NK Međimurje

NK Međimurje is a Croatian football club based in Čakovec. The club is named after Međimurje, the region in northern Croatia where Čakovec is located. In 2019–20 season, they will compete in the Croatian Second Football League.

Full nameNogometni Klub Međimurje Čakovec
Nickname(s)Crveno-Crni (The Red and Blacks)
Short nameNK Međimurje
Founded8 June 2003 (2003-06-08)
GroundStadion SRC Mladost, Čakovec
Capacity8,000
ChairmanMarijan Uršanić
ManagerDamir Lepen Jurak
LeagueDruga HNL
2019–20Druga HNL

The club play their home games at the Stadion SRC Mladost, Čakovec, which has a total capacity of approximately 8,000. The club's supporters group is called the Angels.

History

The club was founded in June 2003 and started to compete in the Croatian Second League, where they replaced NK Omladinac, a club based in the Čakovec suburb of Novo Selo Rok. They finished top of the league at the end of the 2003–04 season, clinching promotion to the Croatian First League.

They started their first season in the top flight with three defeats in their opening three matches, before beating Zagreb 1–0 on the road on Day 4 to clinch their first win of the season. However, they continued to experience very little success after that, only grabbing two further wins in the following 18 matches and being bottom of the table as the league split in two groups in March 2005. Their performance improved in the bottom-6 group, the Relegation League, where they had a streak of seven games undefeated and finished 5th, overtaking Zadar on the final day of the season.

In their second top-flight season in 2005–06, they once again found themselves bottom of the table in March, although with 5 wins and only one point fewer than both Inter Zaprešić and Slaven Belupo. After three defeats in their opening three matches in the Relegation League, they managed a streak of seven games undefeated and overtook Inter Zaprešić after beating them on the penultimate day of the season.

In 2006–07, they experienced mixed fortunes in their opening seven games, but then managed four consecutive wins and even found themselves in 4th place after Day 11. They eventually finished the season in 9th place, their best result in the top flight, with 11 wins in 33 matches. The 2007–08 season, however, brought very little success and they found themselves bottom of the table for majority of the season. They eventually finished rock-bottom, with only 15 points and mere three wins from 33 matches, 18 points behind the 11th-place Inter Zaprešić, and were effectively relegated to the Croatian Second League.

In 2008–09, they finished fifth in the Croatian Second League, but were nevertheless directly promoted back to the Croatian First League for the 2009–10 season as the league was expanded to 16 teams and Slavonac CO, who finished above them, decided to withdraw from the top flight after failing to secure a proper stadium as their home ground.[1]

In the first half of the 2009–10 season, they performed well at home, recording 5 wins and 2 draws in 9 matches, but poor performance on the road (they lost all 8 away matches) saw them start the second half of the season in 13th place, just above the relegation zone. Despite winning two away matches in the second half of the season, a series of draws and defeats (including a crushing 5–1 defeat at home to Rijeka) saw them dropping into the relegation zone with 6 matches left. A 4–1 defeat at Hajduk Split on the penultimate day of the season confirmed their 15th-place finish and relegation back to the second division. The 4–1 loss was later investigated for match fixing allegations.[2]

Derby

In recent years Međimurje have contested the northern derby with NK Varaždin.[3]

Current squad
As of 23 July 2019[4]

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

No. Position Player
1 GK Matija Jesenović
2 DF Matej Hudeček
3 DF Antonio Kćira
4 FW Ivan Cimerman
5 DF Ante Knezović
6 MF Leo Hajdinjak
7 MF Marin Fadić
8 DF Hrvoje Džijan
9 MF Josip-Domagoj Hranilović
10 MF Ivan Ikić
11 FW Kruno Ivančić
12 MF Stjepan Šimičić
13 DF Leon Meglić
No. Position Player
14 FW Frane Vidović
15 DF Altin Bytyqi
16 DF Nino Patafta
17 MF Denis Ceraj
18 FW Leon Rališ
19 MF Robin Zanjko
20 MF Neven Hlišć
21 DF Nino Brcković
22 GK Luka Bulić
23 GK Miroslav Kopić
24 FW Josip Čikvar
25 DF Antonio Dodlek
26 FW Luka Bacinger

Personnel
Position Staff
Sport director Miljenko Dovečer
Manager Damir Lepen Jurak
Assistant coach Neven Bujanić
Goalkeeping coach Darko Stamenković
Fitness coach Darko Kovačević
Tehnical director Kristijan Hamonajec
Doctor Mario Vinko
Physiotherapist Luka Sklepić
Kit manager Željko Medved

Club honours
  • Croatian Second League
    • Winners (1): 2003–04
  • Croatian Third League North
    • Winners (1): 2013–14
    • Runners-up (2): 2012–13
  • Croatian Third League East
    • Winners (2): 2015–16, 2016–17
    • Third place (3): 2014–15, 2017–18

Seasons
Season League Cup European competitions Top goalscorer
Division P W D L F A Pts Pos Player Goals
 2003–04  2. HNL 32 21 6 5 70 28 69 1st DNQ
2004–05 1. HNL 32 9 6 17 29 52 33 11th R2 Ivica Žuljević 12
2005–06 1. HNL 32 9 9 14 40 51 36 11th R2 Igor Mostarlić 11
2006–07 1. HNL 33 11 4 18 40 60 37 9th R1 Davor Piškor 10
2007–08 1. HNL 33 3 6 24 37 81 15 12th R1 Edin Šaranović 7
2008–09 2. HNL 30 16 2 12 61 34 50 5th R1 Marijan Vuka 19
2009–10 1. HNL 30 8 5 17 37 61 29 15th R1 Bojan Golubović 13
2010–11 2. HNL 30 12 6 12 53 49 42 7th R2 Mario Garba 12
2011–12 2. HNL 28 5 7 16 31 60 22 13th PR David Puclin 5
2012–13 3. HNL North 30 21 4 5 58 21 67 2nd DNQ Mustafa Menzil 10
2013–14 3. HNL North 30 20 6 4 90 25 65 1st R2 Stjepan Kokot 21
2014–15 3. HNL East 30 16 6 8 56 29 54 3rd R1 Mario Sačer 11
2015–16 3. HNL East 28 20 4 4 60 13 64 1st DNQ Toni Petrović 20
2016–17 3. HNL East 30 20 4 6 58 26 64 1st R1 Nenad Erić 22
2017–18 3. HNL East 30 17 5 8 61 35 56 3rd PR Filip Škvorc 23
2018–19 2. HNL 26 6 7 13 26 42 25 13th R1 Mario Munivrana 8
2019–20 2. HNL 16 6 4 6 23 22 22 8th PR Stjepan Šimičić 6

Key

1st 2nd ↑ ↓
Champions Runners-up Promoted Relegated

Top scorer shown in bold when he was also top scorer for the division.

Managerial history
 

Youth academy (NŠ Međimurje-Čakovec)
Position Staff
President of Football School Dean Panić
Vice-president of Football School Milijenko Ovčar
Head of Academy Hrvoje Goričanec
Goalkeeping coach Darko Stamenković
Juniori Neven Bujanić
Kadeti Krešimir Šenji
Kadeti 2 Miljenko Špiranec
Pioniri Mario Šarić
Pioniri 2 Marko Vidović
Mlađi Pioniri 1 Gordan Golik
Mlađi Pioniri 2 i Limači 1 Karlo Kosalec
Limači 2 Nikola Lukman
Početnici Marinko Horvat
Vrtići Kristijan Srpak

References
  1. "Međimurci direktno, Slavonac odustao" (in Croatian). Sportnet.hr. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
  2. "Za namještanje Hajduk-Međimurje 37.000 eura". 11 June 2011.
  3. "Danas derbi Sjevera: NK Međimurje – NK Varaždin na SRC Mladost u Čakovcu s početkom u 17,30 sati, u 10. kolu 2. HNL". evarazdin.hr.
  4. "Ekipa – igrači" (in Croatian). NK Solin. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
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