NK Varaždin
| NK Varaždin | |||
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| Basic data | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Varaždin Nogometni Club | ||
| Seat | Varaždin | ||
| founding | 1932 | ||
| Colours | blue and white | ||
| president | Zlatko Horvat | ||
| Website | nk-varteks.com/ | ||
| First soccer team | |||
| Head coach | Samir Toplak | ||
| Venue | Anđelko Herjavec Stadium | ||
| Places | 9,600 | ||
| league | 2. HNL | ||
| 2017/18 | 2nd place ( 2nd HNL ) | ||
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NK Varaždin is a football club from the Croatian city of Varaždin .
history
The association was founded in 1932 under the name Slavija Varaždin and in 1945 renamed Tekstilac (derived from "textile"; the textile industry was predominant in Varaždin at that time). In 1958 there was another name change to the now known name VARTEKS Varaždin (VAR stands for Varaždin, TEKS again stands for the textile industry). The textile company VARTEKS doo , based in Varaždin, was also the main sponsor of the association until recently.
Since the departure of this important sponsor, the club has struggled with extreme existential difficulties. For this reason, many regular players had to be sold in recent years and replaced by youth players from their own offspring. However, the youth work of the association is now known throughout Croatia as exemplary.
In the past, Varteks was not able to win a title, so in 1961 they failed in the then Yugoslav cup final at Vardar Skopje . The club achieved its greatest success in 1938 under the name Slavija Varaždin when it moved into the then first league of Yugoslavia (Savezna league).
After the civil war and Croatia's independence, the club was accepted directly into the newly founded Croatian first league (1. HNL) and achieved third place as the best placement behind the well-known clubs Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split . In addition, they have made it to the cup finals several times in recent years, but have lost all of the finals against Dinamo Zagreb. With the entry into the cup final, however, Varteks secured every time participation in a European competition. The greatest successes here are the victory in the first round of the UEFA Cup in 2001 against Aston Villa , as well as the elimination of the Dutch representative SC Heerenveen in 1998 in the then still existing European Cup Winners' Cup and thus reaching the quarter-finals of the competition cite.
In 2012 the club got into financial difficulties. In order to attract sponsors, the nickname Varteks was dispensed with and a new name sponsor was hoped for. However, this did not succeed. In that season you could not participate in three away games due to a lack of money, which meant that the club was suspended and forced relegation to the lowest division. In the bankruptcy proceedings, a successor association was founded, which was named VSNK Varazdin and should mainly stand for the quite successful youth department. This played in the first division and one did not want to punish the young talented footballers for the mismanagement of the club. From this successor club, the current club NK Varazdin was finally founded under the same leadership. Even if the club is nowhere named as the official successor of the former NK Varteks, it still plays in its stadium, has the same club colors, the same coat of arms in a different form (without "Varteks") and the same officials who run the club. Almost at the same time, fans of the "White Stones" expressed their displeasure with the club's management and founded their own club at the end of 2011 under the well-known (and now free name) NK Varteks . This at least made it into the third division.
A year later, due to a formal error in the HNS, they were promoted from the last league to the third division (they skipped three leagues). From then on, they made the (almost) march through to league one. In the 2017/18 season they finished second in League 2 and failed in the relegation to NK Istra. A year later they made direct promotion to the first division. The population celebrated the promotion as a re-entry into the first division, but from a legal point of view this is the first ever participation in division 1 under this name.
player
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Tomislav Kocijan (198? –1989) -
Danijel Štefulj (1991–1995)
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Before that, Vugrinec (1992–1997, 2010–2012)
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Saša Bjelanović (1997–1999, 2000–2002)
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Srebrenko Posavec (19 ?? - 1999, 2005-2006)
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Nikola Pokrivač (1998–2002) youth, (2002–2006) player,
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Adam Sušac (19 ?? - 2008) youth, (2008–2012) player,
Trainer
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Luka Bonačić (1995–1996)
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Miroslav Blažević (2003-2005) -
Josip Kuže (2007)
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Stadion
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The stadium is located directly on Zagreb Street (Zagrebačka ulica). It was built there in 1931 opposite the textile company Varteks doo for the recreation of company employees.
Over time, the stadium changed and was adapted to the relevant UEFA criteria for hosting international matches.
In its current state it has 9,600 seats, 4,100 of which are covered on the main stand (Zapad - west), 4,400 uncovered seats on the opposite stand (Istok - east), and 1,100 uncovered seats on the fan stand on the right (youth - south). There is no grandstand on the north side (Sjever), but one with a reception hall and restaurant on the ground floor is planned. The stadium lighting is specified with 1400 lux and is extraordinary: The club did not have to dig into its own pockets to set up the lighting, rather it was a gift from the Dalekovod company to the club for an excellent season in which they barely won the championship missed, but secured a place in the European competition with third place and reaching the cup final.
The stadium also has three training fields, one of which is illuminated, and the newest (to be completed at the end of 2005) is an artificial turf field, which also provides good training opportunities in winter.
Fans
The fan community or ultra grouping of the NK Varaždin is called White Stones Varazdin. These are located on the south stand (youth) and cheer on from here,