# FC Nitra

FC Nitra is a Slovak association football club, playing in the town of Nitra. Established in 1909, FC Nitra is one of the oldest football clubs in Slovakia.

## History
### Czechoslovak era

Nitra were promoted and relegated 4 times from the Czechoslovak First League with their longest stay being 5 years (1979–1984, 1986–1991). Nitra came close to clinching the title in 1962 only to lose out by 3 points to Dukla Prague. This year was most successful in club history because they reached also Mitropa Cup final. Another successful period was end of 80s when Nitra stayed on top positions in Czechoslovak First League (in 1989 they reached 3rd place) with players like Michal Hipp, Ľubomír Moravčík, Ladislav Molnár, Peter Palúch, Jozef Majoroš, Róbert Tomaschek, Miroslav Sovič. FC Nitra was the first football professional club in the former Czechoslovakia.

### Slovak era

Nitra was involved in the inaugural Slovakian championship in 1994 but was relegated to the second division after their first season. The following season they were promoted back to the first division, only for the same fate to occur and were again relegated. Roller coaster seasons became somewhat of an FC Nitra speciality during the early 90s, until the promotions stopped in 2001 where fans had to wait five long seasons before seeing their club again return to the top flight where they finished with a respectable fifth place. This was mainly due to the work of head coach Ivan Galád, who took control of the team in the winter of 2004, guiding the team to a fourth-place finish in the second division.
Róbert Rák became the top goal scorer both in the second division in the 2004/2005 season and (together with Erik Jendrišek) in the first division in the 2005/2006 season. In the beginning of the next season he was transferred to MFK Ružomberok. Galád coached the team very defensively (as according to his words no good striker was in the team). Galád lost his job after not much good results of the team at the end of 2006/2007 season (many losses and draws). The former Czech player Pavel Hapal was named as the head coach of the team for the 2007/2008 season. His way of coaching brought almost immediately very good results and the team finished 3rd (the best in the history of the club). After the season Hapal decided to leave the club to accept an offer from the top Czech club FK Mladá Boleslav. Pavel Malura, another coach from the Czech Republic, has taken the job. In spring 2009 the new manager Petar Kurčubić was appointed.
In 2021 after the club was relegated from the top flight, they did not obtain a licence for the league below and so were further demoted another level.

### Events timeline

* 1909 – Founded as Nyitrai ÖTTSO
* 1911 – Renamed Nyitrai TVE
* 1919 – Renamed Nyitrai SC
* 1921 – Renamed SK Nitra
* 1923 – Renamed AC Nitra
* 1948 – Renamed Sokol Nitra
* 1949 – Renamed ZSJ Sokol spojene zavody Nitra
* 1949 – Renamed ZK KP Nitra
* 1953 – Renamed DSO Slavoj Nitra
* 1956 – Renamed TJ Slovan Nitra
* 1966 – Again Renamed AC Nitra
* 1976 – Renamed TJ Plastika Nitra
* 1989 – First European qualification, 1990
* 1990 – Renamed FC Nitra

## Honours
### Domestic

Czechoslovakia
* Czechoslovak First League (1925–1993)
** Runners-Up (1): 1961–62
** Third place (1): 1988–89
* 1.SNL (1st Slovak National football league) (1969–1993)
** Winners (3): 1978–79, 1985–86, 1991–92
Slovakia
* Slovak League (1993–Present)
** Third place (1): 2007–08
* Slovenský Pohár (Slovak Cup) (1961–Present) 1
** Runners-up (4): 1974–75, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1990–91
* Slovak Second Division (1993–Present)
** Winners (3): 1994–95, 1997–98, 2004–05
** Runners-Up (2): 2000–01, 2016–17

#### Czechoslovak and Slovak Top Goalscorer

The Czechoslovak League top scorer from 1944–45 until 1992–93. Since the 1993–94 Slovak League Top scorer.
| Year | Winner | G |
| 1959–60 | Michal Pucher [cs] | 18 |
| 2005–06 | Róbert Rák | 21$^1$ |
| 2009–10 | Róbert Rák | 18 |
    $^1$Shared award

### European

* Mitropa Cup 2
** Runners-up: 1961
* Intertoto Cup
** Winners (3): 1972, 1973, 1980

## Sponsorship

| Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| 1998–2001 | Erreà | Volkswagen |
| 2001–2002 | Gems | Pozemné Staviteľstvo Nitra |
| 2002–2004 | DIADORA | Pozemné Staviteľstvo Nitra |
| 2004–2005 | hummel | Bonul security |
| 2005–2006 | Jako | Dynamik |
| 2006–2008 | Jako | Bonul security |
| 2008–2010 | Jako | Bonul security El Comp |
| 2010–13 | Jako | Bonul security El Comp Špeciál Izotex |
| 2013–2016 | Jako | Mesto Nitra |
| 2017–2020 | Jako | none |
| 2020– | Adidas | none |

## Current squad

Updated 5 August 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | MF | SVK | Jakub Sedláček |
| 21 | DF | SEN | Tidiane Djiby Ba |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 33 | GK | SVK | Róbert Baláži |
| 44 | MF | SVK | Ádam Mészáros |
| — | MF | BRA | Fabiano Alves |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | FW | SVK | Matej Franko (at Dukla Banská Bystrica until 30 June 2022) |
| 77 | FW | SVK | Jakub Tancík (at MFK Ružomberok until 15 June 2022) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |

### Current technical staff

    Updated 2 March 2023
| Staff | Job title |
| Dušan Borko [cs] | Manager |
| Igor Obert | Assistant manager |
| Henrich Benčík | Sport Director |
| Miroslav König | Goalkeeping coach |
| Augustín Antalík | Team Leader |
| MUDr. Ivan Štefanov | Team Doctor |
| Jozef Urminský | Physiotherapist |
| Róbert Gyepes | Masseur |

## Results
### League and Cup history

Slovak League only (1993–present)
    Season Division (Name) Pos./Teams Pl. W D L GS GA P Slovak Cup Europe Top Scorer (Goals) 1993–94 1st (Mars Superliga) 12/(12) 32 12 3 17 39 46 27 Round 3 1994–95 2nd (1. liga) 1/(16) 30 19 5 6 58 29 62 Round 2 Prochászka (13) 1995–96 1st (Mars Superliga) 11/(12) 32 7 5 20 30 59 26 Round 1 Norbert Hrnčár (7) 1996–97 1st (Mars Superliga) 16/(16) 30 5 5 20 22 48 20 Round 1 1997–98 2nd (1. liga) 1/(16) 34 20 8 6 73 36 68 Round 2 Peter Hodúr (18) 1998–99 1st (Mars Superliga) 12/(16) 30 7 7 16 28 48 28 Round 2 Marián Klago (8) 1999–00 1st (Mars Superliga) 13/(16) 30 8 4 18 24 44 28 Round 2 Róbert Jež (4) Jozef Jelšic (4) 2000–01 2nd (1. Liga) 2/(18) 34 21 3 10 77 27 66 Round 1 Mário Breška (23) 2001–02 2nd (1. Liga) 7/(16) 30 12 7 11 41 34 43 Round 1 Jozef Jelšic (17) 2002–03 2nd (1. Liga) 12/(16) 30 11 5 14 36 29 38 Quarter-finals Jozef Jelšic (15) 2003–04 2nd (1. Liga) 4/(16) 30 15 3 12 45 32 48 Round 2 Róbert Rák (13) 2004–05 2nd (1. Liga) 1/(16) 36 21 6 3 49 16 69 Round 2 Róbert Rák (27) 2005–06 1st (Corgoň Liga) 5/(10) 36 12 9 15 42 48 45 Semi-finals UI 2.R ( Dnipro) Róbert Rák (21) 2006–07 1st (Corgoň Liga) 6/(12) 28 9 4 15 21 33 31 Quarter-finals Andrej Hesek (6) 2007–08 1st (Corgoň Liga) 3/(12) 33 17 6 10 40 26 57 Quarter-finals UI 1.R ( Neftçi Baku) Andrej Hesek (5) Jan Gruber [cs] (5) 2008–09 1st (Corgoň Liga) 11/(12) 33 9 8 16 34 53 35 Round 2 Róbert Rák (9) 2009–10 1st (Corgoň Liga) 4/(12) 33 14 6 13 42 40 48 Round 3 Róbert Rák (18) 2010–11 1st (Corgoň Liga) 8/(12) 33 11 7 15 30 51 40 Quarter-finals EL Q1 ( ETO Győr) Róbert Rák (9) 2011–12 1st (Corgoň Liga) 8/(12) 33 9 12 12 33 39 39 Round 3 Vratislav Gajdoš (5) 2012–13 1st (Corgoň Liga) 10/(12) 33 11 6 16 39 54 36 Round 3 Cléber (11) 2013–14 1st (Corgoň Liga) 12/(12) 33 6 8 19 33 63 26 Round 2 Cléber (7) 2014–15 2nd (DOXXbet Liga) 5/(24) 22 8 7 7 26 25 31 Round 5 Matúš Paukner (21) 2015–16 2nd (DOXXbet Liga) 7/(24) 30 13 7 10 54 36 46 Round 4 Matúš Paukner (17) 2016–17 2nd (DOXXbet liga) 2/(24) 30 18 5 7 57 32 59 Round 5 Filip Balaj (20) 2017–18 1st (Fortuna Liga) 7/(12) 31 10 12 9 28 27 42 Round 5 Filip Balaj (6) Tomáš Vestenický (6) 2018–19 1st (Fortuna Liga) 9/(12) 32 8 10 14 42 48 34 Quarter-finals Tomáš Vestenický (10) 2019–20 1st (Fortuna Liga) 12/(12) 27 7 4 16 23 36 25 Quarter-finals Milan Ristovski (12) 2020–21 1st (Fortuna Liga) 12/(12)$^1$ 32 7 6 19 26 55 27 Round 3 Michal Faško (8) 2021–22 3rd (III. liga) 16/(18) 34 8 2 24 42 75 26 Round 2 Adrián Mokoš (10) 2022–23 4rd (IV. liga) 14/(16) 30 8 6 16 37 51 30 Did not enter Radovan Lipovský (7) 2023–24
$^1$ FC Nitra did not obtain a licence for the 2021–22 season

### European competition history
#### UEFA-administered

| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
| 1961–62 | Mitropa Cup | Group |
| 1961–62 | Mitropa Cup | Group | Slovnaft Bratislava | | 4–3 | |
| 1961–62 | Mitropa Cup | Group | Torino | 5–1 | | |
| 1961–62 | Mitropa Cup | Group | SV Stickstoff | | 4–4 | |
| 1961–62 | Mitropa Cup | Semi-Finals | Udinese | 4–3 | 1–1 | 5–4 |
| 1961–62 | Mitropa Cup | Finals | Bologna | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–5 |
| 1989–90 | UEFA Cup | R1 | 1. FC Köln | 0–1 | 1–4 | 1–5 |
| 2006 | Intertoto Cup | R1 | Grevenmacher | 6–2 | 6–0 | 12–2 |
| 2006 | Intertoto Cup | R2 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–3 |
| 2008 | Intertoto Cup | R1 | Neftchi Baku | 3–1 | 0–2 | 3–3 (a) |
| 2010–11 | UEFA Europa League | QR1 | ETO Győr | 2–2 | 1–3 | 3–5 |

#### Not UEFA-administered

| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away |
| 1962–63 | Intertoto Cup | Group A4 | Sarajevo | 5–1 | 2–3 |
| 1962–63 | Intertoto Cup | Group A4 | Servette | 0–0 | 1–2 |
| 1962–63 | Intertoto Cup | Group A4 | Olympique Nîmes | 4–1 | 0–2 |
| 1972 | Intertoto Cup | Group 1 | SSV Innsbruck | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| 1972 | Intertoto Cup | Group 1 | Örgryte | 3–0 | 6–2 |
| 1972 | Intertoto Cup | Group 1 | AB Copenhagen | 2–0 | 3–2 |
| 1973 | Intertoto Cup | Group 9 | Amsterdam | 4–1 | 3–2 |
| 1973 | Intertoto Cup | Group 9 | Eintracht Braunschweig | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| 1973 | Intertoto Cup | Group 9 | Vejle BK | 4–1 | 4–1 |
| 1980 | Intertoto Cup | Group 5 | LASK Linz | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| 1980 | Intertoto Cup | Group 5 | Esbjerg | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| 1980 | Intertoto Cup | Group 5 | Polonia Bytom | 4–0 | 0–1 |
| 1982 | Intertoto Cup | Group 3 | Werder Bremen | 3–5 | 3–3 |
| 1982 | Intertoto Cup | Group 3 | Aarhus | 3–4 | 0–1 |
| 1982 | Intertoto Cup | Group 3 | Sturm Graz | 5–3 | 2–0 |
| 1987 | Intertoto Cup | Group 6 | AIK Stockholm | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| 1987 | Intertoto Cup | Group 6 | Lyngby | 4–1 | 1–2 |
| 1987 | Intertoto Cup | Group 6 | Lech Poznań | 2–1 | 0–3 |
| 1989 | Intertoto Cup | Group 2 | Hansa Rostock | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| 1989 | Intertoto Cup | Group 2 | Boldklubben 1903 | 1–3 | 1–3 |
| 1989 | Intertoto Cup | Group 2 | Malmö FF | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| 1990 | Intertoto Cup | Group 7 | Tatabánya | 4–0 | 0–0 |
| 1990 | Intertoto Cup | Group 7 | Luzern | 0–2 | 1–1 |
| 1990 | Intertoto Cup | Group 7 | Örebro | 1–0 | 0–0 |

## Player records
### Most goals

| # | Name | Goals |
| 1 | Róbert Rák | 100 |
| 2 | Michal Pucher [cs] | 57 |
| 3 | Dušan Borko [cs] | 42 |
| 4 | Matúš Paukner | 38 |
| 5 | Filip Balaj | 32 |
| 6 | Ľubomír Moravčík | 30 |
| 6 | Vladimír Ternény [cs] | 30 |
| 7 | Igor Klejch | 29 |
| 7 | Milan Lednický | 29 |

## Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for FC Nitra.
    Past (and present) players who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles can be found here.
* Marek Bakoš
* Miroslav Barčík
* Miloš Belák [cs]
* Henrich Benčík
* Ivan Bilský [sk]
* Marián Bochnovič
* Dušan Borko [cs]
* Mário Breška
* Miroslav Čmarada [cs]
* Igor Demo
* Marián Dirnbach
* Juraj Dovičovič
* Pavol Farkaš
* Peter Grajciar
* Ján Greguš
* Vladimír Hagara
* Michal Hanek
* Kevin Harmse
* Ariel Harush
* Christián Herc
* Andrej Hesek
* Michal Hipp
* Ján Hlavatý [cs]
* Ivan Hodúr
* Eduard Hrnčár
* Norbert Hrnčár
* Erik Jendrišek
* Róbert Jež
* Jaroslav Kolbas
* Tomáš Kóňa
* Miroslav König
* Jozef Kukučka
* Branislav Labant
* John Mensah
* Vahagn Militosyan
* Ladislav Molnár
* Ľubomír Moravčík
* Isaac Muleme
* Alexander Nagy [cs]
* Zoltán Opata
* Dušan Perniš
* Peter Petráš
* Martin Prohászka
* Milan Ristovski
* Róbert Semeník
* Štefan Senecký
* Samuel Slovák
* Seydouba Soumah
* Miroslav Sovič
* Miroslav Stoch
* Lukáš Štetina
* Léandre Tawamba
* Vladimír Ternény [cs]
* Róbert Tomaschek
* Petr Trapp
* Alexander Vencel sr.

## Former managers

* Zoltán Opata (1935–36)
* Karol Bučko (1959–63)
* Ladislav Putera (1963–64)
* Eduard Farman (1964–65)
* František Skyva [cs] (1965–68)
* Jozef Čurgaly (1968–70)
* Michal Pucher [cs] (1970–74)
* Ján Dinga [cs] (1974–75)
* Theodor Reimann (1975–76)
* Michal Pucher [cs] (1976–77)
* František Skyva [cs] (1978–83)
* František Urvay [cs] (1983)
* Jiří Lopata (1984)
* Stanislav Jarábek (1984–85)
* Jozef Jarabinský (1985–86)
* Kamil Majerník (1986–88)
* Milan Lešický (1988–91)
* Karol Pecze (1991–92)
* Stanislav Jarábek (1992–93)
* S. Dominka (1993)
* Ivan Horn [cs] (1993–95)
* Milan Albrecht (2001)
* Ivan Galád (2004–07)
* Pavel Hapal (1 Jul 2007 – 30 Jun 2008)
* Pavel Malura (9 Jun 2008 – 28 Sep 2008)
* Marián Süttö (28 Sep 2008 – 31 Dec 2008)
* Petar Kurčubić (1 Jan 2009 – 30 Jun 2009)
* Ivan Galád (1 Jul 2010 – 13 Jan 2011)
* Ivan Vrabec (15 Jan 2011 – 14 Mar 2011)
* Cyril Stachura (15 Mar 2011 – 19 Nov 2011)
* Róbert Barborík [cs] (interim) (20 Nov 2011 – 19 Dec 2011)
* Ladislav Jurkemik (20 Dec 2011 – 5 Nov 2012)
* Jozef Vukušič (6 Nov 2012 – 30 Jun 2013)
* Ladislav Šimčo (1 Jul 2013 – 27 Aug 2013)
* Vladimír Koník (27 Aug 2013 – 19 Feb 2014)
* Ladislav Hudec (19 Feb 2014 – June 2014)
* Michal Hipp (Jun 2014 – 23 Sep 2015)
* Róbert Barborík [cs] (23 Sep 2015 – 5 Jan 2017)
* Ivan Galád (5 Jan 2017 – 13 Mar 2019)
* Michal Kuruc (13 Mar 2019 – 20 Jun 2019)
* Marián Süttö (20 Jun 2019 – 6 Jan 2020)
* Anatoliy Demyanenko (6 Jan 2020 – May 2020)
* Miroslav Nemec (May 2020 – 29 Jun 2020)
* Ivan Galád (29 Jun 2020 – Aug 2020)
* Gergely Geri (Aug 2020 – 1 Dec 2020)
* Ivan Galád (interim) (1 Dec 2020 – 4 Jan 2021)
* Michal Ščasný (4 Jan 2021 – 22 Jan 2021)
* Peter Lérant (22 Jan 2021 – 25 Mar 2021)
* Michal Ščasný (26 Mar 2021 – 24 Jan 2022)
* Miloš Foltán (25 Jan 2022 - 12 apr 2022)
* Augustín Antalík [cs] (13 apr 2022 – July 2022)
* Jozef Kozák (July 2022 – 28 Feb 2023)
* Dušan Borko [cs] (1 mar 2023-)