RK Zamet (Rukometni Klub Zamet) is a handball club from Rijeka, Croatia, formed in 1957. The club currently competes in the Croatian Premier Handball League and the Croatian Handball Cup. Although the club has not won any mayor trophies, it has produced four Olympic gold medalists: Valter Matoà ¡eviÃÂ, Alvaro NaÃÂinoviÃÂ, Valner Frankoviàand Mirza Dà ¾omba. Four additional Olympic gold medalists played for the club, including Irfan SmajlagiÃÂ, Vladimir à  ujster, Zlatko SaraÃÂeviàand Boà ¾idar JoviÃÂ, and Jakov Gojun, who has a bronze medal.
The club was founded in September 1957, as RK Partizan Zamet by Prof. Stanko Jerger, Josip à  ariàand Vittorio Drog. The players of the first RK Zamet team were Vilim Blaà ¾iÃÂ, Tomislav Blaà ¾iÃÂ, Nelo StepÃÂiÃÂ, Vinko RadovÃÂiÃÂ, Anton SrdoÃÂ, Boris Kinkela, Josip à  ariàand Stanko Jerger.
During the first ten years, real results came in 1966 when Zamet won the Regional League of Primorje and Karlovac. During the 1960s Zamet played at the regional level. In 1969 Zamet's U-14 team won the club's first youth trophy at the Croatian U-14 Championship.
Until 1972, the club played in the Regional League of Primorje and Istra (Primorska regionalna liga), in which they won the championship title in 1966, 1970, and 1972, along with three runner-up titles. In 1972, they started competing in the Third Yugoslav League. In 1977, they were promoted to the Second Yugoslav League and, the following year, Zamet gained promotion to the First Yugoslav League. This decade saw players such as Marijan SeÃÂak, Williams ÃÂerneka, Valter MarkoviÃÂ, à ½eljko MilanoviÃÂ, Darko SrdoÃÂ, Damir ÃÂavloviÃÂ, Boris Komucki, Renato Soà ¡iàand Jurica Lakiàwho left their marks in Zamet and handball in general. Unfortunately they were relegated after one season in the first league, finishing 14th.
For two seasons the club was renamed Partizan Rijeka from 1977 to 1979, when it was changed to Zamet.
In 1981, Zamet beat long time city rivals RK Kvarner and became Rijeka's top handball club. During the early 1980s, Zamet played in the second division. In 1982 the administration of MRK Zamet (men's team) and à ½RK Zamet (women's team) split up and went their separate ways.
The 1980s saw one of the best generation of players come through the club, such as Darko Dunato, Boris DragiÃÂeviÃÂ, Marin Mià ¡koviÃÂ, TonÃÂi Peribonio, Valter Perià ¡a, Vlado Vukoje, Alvaro NaÃÂinoviÃÂ, Valner FrankoviÃÂ, Mladen Prskalo, Valter Matoà ¡eviàand Drago à ½iljak.
In 1987, they once again earned promotion to the first division, where they stayed until the breakup of Yugoslavian league in 1991. Their best position in the league was in 1987âÂÂ88 when they were 8th.
Following the independence of Croatia, from 1992, Zamet competed in the top-tier league â Croatian First A League. Their first season in the newly founded league saw a prominent rise of power with them finishing second in the league and reaching the semi-finals of Croatian Cup.
The second place in the league earned Zamet a chance to qualify for their first European competition, in this case the European Champions Cup. Unfortunately Zamet lost in the first round to Pivovarna Laà ¡ko Celje on aggregate due to one goal, winning the first match and losing the second.
With high expectations from the previous season, the 1992âÂÂ93 season brought a big shock. Zamet finished 8th with coach à ½iljak being replaced mid-season with Darko Dunato, who had retired as a player the previous season. Zamet were also eliminated from the Croatian Cup by Coning Medveà ¡ÃÂak Zagreb. The next season à ½iljak returned as head coach but brought the same results as the season before. Zamet finished 8th.
In the 1994âÂÂ95 season Zamet were relegated to the First B League, finishing 9th in the league with newly appointed coach Ivan MunitiÃÂ. Zamet bounced back the next season, finishing first and gaining swift promotion back to the First A League. In this season a new generation of players emerged such as Mirza Dà ¾omba, Nikola Blaà ¾iÃÂko, Renato SuliÃÂ, Milan Uzelac, and Igor Sarà ¡on. The 1996âÂÂ97 season saw Zamet in 5th place, a disappointing result due to the fact that they had players such as Valter Matoà ¡eviàand Irfan SmajlagiÃÂ.
From 1997 to 2000 Zamet changed their name to Zamet Autotrans, due to a sponsorship deal. During this period, Zamet regularly finished near the top of the table. Ivan MunitiÃÂ also took Zamet to the quarter-final of EHF City Cup and Round 16 of the EHF Cup Winners' Cup.
In 2000, Zamet signed a new sponsorship deal with Teri-Crotek, changing the club's name to Zamet Crotek for four years. They made it to the Croatian Handball Cup final, where they finished as runners-up in 2000 and 2001. With Damir ÃÂavloviÃÂ as head coach Zamet played Europe, each season making some of the best results the club saw.
After a successful period, poor results ensued, and during the late 2000s the club often finished in the middle or bottom half of the table. The club was also in financial trouble and often couldn't pay the players their salaries.
In 2011âÂÂ12 Zamet got to the finals of the Croatian Cup where they lost to Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb. That same season through league results they qualified for the EHF Cup for the first time in ten years. They lost to HK ASA Meso Lovoseice in their first round on aggregate 59âÂÂ56.
On 23 April 2014 Vedran DevÃÂiàwas appointed as the new president of Zamet. Vedran Babiàwas appointed as sports director; Damir BalenoviÃÂ, Marinko BleÃÂiÃÂ, Ivan Kreà ¡iÃÂ, Miljenko MrakovÃÂiÃÂ, Igor NaÃÂinoviÃÂ, Vjekoslav SardeliÃÂ, and Goran Staà ¡ek were appointed as board members; and Marin Mià ¡koviàstayed on as head coach. Zamet had ended their 2013âÂÂ14 season in 6th place.
Zamet played their 2014âÂÂ15 season by finishing in 5th place 6 points down from entering the Championship play-offs. During the mid-table play-offs they secured their 7th place. Lovro Jotiàwas the club's top goal scorer with 147 goals.
On 24 May 2015 it was announced that Mateo Hrvatin would be returning to the club.
Over the summer president DevÃÂiÃÂ gave out statements that most of the club's debts had been paid, starting the season of on a positive note. Zamet started their season with a six-game winning streak.
On 3 October the club opened up the RK Zamet Hall of Fame, putting up the national team jerseys of Alvaro NaÃÂinoviÃÂ, Valter Matoà ¡eviÃÂ, Mirza Dà ¾omba, Renato SuliÃÂ, Nikola Blaà ¾iÃÂko and Mateo Hrvatin, who were introduced into the Hall of Fame.
Zamet finished their regular season in third place, qualifying for the Championship play-offs for the first time in ten years. Zamet finished in fourth place in the Championship play-offs, qualifying for the EHF Cup qualifiers.
During the summer of 2016 Zamet lost key players Dario ÃÂerneka, Dino SlaviÃÂ, Luka KovaÃÂeviÃÂ, Petar Jeluà ¡iàand Bojan LonÃÂariÃÂ, beginning their season fairly weaker. On 19 May it was announced that Marin Kruà ¾iàwould be returning to Zamet, and they also signed newcomer Tin LuÃÂin.
Zamet started their 2016âÂÂ17 season with a win against French team Créteil in their first EHF Cup qualifier. The second match was played in Dvorana Zamet, where Zamet, as media outlets said, had "the sweetest loss in history", as they lost 24:27. However, due to the goals scored in the first match, they passed to the next round on aggregate (56:56). Zamet's domestic season didn't start that well, losing their first match to rivals RK PoreÃÂ, conceding a draw in their second to RK Dubrava and losing their third to RK Metalac. The first two European matches took a toll on the team. They lost the first match of the second qualifiers to CSM BucureÃÂti in BucureÃÂti. They equalized in the second match at home and passed through to the third and final stage of the EHF Cup qualification stage. It was revealed on 17 October that Zamet would play their last qualifier against MT Melsungen.
Two days later, on the 19th, Zamet faced Ribola Kaà ¡tela at home and entered their first win in the Premier League with a score of 35:28. Their next match was on 22 October where they played against RK Rudar away in Rude, where they won a tight match (25:28).
Since the foundation of the club matches were played on the playground Zamet when field handball was played. From 1973 until 2009, they played in Dvorana Mladosti, located in the suburb of Trsat.
As of 2009 the club has been playing in Centar Zamet. The capacity of the venue is 2,350 spectators.
Since the beginning of Croatian handball in 1992 Zamet has competed at the highest level in the First A League, later renamed First League and now Premier League. They spent one season in the First B League in 1995âÂÂ96 after being relegated.
Source: SportCom.hr
<small>Source: eurohandball.com Last updated on 26 November 2016.<br>Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.</small>
<small>Source: eurohandball.com</small>
(As of 30 April 2018), source: Eurotopteam website