RK Bjelovar (Rukometni Klub Bjelovar) is a

team handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

club from

Bjelovar Bjelovar ( hu, Belovár, german: Bellowar, Kajkavian: ''Belovar'') is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. At the 2021 census, there were 36,433 inhabitants, of whom 93.06% were Croats. Histor ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

formed in 1955. The club currently competes in the Croatian Second League of Handball (North) and the

Croatian Handball Cup The Croatian Handball Cup ( hr, Hrvatski rukometni kup) is a national team handball competition in Croatia operated by the Croatian Handball Federation. It has been held annually since Croatian independence in 1991 and succeeded the former Yugoslav ...

. During

Communist Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

, the club was known as Partizan, named after the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Slovene: , or the National Liberation Army, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska (NOV), Народноослободилачка војска (НОВ); mk, Народноослобод� ...

. After Croatian independence in 1991, the current name was adopted. Despite being the most successful club in Yugoslavia, it has had little success since the 1980 season and has been thoroughly eclipsed by

RK Zagreb Rukometni klub Zagreb ( en, Zagreb Handball Club, ) is a men's professional handball club from Zagreb, Croatia. It competes in the Croatian Premier League, SEHA League, and the EHF Champions League. RK Zagreb won 33 national championships a ...

in modern Croatian handball.

Accomplishments

* National Championship of Yugoslavia: 9 **1958, 1961, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1979 *

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men ...

: **1972 *

Finalist: **1962, 1973 *

Semifinalist: **1968, 1971

Players

Hrvoje Horvat Hrvoje Horvat (born 22 May 1946) is a Croatian handball coach and player who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 1976 Summer Olympics for SFR Yugoslavia. International career He was part of the Yugoslav team which won the gold medal ...

* Albin Vidović * Vladimir Smiljanić-Babura * Miroslav Pribanić * Željko Nimš * Zvonimir Serdarušić * Boris Bradić * Pavle Jurina *

Mirko Bašić Mirko Bašić (born 14 September 1960 in Bjelovar, SFR Yugoslavia) is a former Croatian handball player who competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics and in the 1988 Summer Olympics. He has also played six EHF Champions League finals winning two in ...

* Željko Vidaković * Rastko Stefanović * Dalibor Sokač * Goran Šoštarec *

Antonio Pribanić Antonio Pribanić (born 13 December 1987 in Rijeka) is a Croatian handballer who plays for RK Poreč. Career He started playing handball in his hometown club RK Kvarner. After loans to RK Senj and RK Umag he moved to RK Bjelovar. In 2015 ...

* Mario Vuglač * Mohsen Karamian * Miroslav Milinović

Famous coaches

* Željko Seleš * Ante Kostelić (father of

Janica Kostelić Janica Kostelić (; born 5 January 1982) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and four-time Olympic gold medalist from Croatia. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she w ...

and

Ivica Kostelić Ivica Kostelić (; born 23 November 1979) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Croatia. He specialized in slalom and combined, but was also one of the few alpine World Cup ski racers able to score points in all disciplines. He is the bro ...

)

External links

Official website of RK Bjelovar
(Croatian) Croatian handball clubs Handball clubs established in 1955 Sport in Bjelovar 1955 establishments in Croatia {{Croatia-sport-stub