NK Široki Brijeg

Široki Brijeg

Full name	Nogometni klub Široki Brijeg
Nickname(s)	Plavi (The Blues)
Founded	1948
Ground	Pecara Stadium Široki Brijeg
Capacity	8,000
Chairman	Zlatan Mijo Jelić
Manager	Branko Karačić
League	Premier League
2016–17	Premier League, 3th
Home colours Away colours

Široki Brijeg vs. FC Banants on 9 July 2009

Nogometni klub Široki Brijeg (English: Football Club Široki Brijeg) is a Bosnian Croat professional football club based in Široki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina that currently plays in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Considering the size of the town, NK Široki Brijeg has had a great deal of success and has started to expand that success to European Cups as well in recent years as is demonstrated by the club being a regular competitor in European Cups for the past 8 years.

The club was established in spring 1948, but due to many circumstances, some of them including unfavourable conditions towards the town of Široki Brijeg during the communist rule and relative size of it then, NK Široki Brijeg has experienced its greatest successes in the 1990s and onwards, and has become one of the most successful and organized clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina today. They play on Pecara Stadium, a modern stadium with a capacity of about 8,000. The stadium itself meets all UEFA criteria. The club also has a fully equipped sports and recreational center just outside town which is used as training grounds for the team.

History

Until 1991 the club competed in the Yugoslav league system under the name of NK Mladost Lištica.^[1]

Colours and badge

The club wears blue and white striped jerseys at home while away the team has a white kit. The club's crest features a football bordered by the club's name and topped with the Croatian chequy.

Fans

Škripari is the organisation of football supporters of the Croat-backed club NK Široki Brijeg. They also support Široki Brijeg's other sport clubs, primarily HKK Široki in basketball.

Current squad

As of 1 February 2016

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Nikola Marić 12 GK Luka Bilobrk 23 GK Antonio Soldo 3 DF Jozo Špikić 5 DF Boris Pandža 6 DF Josip Barišić 7 DF Dino Ćorić 21 DF Slavko Brekalo 28 DF Slavko Bralić 33 DF Stipo Marković 4 MF Danijel Kožul 10 MF Jure Ivanković 15 MF Wagner 16 MF Josip Ćorluka 19 MF Ivan Sesar 24 MF Stjepan Lončar 30 MF Ivan Crnov TBD MF Stefan Barić 9 FW Ivan Krstanović 11 FW Ivan Baraban 17 FW Luka Menalo 20 FW Antonio Repić

Coaching staff

Staff	Job title
Branko Karačić	Manager
Mario Bazina	Assistant Manager
Nikola Marić	Goalkeeping Coach
Damir Crnjac	Condition coach
Dalibor Šilić	Sports director
Damir Kutle	Technical director
Dragan Mijatović	Physiotherapist
Zoran Bilać	Gunsmith
Vlatko Krešić	Doctor

Honours

Široki won two Bosnia and Herzegovina championships as well as five First League of Herzeg-Bosnia championships that served as the top football league for Croat clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina until merger into Premier League in 2000. The club also won one Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup title in 2007. In the following table defunct competitions are indicated in italics.

Honours	No.	Years
League
Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina Champions	2	2003–04, 2005–06
Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina Runners-up	5	2001–02, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2013–14
First League of Herzeg-Bosnia Champions	5	1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98
First League of Herzeg-Bosnia Runners-up	1	1998-99
Domestic cups
Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup Winners	2	2006-07, 2012-13
Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup Runners-up	4	2004-05, 2005-06, 2011-12, 2014-15
Football Cup of Herzeg-Bosnia Runners-up	3	1995-96, 1997-98, 1998-99

European record

Summary

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Last season played
Champions League	6	3	1	2	4	5	2006–07
UEFA Cup / Europa League	40	14	6	20	49	64	2016–17
Total	46	17	7	22	53	69

Source: uefa.com, Last updated on 5 July 2016
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against

By result

Overall	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Home	23	9	6	8	29	23	+6
Away	23	8	1	14	24	46	−22
Total	46	17	7	22	53	69	−16

Last updated: 6 July 2016

By season

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg.
2002–03	UEFA Cup	QR	Senec	3–0	2–1	5–1
		R1	Sparta Prague	0–1	0–3	0–4
2004–05	UEFA Champions League	QR1	Neftchi Baku	2–1	0–1	2–2 (a)
2005–06	UEFA Cup	QR1	Teuta	3–0	1–3	4–3
		QR2	Zeta	4–2	1–0	5–2
		R1	Basel	0–1	0–5	0–6
2006–07	UEFA Champions League	QR1	Shakhtyor	1–0	1–0	2–0
		QR2	Hearts	0–0	0–3	0–3
2007–08	UEFA Cup	QR1	Koper	3–1	3–2	6–3
		QR2	Hapoel Tel Aviv	0–3	0–3	0–6
2008–09	UEFA Cup	QR1	Partizani Tirana	0–0	3–1	3–1
		QR2	Beşiktaş	1–2	0–4	1–6
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	QR1	Banants	0–1	2–0	2–1
		QR2	Sturm Graz	1–1	1–2	2–3
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	QR1	Olimpija Ljubljana	3–0	2–0	5–0
		QR2	Austria Wien	0–1	2–2	2–3
2011–12	UEFA Europa League	QR1	Olimpija Ljubljana	0–0	0–3	0–3
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	QR2	St Patrick's Athletic	1–1	1–2 (aet)	2–3
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	QR2	Irtysh Pavlodar	2–0	2–3	4–3
		QR3	Udinese	1–3	0–4	1–7
2014–15	UEFA Europa League	QR1	Gabala	3–0	2–0	5–0
		QR2	Mladá Boleslav	0–4	1–2	1–6
2016-17	UEFA Europa League	QR1	Birkirkara	1–1	0–2	1-3

UEFA Team Ranking 2015/2016

Rank	Team	Points
312	Irtysh Pavlodar	3.825
313	Tobol	3.825
314	Breiðablik	3.750
315	Široki Brijeg	3.675
316	Beroe Stara Zagora	3.625
317	Domžale	3.625
318	Lokomotiv Sofia	3.625

As of 6 Juny 2016. Source

Managers

• Zoran Bubalo (July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2006)
• Miroslav Buljan
• Ivica Kalinić (2006–2007)
• Toni Karačić (Aug 27, 2007 – June 30, 2009)
• Mario Ćutuk (Sept 4, 2007 – May 13, 2008)
• Ivan Katalinić (July 1, 2008 – June 1, 2009)
• Ivica Barbarić (June 4, 2009 – Aug 29, 2009)
• Toni Karačić (Aug 30, 2009 – May 26, 2010)
• Ivo Ištuk (May 27, 2010 – March 13, 2011)
• Blaž Slišković (March 24, 2011 – June 4, 2011)
• Mario Ćutuk (June 4, 2011 – July 9, 2011)
• Branko Karačić (July 9, 2011 – March 19, 2012)
• Marijan Bloudek (March 20, 2012 – Aug 6, 2012)
• Anto Kokić (interim) (Aug 6, 2012 – Aug 13, 2012)
• Davor Mladina
• Slaven Musa (Aug 13, 2012 – April 19, 2015)

References

1. Book: "Rođeni – Prvoligaške generacije 1952 – 1991" by Zoran Mrđenović, pag. 27

External links

• Official website (Croatian)
• NK Široki Brijeg at UEFA