NK Zagreb

Foundation

The club was founded in 1903 as PNIŠK (Prvi nogometni i športski klub, translated First Football and Sports Club), being one of the first to be formed in Croatia. First secretary was Dragutin Baki, the president was Vilhelm Witte, and the captain of the team and instructor was Czech Jan Todl.

Since there weren't any clubs to play with, the first official match was played between the club's players divided into two groups in 1904. Ticket income from the match was 3 krone and 3 filirs.

The first international match was played in 1905. against Magyar champions Ferencváros on Magyar Athleticai Club's pitch. Home team won with a high 11–1 score. The players who played for Zagreb were: Filipčić, Schwarz, Todl, Mutefelija, Slavnič, Ugrinić, Polivka, Uhrl, Višinger, Koruna, and Torbić.

After WWII

However, after World War II, NK Zagreb has been overshadowed by several larger, more successful clubs, especially their local rival Dinamo Zagreb.

One of the most notable matches Zagreb played was on 19 July 1973 when "Great drama in Maksimir" took place – a match between NK Zagreb and NK Osijek on Maksimir stadium. It was a second of two qualifying matches for entering the first league; the first one in Osijek ended 0–0 with attendance of 25,000. The second match was played in Maksimir because of great demand for tickets – the attendance was 64,138 which broke the stadium record and stands to this day. Zagreb won the match after penalty kicks (4–3).

Lineup for this team was: Horvat, Gašparini, Tucak, Antolić, Ivanišević, Lipovac, Markulin, Čopor (Hušidić), Močibob, Rukljač, Smolek (Bakota).

Modern era

Among NK Zagreb's more notable players was Ivica Olić who led the club to its first championship of the Prva HNL in 2002 with 21 goals scored in 29 appearances for NK Zagreb. Also worth mentioning here is Joško Popović (who played in the 1990s), 2nd top-goalscorer ever in Prva HNL.

In the championship of 2002, NK Zagreb broke the duopoly of NK Dinamo and NK Hajduk for the first (and until today the only) time. Standard lineup for the champion team was: Vasilj, Stavrevski, Pirić, Ješe, Bulat, Poldrugač, Duro, Hasančić, Franja, Lovrek, Olić.

There are two other football competitions being played in Croatia – Cup and Supercup. NK Zagreb were finalist of Cup in 1997 and finalist of Supercup in 2002.

On August 2015 Zagreb players declared strike and refused training practice in preparation for the 5th round and away game against RNK Split bringing in question the game itself and so on the regularity of Prva HNL which was already seriously shattered. The club was in debt, players not receiving wages for six months. Zagreb president Dražen Medić had several offers for players that would at least somewhat stabilized the situation in the first division club from Kranjčevićeva, but refused them all. Strike was ongoing for a week ahead of matchday with players demanding to be paid at least partially.

Stadium

Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj ulici (English: Kranjčevićeva Street Stadium), known as Stadion Concordije between 1921 and 1945, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Trešnjevka neighourhood in Zagreb, Croatia. The stadium at what was then called Tratinska cesta (English: Tratinska road) began construction in the 1910s and was completed in 1921. At the time of its completion it was the biggest stadium in Zagreb and was owned by Concordia. In 1931 the first floodlit match held in Zagreb was played at the stadium, in which Zagreb XI beat Real Madrid 2–1. After World War II, Concordia was disbanded for political reasons and the stadium was handed over to the newly formed Fiskulturno društvo Zagreb (English: Zagreb Sports Society), whose football section later evolved into today's NK Zagreb football club. NK Zagreb's third jersey is green in honour of Concordia, whose old stadium is now their own.

In November 1977 a large fire destroyed the west stand and in the following years the stadium went through several reconstructions and modifications. The most significant of these was an extensive overhaul and the construction of the adjoining facilities in preparation for the 1987 Summer Universiade. Later that year a lightning strike destroyed the floodlights during a match between NK Zagreb and NK Osijek and the stadium was without any floodlight capabilities for almost 20 years until 2008, when new ones were installed by the City of Zagreb.

After the season 2006–07 and prior to the game against Vllaznia in the Intertoto Cup stadium's capacity was reduced due to UEFA standards from 12,000 to 8,850 people by placing numbered plastic chairs in the west stand and reducing the space for visiting supporters at the eastern stand. The stadium consists of two stands. The west stand is fully seated and can hold 3,850 spectators. It houses the press box and the VIP area. The east stand has 5,000 standing places and is mainly used for travelling fans. The stadium also has a cycling track around the pitch which is used for track cycling events. In June 2008 UEFA inspection had visited the stadium and gave it a 3-star rating, but criticised the lack of floodlights (which have been installed two months later) and press box provisions. The stadium can hold 8,850 people, which makes it the second biggest stadium in Zagreb, behind Stadion Maksimir. Currently within the stadium, there are two restaurants and a driving school. Today, the stadium is in function only on the day when the official match occur while friendlies and training sessions are conducted in a training camp "Zagrebello", where the headquarters and offices of NK Zagreb are also located.

Colours, logo, and nicknames

Zagreb's home colour white have been traditional colour since its foundation. It is little known that second color was red. It came from first coat of arms of Zagreb which contained the symbol of the city, the walls of the tower, and later three towers which was also the symbol of the city, its three forts and was red as well as the official coat of arms of the city at the beginning of the 20th century. The coat of arms was divided in two parts. In the upper part of the coat of arms was icon who symbolized the city of Zagreb while the lower part was filled with white and red lines. Over the years that followed, especially during the second world war, when Zagreb was banned many links with the "old" Zagreb were lost and abandoned. After the second world war, at one point, in combination was white and black jersey. In the end it was blue that was accepted for Zagreb's second colour. White with tiny blue combinations was used for home jersey while various shades of blue, dark, royal, light, sky, navy blue were used for away appearances. The coat of arms also changed for several times in that period, but always contained a city silhouette or city emblem, the fortress, the walls of the three-ture, with the gates opened. Colors varied in shades of blue with yellow, gold, white and black detailing until 2008. In the season 2007–08 Zagreb started to use full red jersey for away games and in April 2008 there was a change in the coat of arms, explained from club management as redesign that will allow a progress and new momentum in markentig and clubs position on the market, which in the end was not achieved by the administration. On the contrary, they achieved the opposite effect. The interest of the media, sponsors, spectators and fans every season is getting smaller. The club market is not working, financial dubiousness are getting bigger and bigger, while sport results are getting worse in each new season. The last four seasons club spent saving their first league status in the last round. Since then, the fans and club management are in constant conflict that is still ongoing.

A popular nickname for the club is "The Poets" (Pjesnici in Croatian; first mentioned by a radioreporter Ivo Tomić). Kranjčevićeva street, where their stadium is located, is named after Croatian poet Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević.

Supporters

The club ultras group are called "White Angels" (Bijeli Anđeli). The fans are strongly left-wing and are part of the anti-fascist movement.

Anthem

Pjevaj grade sad
slavi pobjedu
nek od pjesme
Sljeme odjekuje.

Zagreb igra sad
i pobjeđuje
slavi grade pobjedu.

Na dresu ime grada
srce kuca za te
tebe grade volim
i za tebe živim
budi uvijek prvi
slavi svoje ime
tisućljeta ponosni smo njime.

Neka Bog te čuva
i pobijede te prate
nek se u te svi purgeri vrate.

Its English translation is:

Sing it now city
celebrate the victory
let mountain echoes
from the song.

Zagreb playing now
reaching victory
celebrate the win city.

On the jersey city name
heart beats for you
you're the one I love city
and you're the reason to live
be always first
glory your name
as we are proud of it for thousands of years.

May God take care of you
and victories to follow
let all the citizens reunify with you.

Honours

Summary

Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 9 January 2010
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.
Note: This summary includes matches played in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, which was not endorsed by UEFA and is not counted in UEFA's official European statistics.

Record by country of opposition

Pld – Matches played; W – Matches won; D – Matches drawn; L – Matches lost; GF – Goals for; GA – Goals against

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Player Records

Administration

Source: nkzagreb.hr, Last updated unknown

Coaching staff

Source: nkzagreb.hr, Last updated unknown