NK Lokomotiva

Lokomotiva

Lokomotiva's Logo
Full name	Nogometni klub Lokomotiva Zagreb
Nickname(s)	Lokosi
Founded	1 May 1914 (1914-05-01) as ŽŠK Victoria
Ground	Stadion Kranjčevićeva
Ground Capacity	8,850
Chairman	Tin Dolički
Manager	Valentino Barišić
League	Croatian First League
2015–16	4th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

NK Lokomotiva is a Croatian football club based in Zagreb, currently competing in the Prva HNL, the country's top division. Founded in 1914, the club's only period of success came in the late 1940s and early 1950s before spending most of the following five decades as lower-level minnows.

In the mid-2000s Lokomotiva was turned into Dinamo Zagreb's farm team and between 2007 and 2009 they won three consecutive promotions which saw them rise from fourth level to first level in the Croatian football league system. They hosted their home matches at Dinamo's Stadion Maksimir for a couple of years before moving to NK Zagreb Stadion Kranjčevićeva, as their own ground in the Novi Zagreb's Kajzerica neighbourhood is unsuitable for top level football. They remain Dinamo's unofficial feeder club even when playing against them in 1.HNL, thus sparking numerous controversies.

History

NK Lokomotiva was founded originally as ŽŠK Victoria (Željezničarski športski klub "Victoria") in 1914.

After World War I name of the club was changed to Željezničar, under which they compeated between the two wars. At that time they were mostly in the shadow of the city's bigger clubs Građanski, Concordia and HAŠK.

In 1945. the club was renamed Lokomotiva and soon their most productive years followed. They continuously played for 8 season (1947.-1955.) in the Yugoslav First League with best league result in 1952, when they finished third, behind Hajduk and Red Star Belgrade. Some of the players at that time were Vladimir Čonč, Vladimir Firm, Drago Hmelina, Franjo Beserdi and Oto Bobek, younger brother of legendary Stjepan Bobek. They were relegated again from the First League in the summer of 1957 and never returned to the top flight again.

After Croatian independence and the formation of the 1. HNL in 1991, Lokomotiva played in the lower leagues of Croatian football, mostly spending their time in the Treća HNL. In 2006, after relegation to the fourth division, Lokomotiva became the Feeder team for Dinamo Zagreb. This sparked a story of one of the most incredible rises through the leagues ever in Croatian football. Lokomotiva gained promotion in each of the next three season, finishing 1st in the 4.HNL in 2006/2007, 2nd in the 3.HNL in 2007/2008, and 3rd in the 2.HNL in 2008/2009.

The promotion from the second to the first division of Croatian football in 2009 meant that in the 2009/10 season, Lokomotiva would be back in the top flight for the first time in 52 years. The side recovered from a poor start in the league and finished in a respectable 8th position out of 16 teams, with notable victories 4:2 away against NK Zagreb, home 3:0 vs Rijeka and 2:1 vs Hajduk Split. Their top scorer, Nino Bule, finished with 14 goals.

In the 2010/11 season, Lokomotiva endured a tough run, eventually finishing third last and qualifying for relegation back to the second division. That did not, however, eventuate, as not enough sides in the second division were handed a first division licence and so Lokomotiva kept their place in the first division. The next season was set to be a big one for the side as a restructuring of football in Croatia meant the number of sides in the first division was being reduced and so five sides were set to be relegated from the sixteen side competition. With their poor performance last season, many pundits said that Lokomotiva would be one of the first sides relegated. However, Lokomotiva instead gave great performances and ended up in 7th place, just eight points off a European place.

The next season, the 2012/13 season, was the best in recent history for Lokomotiva. They finished in second place ahead of clubs such as HNK Rijeka, HNK Hajduk Split and RNK Split. Young star Andrej Kramarić, on loan from Dinamo, finished second in the scoring charts with 15 goals. This qualified them for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round.

In their first ever European encounter, the side faced FC Dinamo Minsk, unfortunately losing on the away goals rule after winning 2–1 away from home but losing 3–2 at home. The side enjoyed another strong showing in the 1. HNL, which was reduced to 10 teams for the 13/14 season. The Zagreb based side finished in fifth place.

In the 2014/15 season, Lokomotiva finished in fourth place, behind Dinamo, Rijeka and Hajduk, but still qualified for the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League qualifying rounds. In the 15/16 Europa League qualifying, the Lokosi beat Airbus UK Broughton F.C. 5–3 on aggregate, but then lost to PAOK FC, winning the first leg 2–1, but were thoroughly beat 6–0 away from home.

Due to rules against second sides being in the same division, they legally split their connection to Dinamo, but the clubs continue good relations with number of Dinamo's players coming to Lokomotiva on loan every season. To meet the criteria for 1.HNL they play their games at Maksimir Stadium, although the club's base and youth teams area at Kajzerica.

Name changes

• ŽŠK Victoria (1914–1919)
• ŠK Željezničar (1919–1941)
• HŽŠK (1941–1945)
• FD Lokomotiva (1945–1946)
• FD Crvena Lokomotiva (1946–47)
• NK Lokomotiva (1947–present)

Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Oliver Zelenika 2 DF Karlo Bartolec 3 DF Borna Barišić 5 DF Tomislav Mrčela 6 DF Matej Rodin 8 MF Luka Begonja 9 FW Ante Aralica 10 MF Ivan Fiolić 11 DF Karlo Bručić 12 GK Ivan Filipović 13 MF Robert Janjiš 15 DF Dino Perić 16 MF Josip Ćorić

No. Position Player 17 MF Endri Çekiçi 18 MF Eros Grezda 19 DF Herdi Prenga 21 FW Jan Doležal 22 FW Mirko Marić 24 MF Franko Andrijašević 25 FW Marko Kolar 26 DF Fran Karačić 27 MF Jerko Leko 28 MF Zvonko Pamić 30 MF Ivan Šunjić 31 DF Luka Capan 33 GK Marko Mikulić

European record

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	QR2	Dinamo Minsk	2–3	2–1	4–4 (a)
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	QR1	Airbus UK Broughton	2–2	3–1	5–3
		QR2	PAOK	2–1	0–6	2–7
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	QR1

Achievements

Croatian First League

• Runners-up: 2012–13

Croatian Second League

• Third place: 2008–09

Yugoslav First League

• Third place: 1952

Yugoslav Second League

• Winners: 1955–56
• Runners-up: 1957–58, 1958–59

Croatian Football Cup

• Runners-up: 2012–13

Manager history

• Ilija Lončarević (Jan 1, 2009 – March 6, 2009)
• Željko Pakasin (C) (March 7, 2009 – April 29, 2009)
• Roy Ferenčina (April 29, 2009 – Oct 3, 2010)
• Ljupko Petrović (Oct 3, 2010 – March 14, 2011)
• Krunoslav Jurčić (March 14, 2011 – May 26, 2011)
• Marijo Tot (June 1, 2011 – Oct 29, 2011)
• Ante Čačić (Oct 31, 2011 – Dec 23, 2011)
• Tomislav Ivković (Dec 23, 2011 – May 11, 2015)
• Marko Pinčić (May 11, 2015 – June 3, 2015)
• Ante Čačić (June 3, 2015 – Sep 21, 2015)
• Sreten Ćuk (Sep 21, 2015 – May 30, 2016)
• Valentino Barišić (May 30, 2016 –)

External links

• (Croatian)
• Lokomotiva profile at UEFA.com
• Lokomotiva profile at Sportnet.hr (Croatian)
• Lokomotiva profile at Nogometni magazin (Croatian)