HNK Cibalia

Cibalia

Full name	Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia Vinkovci
Nickname(s)	Nebesko plavi (The Sky-blues)
Founded	7 May 1919;105 years ago (7 May 1919) (as HGŽK Cibalia)
Ground	Stadion HNK Cibalia
Capacity	8,200
Chairman	Damir Mustapić
Manager	Siniša Sesar
League	First League (II)
2022–23	3rd
Website	http://www.hnk-cibalia.hr
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Hrvatski nogometni klub Cibalia, commonly known as Cibalia Vinkovci or simply Cibalia, is a Croatian football club from the town of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia. Cibalia currently play in the Prva NL, Croatia's second-tier league. Their stadium is located in the south part of their home town and can hold 10,000 spectators. The name Cibalia comes from the Roman settlement called Colonia Aurelia Cibalae which was the precursor of the present-day town of Vinkovci. In the period from 1945 to 1990 the club was called NK Dinamo Vinkovci.

History

The club was founded in 1919 as HGŽK Cibalia Vinkovci, and in 1925 the team merged with local rivals RŠK Sloga. In the 1930s the club was coached by Bane Sekulić, Károly Nemes and Rajmond Breznik. ^[1] After World War II the club was banned by the new Communist regime. After the war re-established clubs Sloga and OFD Graničar merged and formed NK Dinamo Vinkovci which began competing within the Yugoslav football system. The club would see several humble decades before finally making it to the Yugoslav First League in 1982. They played in the top-tier league for five seasons until they were relegated to the Yugoslav Second League in 1987.

In 1990 the team returned its traditional name of Cibalia. The club spent much of the 1990s in the Prva HNL, Croatian top level. It remained in the Prva HNL until the 2003–04 season when it was relegated to the Druga HNL. The club was also penalized by UEFA in the same season with a deduction of six points for failure to fulfill financial obligations related to past player transfers. Nevertheless, in the 2004–05 season, Cibalia outdid all of its opponents in the second league by a large margin, won the promotion playoffs and returned to Prva HNL. It was in this season that they also had Croatian mixed martial arts legend Mirko Filipović play the final 8 minutes of a match vs HNK Vukovar. ^[2]

Cibalia also had some success playing in the Croatian Cup, where it reached the final in 1999 (lost to Osijek) and semi-final in 2000, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The 2009–10 season was Cibalia's best ever season in the top division of Croatian football. They finished third after giants Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split, having spent most of the season in second position. They qualified for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League but eventually lost to Northern Irish side Cliftonville and exited the tournament.

Cibalia were relegated from the 1. HNL in 2018 and also faced bankruptcy. ^[3] They ended up being relegated directly to the third division, where they finished the season in first place and were promoted after receiving a second division license in May 2019. ^{[4] [5]}

Honours

• Yugoslav Second League (West):
  • Winners (1): 1981–82
• Yugoslav Third League (SR Croatia):
  • Winners (1): 1974–75
• Yugoslav Cup
  • Quarter-finals (1): 1977
• Croatian First League:
  • Third place (1): 2009–10
• Croatian Second League:
  • Winners (3): 1997–98, 2004–05, 2015–16
• Croatian Third League (East):
  • Winners (1): 2018–19
• Croatian Cup:
  • Runners-up (1): 1999
• UEFA Intertoto Cup:
  • Semi-finals (1): 2003

Supporters and rivalries

See also: Slavonian derby

The club has a relatively large but local following. Their main supporter group are called Ultrasi. ^[6] Their main rivals are the group Kohorta Osijek from NK Osijek. ^[7]

Current squad

As of 24 January 2025

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   CRO Luka Marijanović 2 DF   BIH Mate Zvonimir Lasić 3 DF   BRA Britto 4 DF   CRO Renato Kelić 6 DF   CRO Hrvoje Crnčec(on loan from Varaždin) 7 DF   BIH Hamza Mešanović 8 MF   CRO Marin Kuzminski 9 FW   CRO Ivan Lozić 10 MF   CRO Martin Vrdoljak 11 FW   CRO Mate Bajić 12 GK   CRO Ivan Križanović 13 FW   CRO Jurica Bajić 14 FW   CRO Filip Jazvić 15 MF   CRO Tin Polić

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 FW   CRO Antun Damjanović(on loan from Osijek) 17 MF   CRO Ivan Radošević(on loan from Vukovar 1991) 18 MF   CRO David Bosak 19 MF   CRO Filip Josipović 20 MF   CRO Josip Pejić 21 MF   CRO Marko Pervan 22 MF   BIH Damir Halilović 23 MF   BRA Leoni Gastaldelo 26 DF   CRO Marijan Oršolić 27 DF   CRO Filip Lišnić — DF   CRO Petar Rubić — FW   CRO Luka Branšteter(on loan from Osijek) — FW   CRO Petar Mišić (on loan from Zrinjski Mostar)

Recent seasons

Season	League									Cup	Europe / Other		Top league scorer(s)
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos				Name	Goals
1992	1. HNL	22	3	9	10	13	24	15	9th	DNQ			Josip Markovinović	3
1992–93	1. HNL	30	11	9	10	31	30	31	5th	R2			Davor Čop	8
1993–94	1. HNL	34	11	13	10	37	27	35	7th	R2			Josip Markovinović	8
1994–95	1. HNL	30	9	10	11	26	33	37	10th	QF			Josip Markovinović	5
1995–96	1. HNL	36	11	12	13	43	55	45	9th	R2			Goran Meštrović	6
1996–97	1. HNL	30	11	0	19	35	56	33	13th ↓	R1			Antun Andričević & Ivica Marinčić	5
1997–98	2. HNL	30	22	5	3	80	19	71	1st ↑	R1
1998–99	1. HNL	32	10	7	15	34	44	26	9th	RU			Ivan Bošnjak	7
1999–2000	1. HNL	33	11	12	10	42	39	45	6th	SF			Ivan Bošnjak	14
2000–01	1. HNL	32	5	18	9	31	45	33	9th	R2	Intertoto Cup	R2	Mario Meštrović	7
2001–02	1. HNL	30	9	9	12	34	37	36	10th	R1			Mladen Bartolović	6
2002–03	1. HNL	32	12	7	13	39	44	43	5th	QF			Mladen Bartolović	9
2003–04	1. HNL	32	8	7	17	39	53	31	11th ↓	SF	Intertoto Cup	SF	Zoran Ratković	10
2004–05	2. HNL	32	21	8	3	65	23	65	1st ↑	R1			Danijel Kuzmanović	14
2005–06	1. HNL	32	9	10	13	33	47	37	9th	R2			Mladen Križanović Aleksandar Stojanovski Ivan Žgela	4
2006–07	1. HNL	33	9	5	19	33	53	32	10th	QF			Zoran Zekić	12
2007–08	1. HNL	33	11	7	15	40	48	40	8th	QF			Željko Malčić	12
2008–09	1. HNL	33	10	8	15	33	53	38	8th	SF			Željko Malčić	9
2009–10	1. HNL	30	16	9	5	46	20	57	3rd	R1			Dino Kresinger	9
2010–11	1. HNL	30	12	8	10	33	24	44	4th	SF	Europa League	QR2	Dino Kresinger	11
2011–12	1. HNL	30	13	6	11	35	35	45	5th	SF			Mladen Bartolović	8
2012–13	1. HNL	33	9	5	19	29	44	32	11th ↓	SF			Tomislav Mazalović	7
2013–14	2. HNL	33	18	5	10	41	39	59	2nd	R2			Hrvoje Tokić	16
2014–15	2. HNL	30	10	8	12	36	44	38	6th	R2			Jakov Puljić	16
2015–16	2. HNL	33	20	10	3	54	20	70	1st ↑	R2			Frane Vitaić	15
2016–17	1. HNL	36	4	9	23	26	79	21	9th	R2			Frane Vitaić	7
2017–18	1. HNL	36	6	8	22	36	75	26	10th ↓↓	R2			Ivan Galić	7
2018–19	3. HNL	30	21	5	4	67	24	68	1st ↑	R1			Dominik Dogan	16
2019–20	2. HNL	19	2	7	10	13	34	13	16th	R1			Mate Bajić	5
2020–21	2. HNL	34	15	6	13	50	43	51	4th	R1			Gerald Diyoke, Filip Jazvić	7
2021–22	2. HNL	30	11	8	11	44	42	41	6th	R1			Domagoj Pušić, Filip Jazvić	8
2022–23	2. HNL	33	13	15	5	37	26	54	3rd	R1			Ivan Mihaljević	7
2023–24	2. HNL	33	11	4	18	37	57	37	8th	R2			Karlo Miljanić	10

European record

Summary

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Last season played
UEFA Europa League	2	0	1	1	0	1	2010–11
UEFA Intertoto Cup	10	3	3	4	13	16	2003
Total	12	3	4	5	13	17

Source:, ^[8] Last updated on 10 September 2010
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.

By season

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg.
2000–01	Intertoto Cup	R1	FK Obilić	3–1	1–1	4–2
		R2	FC Tatabánya	0–0	2–3	2–3
2003–04	Intertoto Cup	R2	FC Shakhtyor	4–2	1–1	5–3
		R3	Tampere United	0–1	2–0	2–1
		SF	VfL Wolfsburg	1–4	0–4	1–8
2010–11	Europa League	QR2	Cliftonville	0–0	0–1	0–1

Player records

• Most appearances in UEFA club competitions: 10 appearances ^[9]
  • Jure Jurić
• Top scorers in UEFA club competitions: 3 goals ^[9]
  • Ivan Maroslavac

All-time total in the Prva HNL

	Points	Games	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA
HNK Cibalia	515	438	129	128	181	470	587

Historical list of coaches

• Bane Sekulić ^[1]
• Károly Nemes ^[1]
• Rajmond Breznik ^[1]
• Dražan Jerković (1975–76)
• Otto Barić (1976–79)
• Ivan Marković
• Tonko Vukušić (19xx–1984)
• Nedeljko Gugolj (1984–8X)
• Martin Novoselac (1986–88)
• Ivo Šušak (1988–89)
• Stipe Kedžo (1989–90)
• Tonko Vukušić (1990-9x)
• Mile Petković (1992)
• Stanko Mršić (1993–95)
• Davor Čop (interim) (1994)
• Tomislav Radić (1995–96)
• Davor Čop (interim) (1995)
• Mile Petković (1996–97)
• Tomislav Radić (1997)
• Tonko Vukušić (1997–98)
• Krasnodar Rora (1998)
• Mijo Ručević (1998–99)
• Srećko Lušić (1999–2000)
• Davor Čop (2000–01)
• Mile Petković (2001–03)
• Bruno Buhač (interim) (2003)
• Srećko Lušić (2003)
• Vjeran Simunić (2003–04)
• Davor Mladina (2004–05)
• Branko Karačić (2005–06)
• Igor Štimac (2006)
• Ivica Matković (2006)
• Mile Petković (2006–07)
• Srećko Lušić (2007–08)
• Stanko Mršić (2008–11)
• Siniša Jalić (interim) (2011)
• Samir Toplak (2011–12)
• Miroslav Bojko (interim) (2012)
• Željko Kopić (2012)
• Miroslav Bojko (2012–13)
• Damir Petravić (2013–14)
• Stanko Mršić (2014)
• Zoran Tomić (2014)
• Siniša Sesar (2014–15)
• Bruno Buhač (interim) (2015)
• Damir Milinović (2015)
• Miroslav Bojko (2015–16)
• Siniša Sesar (interim) (2016)
• Stanko Mršić (2016)
• Siniša Sesar (interim) (2016–17)
• Peter Pacult (2017) ^[10]
• Mladen Bartolović (2017–19 Mar 18)
• Davor Rupnik (2018) ^[11]
• Petar Tomić (2018–19)
• Davor Mladina (29 June 2019 -20) ^[12]
• Petar Tomić (2020 –20 Sep 21) ^[13]
• Darko Jozinović (21 Sep 2021 -19 Apr 22) ^[14]
• Ivan Karaula (19 Apr 2022 - Jun 22) ^[15]
• Tomislav Radotić (Jun 2022 –21 Jun 23) ^[16]
• Ivan Karaula (Sep 2023 – present)

Sources

1. Nogomet 85, Slaven Zambata
2. Nogomet 86, Slaven Zambata
3. Nogometno YU prvenstvo 85
4. Nogometni godišnjak Hrvatska 92
5. Arena – "Hrvatska na Europskom prvenstvu" 1996.
6. YU fudbal 87–88 VIII/88
7. Nogomet – Croatian football news; number 17, May 1999, p58

References

1. "FK Bačka Mol", page 92 (in Serbian)
2. "2. HNL: Mirko Filipović zaigrao za Cibaliju". hrsport.net. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
3. "NIJE KRAJ! HNS još može spasiti Cibaliju od stečaja".
4. "CIBALIA IZBAČENA U TREĆU LIGU Druga HNL srezana na 14 klubova, premalo ih je dobilo licence".
5. "Cibalia, Dubrava i Orijent slave: Ovako će izgledati 2. HNL sljedeće sezone". index.hr. 21 May 2019.
6. "To My Kibice Plus" nr 36 (June 2012)
7. "Uoči slavonskog derbija potukli se pripadnici Kohorte i Ultrasa". Jutarnji list (in Croatian). 2010-11-20. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
8. uefa.com
9. "Cibalia profile". UEFA.com . Retrieved 10 September 2010.
10. "Novi trener Cibalije je Austrijanac Peter Pacult". Novosti.hr (in Croatian). 9 January 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
11. Bevanda, Antonio (29 March 2018). "Bartolović: Vojnik sam kluba, opet ću nekad voditi Cibaliju". 24Sata (in Croatian). Retrieved 24 February 2024.
12. Sorčik, Franjo (29 June 2019). "Cibalia ima novog trenera". Novosti.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 24 February 2024.
13. Pšihistal, Aneta (20 September 2021). "Petar Tomić više nije trener prve momčadi Cibalije". Novosti.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 24 February 2024.
14. Darko Jozinović novi je trener Cibalije - Novosti (in Croatian)
15. Darko Jozinović napustio klupu Cibalije! – VKTV (in Croatian)
16. Matić, Ivan (21 June 2023). "Tomislav Radotić više nije trener Cibalije". Press/032 (in Croatian). Retrieved 24 February 2024.

External links

• Official website (in Croatian)
• Cibalia profile at UEFA.com
• Cibalia profile at Sportnet.hr (in Croatian)