Slaven Belupo

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Full name	Nogometni klub Slaven
Nickname(s)	Farmaceuti (The Pharmacists)
Founded	20 August 1907 (as HŠK Slaven)
Ground	Gradski stadion (Capacity: 4,000)
Chairman	Stanislav Biondić
Manager	Roy Ferenčina
League	1. HNL
2011–12	3rd
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

NK Slaven Belupo, often referred to simply as Slaven and known internationally as NK Slaven Koprivnica, is a Croatian football club based in the city of Koprivnica in the north of the country. They play their home matches at Gradski stadion in Koprivnica.

History[link]

The first football club in Koprivnica was founded back in June 1907, when a student team was formed and named Đački nogometni klub, which is Croatian for Students' Football Club. The name Slaven first appeared when a sports club named HŠK Slaven was founded by the members of the Friedrich family on August 20, 1912 and this is considered to be the foundation date of the present-day club. The club won the Croatian regional championship in 1920. Slaven was subsequently renamed HŠK Victorija, but was then disbanded due to financial difficulties and the city of Koprivnica was subsequently without a football club for four years, between 1926 and 1930.

Between 1930 and 1945, the club was known as HŠK Koprivnica, HŠK Danica and RNHŠK Sloga, before the name Slaven returned with the foundation of FD Slaven. Between 1953 and 1958, the club was known as SD Podravka and was then renamed NK Slaven. The name Slaven remained until today, with only the names of the club's principal sponsors being added to it. The club was thus known as NK Slaven Bilokalnik between 1992 and 1994, after which it was given its current name following a sponsorship agreement with the Koprivnica-based pharmaceutical company Belupo.

Slaven gained their first promotion to the Prva HNL in 1997 and have been playing in the league without relegation ever since. In 2000, they surprisingly finished fifth in the Prva HNL and qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup. In their first Intertoto Cup appearance, they managed to reach the third round of the competition before being eliminated by Czech club SK Sigma Olomouc after losing 2-0 at home and getting a goalless draw on the road. One year later, they repeated the success and were only stopped by renowned English club Aston Villa F.C. with a 3-2 aggregate defeat. In their next two Intertoto Cup appearances, they were even more successful as they reached the semifinals of the competition on both occasions, only to be eliminated after losing to renowned clubs Stuttgart from Germany and Lille from France respectively. Their last Intertoto Cup appearance in 2005 ended in the third round with a 4-0 aggregate defeat to Spanish club Deportivo La Coruña.

In 2007, the club reached the Croatian Cup final after beating defending Cup holders NK Rijeka 3-2 in the second leg of the semifinals, going on to play Dinamo Zagreb in the final. Although losing to Dinamo in the final, 2-1 on aggregate, Slaven took a place in the UEFA Cup qualifying for the first time in their history, since their opponents had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League by virtue of having won the Prva HNL.

Slaven reached the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup 2007-08, beating Albanian side KS Teuta Durrës 8-4 on aggregate before being eliminated after a 4-2 aggregate defeat to Turkish club Galatasaray S.K..^[1] In 2008, Slaven finished runners-up in the Croatian league, which is their best domestic result to date.^[2]

On August 28, 2008 NK Slaven Belupo qualified for the UEFA Cup 2008-09 by beating Aris of Greece 2-0 at their home stadium, to reach an aggregate score of 2-1, thereby achieving arguably the best result in the history of the club.^[3][4]

Current squad[link]

As of 14 March 2012

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Tomislav Pelin 2 MF Dario Čanadija 3 DF Borislav Pilipović 4 DF Elvis Kokalović 5 DF Mato Grgić 6 DF Igor Bubnjić 7 FW Goran Mujanović 8 MF Stjepan Poljak 9 FW Martin Šaban 10 MF Josip Brezovec 11 MF Dejan Glavica 12 GK Silvio Rodić

No. Position Player 15 FW Davor Vugrinec 16 DF Vedran Purić 17 FW Bojan Vručina 20 MF Mario Gregurina 21 MF Martin Jakšinić 22 MF Pejo Kuprešak 23 DF Stjepan Geng 25 GK Hrvoje Zdelar 26 DF Alen Maras 27 FW Juraj Maretić 30 FW Tomislav Bušić MF Petar Brlek

Notable players[link]

Recent seasons[link]

European record[link]

Summary[link]

Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 6 August 2009
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against

By result[link]

Last updated: 6 August 2009

By season[link]

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg
2000–01	Intertoto Cup	R1	Glenavon	3–0	1–1	4–1
		R2	Zagłębie Lubin	0–0	1–1	1–1
		R3	Sigma Olomouc	1–1	0–1	1–2
2001–02	Intertoto Cup	R1	Anorthosis	7–0	2–0	9–0
		R2	Bastia	1–0	1–0	2–0
		R3	Aston Villa	2–1	0–2	2–3
2002–03	Intertoto Cup	R1	OD Trenčín	5–0	1–3	6–3
		R2	Belenenses	2–0	1–0	3–0
		R3	Marek Dupnitsa	3–1	3–0	6–1
		SF	VfB Stuttgart	0–1	1–2	1–3
2004–05	Intertoto Cup	R1	Hibernians	3–0	1–2	4–2
		R2	Vllaznia	2–0	0–1	2–1
		R3	Spartak Trnava	0–0	2–2	2–2
		SF	Lille	1–1	0–3	1–4
2005–06	Intertoto Cup	R1	Drava Ptuj	1–0	1–0	2–0
		R2	Gloria Bistriţa	3–2	1–0	4–2
		R3	Deportivo La Coruña	0–3	0–1	0–4
2007–08	UEFA Cup	QR1	Teuta	6–2	2–2	8–4
		QR2	Galatasaray	1–2	1–2	2–4
2008–09	UEFA Cup	QR1	Marsaxlokk	4–0	4–0	8–0
		QR2	Aris Thessaloniki	2–0	0–1	2–1
		R1	CSKA Moscow	1–2	0–1	1–3
2009–10	Europa League	QR1	Birkirkara	1–0	0–0	1–0
		QR2	Milano	8–2	4–0	12–2
		QR3	Tromsø	0–2	1–2	1–4

Last updated on 2 September 2009

Player records[link]

• Most appearances in UEFA club competitions: 28 appearances^[6]
  • Petar Bošnjak
• Top scorers in UEFA club competitions: 14 goals^[6]
  • Marijo Dodik

Managerial history[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website (Croatian)
• Slaven Belupo profile at UEFA.com
• Slaven Belupo profile at Sportnet.hr (Croatian)
• Slaven Belupo profile at Nogometni magazin (Croatian)

Nikola Rak (born 29 August 1987 in Zagreb) is a Croatian football midfielder, currently playing for Slaven Belupo in the Prva HNL.

In June 2012, Rak signed a two-year contract with Slaven Belupo.^[1] In his debut for the club in the second qualifying round of the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League on 19 July 2012, he scored a hat-trick in a 6–0 victory over Portadown.^[2] Three days later, he hit a brace in a 3–0 away win against Cibalia in the first round of 2012–13 Prva HNL.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nikola Rak at nogometni-magazin (Croatian)
• Nikola Rak at Sportnet.hr (Croatian)
• Nikola Rak at Transfermarkt.de

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