NK Inter Zaprešić
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| Full name | Nogometni Klub Inter Zaprešić |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) |
Ceramists, Giant from suburb |
| Founded | 25 June 1929 as NK Sava |
| Ground | Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić |
| Capacity | 5,228 |
| Chairman | Branko Laljak |
| Manager | Samir Toplak |
| League | Prva HNL |
| 2015–16 | Prva HNL, 5th |
| Website | Club home page |
Nogometni Klub Inter Zaprešić (English: Football Club Inter Zaprešić) is a professional Croatian football club based in Zaprešić, a town northwest of the capital Zagreb.
They play in the Prva HNL after they were promoted from the Druga HNL at the end of the 2013–14 season.
The team are nicknamed Keramičari ('The ceramics makers', because they were sponsored by a ceramics factory through much of their history) or Div iz predgrađa ('The giant from the suburb'). The team's colours are yellow and blue. Home games at Stadion ŠRC Zaprešić.
The club was originally established in 1929 as NK Sava. In 1932 the name was changed to NK Jelačić. After the end of WW2 the club was renamed NK Zaprešić. The club kept that name until 1962, when they were renamed Jugokeramika, after their main sponsor, a local ceramics factory. That same year the club's ground, ŠRC Zaprešić, was built and opened. The club's first notable success came in the 1980s under the tenure of manager Zorislav Srebrić (1985–1990). Up until then the club had spent their entire existence in lower level leagues, but in 1987 they managed to reach the finals of the qualifying playoff for promotion to the Yugoslav Second League (which they lost against fellow Croatian side Šparta from Beli Manastir). In 1987 the east stand of the ground was built, and Jugokeramika's home served as one of the venues for the 1987 Summer Universiade football tournament.
Following Croatia's independence in 1991, Jugokeramika (the factory) changed its name to "Inker" (an acronym for Industrija keramike, Eng: Ceramics Industry) and the club followed suit, adopting the name NK Inker Zaprešić. The club participated in the inaugural season of the newly established Croatian championship and finished fourth, but more memorable was their 1992 Croatian Cup win. The team was managed by Ilija Lončarević and notable players of the cup-winning squad included Croatian internationals Ivan Cvjetković, Krunoslav Jurčić and Zvonimir Soldo. Although this meant that Inker had qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA didn't let Croatian clubs to participate in European competitions due to the ongoing war, so Inker missed out on their first ever chance to participate in continental competitions. However, the club holds the distinction of playing the first ever international club match hosted by a Croatian club since Croatian independence, a friendly against Sturm Graz played in February 1992, and they were also the first Croatian side to play abroad, when they played a friendly against Brighton & Hove Albion in England in the summer of 1991.
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