| Full name | Football Club Koper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Canaries (Kanarčki) | ||
| Founded | 1955 | ||
| Ground | Bonifika, Koper (Capacity: 4,010) |
||
| Chairman | Aldo Babič | ||
| Manager | Milivoj Bračun | ||
| League | 1.SNL | ||
| 2010–11 | 3rd | ||
|
|||
FC Koper is a Slovenian football club, playing in the town of Koper. The club is one of only three football clubs in the country, the others being Maribor and former Olimpija, that won all three domestic competitions (League, Cup, Supercup). The team plays its matches on Bonifika stadium that was built in 2010 and has a capacity of 4,010 seats. Currently the club competes under the name FC Luka Koper due to sponsorship deal with the Port of Koper, Luka Koper.
Contents |
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 the year 1955, when it was formed by the merger of two football teams: Aurora and Meduza. The club played under this name in different Yugoslavian leagues until 1991 and was one of the most successful Slovenian clubs. After Slovenia became independent, the club started to play in the 1.SNL and 2.SNL. 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 2001–2002 season, its highest since Slovenian independence). In the 2003–2004 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 the team with him when he moved to the other 1.SNL team NK 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 (NK Olimpija, NK Mura and NK Ljubljana), with reasonable success. In the 2005–2006 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 Braćun, the club started an unbeaten run that led them to reach the 3rd place in the 1.SNL 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 2006–2007 season. The following seasons were more difficult, with the club narrowly avoiding relegation in 2009. In the 2009/2010 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 NK Dinamo Zagreb (5–1, 0–3). In the aftermath, Pavlin left the club.
The Bonifika is the team's home stadium, which is named after the area where it is situated in the town of Koper. It has a capacity of 4,010 spectators.
There are two main supporting groups for FC Koper. The first one, the older, is an ultras group formed in 1987 and it goes by the name of Tifozi Koper. It is the oldest ultras group in Slovenia and it is known for its unconditional loyalty to FC Koper. The second group, formed in March 2002, is a fan group called 12. Kopra.
As of 11 November 2011[update]
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
For recent transfers, see List of Slovenian football transfers summer 2009.
| Manager | Period |
|---|---|
| Lučo Pertič | 1982–85 |
| Dragan Popadić | 1985–87 |
| Milan Miklavič | 1987–90 |
| Branko Zupan | 1990–92 |
| Vlado Klinčarovski | 1992–94 |
| Marijan Jantoljak | 1994–95 |
| Predrag Stilinović | 1995–96 |
| Vladan Mladenović / Edi Pobega | 1996–97 |
| Branko Zupan / Vlado Badžim | 1997–98 |
| Marin Kovačić / Tone Hrovatič | 1998–99 |
| Branko Zupan | 1999–00 |
| Branko Oblak | 2000–01 |
| Nenad Gračan | 2001–02 |
| Milivoj Bračun | 2002–03 |
| Igor Benedejčič | 2003–04 |
| Borut Jarc / Ivan Marjon | 2004–05 |
| Samir Zulić / Milivoj Bračun / Borut Jarc | 2005–06 |
| Milivoj Bračun / Borut Jarc | 2006 |
| Vlado Badžim | 2007–08 |
| Nedžad Okčič | 2008–2010 |
| Primož Gliha | 2010–11 |
| Vlado Badžim | 3 May 2011–16 August 2011 |
| Milivoj Bračun | 2011– |
Total titles: 4
League
Cup
|
Koper goals always listed first.
Score results denote: "Home, Away".
| Season | Competition | Round | Land | Club | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Intertoto Cup | 1R | Helsingborgs IF | 0–1, 0–0 | |
| 2003 | Intertoto Cup | 1R | NK Zagreb | 1–0, 2–2 | |
| 2R | ZTS Dubnica | 1–0, 2–3 | |||
| 3R | Egaleo FC Athene | 3–2, 2–2 | |||
| 1/2 | SC Heerenveen | 0–2, 1–0 | |||
| 2006–07 | UEFA Cup | 1Q | PFC Litex Lovech | 0–1, 0–5 | |
| 2007–08 | UEFA Cup | 1Q | NK Siroki Brijeg | 1–3, 2–3 | |
| 2008–09 | UEFA Cup | 1Q | Vllaznia Shkodër | 1–2, 0–0 | |
| 2010–11 | UEFA Champions League | 2Q | Dinamo Zagreb | 1–5, 3–0 | |
| 2011–12 | UEFA Europa League | 1Q | Shakhter Karagandy | 1–1, 1–2 |
|
||||||||||||||