivalries exist with other major clubs in Croatia Dinamo Zagreb and a mild with Osijek. The main regional bowler hat is that with Istra Pula. The origins of the Rijeka–Pula competition go steady spinal column to the clashes between Fiumana and Grion Pola since the belated 1920s. The city bowler hat with Orijent is probably the most ancient, with its roots in the clashes between CS Olimpia and CS Gloria against Orijent and the early more successful in those early years Sušak based baseball club, Victoria .

Players [edit ]

current team [edit ]

As of 11 October 2021[38]

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

Out on lend [edit ]

As of 9 September 2021

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

youth arrangement [edit ]

Club officials and technical staff [edit ]

last updated : 8 June 2021
Source : club officials

noteworthy players [edit ]

For a list of many erstwhile and current HNK Rijeka players, see class : HNK Rijeka players

all-time Best 11 [edit ]

According to a 2005–07 survey of early players ( older than 40 years of old age ) and respect journalists, Marinko Lazzarich found that the best all-time team of Rijeka is as follows : 1. Jantoljak, 2. Milevoj, 3. Hrstić, 4. Radaković, 5. Radin, 6. Juričić, 7. Lukarić, 8. Gračan, 9. Osojnak, 10. Naumović, 11. Desnica. [ 39 ] Rijeka ‘s daily, Novi list, in 2011 declared the follow 11 players as Rijeka ‘s best all time team : 1. Jantoljak, 2. Šarić, 3. Radin, 4. Juričić, 5. Hrstić, 6. Loik, 7. Radaković, 8. Mladenović, 9. Naumović, 10. Skoblar, 11. Desnica. [ 40 ]

Best 11 ( 2010–20 ) [edit ]

In 2020, the baseball club ‘s fans voted to select the best police squad over the past decade to fit in a 4–2–3–1 formation : Prskalo – Ristovski, Župarić, Mitrović, Zuta – Kreilach, Moisés – Vešović, Andrijašević, Sharbini – Kramarić. director : Kek. [ 41 ]

Managers [edit ]

For a list of HNK Rijeka managers, see class : HNK Rijeka managers reservoir : [ 42 ] [ 43 ]

Winning managers [edit ]

Presidents [edit ]

For a list of HNK Rijeka chairmen, see class : HNK Rijeka chairmen and investors

Antonio Carlo de Schlemmer 1918-1920
Antonio Marcich 1920-1921
Pietro Pasquali 1921-1923
Clemente Marassi 1923-1925
Nino Host-Venturi 1925-1926
Giovanni Stiglich 1926-1928
Ramiro Antonini 1928-1929
Oscar Sperber 1929-1931
Costanzo Delfino 1931-1936
Alessandro Szemere 1936-1937
Eugenio Zoncada 1937-1938
Alessandro Andreanelli 1938-1939
Giuseppe Ianetti 1939-1940
Alesandro Andreanelli 1940-1941
Carlo Descovich 1941-1942
Andrea Gastaldi 1942-1945
Luigi Sošić, 1946
Giovanni Cucera, 1946–1948
Ambrosio Stečić, 1948–1952
Dr. Zdravko Kučić, 1953–1954
Milorad Doričić, 1955–1956
Milan Blažević, 1957–1959
Stjepan Koren, 1960–1963
Milorad Doričić, 1964–1969
Vilim Mulc, 1969–1971
Davor Sušanj, 1971
Ljubo Španjol, 1972–1978
Zvonko Poščić, 1978–1979
Nikola Jurčević, 1980
Marijan Glavan, 1981
Davor Sušanj, 1981–1984
Stjepko Gugić, 1985–1986
Dragan Krčelić, 1986–1989
Želimir Gruičić, 1989–1991
Darko Čargonja, 1991–1992
Josip Lokmer, 1993–1994
Krsto Pavić, 1994–1995
Hrvoje Šarinić, 1995–1996
Franjo Šoda, 1996–1997
Prof. Žarko Tomljanović, 1997–2000
Hrvoje Šarinić, Dr. Ivan Vanja Frančišković, Robert Ježić, 2000
Robert Ježić, 2000
Sanjin Kirigin, 2000–2002
Duško Grabovac, 2002–2003
Robert Ježić, 2003–2008
Dr. Ivan Vanja Frančišković, 2008–2009
Ivan Turčić, 2009–2011
Robert Komen, 2011–2012
Damir Mišković, 2012–

beginning : [ 42 ] [ 43 ]

Seasons, statistics and records [edit ]

Honours [edit ]

Rijeka has won one croatian First Football League title, two Yugoslav Cups and six croatian Cups. In european competitions, the club has reached the quarter-final of the Cup Winners ‘ Cup in 1979–80, UEFA Cup Round of 32 in 1984–85, and group stages of the UEFA Europa League in 2013–14, 2014–15, 2017–18 and 2020–21. The club has besides won the 1977–78 Balkans Cup. [ 44 ]

domestic [edit ]

Croatia
Yugoslavia
Italy

Italian Coppa Federale
- Winners (1): 1927-28
Italian North-East league
- Winners (1): 1923–24
- Runners-up: 1924-25
Italian Third League
- Winners (1): 1940-41
Julian March Championship
- Winners (2): 1921-22, 1922-23
Friuli and Julian March Cup
- Winners (1): 1922-23

Free State of Fiume

Fiuman championship
- Winners (1): 1920-21
Fiuman-Julian Cup
- Winners (1): 1921

Austria-Hungary

Grazioli Cup
- Runners-up: 1919

International [edit ]

source :, [ 45 ] last update 31 July 2020 .

Rankings [edit ]

UEFA baseball club coefficient ranking [edit ]

All clock time UEFA ranking : [ 48 ] 271

european criminal record [edit ]

By competition [edit ]

source :, [ 49 ] final updated on 26 August 2021.
Pld = Matches played ; W = Matches won ; D = Matches trace ; L = Matches lost ; GF = Goals for ; GA = Goals against. defunct competitions indicated in italics .

By prime [edit ]

Ground

Pld

Home

+30

Away

−18

Total
96
35
25
36
128
116
+12
generator :, [ 49 ] last updated on 26 August 2021.
Pld = Matches played ; W = Matches won ; D = Matches draw ; L = Matches lost ; GF = Goals for ; GA = Goals against .

By season [edit ]

Non-UEFA competitions are listed in italics .
last updated on 26 August 2021.
bill : number includes matches played in competitions not endorsed by UEFA.
† Matches played at impersonal ground in Ascoli and Pisa, Italy .