FC Koper

Koper
Full name Football Club Koper
Nickname(s) Kanarčki (The Canaries)
Kozlički (The Goatlings)
Short name FCK
Founded 1920 (1920)[1]
(as Circolo sportivo Capodistriano)
Ground Bonifika,
Koper
Ground Capacity 4,047
President Valter Valenčič[2]
Head Coach Igor Pamić
League Slovenian PrvaLiga
2015–16 Slovenian PrvaLiga, 8th
Website Club home page

Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club, playing in the town of Koper. The club was founded in 1920.[1] Koper is one of five football clubs in the country that won all three domestic competitions (League, Cup and Supercup).

The club's home ground is the Bonifika Stadium, which has a capacity of 4,047 seats. The club competes under the name Luka Koper due to sponsorship agreement with the Port of Koper.

History

From the records, it appears that football in Koper was played as early as in the 1920s, but officially, the club took the name NK Koper in 1955, when it was formed by the merger of two football teams: Aurora and Meduza.[3] The club played under this name in different Yugoslav leagues until 1991 and was one of the most successful Slovenian clubs. After Slovenia became independent, the club started to play in the Slovenian PrvaLiga and Slovenian Second League. At the beginning of the 1990s, the club was achieving mid-table success. By the end of the 1990s, the club had been relegated to the second division twice, had serious financial problems and renamed itself to FC Koper, thereby avoiding the necessity of paying off its debts. With the advent of the new millennium, FC Koper consistently achieved positions in the upper half of the table (achieving third place in the 2001–02 season, its highest since Slovenian independence). In the 2003–04 season, they were playing in a European competition for the first time since 1991: the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Two years of mid-table anonymity and significant financial difficulties followed, in part because the former owner, Georg Suban, left substantial debts to the club and took half of the team with him when he moved to the other Slovenian PrvaLiga team Mura.

The fans took control of the club and tried to improve its finances to save it from going bankrupt and disappearing like three other major Slovenian clubs (Olimpija, Mura and Ljubljana), with reasonable success. In the 2005–06 season, Mladen Rudonja returned to the club and brought with him the Serbian-American businessman Milan Mandarić, who paid off all the remaining debts. After the first half of the season, before the arrival of the new patron, Koper was battling against relegation, but in the second part of the season, with a new coach, Milivoj Bračun, the club started an unbeaten run that led them to reach the 3rd place in the Slovenian PrvaLiga and to win the Slovenian Cup for the first time, FC Koper's first trophy since the Slovenian independence from Yugoslavia. This also qualified the team to play in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds in the 2006–07 season. The following seasons were more difficult, with the club narrowly avoiding relegation in 2009. In the 2009–10 season, the team was expanded and, under the leadership of veteran playmaker/director-of-football Miran Pavlin eventually won the Slovenian league championship for the first time, winning a place in the UEFA Champions League qualifiers, where they succumbed to a spirited 5–4 agg. defeat by Dinamo Zagreb (1–5, 3–0). In the aftermath, Pavlin left the club.

Name changes

League positions

In Yugoslavia

  • 1953–54: 4th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1954–55: 6th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1955–56: 9th (Ljubljana-Littoral League)
  • 1956–57: ? (?)
  • 1957–58: ? (?)
  • 1958–59: ? (?)
  • 1959–60: ? (?)
  • 1960–61: ? (?)
  • 1961–62: ? (?)
  • 1962–63: ? (?)
  • 1963–64: ? (?)
  • 1964–65: 1st (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1965–66: 12th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1966–67: 1st (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1967–68: 6th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1968–69: 11th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1969–70: 3rd (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1970–71: 1st (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1971–72: 5th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1972–73: 10th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1973–74: 7th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1974–75: 14th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1975–76: 10th (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1976–77: ? (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1977–78: ? (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1978–79: ? (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1979–80: 1st (Slovenian Regional League – West)
  • 1980–81: 9th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1981–82: 11th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1982–83: 4th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1983–84: 4th (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1984–85: 1st (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1985–86: 18th (Yugoslav Second League)
  • 1986–87: 2nd (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1987–88: 1st (Slovenian Republic League)
  • 1988–89: 5th[4] (Yugoslav Inter-Republic League)
  • 1989–90: 14th[5] (Yugoslav Inter-Republic League)
  • 1990–91: 12th[6] (Yugoslav Inter-Republic League)

In Slovenia

Stadium

See main article Bonifika Stadium

The Bonifika is the team's home stadium, which is named after the area where it is situated in the town of Koper. The stadium was built in 1947.[7] In 2010, the old stadium was demolished and completely rebuild.[8] It has a capacity for 4,047 spectators.[9] The largest attendance was in 1987 in a match between Koper and Olimpija (10,000 spectators).

Honours

Yugoslavia

League

Winners (2): 1984–85, 1987–88
Runners-up (1): 1986–87

Cup

Winners (2): 1989–90, 1990–91
Runners-up (1): 1988–89

Slovenia

Winners (1): 2009–10
Runners-up (2): 2007–08, 2013–14
Winners (1): 1999–2000
Runners-up (1): 1997–98

Cup

Winners (3): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2014–15
Runners-up (1): 2008–09
Winners (2): 2010, 2015
Runners-up (1): 2007
Runners-up (1): 1991–92

Current squad

As of 4 October 2016.[10]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Croatia GK Marijan Antolović
12 Slovenia GK David Adam
83 Slovenia GK Vasja Simčič

2 Slovenia DF Jan Andrejašič
3 Brazil DF Jefthon
4 Croatia DF Toni Datković
26 Croatia DF Šime Gregov
32 Croatia DF Ivor Horvat
45 Slovenia DF Matic Paljk
94 Slovenia DF Gregor Sikošek

6 Croatia MF Jakov Biljan
7 Equatorial Guinea MF Rubén Belima
8 Panama MF Ricardo Ávila (on loan from Chorrillo)
10 Ecuador MF Joel Valencia
11 Ghana MF Courage Pekuson
No. Position Player
15 Slovenia MF Haris Dedić
17 Bosnia and Herzegovina MF Senijad Ibričić
21 Slovenia MF Matej Pučko
22 Slovenia MF Patrik Posavac
23 Slovenia MF Marko Krivičič
25 Argentina MF Leandro Teijo
29 Croatia MF Ed Kevin Kokorović
39 Croatia MF Ivan Blatančić
55 Croatia MF Danijel Pranjić

13 Bosnia and Herzegovina FW Zlatan Muslimović
14 South Korea FW Park In-hyeok (on loan from Hoffenheim)
20 Slovenia FW Žan Bračko
30 Slovenia FW Jaka Štromajer
52 Slovenia FW Luka Vekić
88 Bosnia and Herzegovina FW Adnan Ahmetović
99 Bosnia and Herzegovina FW Marin Jurina

Koper in UEFA competitions

Koper goals always listed first.
Score results denote: "Home, Away".

Season Competition Round Country Club Score
2002 Intertoto Cup 1R Sweden Helsingborgs IF 0–1, 0–0
2003 Intertoto Cup 1R Croatia Zagreb 1–0, 2–2
2R Slovakia Dubnica 1–0, 2–3
3R Greece Egaleo FC 3–2, 2–2
1/2 Netherlands Heerenveen 0–2, 1–0
2006–07 UEFA Cup 1Q Bulgaria Litex Lovech 0–1, 0–5
2007–08 UEFA Cup 1Q Bosnia and Herzegovina Široki Brijeg 1–3, 2–3
2008–09 UEFA Cup 1Q Albania Vllaznia Shkodër 1–2, 0–0
2010–11 UEFA Champions League 2Q Croatia Dinamo Zagreb 3–0, 1–5
2011–12 UEFA Europa League 1Q Kazakhstan Shakhter Karagandy 1–1, 1–2
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 1Q Montenegro Čelik Nikšić 4–0, 5–0
2Q Azerbaijan Neftchi Baku 0–2, 2–1
2015–16 UEFA Europa League 1Q Iceland Víkingur Reykjavík 2–2, 1–0
2Q Croatia Hajduk Split 3–2, 1–4

References

  1. 1 2 "Klubi" [Clubs] (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia official website. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  2. "Organiziranost" (in Slovenian). FC Koper official website. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  3. "Zgodovina" [History] (in Slovenian). FC Koper official website. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  4. "NK Maribor: Zgodovina (sezona 1988/89)" (in Slovenian). NK Maribor official website. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  5. "NK Maribor: Zgodovina (sezona 1989/90)" (in Slovenian). NK Maribor official website. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  6. "NK Maribor: Zgodovina (sezona 1990/91)" (in Slovenian). NK Maribor official website. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  7. "ŠRC Bonifika" (in Slovenian). stadioni.org. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  8. Rok Maver (28 July 2010). "Prenovljeni stadion bo v obliki črke L" [The renovated stadium will be in the shape of letter L] (in Slovenian). Primorske novice. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  9. admin (10 June 2011). "Stadion Bonifika" [Bonifika Stadium] (in Slovenian). fotoultras.si. Retrieved 26 February 2016.
  10. "Prva ekipa" [First Team] (in Slovenian). FC Koper official website. Retrieved 4 July 2016.

External links

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