NK Ljubljana

For other meanings, see NK Železničar (disambiguation).

Ljubljana

Full name

Nogometni Klub Ljubljana

Nickname(s)

Šiškarji
Modro-beli (The Blue-Whites)

Founded

1909^[1]
(as Hermes)

Dissolved

2005^[2]

Ground

ŽŠD,
Ljubljana

Capacity

3,986

Home colours

Away colours

Nogometni Klub Ljubljana (English: Ljubljana Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Ljubljana or simply Ljubljana, was a Slovenian association football club based in the capital city of Ljubljana. The club was established in 1909 and dissolved in 2005.^[2]

History

Foundation

The club was founded in 1909 as students club Hermes and was one of the oldest football clubs in Slovenia. The club was reformed in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia as SK Hermes in late 1918 and played in the Ljubljana Subassociation League from 1920 on, scoring best result with fourth place on four occasions. In 1925 club added a prefix Železničarski (Railway's) to its name. ŽSK Hermes was from then on clearly defined as a workers club.

Time of SFR Yugoslavia

After the Second World War, the club was reestablished as Železničar Ljubljana, which was later still commonly used name, due to club playing in the framework of Railway Sports Society (Slovene: Železničarsko Športno Društvo) on the ŽŠD Ljubljana stadium. Železničar won its first Slovenian Republic League title in 1949 and played in one-off Slovene-Croatian league 1952–53, which was at the time second level of Yugoslav football system. They finished ninth and were relegated due to dissolution of the league. The club was then renamed to ŽNK Ljubljana and played in third level inter-republic league. They finished second in 1954, but lost the qualifying match for second league. After the reorganization of Yugoslav football, they played in newly established Yugoslav Second League A Zone from 1955 until 1958, finishing on 5th, 8th and 10th place. This league system was then changed again and Ljubljana was relegated back to Slovenian Republic League. They have won it three times, in 1963, 1967 and 1968, before finally returning to Yugoslav Second League, where they played until 1972. After three solid seasons, finishing 11th, 10th and 6th, Ljubljana was unexpectedly relegated with 17th place in its fourth appearance. Their status of the Ljubljana's second strongest club was taken over by financially much stronger Svoboda. Ljubljana then managed to win Slovenian Republic League again in the 1989.

Slovenian league era

After the independence, they have played in Slovenian First League for four seasons. In 1991–92 they played as Eurospekter Ljubljana and Finished fifth, before renaming to AM Cosmos Ljubljana. 1992–93 was their best season, as they were in serious competition for the title after the fall season, but finished fourth due to poor finish. In 1993–94 they finished 11th, but then renamed back to Železničar Ljubljana, having new president and bigger ambitions for 1994–95 season. They started quite well, but fell again in the spring period, specially with three defeats in last three rounds, which pushed them to final 10th place. Due to reduction of Slovenian First League to 10 teams, they had to play additional relegation play-off, in which they went as clear favourites, but failed in the second round against Izola after 1–1 and 0–0, due to away goals rule. Železničar then won the Slovenian Second League easily in 1996, but was refused a licence for top flight football, so they stayed in second league, but withdrew during the next season. They were later passed a second league licence from feeder club Viator&Vektor Komenda, which has won the Slovenian Third League – Centre and the team renamed to Viator&Vektor Ljubljana in 2000. In next two seasons Ljubljana has played in Slovenian Second League, finishing seventh in 2001 and second in 2002, which was enough for comeback to Slovenian First League after seven years. This time they stayed there for three seasons, finishing on solid 10th, 7th and 9th place. In their last season the club had struggled on the pitch and failed to obtain competition licences issued by the Football Association of Slovenia, which led to its dissolution in 2005. After finishing 9th in the national championship NK Ljubljana effectively ceased all operations, together with another two Slovenian giants, Olimpija and Mura.^[2]

A successor club which claimed rights to Ljubljana's honours and records was established in 2005 bearing the name FC Ljubljana.^[3] However, in spite of inheriting old Ljubljana's supporters and colours, they were not legally considered to be successors to the original NK Ljubljana and the two clubs track records and honours are kept separate by the Football Association of Slovenia and the Slovenian First League Association.^[3]

Stadium

Ljubljana played its home matches at ŽŠD Ljubljana Stadium, located in the lower part of Šiška district. The ground was given to the club by the Railway administration and is therefore placed in a corner of railway tracks connection. It is named after Železničarsko Športno Društvo, railway sports society, which has maintained it for the most of the club's history. Among other railway clubs forming the society, it has been used particularly by the athletics club ŽAK, which was taken as a nickname for the stadium. It was built in 1930 and renovated for regional athletics championship in 1990. The stadium has a capacity of 2,468 seats. The main stand underwent a major reconstruction in 2009.

Supporters and rivalry

Although being the second club in the city for most of its history, FC Ljubljana had a relatively small support. In the traditional city derby, most of the crowds have been on the side of popular citizens club Olimpija. Rivalry, that attracted even 10.000 spectators to the matches between Železničar and Odred in postwar years, has eventually faded in following decades. Rather neglected in the industrial Šiška, Ljubljana had some support in local workes, mostly residents from other Yugoslav republics. First organized fan groups of Ljubljana were formed in the early nineties, when the club was playing a major role in Slovenian league. Despite having lost almost all of its support in the last years, a small group of Špediterji remained loyal to the club.

Club logo and colours

Former crest

While the first kits used by Hermes were red and white, the club then adopted typical railway identity, using blue color through most of its history. Traditional Železničar's kits were striped in blue and white, but also other combinations of those colours were used in later years. Although sometimes playing in all-blue, the team was nicknamed as Modro-beli (Blue-whites) and the club's logo used stripes as the railway symbol. Former logos also featured various similar images, including legendary railway winged wheel and modified Slovenian Railways sign. During the first league era from 2002 on, the unpopular green logo with a dragon was used, resembling too much the one, that is used by rival Olimpija. However, it was only actually used in blue on the kits. The fairly distinctive sky blue-white combination, used in those first league years, was later replaced by dark blue.

Domestic league and cup results

Season	League	Position	Pts	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Cup
1991–92	1. SNL	5	46	40	17	12	11	59	41	Round of 32
1992–93	1. SNL	4	40	34	16	8	10	44	34	Semi-finals
1993–94	1. SNL	11	25	30	8	9	13	29	44	First round
1994–95	1. SNL	10	30	30	13	4	13	49	43	First round
1995–96	2. SNL	1	67	29	20	7	2	62	20	Quarter-finals
1996–97	2. SNL	16	8	15	1	5	9	10	26	First round
1997–98	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x
1998–99	5th level	1	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	x
1999–2000	4th level	8	27	22	8	3	11	42	59	x
2000–01	2. SNL	7	40	29	11	7	11	50	40	x
2001–02	2. SNL	2	72	30	22	6	2	89	12	Quarter-finals
2002–03	1. SNL	10	30 (−3)	31	9	6	16	41	66	Round of 16
2003–04	1. SNL	7	42	32	12	6	14	38	53	Semi-finals
2004–05	1. SNL	9	42	32	10	12	10	38	43	Round of 16
Totals	1. SNL	0 Titles	255	229	85	57	87	298	324	0 Cups

Note: Among Totals only statistics from Slovenian top-flight are counted.

Honours

League

Slovenian Republic Football League:

Winners (5): 1948–49, 1962–63, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1988–89

Runners-up (2): 1946–47, 1972–73

Slovenian Second League:

Winners (1): 1995–96

Runners-up (1): 2001–02

Cup

Republic Cup:

Runners-up (2): 1959, 1960

Notable former players

Most goals in the Slovenian league

Name	Goals
Miki Džaferović	70
Stojan Plešinac	60
Blaž Frič	49
Lojze Škufca	40
Franjo Papec	40
Jože Gosar	29
Rudi Corn	27
Bogdan Pirc	26
Vlado Miloševič	24
Dražen Žeželj	23

Managers

Miloš Šoškić (1991–92)
Filip Mendaš (1993)
Nedeljko Gugolj (1993–94)
Dimitrije Srbu (1994)

Janez Zavrl (1994)
Željko Fundak (1994–95)
Danilo Popivoda (1995)
Miloš Šoškić (1995–2001)

Mihael Kebe (2001–02)
Suad Beširević (2002–03)
Dinko Vrabac (2003)
Tomaž Kavčič (2003)

Stojan Plešinac (2004)
Safet Hadžić (2004–05)

References

↑ "Uradna spletna stran Združenja klubov 1. slovenske nogometne lige" [Official website of Association of 1. SNL clubs] (in Slovenian). Association of 1. SNL official website. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
1 2 3 Luka Cotič (5 November 2011). "Cime: V ponedeljek se bom odločil" (in Slovenian). Šport TV. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
1 2 "NZS: Klubi" [NZS: Clubs] (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia official website. Retrieved 18 December 2013.

Slovenian PrvaLiga

Seasons	1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

2015–16 teams	Celje Domžale Gorica Koper Krka Krško Maribor Olimpija Rudar Velenje Zavrč

Active teams	Aluminij Bela Krajina Dravograd Interblock Jadran Dekani Kočevje Livar Medvode Pohorje Radomlje Rudar Trbovlje Slovan Svoboda Tabor Sežana Triglav Kranj Zagorje Železničar Maribor

Defunct teams	Beltinci Drava Ptuj Izola Korotan Prevalje Ljubljana Mura Mura 05 Nafta Lendava Naklo Olimpija (defunct) Primorje Slavija Vevče Steklar Šmartno

Associated competitions	Slovenian Cup Supercup Second League Third League UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League

Slovenian Republic League

Seasons (Kingdom of Yugoslavia)	1920 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940

Teams (1920–1941)	I. SSK Maribor Amater Athletik Bratstvo Celje Čakovec Disk Gradjanski Grafika Hermes Hertha Hrastnik Ilirija Jadran Jugoslavija Korotan Kovinar Kranj Mars Merkur Mura Olimp Primorje Ptuj Rapid Reka Rote Elf SK Ljubljana Red Star Slavija Ljubljana Slavija Maribor Slovan Sparta Svoboda Celje Svoboda Ljubljana Svoboda Maribor Šoštanj Železničar Maribor

Seasons (SFR Yugoslavia)	1946 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1950 1951 1952 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91

Teams (1946–1991)	Aluminij Branik Maribor Branik Solkan Brežice Domžale Drava Dravinja Elan Elkroj Grafičar Hrastnik Ilirija Izola Jadran Dekani Jesenice Kamnik Kladivar Koper Kovinar Maribor Kovinar Štore Krim Litija Ljubljana Maribor Medvode Mura Nafta Naklo Olimp Olimpija Partizan Žalec Piran Pohorje Postojna Primorje Proletarec Rudar Trbovlje Rudar Velenje Slavija Slivnica Sloga Slovan Steklar Stol Svoboda Tabor Šmartno Triglav Kranj Triglav Ljubljana Vozila Železničar Maribor ŽŠD Celje

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