HNK Rijeka
Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka (), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of 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 ground has been Stadion Rujevica. Rijeka's traditional home colours are all white. The club was founded in 1906 as Club Sportivo Olimpia, and following the tumultuous political changes that swept the border city of Rijeka in the following decades, it changed its  name to U.S. Fiumana in 1926, to S.C.F. Quarnero in 1946, to NK Rijeka in 1954 and finally HNK Rijeka in 1995. Rijeka is the third-most successful Croatian football club, having won one Croatian First League title, two Yugoslav Cups, six Croatian Cups, one Croatian Super Cup and the 1977–78 Balkans Cup. History. 1906–1926. The 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, swimming, cycling and athletics club. The first activities of the football section found by historians in the news was held on 25 November 1906. This date is at the moment considered the official beginning of HNK Rijeka. This also makes it the oldest documented still active association football club in today's Croatia. While many clubs in town and the region had often specific ethnic leanings, Olimpia had intentionally a very international soul with Italian, Croatian, Hungarian, German players all playing and working along each other. 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 colours of Olimpia were black and white, but the club will start playing in a white kit in the second half of the 1910s. Olimpia will be joined in the following 15 years by several other local football clubs from the city of Rijeka, and will continue the legacy of Club Atletico Fiumano as the main city club after Atletico discontinued its football section somewhere around  1910. Among the many clubs being founded in town during these years, Doria will soon rise as a fierce arch-rival to Olimpia. "Doria" (later renamd "CS Gloria") arose from the proletarian classes and the humble old city dwellers of the industry-rich port town on the Adriatic. While "Olympia" symbolically represented a wealthier class of citizens, mostly players from working-class families performed in "Gloria", so the club found its sympathisers among the poorer part of the population. Olimpia was renamed "into Olympia" on 9 January 1918 during a meeting of its board and the new president became the  Fiuman writer Antonio de Schlemmer. During these years it achieved its first major successes: it became the champion of the Free State of Fiume championship in 1921, and it won several Julian March and North-Eastern Italian tournaments in the following years, becoming the most successful club in the region. 1926–1945. On September 2, 1926, following Mussolini's reforms of the FIGC and the 1924 putsch 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 new president of the club. Two years later, Fiumana was already playing in the Italian Serie A, and some of the biggest Italian clubs such as Ambrosiano (today's Inter, also forced into a brand change by the new regime), Juventus and Napoli played at the Kantrida stadium (renamed first as Stadio Borgomarina). Despite a not so bad performance in Serie A, the club was not in the position of competing financially with the biggest clubs in Italy, saw many of its stars taken by the major Italian clubs and it passed most of the '30s  and '40s between the second and third tier of the Italian competitions. At the opening of the refurbished Kantrida (now 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 place. Championships in this part 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 last ceremonial game between the old legends  of Olympia and Gloria that was held on June the 15th 1944, played while allied planes were bombing the city's surroundings. 1945–1954. 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 resumed its activities under the name "Rappresentativa Sindacale Fiumana". It played several games against the most notable teams of the newly constituted Yugoslav state, beating Dinamo Zagreb 4–2, Akademičar Zagreb 7–2 and Metalac Beograd 2–0. In the interim post-war year, and prior  to the first edition of the Yugoslav First League, R.S. Fiumana played against some of its future Balkan rivals. The authorities also set up an unofficial city league among factories named after Fiumana's late captain Giovanni Maras, who died heroically in partisan resistance on the nearby Mount Risnjak. Despite Maras and most of his colleagues' partisan allegiance and hardships endured by many in Nazi concentration camps, the name Fiumana came soon to be considered too Italian, for a city that the Yugoslav occupational army was trying to annex before the official peace treaty was signed. As in most other  cities in Yugoslavia, in 1946 the communist authorities established a new identity for the city's most representative club and rebranded and restructured the club into the bilingual "Società Cultura Fisica Quarnero" – "Sportsko Društvo Kvarner" (the name was initially only Italian but soon became bilingual Italian-Croatian). The initiative came from Ettore Mazzieri, the city's sport commissioner for the Yugoslav military administration and a previous Fiumana manager. The first match of the contemporary club was played on 7 August 1946, a victory over Hajduk Split, and the first goal for the club was scored by Petronius. Luigi Sošić was  chosen as Quarnero's president, and Fiumana's players and managers simply carried on playing in the renamed club, before the Italian exodus slowly forced many to leave the city between 1947 and 1960. As all clubs in Yugoslavia had to undergo a transformation into general sport clubs following the Stalinist model imposed by Belgrade in 1945, S.C.F. Quarnero incorporated 11 other sections in addition to football. This included boxing, fencing, basketball and tennis. The international tennis champion Orlando Sirola started his career with the club. The authorities in Belgrade decided that the football club should be invited to participate  in the first Yugoslav First League in 1946-47 as an external guest, representing the occupied Zone B of the Julian March region, but only after a play-off with the Pula-based club Unione Sportiva Operaia. When the city of Rijeka got assigned by the allies to Yugoslavia in February 1947 and Tito broke all ties with Stalin in 1948, most Yugoslav clubs underwent a further re-organization of their sport activities. Thus in 1948 the club became once again an all-football club, and the name was also consequently modified once again into "Club Calcio Quarnero – Nogometni Klub  Kvarner". During the early period playing in Yugoslavia's competitions, Kvarner had moderate success in various national and local club championships. Still, the club was relegated at the end of their inaugural season in the Yugoslav First League in 1946–47, due to a purely political decision in favour of Ponziana. After securing Rijeka for Yugoslavia, the authorities were now trying to gain the hearts of Trieste's residents through sport, in hope of annexing that city as well. 1954–1991. Losing many of its best players to the exodus, the club lingered between the second and third tier for the next  several years. Following new Italian-Yugoslav tensions that arose during the Trieste Crisis, and the subsequent "de facto" abolition of the city's full bilingual rights by the communist authorities in Belgrade, the club changed its name once again, into the now completely monolingual "NK Rijeka" (Rijeka FC) on 2 July 1954. NK Rijeka started to use a white kit for the second time in history during a match in Šibenik in the 1957–58 second league season. Previously, kit colour was constantly changed, depending on what was available to the management in any given season. From then on the home  kit remained white. Rijeka returned to the First League in 1958 and remained in the top tier for 11 consecutive seasons until 1969, when it got relegated once again to the Yugoslav Second League. Despite finishing on top in four (out of five) seasons in the second tier, due to three failed play/off attempts, the club only gained promotion back to the top tier in 1974. Rijeka remained in top tier until the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991 with varying results. The club's greatest success during this period are two Yugoslav Cup titles in 1978 and 1979. Rijeka  were also a Cup runner-up in 1987, when they lost the final after a penalty shoot-out. Rijeka never finished higher than the fourth place in the Yugoslav First League. In 1984, the club came closest to their first championship title, finishing only two points behind Red Star Belgrade. Rijeka were also the best placed Croatian club in the Yugoslav First League in 1965, 1984 and 1987. 1991–present. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, in 1992 Rijeka joined the Croatian First Football League in its inaugural season. In 1995 the club changes one final time its name to "HNK  Rijeka", adding the prefix "Croatian" to its name, following the example of most clubs in the new 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 regarded as one of the country's top three clubs. Since the Croatian independence, the club won its first-ever league title in 2017, ending Dinamo Zagreb's run of 11 consequtive titles, and was a runner-up on seven occasions. In the final round of the 1998–99 season, a refereeing error denied Rijeka  their first championship title. With one match 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 minute, Rijeka forward Admir Hasančić converted a cross by Barnabás Sztipánovics. However, moments later, assistant referee Krečak raised his flag and referee Šupraha disallowed Rijeka's winning goal for an alleged offside. Following an investigation, 3D analysis revealed Hasančić was not, in fact, in an offside position, and that Rijeka were wrongfully denied their first championship title. An investigation by "Nacional" revealed Franjo Tuđman , the president of the Republic of Croatia and an ardent Croatia Zagreb supporter, earlier in 1999 ordered the country's intelligence agencies to spy on football referees, officials and journalists, with the aim of ensuring the Zagreb club wins the league title. Rijeka has also won six Croatian Cups, including back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006 and most recently in 2019 and 2020. It won the cup also in 2014 and in 2017, which helped them secure a historic Double in that year. HNK Rijeka in the European competitions. 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 aggregate. The most memorable result in Europe was the home win (3–1) against eventual winners Real Madrid in the 1984–85 UEFA Cup. Controversially, in the return leg at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which Rijeka lost 3–0, three of their players were sent off. Madrid scored their first goal from a doubtful penalty in the 67th minute with Rijeka already down to ten men. Over the next ten minutes, two additional Rijeka players were  sent off, most notably Damir Desnica. While Desnica received the first yellow card because he did not stop play after Schoeters blew his whistle, the second yellow was issued because he allegedly insulted the referee. However, unbeknownst to the referee, Desnica had been a deaf-mute since birth. With Rijeka reduced to eight players, Madrid scored two additional goals, progressed to the next round and eventually won the trophy. In 2013, after winning 4–3 on aggregate against VfB Stuttgart, Rijeka qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage. Rijeka also 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. 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 stage. In the group stage they recorded a famous home win (2–0) against AC Milan but once again failed to progress to the knockout stages. Private ownership. In February 2012, Gabriele Volpi – an Italian businessman and the founder of Orlean Invest, as well as the owner of football club Spezia and water polo  club Pro Recco – injected much needed capital into the club. With the privatization process 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%. On 29 December 2017 it was announced that chairman Damir Mišković, through London-based Teanna Limited, acquired the majority stake in the club from Stichting Social Sport Foundation. Record transfers. In January 2015, Rijeka sold their star striker Andrej Kramarić to Leicester City for a club-record £9.7 million transfer fee. Stadium. The club  initially played at the Honved training field, in front of today's Popular University of Rijeka in the central "Scoglietto" suburb of Rijeka. During the 1920s the club was allowed to build a new and very modern 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 ground for over 95 years (with a small hiatus between 1947 and 1951, due to refurbishing), until July 2015. With a new project for a refurbished 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 modern all-seater with a capacity of 8,279. Stadion Rujevica is part of Rijeka's new training centre and serves as the club's temporary home ground. Following the demolition of old Kantrida, a new, state-of-the art, 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 shopping mall and a hotel. The project is  on hold as the club is seeking funding and co-investors to make the project viable. Support. Rijeka's ultras group are called "Armada Rijeka", or simply Armada. The group has been active since 1987, but some forms of organised (albeit not registered as associations) support were present and following the club already in the decades before, and the earliest we know reach well into the '20s of the XX. century. During most home matches, the majority of the seats are occupied by season ticket holders. For the 2017–18 season the club had 5,922 season ticket holders and 8,403 members . Rivalries. Rijeka's greatest rivalry nowadays is with Hajduk Split. Since 1946, the Adriatic derby is contested between the two most popular Croatian football clubs from the Adriatic coast, Rijeka and Hajduk. Other rivalries exist with other major clubs in Croatia Dinamo Zagreb and a milder with Osijek. The main regional derby is that with Istra Pula. The origins of the Rijeka–Pula rivalry date back to the clashes between Fiumana and Grion Pola since the late 1920s. The city derby with Orijent is probably the most ancient, with its roots in the clashes between CS Olimpia and CS Gloria  against Orijent and the other more successful in those early years Sušak based club, Victoria. Notable players. All-time Best 11. According to a 2005–07 survey of former players (older than 40 years of age) and respected 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. Rijeka's daily, "Novi list", in 2011 declared the following 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. Best 11 (2010–20). In 2020, the club's fans voted to select the best 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. Manager: Kek. Honours. 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 also won the 1977–78 Balkans Cup. Domestic. Croatia Yugoslavia Italy Free State of Fiume Austria-Hungary Rankings. UEFA club coefficient ranking. The following data indicates Rijeka's coefficient rankings through the years. All time UEFA ranking: 271 European record. By season. Non-UEFA competitions are listed in "italics".