Športno nogometni klub Radgona () or simply ŠNK Radgona is a Slovenian football club from the town of Gornja Radgona. The club was established in 1946 as FD Gornja Radgona and plays its home matches at the Gornja Radgona Stadium, located in the Gornja Radgona Sports Park, with a seating capacity for 301 spectators.
Their earliest success dates back to the 1960–61 season when the club won the Pomurska League, the fifth tier of Yugoslav football. In the 2018–19 season, the club achieved its highest-ever finish in the Slovenian football pyramid, when they played in the East division of the Slovenian Third League and finished in tenth place. Radgona made its debut in the Slovenian Cup in 1992–93, when it was eliminated in the first round.
The club has built a rivalry with Radenska Slatina from the town of Radenci, with whom they contest the "Neighbourhood derby" (). The club colours are blue and white.
Club history
Yugoslav period: 1946–1991 The club was established in 1946 as Fizkulturno društvo Gornja Radgona or simply FD Gornja Radgona. The oldest recorded match of FD Gornja Radgona was played on 30 May 1946 against FD Štrigora, with Radgona winning 4–3. The club's first home ground was near today's fairgrounds in the town of Gornja Radgona.
In the summer of 1951, the Football Association of Slovenia established the Pomurska League, where Radgona competed during the 1951–52 season. The club has won the Pomurska League in the 1960–61 season, finishing top of the league one point above second-placed Turnišče. After the season, the Pomurska League was divided into two levels (level 1 and level 2), with Radgona being placed in level 1 along with seven other teams; Radgona won the Pomurska League level 1 in the 1961–62 season after winning 3–1 against Nafta Lendava on the last match day and was thus effectively promoted to the Slovenian Zonal League. During this season the club also competed with a reserve team.
In the 1962–63 season, Radgona joined the newly-formed Maribor-Murska Sobota League, organised by MNZ Murska Sobota. The league was disbanded in 1965 and MNZ formed the East Zonal League in its place. Radgona finished the 1965–66 season as runners-up of the Pomurska League, one point behind the league winners Tehnostroj, and thus advanced to the Slovenian Zonal League; however, they were immediately relegated back to the Pomurska League for the 1967–68 season. In the 1968–69 season, the club was relegated to the MNZ level after finishing last in the Pomurska League. For the 1977–78 season, the league system was changed as MNZ Lendava was established, meaning that the teams based near Lendava competed separately from the teams near Murska Sobota. Since 1976 the club plays their home matches at TŠC Trate ().
Slovenian period: 1991–2014 After Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia, NK Radgona's staff approached to upgrade the club (upgrading the clubs changing room and its infrastructure) with financial help from the Municipality of Gornja Radgona. In 1991 the club renamed to NK Remet Radgona due to sponsorship reasons with financial help from the local company Remet, which was crucial for the club's further existence. The club was successful in the 1991–92 campaign by winning the 2. MNL (level 5), finishing first above second-placed Apače.
In the 1992–93 season, Radgona competed in the first round of the Slovenian Cup (qualified through winning the MNZ Cup the previous season), where they were eliminated by a second division side Triglav Kranj with a score of 5–0.
In the 1993–94 season they finished third in the 1. MNL (level 4). In 1994, the club opened six selections for youth players (under-8, under-10, under-12, under-14 and under-18) which meant they now had an appropriate number of younger selections to start competing at higher levels of Slovenian football leagues. The club registered about 120 youth players that year.
In July 1995, the club, through mutual agreement with MNZ Murska Sobota, transferred to a different league system to compete in the MNZ Maribor leagues. Between the 1995–96 and 2000–01 seasons, Radgona competed in the Intercommunal Leagues organised by MNZ Maribor, before transferring back to MNZ Murska Sobota starting with the 2001–02 season. The club remained undefeated in the 2001–02 season in the 2. MNL (fifth level of Slovenian football) and earned promotion to the fourth tier after finishing top of the league. Radgona were promoted from the fourth tier in the 2002–03 season after finishing second behind Cven. After Cven withdrew from all competitions, Radgona were invited to play in the Third Division for the first time in their history. In their first third division season, they finished eleventh and got relegated to the lower tier. The season saw nine clubs relegate to the Intercommunal Leagues, because the 2003–04 Slovenian Third League consisted of four divisions (East, West, North and Centre), and for the following season the number of groups was reduced to just two (East and West). During their season in the third tier, their highest home attendance was 300 spectators watching the match against Beltinci on 16 August 2003. The club's highest win occurred on 6 September 2003 when they defeated Tromejnik at home with the score of 7–3.
After the 2003–04 season, when the club was relegated from the Slovenian Third League, Radgona played non-league football below the third tier of Slovenian football. In the 2004–05 season they finished bottom of the Pomurska League. They did not enter any competition for the 2005–06 season which automatically puts them on the bottom of the football pyramid.
After one season without competing, the club entered the 2. MNL (sixth tier) where they finished as league winners and were promoted to the fifth tier. Radgona won 17 matches and lost just two while scoring a total of 77 goals and conceding 21.
In 2007 the club renamed from NK Arcont Radgona to ŠNK Radgona.
In the 2008–09 season, the club reached the semi-final of the MNZ Cup where they lost against Serdica. In the 2009–10 season, ŠNK Radgona finished bottom of the league and were relegated back to the sixth tier. The team won only one match and finished the league campaign with a goal difference of –52. In 2010 the home pitch of the club received flood lights. The entire project cost €10,000, the costs were paid by the Municipality of Gornja Radgona.
Radgona finished third consecutively in the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons in the 2. MNL (sixth tier). At the beginning of the 2011–12 season Aleksander Kerslin was head coach of the team. He was replaced by Nenad Dolgov in early October. After the first half of the 2011–12 season Robert Petrovič agreed a three-year contract as head coach of the team.
After the 2011–12 season, the 1. MNL and 2. MNL merged into one league and the Pomurska League was discontinued. Finishing ninth, Radgona were transferred to a lower tier since the 2. MNL was formed again for the 2013–14 season. The 2012–13 season was a big step forward for ŠNK Radgona as they established the youth selections, from under-6 to under-12.
In 2013–14, they finished as the runners-up of the 2. MNL League (fifth division) after drawing their final two games, including a home head-to-head matchup against title contenders Roma which ended in a 1–1 draw. Although they finished second, the club earned promotion to the fourth level for the first time since the 2004–05 season.
New stadium and third division: 2014–2020
In 2014 the club adopted a new crest to represent the team, starting with the 2014–15 season.
At the beginning of the 2014–15 season the construction of the new stands for the Sports Park was completed with a seating capacity of 301. The club used the stands for home matches for the first time during the season. On 20 July 2015 Radgona hosted Slovenian champions NK Maribor in a pre-season friendly which was the official opening of the newly build stands. Jean-Philippe Mendy opened the scoring in the first minute in front of 1,000 spectators and after a brace from Marcos Tavares, the visitors had a five-goal lead by half time. In the second half Radgona scored two own goals and substitute striker Dalibor Volaš scored four goals for the final score of 0–12.
After Radgona started the season with defeats to Hodoš, Križevci, and Tišina, the team was bottom of the league. The season also saw the team scoring ten goals on two occasions, against Roma and Cankova. Under management of Robert Petrovič the team finished fifth in the league with a win on the last match day at home against rivals Slatina Radenci with the score of 2–0. In the MNZ Murska Sobota Cup, the team eliminated Serdica in the first round before being knocked out by Mura after a penalty shootout. After the season, manager Robert Petrovič left to continue his coaching career in Austria. In the summer of 2015 Franc Hauko was selected as new head coach of the team.
The 2015–16 season was one of the most successful in the club's history as they were in the title race for the entire season before a defeat and a draw on the last two match days, finishing in fourth position five points behind the league winners. The MNZ Cup run ended early in the 2015–16 season when Radgona exited in the first round with a 6–0 defeat to Beltinci. After starting the league campaign with a defeat, the team went on to secure one of the biggest away wins in club's history, when they won 10–1 at Gančani. They lost their home derby against Slatina and after that, the club parted ways with manager Franc Hauko who finished fourth in the league after the first half of the season and then left for personal reasons. He was replaced by Nenad Dolgov on 21 November 2015. On 8 October 2015 Benjamin Krajnc became the new president of the club after the departure of Bojan Erlih.
After the appointment of a new manager, the team won the first match after the winter break on 26 March 2016 while playing in new blue and white kits for the first time. Under new management the team went on a run of nine consecutive unbeaten matches before a defeat on 29 May 2016 at home against Bogojina with the score of 2–0. With the win the visitors were confirmed champions of the league with one match day remaining where Radgona visited their rivals Slatina and drew 1–1.
The club established a reserve team in the summer of 2016. Under the management of Nenad Dolgov, the first team topped the league table after the first half of the 2016–17 season; their most notable win being a 4–1 home victory over Slatina on 15 October 2016. On 15 November 2016, Nenad Dolgov left his job as head coach of the club for personal reasons, though he stayed as head coach of the under-10 selection. He was replaced by Boris Lazić who signed a three-year contract on 8 December 2016. In the 2016–17 MNZ Cup, the team eliminated Mura Veterani, Šalovci and Grad, before being eliminated in the semi-finals by the third division side Beltinci 3–0 on 17 May 2017. On 21 May 2017, Radgona visited the league leaders Hodoš, who won the match with a goal scored in the 90th minute and were crowned champions of the league. The club finished the 2016–17 season in third place with 42 points. During the season, Radgona secured one of the biggest-ever home wins, when they defeated Ižakovci 9–0. On 6 June 2017, the club received the official invitation to participate in the Third Division for the next season after league winners Hodoš declined promotion. On 9 June 2017, the club accepted the invitation and was effectively promoted to the third tier for the second time in the club's history.
2016–17 1. MNL table (top 5 only):