NK Zagreb

Full name	Nogometni klub Zagreb
Nickname(s)	Pjesnici (The Poets)
Founded	1903
Ground	Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj ulici (Capacity: 8,850)
Chairman	Dražen Medić
Manager	Igor Štimac
League	Prva HNL
2008–09	Prva HNL, 5th
Home colours Away colours

NK Zagreb is a Croatian football club, from the Croatian capital of Zagreb.

NK Zagreb's home is the Stadion Kranjčevićeva with capacity of 8,850. The club's fans are known as the White Angels (Bijeli Anđeli in Croatian). They are known for their somewhat unique views in the Croatian football supporters scene in that they are strictly opposed to all forms of discrimination (whether it's religious, national, or any other kind), and have a strong anti-hooliganism standpoint.

The nickname of the club is "The Poets" (Pjesnici in Croatian; first mentioned by a radioreporter Ivo Tomić). Kranjčevićeva street, where their stadium is located, is named after Croatian poet Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević.

Contents 1 History 2 Honours 3 Current squad 4 Notable players 5 Notable managers 6 Results by season 7 European record 7.1 Summary 7.2 By Season 8 External links

[edit] History

The club was founded in 1903 as PNIŠK (Prvi Nogometni i Športski Klub, translated First Football and Sports Club), being one of the first to be formed in Croatia. First secretary was Dragutin Baki, the president was Vilhelm Witte, and the captain of the team and instructor was Chech Jan Todl.

Since there weren't any clubs to play with, the first official match was played between the club's players divided into two groups in 1904. Ticket income from the match was 3 krune and 3 filirs.

The first international match was played in 1905. against Magyar champion FTC on Magyar Athleticai Club's pitch. Home team won with a high 11:1 score. The players who played for Zagreb were: Filipčić, Schwarz, Todl, Mutefelija, Slavnič, Ugrinić, Polivka, Uhrl, Višinger, Koruna, and Torbić.

However, after World War II, NK Zagreb has been overshadowed by several larger, more successful clubs, especially their local rival NK Dinamo Zagreb.

One of the most notable matches Zagreb played was on 19 July 1973 when "Great drama in Maksimir" took place - a match between N.K. Zagreb and N.K. Osijek on a stadium in Maksimir. It was a second of two qualifying matches for entering the first league; the first one in Osijek ended 0:0 with attendance of 25.000. The second match was played in Maksimir because of great demand for tickets - the attendance was 64138 which broke the stadium record and stands to this day. Zagreb won the match after penalty kicks (4:3).

Lineup for this team was: Horvat, Gašparini, Tucak, Antolić, Ivanišević, Lipovac, Markulin, Čopor (Hušidić), Močibob, Rukljač, Smolek (Bakota).

Among NK Zagreb's more notable players was Ivica Olić who led the club to its first championship of the Prva HNL in 2002. Also worth mentioning here is Joško Popović, (who played in the 1990s, and was still active in 2005) 2nd top-goalscorer ever in Prva HNL.

In the championship of 2002., N.K. Zagreb broke the duopoly of N.K. Dinamo and N.K. Hajduk for the first (and until today the only) time - and it was well deserved. N.K. Zagreb had the best coach of the season, the best player, the best assistant, the best scorer. They've won most points, the least losses, the most wins, scored more goals and received the least continually being the top team and in one moment had 11 points more than second best team.

Standard lineup for the champion team was: Vasilj, Stavrevski, Pirić, Ješe, Bulat, Poldrugač, Duro, Hasančić, Franja, Lovrek, Olić.

There are two other football competitions being played in Croatia - cup and winter indoor championship. While N.K. Zagreb never won the cup, it is two time winner of winter indoor championship which was played only two times.

[edit] Honours

• Croatian Champions: 1
  

2001-02

[edit] Current squad

As of October 28, 2009

No. Position Player 1 GK Josip Škorić 2 DF Vedran Celjak 4 DF Jefthon 5 MF Valentino Novosel 6 MF Goran Tomić 7 FW Josip Jurendić 8 FW Davor Piškor 9 MF Miroslav Pejić 10 MF Ivan Parlov (captain) 11 DF Mateo Pavlović 12 GK Marin Skender 13 MF Marin Oršulić 14 MF Matija Špičić 16 MF Besart Abdurahimi 17 MF Igor Jugović

No. Position Player 18 DF Marko Kartelo 19 MF Damir Šovšić 20 DF Vedran Ivanković 21 DF Ivica Džolan 23 DF Josip Mikulić 24 FW Goran Petković 25 MF Marko Grgić 26 FW Lovro Medić 28 DF Dino Štiglec 29 FW Ivan Krstanović 30 FW Davor Vugrinec GK Jakša Herceg DF Kazimir Poljak FW Sven Dedić FW Krunoslav Lovrek

[edit] Notable players

Branimir Antolić Pero Močibob Stanko Bubanj Mladen Wacha Drago Rukljač Vilim Medved Zlatko Dračić Stjepan Bobek (1937–1947) Bernard Vukas (1942–1947) Božo Bakota (1973–1980) Marijan Čerček (1975–1981) Slavko Kovačić

Vjeran Simunić Željko Smolek Nikola Jurčević (1989–1991) Joško Popović (1991–2001) Robert Špehar (1992–1994) Ivica Banović (1997–2000) Ivica Olić (2001–2002) Krunoslav Lovrek (2002–2008) Robert Prosinečki (2003–2004) Ivica Vrdoljak (2004–2007) Senijad Ibričić (2004–2008) Mario Mandžukić (2005–2007) Emir Spahić (2001-2004)

[edit] Notable managers

• Vlatko Marković
• Otto Barić
• Zlatko Kranjčar
• Miroslav Blažević
• Branko Karačić

[edit] Results by season

Season	League									Cup	European competitions		Top goalscorer
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos				Player	Goals
1992	1.HNL	22	14	5	3	34	9	33	2nd	DNQ			Renato Jurčec	8
1992–93	1.HNL	30	15	10	5	50	27	40	3rd	R2			Robert Špehar	9
1993–94	1.HNL	34	20	9	5	58	30	49	2nd	SF			Joško Popović Robert Špehar	18
1994–95	1.HNL	30	14	11	5	41	26	53	4th	QF
1995–96	1.HNL	32	8	9	15	31	50		6th	SF	Intertoto Cup	Group
1996–97	1.HNL	30	13	6	11	43	39	45	5th	RU
1997–98	1.HNL	32							5th	SF	Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Mate Baturina	18
1998–99	1.HNL	32							10th	R1			Nino Bule	13
1999–2000	1.HNL	33	9	12	12	42	49	39	8th	SF			Nino Bule	9
2000–01	1.HNL	32	11	5	16	51	58	38	6th	SF			Krunoslav Lovrek	11
2001–02	1.HNL	30	20	7	3	71	24	67	1st	QF	Intertoto Cup	R1	Ivica Olić	21
2002–03	1.HNL	32	9	9	14	40	52	36	6th	QF	Champions League	QR2	Radomir Đalović	8
2003–04	1.HNL	32	8	12	12	33	41	36	10th	R2	Intertoto Cup	R1	Radomir Đalović	9
2004–05	1.HNL	32	15	5	12	50	42	50	3rd	QF			Mladen Bartolović	9
2005–06	1.HNL	32	11	4	17	26	43	37	10th	R1			Mladen Pelaić	5
2006–07	1.HNL	33	18	4	11	57	40	58	3rd	QF			Krunoslav Lovrek	18
2007–08	1.HNL	33	11	11	11	51	40	44	6th	SF	Intertoto Cup	R1	Krunoslav Lovrek	14
2008–09	1.HNL	33	13	8	12	38	39	47	5th	SF			Davor Vugrinec	11

[edit] European record

[edit] Summary

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Years
Champions League	2	1	0	1	2	2	2002-03
Cup Winners' Cup	4	3	0	1	9	7	1997-98
Intertoto Cup	10	2	4	4	8	10	1995, 2001, 2003, 2007
Total	16	6	4	6	19	19

Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 6 December 2008
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against

[edit] By Season

Year / Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg
1995 Intertoto Cup	Group	LASK Linz	0–0	–	–
	Group	Keflavík	–	0–0	–
	Group	Metz	0–1	–	–
	Group	Partick Thistle	–	2–1	–
1997–98 Cup Winners' Cup	QR	Sloga Jugomagnat	2–0	2–1	4–1
	R1	Tromsø	3–2	2–4	5–6
2001 Intertoto Cup	R1	Pobeda	1–2	1–1	2–3
2002–03 Champions League	QR2	Zalaegerszeg	2–1	0–1	2–2
2003 Intertoto Cup	R1	Koper	2–2	0–1	2–3
2007 Intertoto Cup	R1	Vllaznia	2–1	0–1	2–2

Last updated on 30 June 2007

[edit] External links

• Official website (Croatian)
• NK Zagreb at uefa.com
• White Angels supporters' club (Croatian)

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