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	Club website
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

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 1 March 2023

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  CRO Ivan Križanović 2 DF  CRO Karlo Išasegi 4 DF  CRO Josip Gačić 5 DF  CRO Patrick Stanić 7 FW  CRO Karlo Miljanić 8 MF  NGA Gerald Diyoke 10 MF  CRO Andrija Bubnjar 11 MF  CRO Domagoj Jelavić 12 GK  CRO Filip Kovačević 13 FW  CRO Jurica Bajić 14 FW  CRO Filip Jazvić

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 DF  CRO Petar Rubić 17 DF  CRO Marin Belancić 18 FW  CRO Luka Bransteter 20 MF  CRO Dominik Dogan 22 FW  BIH Robert Perić-Komšić 23 DF  CRO Bruno Unušić 26 DF  CRO Marijan Oršolić 30 MF  CRO Rene Šarić 40 MF  CRO Šimun Mikolčić 45 MF  CRO Ivan Mihaljević - MF  CRO Domagoj Stranput -  CRO Luka Kalaica

Recent seasons