HNK Rijeka
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| Full name | Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Fiume | ||
| Founded | 1946 | ||
| Ground | Stadion Kantrida, Rijeka, Croatia | ||
| Capacity | 11,000 | ||
| Chairman |  Robert Ježić | ||
| Manager | Milivoj Bračun | ||
| League | First Division | ||
| 2005-06 | First Division, 2nd | ||
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HNK Rijeka is a Croatian football club, from Rijeka on the Croatian coast.
History
The first football club in Rijeka was founded in 1925 as Unione Sportiva Fiumana. The club played in First Division (Prima divisione) that was second level of Italian League before 1929. The club reached the National Division (Divisione Nazionale), the first level of Italian football before 1929, in 1928. After 1929, it competed in Serie B in 1929-1930 and 1941-1942 seasons.
The current club was formed as 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 1980's, like Real Madrid and Juventus.
Rijeka has been playing in the Croatian First League 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 then any other team. In the 2004/2005 season, its player Tomislav Erceg was the top scorer of the First League with 17 goals.
Colours and badge
NK Rijeka colours are white and sky-blue.
Stadium
NK Rijeka plays their home matches on Kantrida Stadium, or just simply Kantrida, it can hold 11,000 spectators.
Supporters
The fans are known as Armada Rijeka.
Current squad
As of 5 November 2006
The numbers and positions are established according to the official website:www.nk-rijeka.hr and fan website www.forza-fiume.com
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Squad changes during 2006/07 season
In:
- - 8 - Mihael Mikić - Signed From FC Kaiserslautern
- - 11 - Nino Bule - Signed From Admira Wacker Mödling
- - xx - Josip Lukunić - Signed From NK Pula
- - xx - Manuel Pamić - Signed From NK Pula
- xx - Elvir Bolić - Signed From Gençlerbirligi- - 16 - Domagoj Verhas - Signed From Dinamo Tirana
- - 8 - Duje Baković - Loan Ended From NK Orijent
- 21 - Toñito - Signed From CD Tenerife
Out:
- - 3 - Marin Prpic - Transferred To NK Pomorac
- - 4 - Zoran Ivančić - without club
- - 5 - Dario Knežević - - Transferred To A.S. Livorno Calcio
- - xx - Igor Novaković - Transferred To FC Tom' Tomsk
- - 8 - Krešimir Brkić - Transferred To Kamen Ingrad
- 9 - Fredi Bobic - finished his career- - 30 - Davor Vugrinec - Transferred To NK Dinamo Zagreb
- - xx - Sandi Dobrić - Transferred To NK Pula
- - 16 - Fausto Budicin - On Loan To NK Pula
- - 9 - Elvir Bolić - without club
- xx - Eddy Bosnar - Transferred To SC Heracles Almelo- - 18 - Goran Rubil - Transferred To Hajduk Split
Noted players
Mladen Mladenović- Dubravko Pavličić
- Mauro Ravnić
- Damir Desnica
- Elvis Brajković
- Nenad Gračan
- Saša Peršon
- Boško Balaban
Barnabas Stipanovics- Janko Janković
Matjaž Florjančič- Adrijan Fegic
Fredi Bobic
Elvir Bolić
Noted Managers
Achievements
- 2 times Yugoslav Cup Winner (1978, 1979)
- 1 time Yugoslav Cup Finalist (1987)
- 2 times Croatian Cup Winner (2005, 2006)
- 1 time Croatian Cup Finalist (1994)
- 3 times best club from Croatia in Yugoslav First Division (1965, 1984, 1987)
- 7 times second best club from Croatia in Yugoslav First Division
- 1 time Balkan Cup Winner (1978)
- 1 time Balkan Cup Finalist (1980)
- SuperCup Finalist (2006)
Records
Notable games
In season 1984/85 Rijeka played 2nd stage of UEFA Cup against Real Madrid. On 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 judge Schoeters, helped Real throw Rijeka out of the competition. Schoeters showed the white 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 season 1998/99 Rijeka battled for the first place with Croatia Zagreb until the finish of the last game. According to the 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.