Ground Capacity 1,000 Head Coach Elvis Šahmanović Ground Maribor | President Damijan Petek League 2. MNZ League Founded 1927 | |
 | ||
Full name Nogometni Klub Železničar Maribor Nickname(s) Ajzenponarji (The Railroaders)
Modro-beli
(The Blue and Whites) | ||
Nogometni Klub Železničar Maribor (English: Železničar Maribor Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Železničar Maribor or simply Železničar, is a Slovenian football club from Maribor, which plays in the 2. MNZ Maribor League, the fifth level of the Slovenian football system. They qualified for the elite Slovenian PrvaLiga in the 1992–93 season, but were relegated in their first season, never returning to the top level. They were one of the most successful Slovenian clubs in the Yugoslav era, winning the Slovenian Republic League four times and the Slovenian Republic Cup twice.
Contents
History
The club was established in 1927 as a football section of SK Železničar, railway workers sports club. They played their first match on 7 August the same year and won 5–1 against SK Merkur. They joined Slovenian republic competitions, playing in the Maribor region, where they soon developed a fierce rivalry with I. SSK Maribor.
Železničar finished at the second place in 1934, 1935 and 1936. They finally won their first title in 1937 and played in qualifying for the Yugoslav First League, where they lost against SAŠK Sarajevo in the final. They won another republic title in 1940, this time in knock-out system, beating their rivals I. SSK Maribor 2–1 in the final. The club was refounded as SFD Železničar after the war in 1945 and had one of the best teams in SR Slovenia at the time. They have beaten Red Star Belgrade 3–2 in a friendly match in 1946 and finished second after Nafta Lendava in the first season of the Slovenian republic league, missing promotion to the Yugoslav League by only two points.
Železničar then stabilised as a midtable team in the next years, until the league system was changed in 1952. They were located in the East group of the Republic League. They finished at the second place in 1953 and at the first place in 1954. They have defeated West group winners Piran (6–0 and 1–2) for the unofficial title and have qualified to the third level of the Slovene-Croatian league. The team was renamed to ŽNK Maribor and finished 10th, missing out Branik Maribor and ninth spot by one point and relegated to Maribor-Varaždin-Celje zonal league. They won their first Slovenian Cup in 1957. After three mediocre seasons the team returned to the unified Slovenian Republic League, which was reformed in 1958. They won another Slovenian Cup in 1960.
In December 1960, due to a food poisoning affair of their rivals Branik Maribor, ŽNK Maribor, holding the first position on the league table, had to give up their place to a newly formed Maribor and started all over again from lowest league. NK Maribor won the title with the squad formed mostly of players from the ŽNK. They instantly returned to republic level in 1962, renamed back to NK Železničar Maribor the same year.
The results soon improved and the club won their third republic title in 1968–69 and qualified for Yugoslav Second League for the first time in history. They stayed there three seasons, scoring 7th, 11th and last 18th place.
They won another republic title in 1973, but failed in the Yugoslav Second League (West) play-ofs against Mercator Ljubljana. Železničar then played several republic seasons without any notable success. In 1981, despite scoring only fourth position, Yugoslav federation offered them a place in the Yugoslav Second League, but the club declined promotion due to lack of funds. They were struggling against relegation in the next years, until they were finally relegated to the regional league for the first time in 1987. They stayed there until the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia. Železničar holds a record of 42 played seasons in the Slovenian Republic League.
Železničar was among founding members of Slovenian Second League in 1991. They have immediately scored great success with a first place and a promotion to the first level in 1991–92, managed by ex-player Jože Karmel. They played in 1992–93 Slovenian PrvaLiga, but finished on 17th place and never returned to top flight again. The team was close to return on several occasions, they refused promotion in 1996, lost the play-offs against Beltinci in the 1997–98 season and missed a second place by one point in the 1998–99 season. The club had various financial difficulties in the last decade, they were relegated from the second league, finishing dead last in 2003, from the third league, having not fulfilled the licence documentation in 2007, from the fourth league in 2008 and even from the fifth league in 2014.
Stadium
They have built Ob Tržaški Cesti Stadium, a sports object referred to as one of the nicest in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at the time, between 1932 and 1935. After some mediocre seasons on temporary ground in Poljane (Železničar lost their traditional home ground due to a new bridge construction in 1963), they moved to the newly built Tabor Sports Park in 1967. The stadium can seat 1,000 spectators, while the overall capacity of the stadium, including the standing area, is around 4,000.
Colours
The traditional colours of the club are blue and white.