Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek or simply Osijek (), is a Croatian professional football club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First League and, after the independence of Croatia in 1992, it is one of the four clubs that have never been relegated from the Croatian First League, the others being Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split and Rijeka.
History
1947–1976
The precursor to NK Osijek was founded on 27 February 1945 as NK Udarnik on the tradition of banned JŠK Slavija Osijek, which was founded in 1916 and played in the first jugoslav league 7 times between 1923 and 1941. Already in 1946, the club is merged with Jedinstvo, and changes its name to NK Slavonija. The conventional birthday of the club is considered to be the following year on the February 27, 1947, when NK Slavonija and Nk Bratstvo merge to form the FK Proleter. The first match played under that name comes the 16th of March of that same year, when Proleter beats city-rivals Mladost by five goals to nil. The first competition in which the club participated in was the Osječko Okružno Prvenstvo, along with four other teams. The club got into the second national league soon after. Proleter achieved placement into the Yugoslav First League in 1953, having won the so-called Croato-Slovenian League. The best players from that side were Andrija Vekić, Franjo Rupnik, Dionizije Dvornić and Franjo Majer. Proleter played in the First League for three seasons, but were then relegated to the second division.
Proleter moved to current Gradski vrt stadium in autumn 1958 and changed its name to Slavonija as part of the unifying process of the boxing, athletics and Olympic lifting club in a newly founded sports association in 1962. It still plays in the second league. Five years later the association is disbanded and the club took on the name NK Osijek. The then-colours red and blue were switched to current colours blue and white.
In 1970, Osijek wins the 2nd North League championship, however, Borac Banja Luka beat them in the promotion play-offs. A year later, Bijelo-plavi try for promotion again, winning in a penalty shoot-out against Rijeka, but end up being stopped by Vardar.
The next time Osijek reached the promotion play-offs was in 1973. NK Osijek made it to the final round, beating FC Prishtina. Following their victory, NK Osijek was set to meet NK Zagreb at Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb. A record-breaking 64,129 tickets were sold with approximately 20,000 of them going to Osijek supporters. NK Zagreb proved victorious on the day, winning via a penalty shoot-out following a 2–2 draw after 90 minutes, Osijek denied promotion for a third time in four years.
1977–1991
In 1977, NK Osijek finally secured its return to the top flight by taking out the league championship.
NK Osijek managed to stay competitive in the Yugoslav League up until the Croatian War of Independence, except for the season of 1979–80, when Osijek fought back into the premier league after failing to stay in it. The club was present in the second part of the First League ladder in the 80s, except for 1984, when the team placed 6th, headed by Davidović, Lulić, Džeko, Lepinjica, Rakela, Karačić and the team captain Kalinić. In 1989, the team placed 8th with Davor Šuker leading the line for the side scoring 18 goals, taking out the league's best goalscorer award. Šuker is the only player in NK Osijek history to take out the award. During the last season of the YFL, NK Osijek finished ninth.
1992–1999
After the dissolution of SFR Yugoslavia, the Croatian First Football League was formed and the first season was played in 1992. Due to the war, it was a shortened season played from February to June. NK Osijek was unable to play in Osijek due to the war, so they had to play in the cities of Đakovo, Donji Miholjac and Kutjevo. Osijek finished the 1992 Croatian First League season in 3rd placed, six points behind NK Zagreb and nine behind league champions Hajduk Split. Osijek's top goalscorer was Robert Špehar, who finished the season with nine goals.
NK Osijek quickly became one of the top 4 Croatian football teams. One of Osijek's best ever seasons came in the 1994–95. The Bijelo plavi finished in third place, only six points behind first-placed Hajduk. Špehar scored 23 goals to become the league's top goalscorer. The greats of NK Osijek during that time were–a part from Špehar–Žitnjak, Lulić, Beljan, Ergović, Rupnik, Beširević, Bičanić and Labak.
As a result of the third-placed finish, NK Osijek qualified for the 1995–96 UEFA Cup. Osijek faced Slovan Bratislava in the preliminary round, going down 6–0.