Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

that competes in the

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football league system. ...

, the top flight of Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. Koper is one of five Slovenian clubs that managed to win all three domestic trophies (league,

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

and

supercup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

). The club's home ground is

Bonifika Stadium Bonifika Stadium ( sl, Stadion Bonifika) is a multi-purpose stadium in Koper, Slovenia. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Koper. The stadium is part of Bonifika sports complex, together with a smaller athletics s ...

, which has a capacity of 4,047 seats.

History

The club was formed as ''Circolo sportivo Capodistria'' in 1920. The team was made up of students, workers and fishermen. Its colours were black and white. In 1928, the club was renamed as ''Unione sportiva Capodistriana''. Six years later, the club was renamed as ''Libertas''. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the club became part of a larger sports association and renamed as ''Aurora''. By 1948, there were five clubs operating in the Koper area: Aurora, Meduza, Partizan, Edilit, and Adria. In 1955, Aurora and Meduza merged, creating ''NK Koper''. The club played under this name in different Yugoslav leagues until 1991 and was one of the most successful Slovenian clubs. After Slovenia's independence, the club played in the

. At the beginning of the 1990s, the club was achieving mid-table success. By the end of the 1990s, the club had been relegated to the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

twice, had serious financial problems, and renamed as FC Koper. With the advent of the new millennium, Koper consistently achieved positions in the upper half of the table. In 2002, they competed in the

2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Málaga, Fulham, and Stuttgart. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- - ...

, their first international competition. Two years of mid-table anonymity and significant financial difficulties followed, in part because the former owner, Georg Suban, left substantial debts to the club and took half of the team with him when he moved to the other Slovenian PrvaLiga team, Mura. The fans took control of the club and tried to improve its finances to save it from going bankrupt like three other major Slovenian clubs ( Olimpija, Mura and

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

), with reasonable success. In the 2005–06 season,

Mladen Rudonja Mladen Rudonja () (born 26 July 1971) is a retired Slovenian footballer. He most often played as a winger (usually on the left) or striker. Despite this, he did not score a goal for the Slovenian national team until his 53rd cap – in the seco ...

returned to the club and brought with him the Serbian-American businessman

Milan Mandarić Milan Mandarić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Мандарић; born 5 September 1938) is a Serbian-American businessman who has owned a string of businesses and association football clubs, including Portsmouth, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday. H ...

, who paid off all the remaining debts. After the first half of the season, before the arrival of the new patron, Koper was battling against relegation, but in the second part of the season, with a new coach,

Milivoj Bračun Milivoj Bračun (born 22 April 1958) is a Croatian football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Slovenian First League side FC Koper. Born in Zagreb, SR Croatia, back then within Yugoslavia, Bračun played for Dinam ...

, the club started an unbeaten run that led them to reach the third place in the Slovenian PrvaLiga and to win the

Slovenian Cup Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

for the first time. This also qualified the team to play in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

qualifying rounds in the 2006–07 season. The following seasons were more difficult, with the club narrowly avoiding relegation in 2009. In the 2009–10 season, the team was expanded and, under the leadership of veteran player

Miran Pavlin Miran Pavlin (born 8 October 1971) is a Slovenian former professional footballer who played as midfielder. He featured for clubs such as Olimpija, SC Freiburg, Olympiakos Nicosia, APOEL, FC Porto and Olimpija Ljubljana. Club career In 2009, ...

, eventually won the Slovenian PrvaLiga championship for the first time, securing a place in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifiers, where they were defeated by

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

5–4 on aggregate (1–5, 3–0). In the aftermath, Pavlin left the club. Following the 2016–17 season, Koper failed to obtain a competition licence and was excluded from the Slovenian top division.

Name changes

*1920: Formed as ''Circolo sportivo Capodistria'' *1928: Renamed as ''Unione sportiva Capodistriana'' *1946: Renamed as ''Aurora Koper'' *1955: Fusion from ''Aurora Koper'' and ''Meduza Koper'' to ''NK Koper'' *1990: Renamed as ''NK Koper Capodistria'' *2002: Renamed as ''FC Koper'' *2003: Renamed as ''FC Anet Koper'' *2008: Renamed as ''FC Luka Koper'' *2017: Renamed as ''FC Koper''

Stadium

Bonifika Stadium is the team's home ground, which is named after the area where it is situated in the town of

. The stadium was built in 1948. In 2010 the stadium underwent a major reconstruction and its current capacity is 4,047 seats.

Current squad

Honours

Yugoslavia

League *

Slovenian Republic League The Slovenian Republic Football League ( sl, Slovenska republiška nogometna liga) was the highest football league in Slovenia within the Yugoslav football system. During the time of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia it was known as the Ljubljana Subas ...

''(third tier in Yugoslavia)'' ** Winners: 1984–85, 1987–88 ** Runners-up: 1986–87 Cup * Slovenian Republic Cup ** Winners: 1989–90, 1990–91 ** Runners-up: 1988–89

Slovenia

League *

Slovenian First League The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten club ...

** Winners: 2009–10 ** Runners-up: 2007–08, 2013–14, 2021–22 *

Slovenian Second League The Slovenian Second Football League ( sl, Druga slovenska nogometna liga or commonly 2. SNL) is the second highest Association football, football league in Slovenia. The league was formed in 1991 and is operated by the Football Association of Slo ...

** Winners: 1999–2000 ** Runners-up: 1997–98 *

Slovenian Third League The Slovenian Third Football League ( sl, Tretja slovenska nogometna liga or commonly 3. SNL) is the third tier of the Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football system. Since 2019 the league consists of two regional groups (East and West). They ar ...

** Winners: 2018–19 * Littoral League ''(fourth tier)'' ** Winners: 2017–18 Cup *

** Winners: 2005–06, 2006–07, 2014–15, 2021–22 ** Runners-up: 2008–09 *

Slovenian Supercup The Slovenian Supercup ( sl, Superpokal Slovenije) was a football match played between the Slovenian PrvaLiga champions and the Slovenian Cup winners. Prior 2007, the match was held only twice, in 1995 and 1996. The competition was resurrected in ...

** Winners:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

** Runners-up:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

*MNZ Koper Cup ** Winners: 2017–18, 2018–19

Domestic league and cup results

In Yugoslavia

In Slovenia

:*Best results are highlighted.

Koper in UEFA competitions

All results (home and away) list Koper's goal tally first. ;Notes * 1Q: First qualifying round * 2Q: Second qualifying round * 1R: First round * 2R: Second round * 3R: Third round * SF: Semi-final

References

External links

Official FC Koper website

Unofficial NK Koper website

PrvaLiga profile

Soccerway profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koper, FC 1920 establishments in Slovenia Association football clubs established in 1920 Football clubs in Slovenia Football clubs in Yugoslavia Sport in Koper