NK Osijek
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| Full name | Nogometni klub Osijek |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Bijelo-plavi (The White-blues) |
| Founded | 27 February 1947 |
| Ground | Stadion Gradski vrt |
| Capacity | 18,856 |
| Chairman | Miroslav Kos |
| Manager | Zoran Zekić |
| League | Prva HNL |
| 2015–16 | Prva HNL, 8th |
| Website | Club home page |
NK Osijek is a professional football club from Osijek in eastern Croatia. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with most seasons in the Yugoslav First League, and, after the independence of Croatia in 1992, it is part of the four clubs that were never relegated from the Croatian First League, the others being Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split and Rijeka.
NK Osijek's early roots are found in club called NK Udarnik that was formed in 1945 under FPR Yugoslavia's new communist authorities after the dissolution of HŠK Slavija. Slavija was founded in 1916 and competed in several editions of the national league of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1923 and 1940.
In 1946, NK Udarnik and another local club NK Jedinstvo, merged to form a new entity – NK Slavonija. On 2 February 1947, NK Slavonija merged with NK Bratstvo, again creating a new club, NK Proleter, a date that marks the formation of the present club NK Osijek. The club's colours were red and blue, which in the 1970s were changed to white and blue.
The club entered the Yugoslav First League for the first time in 1953. On 1 September 1962, NK Proleter merged with the Boxing and Athletic Club Mladost and formed a multi-sport organisation called Sportsko društvo Slavonija (Slavonija Sporting Society). The football club started competing under the name NK Slavonija.
Until the 1980s, the club played mostly in the Yugoslav Second League. In 1973, Osijek played Zagreb in a play-off for promotion to the First Division. In the second leg in Zagreb, Osijek lost on penalties in front of a record 64,000 attendance. In 1977, the club were promoted to the top division, where with the exception of one season, they remained until the collapse of Yugoslavia. Their best league position was sixth place in 1984.
In 1992, in the first season of the new Croatian league, Prva HNL, Osijek finished third. The next two seasons saw weaker results, but in 1994–95, Osijek's Robert Spehar was the league's top scorer as the club finished third and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time. They were eliminated in the first round by Slovan Bratislava, and failed to qualify for Europe again for the next two seasons, before they again finished third, in the 1997–98 season. They were eliminated from the UEFA Cup on away goals by Anderlecht, after winning 3–1 at home and losing 2–0 in Brussels. The same season, led by Jurica Vranjes, Osijek won their first national trophy, the Croatian Cup, beating Cibalia in the final after extra time. Cibalia led 1–0 until Mitu equalized in injury time, and in extra-time Davor Lasić scored a golden goal to win the cup for Osijek. The following season, Osijek lost 6–1 on aggregate to West Ham United in the UEFA Cup and finished in the third place in the league.
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