Full name | Nogometni Klub Svoboda Ljubljana |
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Founded | 1952 |
Ground | Svoboda Sports Park, Ljubljana |
Capacity | 500 |
President | Esad Alićaić |
Head Coach | Zoran Pejović |
League | Regional Ljubljana League |
2015–16 | 2nd |
Website | Club home page |
Nogometni Klub Svoboda Ljubljana (English: Svoboda Ljubljana Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Svoboda or simply Svoboda, is a Slovenian football club from Ljubljana.
The club was formed as ŠD Svoboda in 1952 and was known as one of the best Slovenian clubs during the time of SFR Yugoslavia. It started in lower rangs, but then merged with Grafičar, took its place in Slovenian League and played under that name until 1962. The most successful years came in the seventies, when the club was playing in Yugoslav Second Division under the sponsorship of Mercator, national food market company. In 1971 they have won the Slovenian Republic League for the first time and earned a promotion to the Yugoslav Second Division West, where they played until 1982, with the exception of three triumphal republic seasons.
During this period they have also won two cup titles in 1976 and 1978. Therefore, they participated in Yugoslav Cup next two seasons, in the latter they were eliminated by Borac Banja Luka in the round of 16. After the independence of Slovenia in 1991, Svoboda played in the Slovenian PrvaLiga for three seasons, finishing in 11th, 6th, and 13th place. In 1994 the club was replaced by Slavija with many players leaving from them to Vevče. Svoboda then played several seasons in lover divisions, before returning to the scene in 2003, when they were promoted to the Slovenian Second League. They have played there for three seasons, scoring the best result in the 2004–05 season with third place, which was not enough to secure promotion, due to Slovenian First League being decreased to 10 teams. In the next two seasons Svoboda was relegated from second and third division, having serious financial troubles. The club was taken over by Interblock in 2008 to become their feeder team for youth selections, but this collaboration lasted only one season. Svoboda started on their own again in 2009.