# 2014–15 NK Maribor season

The 2014–15 season was Maribor's 55th season of football and the club's 24th consecutive season in the Slovenian PrvaLiga since the league establishment in 1991.
After the 2013–14 season when Maribor won the PrvaLiga and Supercup titles, the club continued with their dominance in domestic competitions during the 2014–15 season and has managed to add another two titles among club honours; they have won their 13th league and their fourth supercup title. Unlike the previous season, when Maribor were runners-up in the Slovenian Football Cup, this season Maribor was knocked out from the competition one round earlier when Celje defeated them 3–2 on aggregate during the semi-final of the 2014–15 Slovenian Football Cup. The club did particularly well in the UEFA competitions where they went undefeated during six matches of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League qualifying campaign and, for the first time in 15 years, have managed to secure a spot among the elite 32 clubs in the competition proper. There the club was drawn into a group with Chelsea, Schalke, and Sporting, and has managed to draw each of them once, winning a total of three points in the process. For manager Ante Šimundža this was the second time he had a taste of the elite competition with Maribor, as he was the club's player during their 1999–2000 campaign.
Team captain Marcos Tavares was the club's top scorer during the season with 19 goals, 17 of which were scored in the Slovenian PrvaLiga where he was crowned the league's top scorer for the third time. The Brazilian made history in late August 2014 when he scored the winning goal during the second leg of the UEFA Champions League play-off round against Celtic. He has also entered a small group of six players who have scored more than 100 goals in the PrvaLiga. By the end of the 2014–15 season Tavares has netted 102 goals in 240 PrvaLiga appearances. During the course of the season Maribor maintained an average league attendance of 4,406 on its home matches. This was the first time in almost two decades that the club's home average league attendance exceeded 4,000 spectators per match.

## Supercup

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

## Slovenian League
### Standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Maribor (C) | 36 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 74 | 32 | +42 | 79 | Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | Celje | 36 | 20 | 10 | 6 | 58 | 31 | +27 | 70 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 3 | Domžale | 36 | 21 | 5 | 10 | 52 | 22 | +30 | 68 | Qualification to Europa League first qualifying round |
| 4 | Olimpija | 36 | 17 | 10 | 9 | 55 | 32 | +23 | 61 | |
| 5 | Zavrč | 36 | 15 | 4 | 17 | 38 | 52 | −14 | 49 | |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 30 May 2015. Source:

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 |
| Ground | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | W | D | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | D | D | W | L | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | D | D | W | L | W | W | D | W | W | W | W | D |
| Position | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |

### Matches

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

#### Notes

* ^ The match between Olimpija and Maribor was originally scheduled on 2 August 2014, but was postponed and rescheduled to a later date, on the request of Olimpija which argued that, due to the summer holliday season, a match at a later date would attract more fans to the stands.
* ^ The second part of the season was scheduled to begin on 21 February 2015, however, the Football Association of Slovenia have postponed all matches of the 21st round due to "poor weather conditions". The round was rescheduled to 4 March 2015.

## Slovenian Cup

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

### Notes

* ^ The match between Maribor and Radomlje was originally scheduled on 17 September, however, the match was postponed and rescheduled to a later date due to Maribor's UEFA campaign.
* ^ The quarter-final matches between Krka and Maribor were postponed and rescheduled to a later date, as during the original first and second leg schedule (i.e. 22 October 2014 and 29 October 2014) the opponent of Krka was not established.

## UEFA Champions League
### Second qualifying round

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

### Third qualifying round

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

#### Notes

* ^ Due to 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, the UEFA Emergency Panel decided that Israeli clubs must play their home legs outside of the country in the third qualifying round.

### Play-off round

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

### Group G

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | CHE | SCH | SPO | MRB |
| 1 | Chelsea | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 3 | +14 | 14 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 1–1 | 3–1 | 6–0 |
| 2 | Schalke 04 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 14 | −5 | 8 | Advance to knockout phase | 0–5 | — | 4–3 | 1–1 |
| 3 | Sporting CP | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 7 | Transfer to Europa League | 0–1 | 4–2 | — | 3–1 |
| 4 | Maribor | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 13 | −9 | 3 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | — |
Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

## Friendlies

Colour key: Green = Maribor win; Yellow = draw; Red = opponents win.

## Squad statistics
### Key

Key :
| ‡ | The player was selected in the official 2014–15 Slovenian PrvaLiga team of the season |
| # | The player was the top scorer in the respective competition |

### Foreign players

Below is the list of foreign players who have made appearances for the club during the 2014–15 season. Players primary citizenship is listed first.

### Appearances and goals

Correct as of 30 May 2015, match v. Koper. Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. The players squad numbers, playing positions, nationalities and statistics are based solely on match reports in Matches sections above and the official website of NK Maribor and the Slovenian PrvaLiga. Only the players, which made at least one appearance for the first team, are listed.
List of Maribor players, who represented the team during the 2014–15 season, and displaying their statistics during that timeframe :
| No. | Pos. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| No. | Pos. | Name | League | League | Cup | Cup | Supercup | Supercup | Champions League | Champions League | Total | Total |
| 1 | GK | Aljaž Cotman | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 6 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Erik Janža | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 8 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Marko Šuler | 24 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 36 | 3 |
| 5 | MF | Željko Filipović | 14 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | 29 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | Welle N'Diaye | 15 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 2 |
| 7 | DF | Aleš Mejač | 21 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 27 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | Sintayehu Sallalich | 27 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 39 | 5 |
| 9 | FW | Marcos Tavares ‡ | 34 | 17 # | 3 | 1 | — | — | 12 | 1 | 49 | 19 |
| 10 | MF | Agim Ibraimi ‡ | 24 | 2 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 4 | 39 | 6 |
| 11 | FW | Luka Zahović | 30 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 39 | 15 |
| 14 | FW | Jean-Philippe Mendy | 26 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 43 | 7 |
| 15 | FW | Rok Sirk | — | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | Damjan Vuklišević | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 5 | 1 |
| 17 | FW | Nusmir Fajić | 4 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| 17 | FW | Dalibor Volaš | 14 | 10 | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 16 | 11 |
| 20 | FW | Dudu Biton | 11 | 1 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 14 | 2 |
| 21 | MF | Amir Dervišević | 16 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| 22 | MF | Dare Vršič | 26 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 # | 11 | 1 | 43 | 4 |
| 23 | MF | Dino Hotić | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 5 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | Dejan Trajkovski | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| 24 | MF | Dejan Vokić | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 3 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | Aleksander Rajčević ‡ | 31 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | 45 | 1 |
| 28 | DF | Mitja Viler ‡ | 28 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 44 | 2 |
| 30 | DF | Petar Stojanović ‡ | 23 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 36 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | Daniel Vujčić | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 0 |
| 33 | GK | Jasmin Handanović | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 12 | 0 | 47 | 0 |
| 36 | DF | Žiga Živko | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 3 | 0 |
| 39 | MF | Damjan Bohar | 33 | 7 | 4 | 2 | — | — | 12 | 3 | 49 | 12 |
| 40 | MF | Sven Dodlek | — | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| 44 | DF | Arghus | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| 45 | DF | Robert Pušaver | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 3 | 0 |
| 69 | GK | Matko Obradović | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| 70 | MF | Aleš Mertelj | 28 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 42 | 1 |
| 97 | MF | Martin Kramarič | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |

### Discipline

Correct as of 30 May 2015, match v. Koper. Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. The players squad numbers, playing positions, nationalities and statistics are based solely on match reports in Matches sections above and the official website of NK Maribor and the Slovenian PrvaLiga. If a player received two yellow cards in a match and was subsequently sent off the numbers count as two yellow cards, one red card.
List of Maribor players, who represented the team during the 2014–15 season, and displaying their statistics during that timeframe :
| No. | Pos. | Name | | | | | | | | | | |
| No. | Pos. | Name | League | League | Cup | Cup | Supercup | Supercup | Champions League | Champions League | Total | Total |
| 3 | DF | Erik Janža | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Marko Šuler | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| 5 | MF | Željko Filipović | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
| 6 | MF | Welle N'Diaye | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 7 | DF | Aleš Mejač | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | Sintayehu Sallalich | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | Marcos Tavares ‡ | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Agim Ibraimi ‡ | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 11 | FW | Luka Zahović | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 14 | FW | Jean-Philippe Mendy | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | Damjan Vuklišević | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | Dalibor Volaš | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| 20 | FW | Dudu Biton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | Amir Dervišević | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | Dare Vršič | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | Dino Hotić | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 2 | 0 |
| 26 | DF | Aleksander Rajčević ‡ | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 |
| 28 | DF | Mitja Viler ‡ | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 30 | DF | Petar Stojanović ‡ | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 1 |
| 31 | DF | Daniel Vujčić | 2 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2 | 1 |
| 39 | MF | Damjan Bohar | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 44 | DF | Arghus | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| 45 | DF | Robert Pušaver | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 1 | 0 |
| 70 | MF | Aleš Mertelj | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |

## Transfers and loans
### Summer transfer window

| Transfer | Position | Name | From / last | To | Note |
| Transfer out | MF | Dejan Mezga | Maribor | Hajduk Split | Contract expired |
| Transfer out | DF | Martin Milec | Maribor | Standard Liège | Undisclosed transfer fee, alleged to be around €1,3 million |
| Transfer in | MF | Sintayehu Sallalich | Maccabi Haifa | Maribor | Free transfer |
| Transfer in | MF | Welle N'Diaye | Gorica | Maribor | Free transfer |
| Transfer out | FW | Alen Ploj | Maribor | Aluminij | Free transfer |
| Transfer out | GK | Marko Pridigar | Maribor | Free agent | Contract expired |
| Loan out | DF | Matjaž Kek | Maribor | Veržej | Loaned out |
| Loan out | / | David Borenović | Maribor | Aluminij | Loaned out |
| Loan out | MF | Nejc Pečovnik | Maribor | Aluminij | Loaned out |
| Transfer out | MF | Goran Cvijanović | Maribor | Rijeka | Undisclosed transfer fee, alleged to be around €100,000 |
| Transfer in | GK | Tadej Trajkovski | SV Wildon | Maribor | Free transfer |
| Loan out | GK | Tadej Trajkovski | Maribor | Bistrica | Loaned out |
| Transfer in | GK | Matko Obradović | Krka | Maribor | Undisclosed transfer fee, alleged to be around €40,000 |
| Transfer in | MF | Martin Kramarič | Krka | Maribor | Undisclosed transfer fee, alleged to be around €80,000 |
| Loan in | FW | Dudu Biton | Standard Liège | Maribor | Loaned until the end of the season |
| Transfer out | MF | Timotej Dodlek | Maribor | Dunaújváros PASE | Free transfer |
| Transfer out | MF | Emir Dautović | Maribor | Free agent | Contract terminated |
| Transfer in | DF | Luka Uskoković | Budućnost Podgorica | Maribor | Free transfer |
| Loan in | DF | Žiga Šoštarič | Drava Ptuj | Maribor | Loaned until the end of the season |

### Winter transfer window

| Transfer | Position | Name | From / last | To | Note |
| Transfer in | FW | Dalibor Volaš | Debreceni | Maribor | Free transfer |
| Transfer in | DF | Erik Janža | Domžale | Maribor | Undisclosed transfer fee and Matic Črnic and Dejan Trajkovski heading the other way |
| Transfer out | DF | Dejan Trajkovski | Domžale | Maribor | Part of Erik Janža transfer |
| Transfer out | MF | Matic Črnic | Domžale | Maribor | Part of Erik Janža transfer |
| Transfer out | FW | Dudu Biton | Maribor | Hapoel Tel Aviv | Free transfer |
| Transfer in | MF | Dejan Vokić | Bravo | Maribor | Free transfer |
| Transfer out | FW | Nusmir Fajić | Maribor | Dinamo Minsk | Undisclosed transfer fee, alleged to be around €200,000 |
| Transfer in | DF | Alexei Antonov | Oleksandriya | Maribor | Free transfer |