Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo (), often referred to as Slaven Belupo, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city of Koprivnica in the north of Croatia. They play their home matches at Gradski Stadion in Koprivnica. They compete in the Croatian Football League (HNL), the top tier of Croatian football.

History The first football club in Koprivnica was founded 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 20 August 1912 and this is considered to be the foundation date of the present-day club. The club won the Croatian championship in 1920, which was one of the Yugoslav regional championships. Slaven was subsequently renamed HŠK Victorija, but disbanded six years later due to financial difficulties. Subsequently, the city of Koprivnica was 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. From 1953, the club was known as SD Podravka, before being renamed to NK Slaven in 1958. The name Slaven remains until today, with occasional changes to the name of the club's principal sponsors. The club was thus known as NK Slaven Bilokalnik between 1992 and 1994, after which it was changed to 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 never been relegated. In 2000, they 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 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 eliminated by renowned English club Aston Villa 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. They were 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, having lost the first leg by 1–0Deportivo de La Coruña – NK Slaven Belupo : 1–0 (Match Report) ScoresPro.com and the second leg by 0–3.NK Slaven Belupo – Deportivo de La Coruña : 0–3 (Match Report) ScoresPro.com

Slaven Belupo heads the all-time Intertoto Cup table being the most successful team in history of this tournament.

In 2007, the club reached the Croatian Cup final for the first time, after defeating defending Cup holders HNK Rijeka 3–2 on aggregate. In the final, they lost to Dinamo Zagreb 2–1 on aggregate. Despite having lost the final, Slaven qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history, since Dinamo had already qualified for the UEFA Champions League by virtue of having won the Prva HNL.

Slaven reached the second qualifying round of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, defeating Albanian side Teuta Durrës 8–4 on aggregate before being eliminated after a 4–2 aggregate defeat to Turkish club Galatasaray. In 2008, Slaven finished runners-up in the Croatian league, which remains their best domestic result to date.

On 28 August 2008 Slaven Belupo qualified for the 2008–09 UEFA Cup by beating Aris of Greece 2–1 on aggregate, thereby achieving arguably the best result in the history of the club.

Slaven finished 3rd in the 2011–12 1. HNL, qualifying for the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League. After defeating Portadown 10–2 on aggregate they bowed out to Spanish giants Athletic Bilbao 4–3 on aggregate.

In 2016, Slaven defeated HNK Rijeka 4–2 on aggregate in the 2015–16 Croatian Football Cup semi-final, reaching the final for the second time in their history.

Supporters In 2023 group of fans organized themselves into a fan group under the name Podravske štuke (Podravska pike).

Players Current squad

Dual registration

Other players under contract

Out on loan

Personnel

Recent seasons SeasonLeagueCupEuropean competitionsTop league scorerDivisionPWDLFAPtsPosPlayerGoals19923. HNL North147253019163rd ↑1992–932. HNL North301161347522810th1993–942. HNL North30145115338336th1994–952. HNL North3017676825573rdR11995–962. HNL North3025238113771st ↑R21996–971B. HNL3016685126542nd ↑R21997–981. HNL32115163156389thR2Markovinović61998–991. HNL32109133944397thSFSlišković71999–001. HNL33121383434495thQFDodik132000–011. HNL321111103937445thR2Intertoto CupR3Dodik162001–021. HNL30119103436416thR1Intertoto CupR3Kovačić92002–031. HNL32124163736407thR2Intertoto CupSFDodik122003–041. HNL321010123739409thR2Posavec112004–051. HNL32129113741456thQFIntertoto CupSFKarabogdan102005–061. HNL321011114648418thQFIntertoto CupR3Dodik / Musa / Vručina82006–071. HNL33147124037495thRUVručina112007–081. HNL33166114529542ndQFUEFA CupQR2Poljak82008–091. HNL33167104639554thQFUEFA CupR1Vručina142009–101. HNL30111094445437thQFEuropa LeagueQR3Delić62010–111. HNL301010103430407thSFBenko82011–121. HNL30141064127523rdR2Benko72012–131. HNL33109143550398thSFEuropa LeagueQR3Vugrinec82013–141. HNL36711184665329thSFVugrinec82014–151. HNL36119163849426thR2Mirić102015–161. HNL361012144142427thRUEjupi162016–171. HNL36911163645387thQFHéber / Ivanovski102017–181. HNL361110153545436thR2Ivanovski152018–191. HNL36716134153377thQFKrstanović72019–201. HNL36109173451397thSFKrstanović122020–211. HNL36713163653347thQFKrstanović82021–221. HNL3699183554367thQFKrstanović102022–231. HNL361013132746438thSFHoxha72023–241. HNL3696214369339thR2Mioč102024–251. HNL36139144245485thRUNestorovski82025–261. HNL361011154661418thSFMitrović8

European record

Summary CompetitionPldWDLGFGALast season played UEFA Cup / Europa League 20 10 2 8 48 24 2012–13 Intertoto Cup 34 17 7 10 50 29 2005Total54279189853

Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 9 August 2012Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against

By result OverallPldWDLGFGAGD Home 27 18 4 5 65 21 +44 Away 27 9 5 13 33 32 +1Total54279189853 +45 Last updated: 9 August 2012

By season SeasonCompetitionRoundOpponentHomeAwayAgg2000–01Intertoto Cup R1 Glenavon3–01–1 4–1 R2 Zagłębie Lubin0–01–1 1–1 (a) R3 Sigma Olomouc1–10–1 1–22001–02Intertoto Cup R1 Anorthosis7–02–0 9–0 R2 Bastia1–01–0 2–0 R3 Aston Villa2–10–2 2–32002–03Intertoto Cup R1 OD Trenčín5–01–3 6–3 R2 Belenenses2–01–0 3–0 R3 Marek Dupnitsa3–13–0 6–1 SF VfB Stuttgart0–11–2 1–32004–05Intertoto Cup R1 Hibernians3–01–2 4–2 R2 Vllaznia2–00–1 2–1 R3 Spartak Trnava0–02–2 2–2 (a) SF Lille1–10–3 1–42005–06Intertoto Cup R1 Drava Ptuj1–01–0 2–0 R2 Gloria Bistriţa3–21–0 4–2 R3 Deportivo La Coruña0–30–1 0–42007–08UEFA Cup QR1 Teuta6–22–2 8–4 QR2 Galatasaray1–21–2 2–42008–09UEFA Cup QR1 Marsaxlokk4–04–0 8–0 QR2 Aris2–00–1 2–1 R1 CSKA Moscow1–20–1 1–32009–10Europa League QR1 Birkirkara1–00–0 1–0 QR2 Milano Kumanovo8–24–0 12–2 QR3 Tromsø0–21–2 1–42012–13Europa League QR2 Portadown6–04–2 10–2 QR3 Athletic Bilbao2–11–3 3–4

Last updated on 9 August 2012

Player records Most appearances in UEFA club competitions: 34 appearances Petar Bošnjak Top scorers in UEFA club competitions: 14 goals Marijo Dodik

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have: Played at least 150 league games for the club; Scored at least 50 league goals for the club; or Played at least one international match for their national team while playing for NK Slaven Belupo. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.

Roy Ferenčina (1997–2005) Marijo Dodik (1998–2007) Petar Bošnjak (1999–2008) Srebrenko Posavec (2000–05, 2006–10) Bojan Vručina (2004–10, 2011–12) Silvio Rodić (2005–14) Mateas Delić (2006–10, 2012–16, 2018–) Vedran Purić (2008–2018) Fidan Aliti (2016–2017) Nikola Katić (2016–2018)

Historical list of coaches

Ivan Bedi (1996-1997) Miroslav Buljan (1997) Marijan Vlak (1998) Luka Bonačić (1999–00) Mladen Frančić (2000–01) Dražen Besek (2001–02) Rajko Magić (2002–03) Ivan Bedi (2003–04) Milo Nižetić (2004) Branko Karačić (2004–05) Nikola Jurčević (2005) Elvis Scoria (2006–07) Krunoslav Jurčić (2007–08) Mile Petković (2008–09) Milivoj Bračun (2009) Zlatko Dalić (2009–10) Mile Petković (2010–11) Roy Ferenčina (2011–13) Roman Sović (2013) Ivan Katalinić (2013) Mladen Frančić (2013–14) Elvis Scoria (2014) Ante Čačić (2014–15) Željko Kopić (2015–17) Tomislav Ivković (2017–18) Ivica Sertić (2018–19) Tomislav Stipić (2019–21) Dean Klafurić (2021) Zoran Zekić (2021–23) Ricardo Moniz (2023) Roy Ferenčina (2023–2024) Ivan Radeljić (2024) Mario Kovačević (2024–2025) Mario Gregurina (2025–present)

References

External links

Slaven Belupo profile at UEFA.com Slaven Belupo profile at Sportnet.hr