Nogometni klub Maribor is a Slovenian professional association football club based in Maribor. It was founded in December 1960 by officials and players of NK Branik Maribor. With 16 Slovenian PrvaLiga titles and 9 Slovenian Cups, they are the most successful Slovenian team. Maribor is also the only Slovenian club that reached the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.
In its early years, the club played in the Yugoslav Second League, before being promoted to the Yugoslav First League in 1967. They remained in the top division for five seasons, then dropped out and never returned to the Yugoslav top flight. In the early 1980s, the club was relegated to the third level due to a bribery scandal.
Following Slovenia's independence in 1991, Maribor were one of the founding members of the Slovenian PrvaLiga, and also won the inaugural edition of the Slovenian Cup in 1992. The first golden era of the club was between 1997 and 2003, when Maribor won seven consecutive league titles and reached the group stages of the 1999âÂÂ2000 UEFA Champions League. In the mid-2000s, the club declined for several years and was plagued by major financial difficulties.
The second golden era of the club began in 2007, when Zlatko ZahoviÃÂ was appointed sports director of the club. In the period between 2009 and 2019, Maribor won eight league titles, four cup titles, and qualified for the Champions League group stages twice.
The first step in the establishment of NK Maribor was the creation of the I. SSK Maribor on 28 June 1919. In 1920, the club acquired their first pitch at the Ljudski vrt area and played its first official competitive match against Rapid.
During the interwar period, the Slovenian football scene was dominated by clubs located in Ljubljana and therefore Maribor managed to win the Ljubljana Subassociation League title only three times (1931, 1933 and 1939). After World War II, FD Maribor stepped in as the successor of the I. SSK Maribor. In 1949, NK Branik Maribor was founded. The team was disbanded in August 1960 due to the food poisoning affair before the match against Karlovac in the promotion play-offs for the Yugoslav Second League.
Nogometni klub Maribor was founded on 12 December 1960 by officials and players of NK Branik Maribor, a club that folded a few months earlier. The board of the newly established club then organized the presidential elections. SreÃÂko Koren was appointed as the first club president, Andrija Pflander as the first head coach, and Oto Blaznik as the first team captain. It was initially proposed that the club should be named NK Maribor 1960 and that the colours of the club should be red and white, inspired by the colours of the coat of arms of the city of Maribor. However, at the first general assembly on 26 December 1960, it was decided that the club would be called NK Maribor, with purple and white as its main colours. Blaznik was the one who proposed the combination of purple and white jerseys to the club board after seeing photos of Italian side Fiorentina in La Gazzetta dello Sport. Maribor played its first match on 5 February 1961, a friendly against Kovinar, defeating them 2âÂÂ1 with two goals by Stefan ToliÃÂ.
Maribor started competing during the second part of the 1960âÂÂ61 Slovenian Republic League, and took over the points and position of the city rivals à ½à  D Maribor. The first official league match was played on 12 March 1961, when Maribor played against Nova Gorica and won 2âÂÂ0. The team won the Republic League (third tier in Yugoslavia) in its first season, and thus qualified for the play-offs to advance to the Yugoslav second division. Pflander was the head coach of the team that won the Republic title, however, he had to step down from the position due to illness. His successor became Vladimir à  imuniÃÂ, who eventually led the team to the Yugoslav First League six years later. Maribor went through as a winner in the first two rounds of the qualifications and eventually defeated Uljanik from Pula in the final phase with 2âÂÂ1 on aggregate, therefore earning promotion to the second Yugoslav division.
On 2 September 1962, football fans across Slovenia witnessed the birth of a new rivalry between Maribor and Olimpija. The first match between the two sides was played in Ljubljana and ended in a draw (1âÂÂ1). After five seasons in the second tier, the club, managed by à  imuniÃÂ, won the second division and qualified for the Yugoslav First League, making it one of only three Slovenian clubs in history to play in the Yugoslav top flight.
The club's first match in the Yugoslav top division was played on 20 August 1967 against Vardar in Skopje, which ended in a 1âÂÂ1 draw with Maras scoring the only goal for Maribor. The first home match was played on 27 August against Proleter Zrenjanin in front of 8,000 spectators, which Maribor won 3âÂÂ0. The goals were scored by Mladen Kranjc, Milan ArnejÃÂiàand Boris Binkovski. During the same season, the first match in Yugoslav top division between two Slovenian clubs was contested, when Maribor hosted a match against their rivals Olimpija in front of 13,000 spectators, which ended in a goalless draw. Maribor finished its first top division season in 12th place. In 1966 and 1967, the team also won back-to-back Slovenian Republic Cup titles, beating Olimpija on both occasions. Furthermore, Maribor reached the semi-finals of the Yugoslav Cup in 1968, narrowly losing 2âÂÂ1 to Crvena zvezda.
During their five-year stint in the Yugoslav top division, Maribor played a total of 166 matches and achieved 40 wins, 57 draws and 69 defeats, with a goal difference of 166âÂÂ270. Their highest league position was in 1969âÂÂ70, when the club finished in 10th place in a league with 18 teams. 1971âÂÂ72 was their last season in the Yugoslav first division as the team finished in last place with just 20 points. Maribor never returned to the Yugoslav top division again.
In the first division, Maribor played a total of ten matches against Olimpija, with an overall score of two wins, three draws and five defeats. All matches between the two clubs during this time were sold out, with crowd attendance sometimes reaching up to 20,000. Mladen Kranjc, one of the best players in the history of the club, was the best goalscorer for the team in each of its five seasons spent in the Yugoslav top league, having scored 54 goals, which brought him a transfer from Maribor to Dinamo Zagreb.
In 1972âÂÂ73, Maribor played in the second Yugoslav division. In the last round, they defeated Rijeka 7âÂÂ1 at home in front of 7,000 spectators, which was enough for second place and a place in the promotion play-offs. In the first qualifying round against BuduÃÂnost, Maribor advanced on penalties and qualified for the decisive round against Proleter. The first leg was played in Maribor on 8 July 1973, and is considered one of the most historic matches in the history of the club, as it still holds the record for the most spectators in the home game. There were 20,000 spectators, and almost three hours before the start of the match, about 15,000 people already gathered in the stands. Maribor won the match 3âÂÂ1. Two goals advantage was, however, not enough as Proleter won the second leg 3âÂÂ0 at home and earned the promotion to the top flight, eliminating Maribor 4âÂÂ3 on aggregate. When the score was 1âÂÂ0 for Proleter, Josip Raà ¾iàscored an equalising goal in the 23rd minute, but the goal was not awarded by the main referee. Later, the television review showed that the ball had actually crossed the line and that the goal should have counted.
After the dramatic play-offs against Proleter, a period of stagnation began for the club. Maribor finished the 1973âÂÂ74 season in 13th place, and barely avoided relegation to the third tier. However, they were relegated the next season (1974âÂÂ75), which meant that the team was not part of the top two divisions of Yugoslav football for the first time in 14 years. Maribor immediately returned to the second division after only one season and was again close to promotion to the top tier in 1978âÂÂ79 when they finished as runners-up, six points behind ÃÂelik. At the end of the 1980âÂÂ81 season, Maribor defeated ÃÂelik 4âÂÂ2 in the decisive last round and finished in 10th place, and thus avoided relegation, when the bribery scandal, dubbed as the "Ball Affair" (), caused that the club was relegated by the disciplinary committee of the Football Association of Yugoslavia, from second to third division. The club allegedly had a secret fund that was used for bribing the officials and opponents. Some club officials recorded the cost of bribery in their "black book", which was later confiscated by the authorities. The club had to play in the Slovenian Republic League in the next season. During the 1980s, Maribor never fully recovered from the affair and was bouncing between second and third division up until Slovenia's independence in 1991. Between 1981 and 1989, Maribor won six Slovenian Republic Cups.
From 1988 and until Slovenia's independence in 1991, Maribor played in the West Division of the newly established Inter-Republic League (third tier of Yugoslav football) with teams from Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1988, Maribor joined the Branik Sports Association and became Maribor Branik. Although the club uses the name NK Maribor in domestic and international competitions, it is, nevertheless, officially registered under the name of NK Maribor Branik to this day.
After Slovenia's independence in 1991, the best clubs in the country formed the Slovenian First League, or simply 1. SNL. Maribor were one of the founding members of the league and is one of only two clubs, the other being Celje, which has never dropped out from the Slovenian top division since then. The team played its first 1. SNL match against Gorica in Nova Gorica, which ended in a 1âÂÂ1 draw. Later, the match was registered as a 3âÂÂ0 win for Gorica because Maribor's goalscorer Ante à  imundà ¾a was not eligible to play for the team. Maribor had to wait until the second round when they won their first points after they defeated Koper with the score of 5âÂÂ0. The club's first official scorer in the Slovenian League match was Igor PozniÃÂ. During the first couple of seasons, Maribor's rivals Olimpija from Ljubljana, which had a long tradition of playing in the Yugoslav first division and at the time still had their squad composed of players from that era, dominated the league. Despite, Maribor still managed to win the first edition of the Slovenian Football Cup. The final match was played in Ljubljana at the Beà ¾igrad Stadium against Olimpija. The final ended in a goalless draw and was won by Maribor on penalties, with the decisive goal scored by Edim Hadà ¾ialagiÃÂ.
In 1992âÂÂ93, Maribor debuted in international competitions as the team played in the 1992âÂÂ93 European Cup Winners' Cup. It was on 19 August 1992, when the team hosted æamrun Spartans from Malta and won 4âÂÂ0. The next season, Maribor again played in the European Cup Winners' Cup and achieved its biggest victory in European competitions to date, when they defeated Estonian side Norma Tallinn 10âÂÂ0 at home. The match is also historic for being the first match at Ljudski vrt that was played at night under the floodlights.
Maribor were Slovenian League runners-up in 1991âÂÂ92, 1992âÂÂ93 and 1994âÂÂ95, and finished third in 1993âÂÂ94. During this period the club managed to win another Slovenian Cup, in 1993âÂÂ94, after defeating Mura in the final over two legs.
The 1996âÂÂ97 season was a turning point in the history of Maribor. They won the league and became Slovenian national champions for the first time. During this season, the average home attendance of Maribor's matches was 5,289, which is still a record. The final match of the season was played on 1 June 1997 against Beltinci in front of 14,000 spectators, which is also a joint-record attendance of the 1. SNL. During the course of the same season Maribor also won the Slovenian Cup, thus winning the domestic double.
In 1998âÂÂ99, Maribor came close to qualifying for the elite UEFA Champions League, but were eliminated in the final qualifying round by PSV Eindhoven, losing 5âÂÂ3 on aggregate after extra time. However, they managed to qualify for the group stage in the next season. Under the guidance of head coach Bojan Praà ¡nikar, Maribor defeated Genk (5âÂÂ1, 0âÂÂ3) and Lyon (1âÂÂ0, 2âÂÂ0) in the qualifying rounds. In the group stage, they were drawn against Dynamo Kyiv, Bayer Leverkusen and Lazio. Maribor started their Champions League campaign with a win as the team managed to pull an upset in Kyiv against Dynamo; à  imundà ¾a scored late in the game for the final score of 1âÂÂ0. After that, Maribor did not win any points in the group until the final round when the team played in Leverkusen against Bayer, and managed to hold on to a 0âÂÂ0 draw, thus preventing the German side from qualifying to the next round.
One of the most famous matches in the history of the Slovenian league was played in the final round of the 2000âÂÂ01 season, when Olimpija met Maribor at their home stadium in Ljubljana. Both teams were competing for their fifth league title. Olimpija needed a win to secure the title, while a draw was enough for Maribor. The match ended with a draw (1âÂÂ1), and Maribor won their fifth consecutive title in front of 3,000 Maribor fans that travelled to Ljubljana. Croatian coach Ivo à  uà ¡ak became the first foreign coach to win the Slovenian league title.
In 2002âÂÂ03, Celje led the championship standings and Maribor began to face their first financial and results crisis in more than a decade. At one point, the team was twelve points behind the league leaders when the title hunt began with new head coach Matjaà ¾ Kek. Maribor caught up with Celje three rounds before the end of the season and played a decisive match against them at home, only one round later. Celje was leading 1âÂÂ0 until the 86th minute, when Danijel Breziàand Damir Pekiàscored two late goals for Maribor and thus secured their seventh consecutive title.
The 2003âÂÂ04 Slovenian Cup was the last trophy won by Maribor before the club declined. They failed to win their eighth consecutive league title in 2003âÂÂ04 after losing to Mura in the final round of the season, losing the title to Gorica. The following season, Maribor finished seventh in the league and played in the relegation group, which is still their lowest ever finish in Slovenian football.
Between 2004 and 2008, the club was struggling with financial difficulties and the disbandment of the club was seriously considered at one point. Due to debt, which at one point reached over â¬3 million, the club could not afford to buy new players. As a consequence, the first team consisted mostly of youth team players together with a couple of foreign players brought to the club as free agents. In the fall of 2006, the club changed leadership, and it was not until January 2011 that the club announced that the debt had been paid in full.
Despite the debt, Maribor managed to defeat Villarreal 3âÂÂ2 on aggregate, a club that played in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League only a couple of months earlier, in the third round of the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup. UEFA recognizes Maribor as one of the winners of the competition. However, the trophy itself was awarded only to Newcastle United. The next year, Maribor was eliminated from the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup by Hajduk Kula. After winning the first match 2âÂÂ0, Maribor suffered a heavy 5âÂÂ0 defeat away in Serbia, which is still described today as one of the club's most unexpected defeats.
In this period, Maribor also lost two consecutive Slovenian cup finals (2007 and 2008), and never finished higher than third in the league.
Before the 2007âÂÂ08 season, former Slovenian international Zlatko Zahoviàwas appointed sports director of Maribor, which marked the beginning of the golden era of the club. In 2008, Darko Milaniàand Marcos Tavares were brought to Maribor. The former became the most successful manager in the history of Maribor, and the latter the club's all-time top goalscorer in all competitions.
In May 2008, the club reopened the Ljudski vrt stadium, which underwent a major reconstruction. The first match played at the renovated stadium was a league match against Nafta Lendava, which was won 3âÂÂ1 in front of 12,435 spectators. In the 2008âÂÂ09 season, the team reached the semi-finals of the 2008âÂÂ09 Slovenian Cup, where they were eliminated by Interblock. With a 1âÂÂ0 home victory in front of 9,000 fans against Celje on 9 May 2009, the club managed to secure its first league title in six years. The scorer of the goal, which brought Maribor the eighth championship title, was Dalibor Volaà ¡.
At the beginning of the 2009âÂÂ10 season, Maribor won its first Slovenian Supercup title, the only domestic trophy missing among club honours. The club also qualified for the final of the Slovenian Cup, which was hosted on their stadium in May 2010, and won their sixth cup title after extra time, defeating Domà ¾ale. David Bunderla scored the decisive goal in the 120th minute of the match. With the latest trophy, Milaniàbecame the first manager to have won all three domestic trophies in Slovenian club football.
Maribor played in another Supercup match at the beginning of the 2010âÂÂ11 season, but failed to defend the title after losing to Koper on penalties. The team had an impressive run in the 2010âÂÂ11 UEFA Europa League where it played a total of six matches, defeating Videoton (1âÂÂ1, 2âÂÂ0) and Hibernian (3âÂÂ0, 3âÂÂ2), before losing in the play-offs against Serie A club Palermo (0âÂÂ3, 3âÂÂ2).
After 15 rounds of the 2010âÂÂ11 Slovenian PrvaLiga season, Maribor set a record for the best start in the history of the Slovenian League. With eleven wins and four draws, the team won an impressive 37 points and improved the club's record of the generation that had played in the UEFA Champions League eleven years earlier. With the 2âÂÂ1 away victory over Primorje, on 21 May 2011, Maribor secured its ninth Slovenian league title. Four days later, the team played the Slovenian cup final at Stoà ¾ice Stadium and lost to Domà ¾ale, 4âÂÂ3. Marcos Tavares was crowned as the top league goalscorer of the 2010âÂÂ11 season, with 16 goals.
At the beginning of the 2011âÂÂ12 season, Maribor lost their second consecutive Supercup match, to Domà ¾ale. In European competitions, Maribor qualified for the group stages for the first time since 1999. After being eliminated from the 2011âÂÂ12 UEFA Champions League by Maccabi Haifa, Maribor caused one of the biggest upsets in the 2011âÂÂ12 UEFA Europa League play-offs by eliminating Rangers and thus qualifying for the group stage. Maribor were drawn against the title holders Braga, Club Brugge and Birmingham City. The club lost five out of six matches and scored its only point at home against Braga (1âÂÂ1), and eventually finished dead last in the group. In this season, Maribor won its tenth league title with a record numbers of points (85) and finished 20 points above second-placed Olimpija. Furthermore, they won the 2012 Slovenian Cup Final by defeating their Styrian rivals Celje on penalties, securing their seventh cup title and the first double since 1998âÂÂ99. They repeated this feat the following season by winning all three domestic trophies (league, cup and supercup). Maribor also played in the group stages of the 2012âÂÂ13 UEFA Europa League, where they won four points. In June 2013, Milaniàresigned. Under his leadership, Maribor won nine trophies in five seasons.
Under the leadership of the newly appointed manager Ante ÃÂaÃÂiÃÂ, Maribor won another Supercup title in July 2013 after beating Olimpija. Shortly afterwards, ÃÂaÃÂiàleft the club and was replaced by Ante à  imundà ¾a. In 2013âÂÂ14, Maribor qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League for the third consecutive season. This time, they made a breakthrough and advanced to the knockout stages for the first time after finishing second, behind Rubin Kazan and above Zulte Waregem and Wigan Athletic. In the round of 32, they were eliminated by Sevilla with an aggregate score of 4âÂÂ3. The club confirmed its fourth consecutive league title by defeating Triglav Kranj 2âÂÂ1 on 13 May 2014. However, they failed to win their third consecutive double as they lost 2âÂÂ0 in the cup final against Gorica.
In the 2014âÂÂ15 season, Maribor reached the group stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1999 after eliminating Zrinjski Mostar, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Celtic in the qualifying rounds. They were drawn in Group G with Chelsea, Schalke 04 and Sporting CP. Maribor managed to score three points in six games after drawing with Sporting CP and Chelsea at home and with Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen. All three matches ended 1âÂÂ1. Other results include a heavy defeat at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, where Maribor lost 6âÂÂ0, and defeats against Sporting CP and Schalke 04 (3âÂÂ1 and 1âÂÂ0, respectively). During the next season, Maribor sacked two managers, à  imundà ¾a and Krunoslav JurÃÂiÃÂ, and failed to win the domestic title for the first time since 2009âÂÂ10 after finishing second behind their rivals Olimpija. They did, however, win their ninth cup title after defeating Celje in the final.
Maribor bounced back and reclaimed the title the following season. As champions, they earned a place in the 2017âÂÂ18 UEFA Champions League and repeated the feat from 2014, qualifying for the group stages of the competition for the third time in the history of the club. They again won three points in six games, drawing twice with Spartak Moscow and once with Sevilla. Their 7âÂÂ0 defeat to Liverpool in the third matchday was the club's heaviest home defeat in European competitions, and their second highest European defeat overall. During the same season, Maribor failed to win a trophy for the first time since 2007âÂÂ08. In the national league, Maribor was already ten points behind Olimpija by mid-March with twelve games remaining, however, the club won the next eight out of nine games and took one point lead over Olimpija before the head-to-head match in the 34th round. In the title deciding match, Olimpija won 3âÂÂ2 with a goal by Andrés Vombergar in the last minute. Maribor have won two remaining games, but lost the league title to Olimpija on head-to-head record after finishing with the same number of points. Olimpija also eliminated Maribor in the quarter-finals of the national cup with an aggregate score of 4âÂÂ1, meaning that Maribor failed to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 2002âÂÂ03.
In 2018âÂÂ19, Maribor won its 15th national title under the guidance of MilaniÃÂ, who won his sixth league title with the club. In 2019âÂÂ20, Maribor were eliminated in the round of 16 of the 2019âÂÂ20 Slovenian Cup by the second division side Koper. They were never before eliminated from the cup by a team outside the top division; it was also the first time since 1995âÂÂ96 that Maribor got eliminated so early in the competition.
In March 2020, MilaniÃÂ and ZahoviÃÂ resigned after a series of poor results. During ZahoviÃÂ's era, Maribor won eight league titles and reached the UEFA Champions League group stages twice.
After the departure of Zahoviàand MilaniÃÂ, a turbulent period began for the club. Zahoviàwas replaced by Oliver Bogatinov as sports director, who was previously the head of the youth academy. Maribor lost the 2019âÂÂ20 Slovenian PrvaLiga title to Celje and barely ranked second, with the same number of points as Olimpija. In the 2020âÂÂ21 UEFA Europa League, the team was eliminated in the first qualifying round by the semi-professional Northern Irish club Coleraine, which was described as one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of the club. In early 2021, Bogatinov left the club due to alleged disputes with former Maribor player Marko à  uler, who became the new sports director. In 2020âÂÂ21, Maribor once again failed to win the championship after losing the title-deciding home match against Mura in the last round. Maribor needed a draw for the title, but lost 3âÂÂ1 and Mura won its first title. Within two years after ZahoviÃÂ's departure, Maribor sacked three managers (Sergej JakiroviÃÂ, Mauro Camoranesi and Simon Roà ¾man) and went on a record run of nine consecutive winless matches against their biggest rivals Olimpija.
In 2021âÂÂ22, Maribor won its 16th national title on the final day of the season after beating Mura 3âÂÂ1, ending a three-year trophyless drought. Ognjen Mudrinski was one of the key members of the team; he was voted as the PrvaLiga player of the year, and also finished as the league's top scorer with 17 goals. After the season, a longtime captain and the club's all-time most capped player and top goalscorer, Marcos Tavares, retired from professional football after spending 15 seasons with Maribor. In his honour, Maribor retired his number 9 jersey, and also renamed the West Stand of Ljudski vrt to Marcos Tavares Stand.
The success from the previous season was short-lived, as the start of the 2022âÂÂ23 season was the worst for the club since Slovenia's independence in 1991. Maribor were sitting in last place after five rounds with just three points, failed to score in six consecutive European games, lost a record six games in a row, and went on a nine-game winless streak in all competitions, also a record. Despite still managing to finish third in the league, it was nonetheless the club's worst season in 15 years, as the last time Maribor finished lower than second was in 2007âÂÂ08. The club managed to reach the cup final, but failed to win the trophy after losing to Olimpija 2âÂÂ1 after extra time with a last minute penalty kick.