NK Celje

NK Celje

Full name	Nogometni klub Celje
Nickname(s)	Grofje (counts)
Founded	1919 (as SK Celje)
Ground	Arena Petrol, Celje (Capacity: 13,006)
Chairman	Marjan Vengust
Manager	Milan Đuričić
League	1.SNL
2009-10	5th
Home colours Away colours

NK Celje is an association football club from Slovenia. They are based in Celje, Slovenia's third largest city. They play in First Slovenian League, 1.SNL. Together with NK Maribor and ND Gorica they are the only club that have participated in every season of 1.SNL since its formation in 1991.

History

NK Celje was formed in 1919 as SK Celje. Soon after second world war, in 1946, the club changed its name to NK Kladivar (expressionistic term in Slovene for a blacksmith). In 1964 they qualified for Yugoslav Second League where they played for two years in a row.

In 1992, year after Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia, the club again changed its name, this time to Publikum. They reached the finals of Slovenian Cup in 1993 and 1995, but lost on both occasions, having been beaten by Olimpija Ljubljana and Mura. In 2003 NK Celje was in a title race with Maribor until the very last, but in the end finished second and also lost Slovenian cup finals against Olimpija Ljubljana in the same year. Two years later in 2005 the club reached Slovenian cup finals for the third time and this time they finally lifted their first trophy, beating ND Gorica with 1-0 in front of their own fans on Arena Petrol. NK Celje were also in the finals the next year, but lost to FC Koper after penalty shootout.

Stadium

The Arena Petrol

For most of its history the club played on Skalna Klet stadium. Since the stadium was in bad shape and could not meet UEFA stadia criteria the club officials decided to build a new stadium and in 2003 the main stand of the new Arena Petrol stadium was built. The capacity at the time was 3.600 covered seats. After 2003 three new separate stands where build and when the last one opened in 2008 the stadium was completed. The current capacity of the stadium is 13.006 seats from which around 50% are covered. The old stadium is still used as a training facility for the club.

The club also has a smaller third training ground called Olimp, which was renovated in 2005 and is used as a training camp for youth squads of the club.

Domestic league and cup results

Season	League	Position	Pts	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Cup
1991/92	1.SNL	9	41	40	14	13	13	43	51	Round of 16
1992/93	1.SNL	10	32	34	12	8	14	37	47	Final
1993/94	1.SNL	4	38	30	14	10	6	50	34	Round of 16
1994/95	1.SNL	6	38	30	16	6	8	50	27	Final
1995/96	1.SNL	5	51	36	13	12	11	62	47	Semi-finals
1996/97	1.SNL	4	47	36	12	11	13	55	61	Quarter-finals
1997/98	1.SNL	6	49	36	14	7	15	57	57	Quarter-finals
1998/99	1.SNL	7	42	33	10	11	12	30	35	Round of 16
1999/00	1.SNL	6	47	33	11	14	8	53	45	Quarter-finals
2000/01	1.SNL	5	50	33	15	5	13	59	52	First round
2001/02	1.SNL	6	48	33	14	6	13	50	39	Round of 16
2002/03	1.SNL	2	55	31	15	10	6	57	38	Final
2003/04	1.SNL	10	39	32	11	6	15	61	52	Quarter-finals
2004/05	1.SNL	3	52	32	16	4	12	47	28	Winner
2005/06	1.SNL	6	49	36	15	4	17	48	59	Final
2006/07	1.SNL	7	45	36	11	12	13	54	51	Semi finals
2007/08	1.SNL	7	48	36	14	6	14	45	47	Quarter-finals
2008/09	1.SNL	4	53	36	15	8	13	48	39	Round of 16
2009/10	1.SNL	5	51	36	14	9	13	53	56	Semi-finals
Totals	1.SNL	0 Titles	875	649	256	162	229	959	865	1 Cup

*Best results are highlighted.

Honours

Total titles: 1

League

• Slovenian Championships:

Winners (0):

Runners-up (1): 2002/03

Cup

• Slovenian Cup:

Winners (1): 2004/05

Runners-up (4): 1992/93, 1994/95, 2002/03, 2005/06

Current squad

As of 5 March 2011 [1] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Amel Mujčinovič 5 DF Marko Krajcer 7 MF Danijel Brezič 8 MF Alen Romih 9 MF Tadej Kotnik 11 FW Roman Bezjak 13 FW Saša Bakarič 15 DF Bekim Kapič 17 FW Iztok Mocivnik

No. Position Player 21 MF Stefan Ristovski 25 MF Sebastjan Gobec 28 MF Marijo Močič 30 DF Tadej Vidmajer 31 GK Matic Kotnik 88 MF Klemen Medved DF Matej Centrih DF Sasa Kovjenic MF Jure Skafar

Former notable players

• Carlos Chacana
• Lisandro Sacripanti
• Martin Šarič
• Samir Duro
• Faik Kamberović
• Marijan Budimir
• Dragan Čadikovski
• Vladislav Lungu
• Domen Beršnjak
• Darijo Biščan
• Robert Koren

• Marko Križnik
• Nejc Pečnik
• Damir Pekič
• Aleksandar Radosavljevič
• Rajko Rep
• Dejan Rusič
• Aleksander Šeliga
• Simon Sešlar
• Jure Travner
• Dare Vršič
• Janez Zavrl

External links

• (Slovene) Official Site