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| Full name | Nogometni klub Olimpija Ljubljana | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Zmaji (The Dragons) Zeleno-beli (The Green and Whites) | ||
| Founded | 1945; 80 years ago (1945)[1] | ||
| Dissolved | 2005; 20 years ago (2005)[2][3][4] | ||
| Ground | Bežigrad Stadium | ||
| Capacity | 8,211 | ||
| Active sport clubs named Olimpija Ljubljana | ||||||||||||
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| Defunct clubs named Olimpija Ljubljana | ||||||
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Nogometni klub Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovene pronunciation:[nɔɡɔˈméːtniˈklúːpɔˈlìːmpijaljubˈljàːna]; English:Olimpija Ljubljana Football Club), commonly referred to asNK Olimpija Ljubljana or simplyOlimpija, was a Slovenianassociation football club based inLjubljana. The club was founded in 1945 asNK Enotnost and adopted the name Olimpija in 1962.[1]
Since the mid-1940s Olimpija had competed in the Yugoslav football system and between the late 1960s and late 1980s Olimpija was a regular member of theYugoslav First League. Following Slovenia's independence in 1991 they won fourSlovenian Championships and fourSlovenian Cup titles, and they had also appeared in European competitions such as theUEFA Cup,UEFA Cup Winners' Cup andUEFA Intertoto Cup.
The club's home ground wasBežigrad Stadium, an 8,211 capacity stadium inBežigrad District in Ljubljana. Olimpija's nicknames wereThe Dragons (Zmaji), as dragon is a symbol of Ljubljana, andThe Green-Whites (Zeleno-beli), referring to their primary colours, green and white.
The club was dissolved in 2005 due to high financial debt.[2][3][4] In the same year, a successor club was founded under the nameNK Bežigrad, and currently competes in the Slovenian top flight under the name Olimpija Ljubljana.[5][6]
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In 1945, ŠD Tabor and ŠD Udarnik sports clubs merged and formed a new club called NK Enotnost, together with the players of the formerSK Ljubljana.[1][7] In 1948, the club was initially renamed to NK Odred, and later to NK Triglav in December 1960, with the club's colours at the time being black and white.[1][7] During the same season, the club renamed to Olimpija.[7]
In1970, Olimpija reached the final of theYugoslav Cup, where it lost toRed Star Belgrade 3–2 on aggregate.[7]
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As a result of Slovenian independence in mid-1991 and thebreakup of Yugoslavia, Olimpija agreed to join the newly formedSlovenian League. Theinaugural 1991–92 season included a number of clubs from the lower tiers of the Yugoslav football league. The average attendance at Olimpija's matches dropped from 7,380 in 1989–90 to 1,075 in 1991–92.[7] After finishing the first half of the season in second place three points behindMaribor, Olimpija had a string of good results after the winter break and ended the season with eleven consecutive wins which brought them their first Slovenian League title. The team for their final match includedRobert Englaro,Aleš Čeh,Dejan Djuranovič andSandi Valentinčič, and was coached by Lučjo Pertič.[7]
The club went on to win three more consecutive titles, beforeGorica won the 1995–96 edition, ending Olimpija's league domination.[8]
In the 2003–04 UEFA Cup Olimpija beat Irish sideShelbourne in the qualifying round 4–2 on aggregate.[9] In the next round they metLiverpool, and took the lead through captainAnton Žlogar's goal, the first leg atBežigrad Stadium ending in a 1–1 draw asMichael Owen scored an eqaliser 12 minutes from time.[10] Olimpija's last European season was then cut short as they were soundly beaten 3–0 through goals byAnthony Le Tallec,Emile Heskey andHarry Kewell in the away leg atAnfield.[11]
Olimpija had a string of mixed results for the remainder of the season, getting knocked out in the round of 16 of the2003–04 Slovenian Cup and finishing runners-up in the2003–04 Slovenian PrvaLiga. However, most sponsors (including Schollmayer) decided to abandon the club at the end of the season which led to serious financial difficulties for the club. Following Schollmayer's exit, Olimpija were forced to sell almost all of their players. Although the club had started competing in the2004–05 championship, the club had struggled on the pitch and failed to obtain competition licences issued by theFootball Association of Slovenia, which led to its dissolution.[12][2] Eventually the club, with a debt consisting of over 700 millionSlovenian tolars (around €3 million in 2004 exchange rate),[13] filed for bankruptcy in the middle of the 2004–05 season.[12][13] However, the Football Association of Slovenia had exceptionally allowed the club to finish the 2004–05 season and, after finishing sixth in the national championship, Olimpija effectively ceased all operations.[14]
In 2005, a successor club was established under the nameNK Bežigrad, and currently competes in the Slovenian top flight under the name Olimpija Ljubljana.[5][6] However, in spite of inheriting old Olimpija's supporters and colours, they are not legally considered to be successors to the original Olimpija and the two clubs' track records and honours are kept separate by the Football Association of Slovenia.[6][15][16][17] However, some English-language sources regard the current Olimpija club as a continuation of the original club.[18][19][20]
Amid political turmoil in the early 1990s, during thebreakup of Yugoslavia, Olimpija began claiming direct lineage toIlirija, an association football club established in 1911.[1][6] It was during this time that Olimpija added the year 1911 on the official club crest for the first time in their history.[1] Ilirija, a member of theSlovenian Second League at the time and the only Ljubljana based club theFootball Association of Slovenia officially refers to as founded in 1911,[6] have always criticized Olimpija actions and accused them of unilaterally appropriating their history.[21]
Olimpija Ljubljana had won four Slovenian Championships, four Slovenian Cups and one Slovenian Supercup in the period between the country's independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 until the club's dissolution in 2005. Although the club had spent 22 seasons in top flight during the Yugoslavia period (1945–1991), the club never won any silverware and the closest they came to winning a major domestic trophy was reaching the 1970 Yugoslav Cup final.[22]
Internationally, Olimpija had appeared in theUEFA Cup six times, in theUEFA Champions League twice, in theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup twice and in theUEFA Intertoto Cup once, in addition to two appearances in theInter-Cities Fairs Cup.[23] Their best result in European football was reaching the second round of the1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
| Honours | No. | Years | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | |||||
| Slovenian First League winners | 4 | 1991–92,1992–93,1993–94,1994–95 | |||
| Slovenian First League runners-up | 3 | 1995–96,2000–01,2003–04 | |||
| Yugoslav Second League winners (second tier in Yugoslavia) | 2 | 1964–65 (West Division), 1988–89 | |||
| Slovenian Republic League winners (third tier in Yugoslavia) | 4 | 1946–47,1952,1961–62,1986–87 | |||
| Domestic cups | |||||
| Slovenian Cup winners | 4 | 1992–93,1995–96,1999–2000,2002–03 | |||
| Slovenian Cup runners-up | 3 | 1991–92,1998–99,2000–01 | |||
| Slovenian Supercup winners | 1 | 1995 | |||
| Slovenian Supercup runners-up | 1 | 1996 | |||
| Yugoslav Cup runners-up | 1 | 1970 | |||
| Best European results | |||||
| UEFA Champions League first round | 1 | 1992–93 | |||
| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round | 1 | 1996–97 | |||
