NK Maribor

Nogometni klub Maribor (), commonly referred to as NK Maribor or simply Maribor, is a professional football club based in Maribor, Slovenia, that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of Slovenian football. Nicknamed "The Purples" ("), the club was founded on 12 December 1960. They are regarded as a symbol of Slovenian football, particularly in their home region of Styria in northeastern Slovenia.
Maribor have won a record 15 Slovenian PrvaLiga titles, 9 Slovenian Cups and 4 Slovenian Supercups. The club's most successful period was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when they won seven successive league titles. Following the 2010–11 season, Maribor became the major force in Slovenian football for the second time, having won seven out of nine championships since then. Prior to Slovenia's independence in 1991, Maribor played in the Yugoslav football system, where the club, apart from winning the Yugoslav second division in 1967, had no major successes.
Maribor are one of three Slovenian teams which participated in the Yugoslavia's highest division, the Yugoslav First League, between the end of World War II in 1945 and the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. The club is also one of the two founding members of the Slovenian PrvaLiga who have never been relegated from the top flight since the league's establishment in 1991. In addition, Maribor is the only Slovenian club to have participated in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Besides that, the club is one of the only two clubs from former Yugoslavia, beside Red Star Belgrade, that have won an official UEFA trophy since winning the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
The club holds a long-standing rivalry with Olimpija from the capital Ljubljana, with whom they contest the Eternal derby ("). Maribor also have a loyal and passionate fan base and has the highest average all-time attendance in Slovenia. Maribor's home ground is the Ljudski vrt stadium, which has a capacity of 12,702 seats. It was originally built in 1952 and later underwent a series of major reconstructions in the 1990s and 2000s.
History.
Founding and early years (1960–1967).
NK Maribor was founded on 12 December 1960. The board of the newly established club then organized the presidential elections and Dr. Srečko Koren was appointed as the first club president, while Andrija Pflander was appointed as the first head coach and Oto Blaznik as the first team captain. The club played their first match on 5 February 1961, when they defeated city rivals Kovinar 2–1 (0–0), with Stefan Tolič scoring both goals. Although the team colours, purple and white, were chosen from the beginning, the team played its first match in a green and blue combination, as their violet jerseys were not available in time for the first match. The team won the Slovenian Republic League (third tier of Yugoslav football) in their first season and therefore won the right to contest the qualifications for the Yugoslav Second League. Andrija Pflander was the head coach of the team that won the Republic league. However, he had to step down from the position right before the start of the promotion play-off due to illness. His successor was Vladimir Šimunić, the man who eventually guided the team to their promotion to the Yugoslav First League six years later. Maribor won the first two rounds of the qualifying play-off and eventually defeated Croatian side Uljanik from Pula in the final qualifying phase with the score 2–1 on aggregate, therefore securing the right to play in the second Yugoslav division.
In 1961, the club received a new stadium named Ljudski vrt. On 2 September of that year football fans across Slovenia witnessed the birth of a new rivalry between Maribor and Olimpija Ljubljana. The first match between the two clubs was played in Ljubljana and ended in a 1–1 draw. Matches between these two clubs later became known in Slovenia as the "Eternal derby" (""). After five seasons, the average attendance of home matches was around 8,000 spectators, and under the guidance of coach Simunič, the club won the second division title and managed to reach the Yugoslav first league.
Yugoslav top division (1967–1972).
The club's first match in the Yugoslav top division was played in 1967 against Vardar in Skopje (1–1); Maras scored the only goal for Maribor. The first top level home match was played on 27 August 1967 against Proleter Zrenjanin in front of 8,000 spectators and Maribor won with the score 3–0. The goals were scored by Kranjc, Arnejčič and Binkovski. During the same season, football fans across Slovenia witnessed the first ever match in the Yugoslav top flight involving two clubs from Slovenia, when Maribor hosted a match against their rivals Olimpija in front of 13,000 spectators (0–0). Every match between the two clubs during this period would be sold out, with crowd attendance sometimes as high as 20,000. The team finished their first season in Yugoslav top flight in 12th place.
During their five years in the top division, Maribor played a total of 166 matches and achieved 40 wins, 57 draws and 69 defeats. Maribor's highest league position was in the 1969–70 season when the club finished in 10th place in an 18-club league. The 1971–72 season was their last season in top division as the team finished last with 20 points. Mladen Kranjc, one of the best players in history of the club, was the best goalscorer for the team in each of its five seasons spent in the Yugoslav top division, having scored a total of 54 league goals, which eventually led to his transfer to one of the top Yugoslav clubs, Dinamo Zagreb.
Dark years and bribery scandal (1972–1991).
In the next season (1972–73), Maribor played in the second Yugoslav division and finished in second place, which meant that they qualified for the Yugoslav first division promotion play-off. In the first qualifying round against Montenegrin side Budućnost, Maribor won on penalties and qualified for the decisive round against Proleter. The first leg was played in Maribor on 8 July 1973, and is acknowledged as one of the most historic matches in history of the club as it still holds the club's attendance record. There were 20,000 spectators, 15,000 of whom were already present in the stands almost three hours before kick off, eventually helping Maribor win the game 3–1. However, the two-goal advantage proved to be insufficient as Proleter won the second leg in Zrenjanin 3–0 and earned promotion with the score 4–3 on aggregate. In the second leg match when the score was 1–0 for the home team, Ražić had scored an equaliser in the 23rd minute, but the goal was disallowed. The later TV replay showed that the ball had actually crossed the goal line and that the goal should have stood.
The period between 1973 and 1990 is one of the darkest in the clubs's history. In the following 1972–73 season, the club failed to stay near the top of the second division and finished the season in 13th place. In the 1974–75 season, the club got relegated to the Slovenian Republic League for the first time after 14 years in the top 2 tiers, but the club convincingly returned to the second division next season by being 15 points clear at the top of the Slovenian Republic League table at the end of the season. The club was near promotion back to the top tier in the 1978–79, when they finished the season in the second tier as runners-up, six points behind Bosnian side Čelik, but failed to win the promotion play-offs. The next season (1979–80), Maribor finished in fifth place.
At the end of the 1980–81 season Maribor were celebrating as the club managed to avoid relegation down to the Slovenian Republic League, when the " (") bribery scandal emerged, and caused the club to be relegated from second tier to third by the decision of the Football Association of Yugoslavia disciplinary committee. The club had a secret fund that was used for bribing officials and opponents. The fund was abolished in 1968 after the club was promoted to the first division, but was later established again in 1976. Some club officials were keeping track of the bribery expenses in their "black book", which was later confiscated by the authorities. From the book it is clear that Maribor had bribed a total of 31 people.
After the scandal and the subsequent relegation to third division, Maribor spent the following years bouncing between the second and third Yugoslav leagues until the independence of Slovenia in 1991.
In 1988 Maribor joined MŠD Branik organization, to form Maribor Branik. Although the club uses only the name Maribor in domestic and international competitions it is still officially registered as "NK Maribor Branik" to this day. The club always had close ties to MŠD Branik as NK Branik Maribor, an association football club which was part of MŠD Branik, had been dissolved only a couple of months before Maribor was established and, many fans who had supported Branik simply switched to supporting Maribor as they viewed the club as the successor of Branik. In October that year Mladen Kranjc was involved in a tragic motorcycle accident in Dolnja Počehova. Considered to be one of the best goalscorers in the history of the club, he died at the age of 43.
Domestic domination after independence (1991–2004).
Following the Slovenian independence in 1991, Maribor joined the newly-formed Slovenian League for the inaugural 1991–92 season. The club was one of the league's founding members and are, together with Celje, one of only two clubs who have competed in every season of the Slovenian top division since its establishment. In the first couple of seasons, Maribor's rivals Olimpija from Ljubljana, who have had a long tradition of playing in the Yugoslav first league and at the time still had their squad composed of players from that era, dominated the league. Although Olimpija dominated the league, Maribor still managed to win the first edition of the Slovenian Cup in 1992. The final match was played in Ljubljana at Bežigrad Stadium versus Olimpija. It ended in a goalless draw after regular time and was won by Maribor after a penalty shoot-out (4–3). This was the first major success for Maribor. During the next season the team had their UEFA debut, appearing in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They played their first European match on 19 August 1992, when they hosted Ħamrun Spartans of Malta and won with the score 4–0. Ante Šimundža scored the first historic european goal for the club. Olimpija went on to win the first four domestic championships, until their streak was interrupted by Gorica who won it in the 1995–96 season. Maribor were runners-up in the 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1994–95 seasons, before finishing third in 1993–94 and then fourth in the 1995–96 season. During this period the club managed to win another Slovenian cup in 1993–94, defeating Mura from Murska Sobota in the final with 3–2 on aggregate.
The 1996–97 season proved to be the turning point in the history of Maribor. The club stormed the Slovenian league and became national champions for the first time in their history. During this season average home attendance was 5,289 spectators, which is still a record in the Slovenian League.<ref name="1996/1997"></ref> The final match of the season was played on 1 June 1997, against Beltinci and attracted a crowd of 14,000, which is also a record of the Slovenian top league. In that season Maribor also won the 1996–97 Slovenian Cup, thus winning the domestic Double, a feat also repeated in the 1998–99 season. After their first title in 1996–97 Maribor went on to win six more titles, bringing their total number to seven consecutive titles by 2003. During this period the team also won three Slovenian cups. In the 1999–00 season, the club, led by head coach Bojan Prašnikar, defeated Genk of Belgium (5–1, 0–3) and French side Lyon (1–0, 2–0) and qualified for the UEFA Champions league group stages for the first time in the club's history. Maribor were drawn into the group with Dynamo Kyiv, Bayer Leverkusen, and Lazio.
Financial difficulties (2004–2007).
The 2003–04 Slovenian Cup was the last trophy won by Maribor before the darkest era of the club began. Between 2004 and 2007, the club was plagued by major financial difficulties, and Maribor even came close to being disbanded at one point. However, the club did not follow their rivals Olimpija and Mura on that path.
Due to their large debts, which at one point amounted to 4 million euros, the club could not afford to buy new players. As a consequence, the first team at the time consisted mostly of youth players mixed with a couple of foreign players brought to the club on free transfers. In the autumn of 2006, the leadership of the club changed, with the debt still amounting to over 3 million euros, and it was not until January 2011 that the club announced that the debt had been paid in full. During this period, Maribor never finished above third place in the Slovenian league, and were runners-up in the Slovenian Cup twice. They were, however, one of the 11 winners of the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup, in which they defeated Spanish side Villarreal in the final round, only a couple of months after Villareal had played in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League.
Zlatko Zahovič era (2007–2020).
From the 2007–08 season onwards, former Slovenian internationals Zlatko Zahovič as the sport director, and soon afterwards, Darko Milanič as the head coach, were appointed to head the club's sports department. On 10 May 2008, the club re-opened the renovated Ljudski vrt, which had undergone a major reconstruction that lasted almost 20 months. The first match played in the newly refurbished stadium was a league match against Nafta and was won 3–1 in front of 12,435 spectators. At the start of 2008–09 season, Maribor entered history books as the first club who won 1,000 points in the Slovenian top division, after a 2–1 away win against Rudar Velenje on 26 July 2008. Under the guidance of head coach Darko Milanič, Maribor won all three domestic trophies available to them (the Slovenian League, Cup, and Supercup) in only two seasons with the club, thus becoming the first coach with all three domestic trophies won in Slovenian football. On 12 December 2010, the club celebrated its 50th anniversary. With the 2–1 away victory over Primorje, on 21 May 2011, Maribor secured its ninth Slovenian league title. Four days later the team played the Slovenian cup final at Stožice stadium and lost to Domžale 4–3.
At the beginning of the 2011–12 season, Maribor played in the 2011 Slovenian Supercup against Domžale on 8 July 2012 and lost with the score 2–1 after regulation. This was the second consecutive loss for Maribor against Domžale in domestic cup finals in five weeks, after losing the Slovenian cup in May 2011. In August 2011, Maribor defeated Rangers and qualified for the group stages of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Maribor managed to get one point in six matches, holding Braga to a draw at the home turf. In the same season, Maribor won their tenth league title with a record number of points (85). The league title was confirmed in the game against Triglav Kranj on 22 April 2012 with an 8–0 win. Furthermore, they won the Slovenian domestic cup on 23 May 2012 by defeating their Styrian rivals Celje after penalties, securing their seventh cup title. This was the third time that Maribor managed to win "the double" and the first time since the 1998–99 season.
At the beginning of the 2012–13 season, Maribor played in their fourth successive Supercup final. The match was played on 8 July 2012 at Ljudski vrt stadium. Unlike in the previous two seasons, when the club finished as the runners-up, they managed to win their second Supercup trophy this time, defeating their "eternal rivals" Olimpija Ljubljana 2–1. Maribor qualified to the group stages of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League for the second season in a row as one of the losers in the play-off round of the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, where they were eliminated by Dinamo Zagreb. They managed to get four points this time, defeating Panathinaikos and drawing with Tottenham Hotspur, both at home. Maribor confirmed their eleventh league title on 11 May 2013, when they defeated Olimpija Ljubljana 2–1. Similarly to the previous season, they again defeated Celje in the 2013 Slovenian Cup Final, securing their fourth "double" in the history.
In the 2013–14 season, Maribor qualified to the group stages of the Europa League for the third consecutive year after losing to Viktoria Plzeň in the Champions League play-off stage. This time, the team earned seven points and progressed through the group stages for the first time after defeating Wigan Athletic 2–1 in the final matchday. In the Round of 32, they were eliminated by the future competition winner Sevilla with an aggregate score of 4–3. In the next season, Maribor qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stages for the second time in their history after eliminating Scottish club Celtic with an aggregate score of 2–1 in the play-offs. They were drawn into the Group G alongside Chelsea, Schalke 04, and Sporting CP, where they managed to obtain three points in six games after a draw and a defeat against each team.
In the 2015–16 season, Maribor was eliminated from the European competitions after just two matches, being defeated by Astana in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, meaning the club failed to advance to the third qualifying round of the competition for the first time after the 2003–04 season. In the same season, Maribor failed to win the domestic title for the first time since 2009–10 after finishing in the second place behind Olimpija Ljubljana.
Maribor won its 14th domestic title during the 2016–17 season. As the national champions, Maribor represented Slovenia in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, where the club reached the group stages for the third time in their history, having previously appeared in the same stage of the competition in 1999 and 2014. Maribor competed in Group E, along with Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, and Liverpool. The club obtained three points in six matches after drawing with Sevilla at home and against Spartak twice with all three matches finishing 1–1. Their 7–0 defeat to Liverpool in the third matchday was the club's heaviest home defeat in European competitions, and their second highest European defeat overall. During the same season, however, Maribor failed to win a major trophy for the first time since the 2007–08 season, losing the league title to Olimpija on head-to-head rules after finishing with the same number of points. Olimpija also eliminated Maribor in the quarter-finals of the national cup, and therefore Maribor failed to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since the 2002–03 season. In 2018–19, Maribor won its 15th national title under the guidance of Darko Milanič, who won his 6th league title with the club, becoming the most successful manager in the Slovenian top division. In the same season, Maribor failed to win their fifth "double" after losing the 2019 Slovenian Cup final against their arch-rivals Olimpija. At the start of the 2019–20 season, Maribor reached the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League play-offs, where they were eliminated by Ludogorets Razgrad on away goals. A few weeks later, Maribor lost in the round of 16 of the 2019–20 Slovenian Cup against a second division side Koper. Maribor was never before eliminated from the Slovenian cup by a team outside the top division; it was also the first time since 1995–96 that Maribor got eliminated so early in the competition.
In the aftermath of three consecutive winless matches in March 2020, Darko Milanič and Zlatko Zahovič resigned.
Colours, kit and crest.
Throughout the entire history of Maribor the club's main colour was purple. The team is nicknamed "The Purples" ('); another common nickname is "The Violets" ('), both referring to their primary colour purple, present on players' jerseys and in the club crest. The club is also referred to as the "Viole", predominantly in the region of the former Yugoslavia.
Kit.
When Maribor was established, some of the club officials were in favour of red and white colours, which are the colours of a coat of arms of the city of Maribor, while the traditional colours of Branik were black and white. Because many football teams in Yugoslavia wore red and white or black and white jerseys, most notably Red Star Belgrade and Partizan, Maribor officials decided for a new and fresh combination. They decided to follow the example of Fiorentina, which at the time was one of the most successful clubs in Europe, and their purple and white combination. Oto Blaznik, the first captain in history of the club, was the one who proposed the combination after seeing the Italian side at the front page of the "La Gazzetta dello Sport". Eventually, they changed the secondary colour to yellow. In July 2015, white replaced yellow as the secondary colour, before yellow was reintroduced in July 2019. Today, Maribor play their home matches in purple and away matches in yellow kits.
Crest.
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