Ground Stadion HNK Cibalia Chairman Miroslav Gagro Arena/Stadium Stadion HNK Cibalia Founded 1919 | Ground Capacity 10,000 | |
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Full name Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia Nickname(s) Nebesko plavi (The Sky-blues) League Croatian First Football League | ||
Hnk cibalia vinkovci novi stadion arena cibalae new stadium project
HNK Cibalia, or just Cibalia, is a Croatian football club from the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. Cibalia currently play in the Prva HNL, Croatia's first tier. Their stadium is located in the south part of their home town and can hold 12,000 spectators. The name Cibalia comes from the Roman settlement called Colonia Aurelia Cibalae which was the precursor of the present-day town of Vinkovci. In the period from 1945 to 1990 the club was called Dinamo Vinkovci.
Contents
History
The club was founded in 1919 as HGŽK Cibalia Vinkovci, and in 1925 the team merged with local rivals RŠK Sloga. In the 1930s the club was coached by Bane Sekulić, Károly Nemes and Rajmond Breznik. During World War II the club suspended all activities and ceased to exist. After the war re-established clubs Sloga and OFD Graničar merged and formed NK Dinamo Vinkovci which began competing within the Yugoslav football system. The club would see several humble decades before finally making it to the Yugoslav First League in 1982. They played in the top-tier league for five seasons until they were relegated to the Yugoslav Second League in 1987.
In 1990 the team returned its traditional name of Cibalia. The club spent much of the 1990s in the Prva HNL, Croatian top level. It remained in the Prva HNL until the 2003–04 season when it was relegated to the Druga HNL. The club was also penalized by UEFA in the same season with a deduction of six points for failure to fulfill financial obligations related to past player transfers. Nevertheless, in the 2004–05 season, Cibalia outdid all of its opponents in the second league by a large margin, won the promotion playoffs and returned to Prva HNL. It was in this season that they also had Croatian mixed martial arts legend Mirko Filipović play the final 8 minutes of a match vs HNK Vukovar.
Cibalia also had some success playing in the Croatian Cup, where it reached the final in 1999 (lost to Osijek) and semi-final in 2000, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The 2009–10 season was Cibalia's best ever season in the top division of Croatian football. They finished third after giants Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split, having spent most of the season in second position. They qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League but eventually lost to Northern Irish side Cliftonville and exited the tournament.
Honours
Supporters and Rivalries
The club has a relatively large but local following. Their main supporter group are called Ultrasi. Their main rivals are the group Kohorta Osijek from NK Osijek.
Current squad
As of 01 September 2016Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Summary
Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 10 September 2010
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.