HNK Rijeka
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| Full name | Hrvatski Nogometni Klub Rijeka | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Galebovi s Kvarnera (The Kvarner Seagulls) | ||
| Founded | 1925 (as U.S. Fiumana) 1946 (as Kvarner) 1954 (as HNK Rijeka) | ||
| Ground | Kantrida Stadium, Rijeka, Croatia | ||
| Capacity | 12,000 | ||
| Chairman |  Robert Ježić | ||
| Manager | Mladen Ivančić | ||
| League | Prva HNL | ||
| 2007-08 | Prva HNL, 4th | ||
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HNK Rijeka is a Croatian football club, from Rijeka on the Croatian coast.
History
The club was founded in 1925 as Unione Sportiva Fiumana. Fiumana played in the First Division (Prima divisione), which was the second level of the Italian Football Championship, and reached the National Division (Divisione Nazionale), the first level of Italian football in 1928. After 1929, it competed in Serie B in the 1929-1930 and 1941-1942 seasons. The club was renamed Kvarner in 1946, due to Rijeka (Fiume at the time) passing from Italy to Yugoslavia. During its early period in Yugoslavia, the club had moderate success in various Yugoslav and local club championships. It changed its name to "Rijeka" on June 3, 1954, and advanced to the Yugoslav First League in the 1957/58 season. It remained in the top tier until the 1969/70 season, when it was demoted to the Second League. It topped that league many times but it was until 1973/74 when it would return to the First League, where it would remain until the breakup of Yugoslavia.
Rijeka won the Yugoslav Cup in 1978 and 1979, was a runner-up in 1987, won the Croatian Cup in 2005 and in 2006, and participated several times in various UEFA championships. Although it has never advanced to the final stages of the competition, Rijeka has topped and shocked some of the biggest clubs in the history of soccer on its home field during the 1980s, including Real Madrid and Juventus.
Rijeka has been playing in the Prva HNL since the independence of Croatia in 1991, generally finishing near the top. Notably it finished second in 1999 and 2006 and third in 2004. Due to many format changes of the league, Rijeka has played more games in the competition than any other team. In the 2004/2005 season, its player Tomislav Erceg was the top scorer of the Prva HNL with 17 goals.
Colours and badge
NK Rijeka colours are white and sky-blue.
Stadium
NK Rijeka plays their home matches on Kantrida Stadium, or just simply Kantrida, it can hold 11,000 spectators.
Supporters
The fans are known as Armada Rijeka.
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Summer transfers 2008
In:
- Dario Bodrušić - Dinamo Tirana
Nedim Halilović - Örebro SK- Ahmad Sharbini - FC Lucerne
- Davor Landeka - HŠK Zrinjski Mostar
- Darko Miladin - Ergotelis F.C.
- Andrej Prskalo - back from loan at NK Orijent
Ramon Fernandez - Estudiantes de la Plata
Out:
- Luka Vučko - Eskişehirspor
- Filip Marčić - FC Midtjylland
Georgi Ivanov - PFC Levski Sofia
Andre Luiz - loan ended from FC Santo André - Dario Jertec - loan ended from NK Dinamo Zagreb
Dragan Žilić - transfer listed- Zedi Ramadani - transfer listed
- Ivan Božić - transfer listed
- Mateo Bartoša - transfer listed
Noted players
Josip Skoblar- Mladen Mladenović
- Dubravko Pavličić
- Mauro Ravnić
- Danijel Šarić
- Davor Vugrinec
- Damir Desnica
- Elvis Brajković
- Nenad Gračan
- Saša Peršon
- Mario Tokić
- Boško Balaban
Barnabas Stipanovics- Janko Janković
Matjaž Florjančič- Adrijan Fegic
Fredi Bobic
Dumitru Mitu
Elvir Bolić- Igor Budan
- Dario Knežević
Rodolfo Volk
Noted Managers
Honours
- 3 times best club from Croatia in Yugoslav First Division (1965, 1984, 1987)
- 7 times second best club from Croatia in Yugoslav First Division
Records
Notable games
In the 1984/85 season, Rijeka played 2nd stage of UEFA Cup against Real Madrid. In the first leg at Kantrida, Real had to admit the superiority of Rijeka with the result 3:1. On the second game in Madrid, the controversial decisions of Belgian referee Schoeters helped Real knock Rijeka out of the competition. Schoeters pointed to the spot in 67th minute after fictional penalty situation and even showed 3 strange red cards to Rijeka players, the result was 3:0 for Real. That helped the obviously weaker Real to continue competition.
In the 1998/99 season, Rijeka battled for first place in the league with Croatia Zagreb until the end of the last game. According to wide-spread opinion, Rijeka lost the title due to the unfair judging, which was a product of the fact that Croatia Zagreb was then viewed as a state-club and a must-be-champion.