1.
HNK Hajduk Split
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HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a professional Croatian football club founded in 1911, and based in the city of Split. The clubs home ground, since 1979, is the 35, 000-seat Poljud Stadium, Hajduk was founded by a group of Split students in a famous tavern known as U Fleků in Prague. Between the early 1920s and 1940, Hajduk regularly participated in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national championship, following World War II and the formation of the Yugoslav league system in 1946, Hajduk went on to spend the entire SFR Yugoslavia period in top level. Their run continued following the breakup of Yugoslavia, as the joined the Croatian First League in its inaugural season in 1992. The clubs golden era came in the 1970s, when they won four Yugoslav leagues, Hajduk is also the only club in Yugoslav football history that has won 5 consecutive Yugoslav cups, and also the only unbeaten champion. Hajduks biggest European achievements are three European Cup quarterfinals, one UEFA Cup semifinal, and one Cup Winners Cup semifinal, the clubs main rivals are Dinamo Zagreb, and a match between the two is referred to as the Eternal Derby. Hajduk Split fans are called Torcida Split, who are the oldest organized firm in Europe, the inspiration of the name were Brazilian fans at the 1950 World Cup that were called Torcida. As of 2008 the club is a company, although not listed on the public stock exchange. It is one of two fan-owned sports teams in Croatia, numbering over 40,000 members and over 50 fan clubs situated mostly across Croatia and Germany. The club was founded in the centuries-old pub U Fleků in Prague, by a group of students from Split, Fabijan Kaliterna, Lucijan Stella, Ivan Šakić and Vjekoslav Ivanišević. They went to the pub following a match between AC Sparta and SK Slavia and decided it was time their own town founded a professional club and they all knew how popular the sport was in their home Split, and how well their friends can play. The club was registered with the authorities on February 13,1911. Be worthy of that great name, Hajduks were romanticized bandits that fought the rule of the Ottoman Turks. It is speculated that famed hajduk Andrija Šimić, who arrived in Split in 1902 to cheering crowds, was perhaps the inspiration for the name. The founders subsequently designed the emblem, and a group of Catholic nuns from a monastery in Split. Both the name and the board on the crest were found provocative by the Monarchy. Hajduk gathered the pro-Croat party of citizens of Split, Croat unionists or puntari and that is why the club specifically has the name hrvatski nogometni klub and has the Croatian coat-of-arms in its crest. The club itself was against the Austrian-Hungarian governments policy of not allowing the unification of the Croatian provinces, Hajduks first opponent were Calcio Spalato, the club of an autonomist party from in Split, and the match ended with a 9–0 victory for Hajduk
2.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
3.
Croatia
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Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
4.
Vinkovci
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Vinkovci is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Srijem County in eastern Croatia. In the 2011 census, the population of the city was 35,312. Surrounded by many villages, it is a local transport hub. The area around Vinkovci has been inhabited since the Neolithic period. The Romans named the town Colonia Aurelia Cibalae, most likely during the reign of emperor Caracalla and it was the birthplace of Roman emperors Valentinian I and Valens. The Roman thermal bath is still preserved underground, along several other Roman buildings located near the center of todays Vinkovci. The 4th century Battle of Cibalae, between the armies of Constantine I and Licinius, was fought nearby, from 1526 to 1687 it was part of the Ottoman Empire, administratively located in Sirem sanjak within the Budin Eyalet. It was captured by the Habsburg Empire in 1687, which was confirmed by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. Until 1918, Vinkovci was part of the Austrian monarchy, in the Slavonian Military Frontier, under the administration of the Brooder Grenz-Infanterie-Regiment N°VII until 1881, in the late 19th and early 20th century, Vinkovci was a district capital in the Syrmia County of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. From 1941 to 1945, Vinkovci was part of the Independent State of Croatia, from 17 April 1944 the city was heavily bombed by the Allies due to its important position in transportation. Vinkovci Synagogue was among the largest and the most prestigious synagogues in Croatia and it was destroyed by the government in 1941-42. The city and its surroundings were gravely impacted by the 1991–95 Croatian War of Independence. The city was close to the front lines between the forces of Croatia and the rebel Serbs, but it managed to avoid the fate of nearby Vukovar, the eastern sections of the town were substantially damaged by shelling, and the nearby village of Cerić was almost completely destroyed. The Church of Pentecost was dynamited by local Croatian forces as retaliation after rebel Serbs forces severely damaged the local Catholic rectory, the Croatian Ground Army has stationed the headquarters of its Armored-Mechanized Guard Brigade at Vinkovci barracks. The current brigade was formed in 2007 and it incorporated two former guards brigades as well as other units formed in the 1990s during the war of independence. Vinkovci is located in the part of the Slavonia region,19 km southwest of Vukovar,24 km north of Županja and 43 km south of Osijek. The city lies in a flatland on the Bosut river, at an elevation of approx,90 metres, and has a mild continental climate. Vinkovci is also part of the subregion of Syrmia
5.
Zagreb
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Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of Croatia. It is located in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately 122 m above sea level. In the last official census of 2011 the population of the City of Zagreb was 792,875, the wider Zagreb metropolitan area includes the City of Zagreb and the separate Zagreb County bringing the total metropolitan area population up to 1,237,887. It is the biggest metropolitan area in Croatia, and the one with a population of over one million. Zagreb is a city with a history dating from the Roman times to the present day. The oldest settlement located in the vicinity of the city was the Roman Andautonia, the name Zagreb is recorded in 1134, in reference to the foundation of the settlement at Kaptol in 1094. Zagreb became a royal town in 1242. In 1851 Zagreb had its first mayor, Janko Kamauf, and in 1945 it was made the capital of Croatia when the demographic boom, the city extends over 30 kilometres east-west and around 20 kilometres north-south. The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific, and research institutions, Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, and almost all government ministries. Almost all of the largest Croatian companies, media, and scientific institutions have their headquarters in the city and it is a city known for its diverse economy, high quality of living, museums, sporting, and entertainment events. Its main branches of economy are high-tech industries and the service sector, the etymology of the name Zagreb is unclear. It was used of the city only from 1852, but it had been in use as the name of the Zagreb dioecese since the 12th century. The name is first recorded in a charter by Ostrogon archbishop Felician, dated 1134, the older form of the name is Zagrab, the modern Croatian form Zagreb is first recorded in a 1689 map by Nicolas Sanson. An even older form is reflected in Hungarian Zabrag, for this, Desy proposes the etymology of Chabrag, a well-attested hypocorism of the name Cyprian. The same form is reflected in a number of Hungarian toponyms, the name Agram was used in German in the Habsburg period, this name has been classified as probably of Roman origin but according to Desy it could be an Austrian German reanalysis of *Zugram. In Middle Latin and Modern Latin, Zagreb is known as Agranum, in Croatian folk etymology, the name of the city has been derived from either the verb za-grab-, meaning to scoop or to dig. One folk legend illustrating this derivation ties the name to a drought of the early 14th century, in another legend, a city governor is thirsty and orders a girl named Manda to scoop water from Manduševac well, using the imperative, zagrabi, Mando. The oldest settlement located near todays Zagreb was a Roman town of Andautonia, now Šćitarjevo, Gradec and Kaptol were united in 1851 by ban Josip Jelačić, who was credited for this, with the naming the main city square, Ban Jelačić Square in his honour
6.
Stadion Maksimir
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Stadion Maksimir is a stadium in the Croatian capital of Zagreb. It takes its name from the neighbourhood of Maksimir. The venue is primarily the home of Dinamo Zagreb, the top team in the country. First opened in 1912, it has undergone many facelifts, many of the Croatian national football teams games are played at Maksimir, which competes with Poljud stadium for the biggest matches. The stadium also hosts other events such as rock concerts. The stadium was first opened 5 May 1912, soon afterwards, in June 1941, rebel youths burned the stadium down. In 1977, a movie Operation Stadium was made to commemorate the segregation incident, when the UEFA Euro 1976 final tournament was held in SFR Yugoslavia, Maksimir hosted the Netherlands v. Czechoslovakia semi-final match and the Netherlands v. Yugoslavia third place match. Maksimir was the venue for the 1987 Summer Universiade hosted by the city of Zagreb. In 1990, several events happened at Maksimir, on 13 May, the Dinamo Zagreb–Red Star Belgrade riot took place, an infamous riot involving Dinamo Zagreb and Red Star Belgrade supporters. The last match of the Yugoslavia national football team was hosted at Maksimir on 3 June, on 17 October of the same year, Croatia played the United States in what was Croatias first match in the modern era. In 1998, plans were made for a renovation process, and the first phase started the same year, when the old northern stand was demolished. This renovation increased Maksimirs seating capacity to 38,079, in the summer of 2011, a little, but much needed facelifting was made on the stadium. On 5 September 1990, David Bowie performed a sold out concert as a part of his Sound+Vision Tour, in 2000, Zlatan Stipišić Gibonni performed a concert in front of 32,000 people, promoting his album Judi, zviri i beštimje. On 22 June 2005, Bijelo Dugme performed a concert for a crowd of 70,000 people on their Tour 2005. On 17 June 2007, Marko Perković Thompson performed a concert for a crowd of 70,000 people as a part of his Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj Tour. On 9 and 10 August 2009, U2 performed two sold out concerts for 124,012 people as a part of their U2 360° Tour. On 8 June 2011, Bon Jovi performed a concert for a crowd of 33,698 people as a part of their Bon Jovi Live Tour, which supports the bands sixth compilation album, The Greatest Hits. On 11 June 2012, Madonna was scheduled to perform a concert as a part of her MDNA Tour, but the concert was cancelled due to logistic reasons
7.
GNK Dinamo Zagreb
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Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb, commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb, is a professional Croatian football club based in Zagreb. The club was founded in 1911 and they play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Croatian football, having won 18 Prva HNL titles,14 Croatian Football Cups and four Croatian Football Super Cups. The club has spent its entire existence in top flight, having members of the Yugoslav First League from 1946 to 1991. The club was founded in 1911 as HŠK Građanski, after the Second World War, the new communist regime considered clubs like HAŠK and Građanski as fascist and nationalistic. As such, they were banned, and, in 1945, NK Dinamo was founded as a club to act as a successor to HŠK Građanski. They entered the Yugoslav First League in its inaugural 1946–47 season, in their second season in Yugoslav top flight in 1947–48 they finished as Yugoslav champions which was their first major trophy. The club won three league titles and seven Yugoslav Cups. Amid the breakup of Yugoslavia and formation of the Croatian football league system, Dinamo are the only Croatian club with European silverware, having won the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by defeating Leeds United in the final. They also finished runners-up in the competition in 1963 when they lost to Valencia. In order to reflect this in June 1991, it was renamed HAŠK Građanski and they won five league titles and participated in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League group stages carrying that name before reverting to Dinamo Zagreb in February 2000. The teams traditional colour is blue, which has been replaced for European matches in recent times with the darker navy blue. The clubs biggest rivals are Hajduk Split, and matches between the two teams are referred to as Eternal Derby, Dinamo are currently reigning Croatian league champions having won their eleventh consecutive Prva HNL title in the 2015–16 season. Another notable match was a 0–0 draw against Manchester United in the 1999–2000 season, in the 21st century, a notable win for Dinamo Zagreb was also against Ajax in the 2007–08 season, beating them 3–2 in Amsterdam, and later advancing on away goals. In the immediate aftermath of World War II, the three most successful Zagreb-based clubs—HAŠK, Građanski and Concordia—were all disbanded by an issued by the communist authorities in May 1945. In order to them, a new sports society called FD Dinamo was founded on 9 June 1945. The new club inherited Građanskis colors and fan base, with most of Građanskis players continuing their careers at Dinamo. In the first few years, the club played their matches at Građanskis old ground, Stadion Koturaška
8.
NK Zagreb
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Nogometni klub Zagreb, commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb, is a Croatian football club based in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, currently playing in the First Croatian Football League. The club was founded in 1908, NK Zagrebs home ground since 1946 is Stadion u Kranjčevićevoj with reduced capacity of 8,850 where they only play their official competitive matches. The teams traditional colours are white shirts, shorts and socks which is the reason why they are referred to as Bijeli in Croatian. Also, NK Zagreb participated several times in the European competitions like UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup Winners Cup, UEFA Intertoto Cup, the club was founded in 1903 as PNIŠK, being one of the first to be formed in Croatia. First secretary was Dragutin Baki, the president was Vilhelm Witte, since there werent any clubs to play with, the first official match was played between the clubs players divided into two groups in 1904. Ticket income from the match was 3 krone and 3 filirs, the first international match was played in 1905. Against Magyar champions Ferencváros on Magyar Athleticai Clubs pitch, home team won with a high 11–1 score. The players who played for Zagreb were, Filipčić, Schwarz, Todl, Mutefelija, Slavnič, Ugrinić, Polivka, Uhrl, Višinger, Koruna, and Torbić. However, after World War II, NK Zagreb has been overshadowed by larger, more successful clubs. One of the most notable matches Zagreb played was on 19 July 1973 when Great drama in Maksimir took place – a match between NK Zagreb and NK Osijek on Maksimir stadium. It was a second of two qualifying matches for entering the first league, the first one in Osijek ended 0–0 with attendance of 25,000. The second match was played in Maksimir because of demand for tickets – the attendance was 64,138 which broke the stadium record. Zagreb won the match after penalty kicks, lineup for this team was, Horvat, Gašparini, Tucak, Antolić, Ivanišević, Lipovac, Markulin, Čopor, Močibob, Rukljač, Smolek. Among NK Zagrebs more notable players was Ivica Olić who led the club to its first championship of the Prva HNL in 2002 with 21 goals scored in 29 appearances for NK Zagreb, also worth mentioning here is Joško Popović, 2nd top-goalscorer ever in Prva HNL. In the championship of 2002, NK Zagreb broke the duopoly of NK Dinamo, standard lineup for the champion team was, Vasilj, Stavrevski, Pirić, Ješe, Bulat, Poldrugač, Duro, Hasančić, Franja, Lovrek, Olić. There are two football competitions being played in Croatia – Cup and Supercup. NK Zagreb were finalist of Cup in 1997 and finalist of Supercup in 2002, the club was in debt, players not receiving wages for six months. Zagreb president Dražen Medić had several offers for players that would at least somewhat stabilized the situation in the first division club from Kranjčevićeva, strike was ongoing for a week ahead of matchday with players demanding to be paid at least partially
Mile Petković
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Zoran Zekić
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