Hrvatski nogometni klub Šibenik (), better known as HNK Šibenik or simply Šibenik (), was a Croatian professional football club based in Šibenik. The club played their home matches at the Stadion Šubićevac, which has a capacity of 3,970.
History
The club was formed in 1932 under the name Radničko sportsko društvo Šibenik (Workers' Sport Association Šibenik). The first president, Dr Martin Čičin-Šain, was only appointed to this role during the first board meeting, which was held in August 1933. They played in a stadium in the town area of Crnica, next to the La Dalmatienne factory. The playing field was officially opened on 31 May 1936. The first matches played were part of a 1936 tournament between Šibenik, Osvit, Split and AŠK. Around the same time the first registered football club in Šibenik was also formed. This club was called Osvit and it was responsible for the construction of Šubićevac Stadium.
The club played its first official league match in 1946 under the name FD Šibenik and the very next year it was crowned the champion of the Dalmatia region. The club's new home ground was opened on 1 May 1948 and bore the name of "the people's hero", Rade Končar. In the 1950–51 season, Šibenik finished top of the Croatian Republic League and gained promotion to the Yugoslav Second League for the first time in its history. However, they were relegated immediately and it was not until 1954–55 that they returned to the second division. In 1957 the club made it to the semi-final of the Yugoslav Cup.
In 1983 Šibenik made it back to the Yugoslav Second League, where they played in the West Division, composed from 18 clubs from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and SAP Vojvodina. In their first season (1983–84) they finished fourth, while in the 1984–85 season they came close second, only three points behind the champion Čelik Zenica, thus falling short of winning promotion to the Yugoslav First League. This was their best result in the Yugoslav Second League ever. After holding the middle position of the table for the next couple of seasons, Šibenik finished fifth in the 1987–88 season. They defended their fifth place in the 1988–89 season, the first Yugoslav Second League season which featured a unified format instead of two divisions (West and East), as well as in the 1989–90 season.
Šibenik played in the Croatian First League for twelve consecutive seasons, from 1992 until 2003. In 2006 the club finished first in the Croatian Second League's southern division and returned to the first league. In the 2009–10 season, Šibenik finished fourth in domestic league, which was their best result ever, and thus qualified for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round for the first time in its history. They were eliminated in the second qualifying round by Anorthosis Famagusta 2–3 on aggregate.
In the 2011–12 season, the club finished fourteenth and were relegated to the second league. In the following season, Šibenik finished fourth but due to financial difficulties, they were once again relegated to the third league. In the 2013–14 season, Šibenik finished in second place with their marksman Miro Slavica scoring 30 goals to take out the league's top goalscorer award, but failed to lead his side to promotion.
At the end of the 2014–15 season, Šibenik gained promotion to the second league, topping the third league – south. Mirko Labrović took over as manager in 2015. They finished close second to Cibalia in the 2015–16 season, failing to beat them in the last match of the season and thus failing to win direct promotion to the first tier by only one point. Šibenik played against Istra 1961 in the relegation play-offs on 29 May and 1 June 2016. Both matches ended 1–1 and Šibenik lost the play-off after penalty shootout.
In the 2018–19 season, Šibenik finished a close second to Varaždin, and again played relegation play-offs over Istra 1961. The first match played in Šibenik ended 1–1 but in the second match played on Stadion Aldo Drosina, Istra beat them by a scoreline of 0–2. On 6 May 2020, by a decision of the Croatian Football Federation to suspend the 2019–20 Croatian Second League season, Šibenik was promoted to the first tier after eight seasons.
Šibenik finished last in the 2024–25 season and were to be relegated to the Prva NL but failed to obtain a license and were demoted to the fourth tier – the 3. HNL South.
Honours Yugoslav Third League (South): Winners (3): 1950–51, 1975–76, 1982–83 Croatian Second Football League / First Football League: Winners (3): 2005–06, 2019–20, 2023–24 Runners-up (2): 2015–16, 2018–19 Croatian Cup: Runners-up (2): 2009–10, 2022–23
Recent seasons SeasonLeagueCupEuropean competitionsTop goalscorerDivisionPWDLFAPtsPosPlayerGoals19921. HNL22271318411112thMile Petković, Dean Računica41992–931. HNL30481821451616thQFIsmet Mulavdić61993–941. HNL341281436423213thR2Ylli Shehu71994–951. HNL30910114446379thR2Ylli Shehu221995–961. A HNL36156154443517thR2Mate Baturina111996–971. A HNL30118113530417thR1Robert Banđen, Ylli Shehu61997–981. HNL3298153545349thR1Joško Popović91998–991. HNL32125154859418thR2Joško Popović211999–20001. HNL33810153350349thR2Klaudio Vuković122000–011. HNL32127134040437thR2Paul Matas122001–021. HNL301061433363611thR2Mate Dragičević122002–031. HNL32871737533112th ↓R2Ivan Bulat92003–042. HNL South32154134542494thR12004–052. HNL South3213127422648(−3)4thR1Ivan Božić122005–062. HNL South3221657138691st ↑R1Ivan Božić142006–071. HNL33147125047494thR2Marko Kartelo102007–081. HNL339121234523910thR2Frane Vitaić, Ermin Zec82008–091. HNL33137134435466thR1Ermin Zec142009–101. HNL3014883437504thRUErmin Zec112010–111. HNL308111137383512thR2Europa LeagueQR2Mehmed Alispahić112011–121. HNL30691527402714th ↓R1Stipe Bačelić-Grgić42012–132. HNL30131074231484th ↓R1Franjo Tepurić122013–143. HNL South3421857327712ndR1Miro Slavica302014–153. HNL South3423567825741st ↑R2Igor Prijić142015–162. HNL3320945421692ndR2Theophilus Solomon112016–172. HNL33129123233457thR2Miro Slavica92017–182. HNL33119133943427thR2Davor Kukec72018–192. HNL2613763825462ndR2Prince Ampem72019–202. HNL1913242615411st ↑QFLuka Juričić82020–211. HNL3698193247356thR2Deni Jurić112021–221. HNL3695224675328thR2Ivan Delić, Marin Jakoliš102022–23HNL365121924562710th ↓RUIvan Dolček52023–241. NL3326436818821st ↑R1Josip Majić142024–25HNL36792028603010th ↓R2Ivan Santini72025–263. NL South30971432493413th ↓↓R1Frano Medić8
Key League: P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; Pts = Points won; Pos = Final position; Cup: R1 = First round; R2 = Round of 16; QF = Quarter-final; SF = Semi-final; RU = Runner-up; W = Competition won;
All-time record appearances RankPlayerAppearances1 Josip Bulat 2312 Klaudio Vuković 2133 Xhevdet Muriqi1994 Armando Marenzi 1975 Anel Karabeg1756 Hrvoje Slavica 1657 Zoran Slavica 1508 Marko Kartelo 1459 Martin Vukorepa 14310 Ivan Roca140Updated 25.05.2025(Bold denotes players still playing in the Hnk Šibenik,italics denotes players still playing professional football).
All-time top scorers Hnk Šibenik RankPlayerGoals1 Klaudio Vuković 502 Armando Marenzi 413 Miro Slavica 394 Ylli Shehu355 Ermin Zec 356 Petar Nadoveza 307 Ivan Božić 308 Joško Popović 309Dražen Gović2810 Mehmed Alispahić25Updated 05.03.2025(Bold denotes players still playing in the Hnk Šibenik,italics denotes players still playing professional football).
European record
Summary CompetitionPldWDLGFGALast season played UEFA Europa League 4 2 1 1 5 3 2010–11Total421153
Last updated on 10 September 2010.Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against
By season SeasonCompetitionRoundOpponentHomeAwayAgg. 2010–11Europa League QR1 Sliema Wanderers 0–0 3–0 3–0 QR2 Anorthosis 0–3 (aet) 2–0 2–3
Players Current squad
Dual registration
Out on loan
Personnel
Coaching staff
Notable players The following HNK Šibenik players have been capped at full international level. Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.
Petar Nadoveza (1959–1963) Krasnodar Rora (1962–1964) Nikica Cukrov (1971–1975) Petar Nikezić (1982–1984) Dean Računica (1986–1992) Slaven Bilić (1988–1989) Tomislav Erceg (1990–1991) Mate Baturina (1993–1996) Ylli Shehu (1994–1995) Mario Jurić (1995–1999, 2007) Amarildo Zela (1996–1997) Ivica Križanac (1997–1998) Joško Popović (1997–1999) Gordon Schildenfeld (2001–2007) Mate Maleš (2003–2007) Ante Rukavina (2004–2007) Nikola Kalinić (2006–2007) Ermin Zec (2007–2010) Mehmed Alispahić (2008–2011, 2016–2017, 2017–2018) Samir Duro (2009) Daniel Georgievski (2010–2012) Duje Ćaleta-Car (2012–2013) Mateo Barać (2015–2016) Simonas Stankevičius (2016) Jamilu Collins (2016–2017) Nediljko Labrović (2018–2021) Boris Pandža (2018–2021) Todor Todoroski (2019–2021) Isnik Alimi (2020–2021) Ivan Močinić (2020–2021) Christopher Attys (2020–2021) Emir Sahiti (2020–2021) Suad Sahiti (2020–2021) Sandesh Jhingan (2021–2022) Eros Grezda (2022) Duje Čop (2022–2023) Zoran Kvržić (2023) David Toshevski (2023–2024) Ivan Santini (2024–2025) Zoran Nižić (2024–2025) Leonard Zuta (2024–2025)
Coaching history
Ivica Šangulin (1983–1985) Petar Nadoveza (1985–1986) Đorđe Milić (1986–1987) Milan Ribar (1987–1988) Žarko Nedeljković (1988–1989) Mladen Vranković (1989–1990) Nikica Cukrov (1990–1992) Franjo Džidić (1992–1993) Krasnodar Rora (1993) Branko Tucak (1993–1994) Ivica Matković (1993–1994) Ivica Šangulin (1994–1995) Rajko Magić (1995) Željko Maretić (1995–1996) Vinko Begović (1996–1997) Željko Maretić (1997–1998) Ivan Buljan (1998) Stipe Kedžo (1998) Rajko Magić (1998–1999) Stanko Mršić (1999) Anđelko Godinić (1999) Goran Krešimir Vidov (1999) Željko Maretić (1999–2000) Vjekoslav Lokica (2000) Milo Nižetić (2000–2001) Vjekoslav Lokica (2001–2002) Franko Bogdan (2002) Stanko Mršić (2002–2003) Luka Bonačić (2003) Franko Bogdan (2003–2004) Milan Petrović (2004) Petar Bakotić (2004–2005) Ivan Pudar (2005–2007) Anel Karabeg (2007) Ivica Kalinić (2007–2009) Anđelko Godinić (interim) (2009) Branko Karačić (2009–2010) Anđelko Godinić (interim) (2010) Vjekoslav Lokica (2010–2011) Goran Tomić (2011–2013) Ivo Šupe (2013) Damir Petravić (2013) Ivan Bulat (interim) (2013) Nikica Cukrov (2013–2014) Damir Petravić (2014) Mirko Labrović (2014–2016) Krešimir Sunara (2016) Goran Tomić (2016) Ivan Katalinić (2016) Anđelko Godinić (2016) Stipe Balajić (2016–2017) Zoran Slavica (2017) Borimir Perković (2017–2019) Krunoslav Rendulić (2019–2021) Sergi Escobar (2021) Mario Rosas (2021–2022) Ferdo Milin (2022) Marko Kartelo (interim) (2022) Marko Kartelo (2022) Ivica Matas (interim) (2022) Dean Računica (2022) Damir Čanadi (2022) Mario Cvitanović (2022–2023) Damir Čanadi (2023) Mario Carević (2023–2024) Marko Kartelo (2024) Rajko Vidović(2024-2025) Marin Oršulić (2025-)
References
External links
HNK Šibenik profile at UEFA.com HNK Šibenik profile at Sportnet.hr HNK Šibenik profile at Nogometni magazin