FC Koper

Koper

Full name	Football Club Koper
Nickname(s)	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]
League	Littoral League
2016–17	Slovenian PrvaLiga, 6th (relegated)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

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.

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.

Following the 2016–17 season, Koper failed to obtain a competition licence and was excluded from the Slovenian top division.^[4][5]

Name changes

• 1920: Formed as Circolo sportivo Capodistriano
• 1928: Renamed Unione Sportiva Capodistriana
• 1946: Renamed Aurora Koper
• 1955: Fusion from Aurora Koper and Meduza Koper to NK Koper
• 1990: Renamed NK Koper Capodistria
• 2002: Renamed FC Koper
• 2003: Renamed FC Anet Koper
• 2008: Renamed FC Luka Koper
• 2017: Renamed FC Koper

League positions

In Yugoslavia

In Slovenia

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.^[9] In 2010, the old stadium was demolished and completely rebuild.^[10] It has a capacity for 4,047 spectators.^[11] The largest attendance was in 1987 in a match between Koper and Olimpija (10,000 spectators).

Honours

Yugoslavia

League

• Yugoslav Third League

Winners (2): 1984–85, 1987–88

Runners-up (1): 1986–87

Cup

• Slovenian Republic Cup

Winners (2): 1989–90, 1990–91

Runners-up (1): 1988–89

Slovenia

• Slovenian First League

Winners (1): 2009–10

Runners-up (2): 2007–08, 2013–14

• Slovenian Second League:

Winners (1): 1999–2000

Runners-up (1): 1997–98

Cup

• Slovenian Cup

Winners (3): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2014–15

Runners-up (1): 2008–09

• Slovenian Supercup

Winners (2): 2010, 2015

Runners-up (1): 2007

• MNZ Koper Cup

Runners-up (1): 1991–92

Koper in UEFA competitions

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

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Score
2002	Intertoto Cup	1R		Helsingborgs IF	0–1, 0–0
2003	Intertoto Cup	1R		Zagreb	1–0, 2–2
		2R		Dubnica	1–0, 2–3
		3R		Egaleo FC	3–2, 2–2
		1/2		Heerenveen	0–2, 1–0
2006–07	UEFA Cup	1Q		Litex Lovech	0–1, 0–5
2007–08	UEFA Cup	1Q		Široki Brijeg	1–3, 2–3
2008–09	UEFA Cup	1Q		Vllaznia Shkodër	1–2, 0–0
2010–11	UEFA Champions League	2Q		Dinamo Zagreb	3–0, 1–5
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	1Q		Shakhter Karagandy	1–1, 1–2
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	1Q		Čelik Nikšić	4–0, 5–0
		2Q		Neftchi Baku	0–2, 2–1
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q		Víkingur Reykjavík	2–2, 1–0
		2Q		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. ↑ "Licenčna komisija za pritožbe sprejela odločitev o pritožbi FC Koper" (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia official website. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017. 
5. ↑ R. K. (1 June 2017). "Koper dokončno brez licence, v prvi ligi Aluminij in Ankaran" (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 1 June 2017. 
6. ↑ "NK Maribor: Zgodovina (sezona 1988/89)" (in Slovenian). NK Maribor official website. Retrieved 18 July 2016. 
7. ↑ "NK Maribor: Zgodovina (sezona 1989/90)" (in Slovenian). NK Maribor official website. Retrieved 18 July 2016. 
8. ↑ "NK Maribor: Zgodovina (sezona 1990/91)" (in Slovenian). NK Maribor official website. Retrieved 18 July 2016. 
9. ↑ "ŠRC Bonifika" (in Slovenian). stadioni.org. Retrieved 26 February 2016. 
10. ↑ 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. 
11. ↑ admin (10 June 2011). "Stadion Bonifika" [Bonifika Stadium] (in Slovenian). fotoultras.si. Retrieved 26 February 2016. 

External links

• Official FC Koper website (in Slovene)
• Unofficial NK Koper website (in Slovene)
• PrvaLiga profile (in Slovene)
• Soccerway profile