HNK Orijent

HNK Orijent is a football club from Sušak, the eastern part of the city of Rijeka, Croatia. The club was established under the name Orient in 1919. They compete in the 1. NL, the second tier of the Croatian football league system. It is a phoenix club of NK Orijent which ceased activities in 2014 due to financial difficulties. The club is resurrected the same year under the new name, HNK Orijent 1919, but in September 2022 club assembly decided to bring back an old name, HNK Orijent.

HNK Orijent

Full name	Hrvatski nogometni klub Orijent[1]
Nickname(s)	Sušačani, Crveni s Krimeje
Founded	14 June 1919; 105 years ago (14 June 1919) (as NK Orijent)
Ground	Stadion Krimeja
Capacity	3,500
Chairman	Saša Matijaš
Manager	Alen Šušnić
League	First League (II)
2023–24	11th
Website	http://www.nk-orijent.com
Home colours Away colours
Current season

History

"Monument to football youth" at the entrance of the HNK Orijent soccer field in Rijeka, Croatia

Orient

The club was founded in 1919 in Sušak, eastern part of the present day city of Rijeka, under the name Jugoslavenski Športski Klub Orient.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} At the time, Sušak was predominantly Croatian, while Fiume, the western part of the city, was predominantly Italian. According to the legend, during his time on journey to the United States, one of the club's founders saw a ship named Orient in the New York Harbor. After he came back, he suggested the new club to be named Orient, a suggestion which was later accepted. Although Orijent spent most of its history in lower tiers of Yugoslav and Croatian football, it was and still is popular among Sušak's population.^[2][3]

The club was disbanded by the communists in 1945 and refounded as FD Jedinstvo. The club's greatest success came in 1969 when they were the champions of Yugoslav Second League's Division West but were unable to win promotion through playoff. Orijent and city rivals Rijeka contested numerous derbies during the early 1970s. Other notable successes were quarter-finals of Yugoslav Cup in 1980–81 and 1982–83. Orijent played top-tier football only once, during the season 1996–97 when they finished 14th and were relegated.^[2][3]

In June 2014, the club was liquidated due to its inability to service mounting debts.^[7] Shortly thereafter, the club was re-established and admitted to the fifth tier of the Croatian football league system for the start of the 2014–15 campaign. Over the following five seasons, they gained promotion on three occasions, reaching the Croatian Second Football League for the 2019–20 campaign.

Names

As regimes changed, Orijent was often forced to change its name. At various stages of its history the club was known as Jedinstvo, Primorac, Primorje and Budućnost. Finally, from 1953 onwards, the club carries the original name, Orijent in various forms (NK Orijent, HNK Orijent 1919, HNK Orijent).^[2][3][4][8]

In June 2014, the club was liquidated and shortly thereafter re-established under the new name, HNK Orijent 1919.^[7][8] In September 2022 club assembly decided to rename the club by leaving out 1919 as a year of its original formation, while the club emblem was decided to remain the same.^[9][10] The new name entered official HNS register on 6 October 2022.^[11][12]

Honours

• Yugoslav Second League Winner (1):
  • 1968–69 (West)
• Croatian Republic Football League Winner (4):
  • 1967–68 (West), 1983–84 (West), 1984–85 (West), 1985–86 (West)
• Druga HNL Runner-up (2):
  • 1993–94 (South), 1994–95 (West)
• Prva B HNL Runner-up (1):
  • 1995–96
• First League of Primorje-Gorski Kotar County Winner (1):
  • 2014–15
• Yugoslav Cup Quarter-final (2):
  • 1980–81, 1982–83
• Croatian Football Cup Quarter-final (1):
  • 1997–98

Current squad

As of 25 October 2024^[13]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  CRO Dino Curać 2 DF  CRO Filip Braut 3 DF  CRO Noel Bodetić 4 DF  CRO Domagoj Prpić 6 MF  CRO Borna Panić 7 MF  CRO Borna Kovačević 8 MF  MNE Nikola Medojević 9 MF  CRO Andrija Bubnjar 10 MF  CRO Karlo Valjan 11 DF  CRO Andro Švrljuga 14 DF  CRO Sanin Muminović 15 DF  CRO Noa Zuliani

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 FW  GAM Baboucarr Faal 17 FW  CRO Mateo Monjac 18 MF  CRO Mario Kordić-Gružić 19 FW  BIH Nedim Hadžić 20 FW  MKD Matej Momchilovski 21 MF  CRO Filip Zrilić 22 DF  CRO Adriano Milanović 23 DF  CHN Li Sirong 25 MF  CRO Antonio Galešić 28 DF  CRO Mario Tadejević 29 DF  CRO Ricardo Bagadur 30 GK  CRO Vice Baždarić

Notable players

For a list of Orijent players, see Category:HNK Orijent players.

Notable managers

See also: Category:HNK Orijent managers

• Ivan "Ðalma" Marković (1962)
• Ivan "Ðalma" Marković (1968 – 69)
• Marcel Žigante (1973 – 74)
• Josip Skoblar (1979 – 81)
• Ivan "Ðalma" Marković (1982 – 84)
• Marijan Brnčić (1987 – 89)
• Miloš Hrstić (1988 – 89)
• Velimir Naumović (1989 – 91)
• Mladen Vranković (1991 – 92)
• Ivica Šangulin (1992 – 94)
• Predrag Stilinović (1995 – 96)
• Boris Tičić (July 1996 – March 97)
• Ilija Lončarević (March 1997 – June 97)
• Drago Mamić (July 1997 – June 98)
• Rodion Gačanin (1999 – 2000)
• Mladen Mladenović (2006 – 2008)
• Danilo Butorović (2014 – 2018)
• Fausto Budicin (2019 – 2020)
• Damir Milinović (2020 – 2021)
• Edo Flego (2021 – 2022)
• Jure Srzić (2022)
• Fausto Budicin (2022 – 2023)
• Slobodan Grubor (2023 – 2024)
• Alen Šušnić (2024 – )

Seasons

Season	League									Cup
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos
NK ORIJENT
1966–67	3. Div	26	13	5	8	57	29	31	4th
1967–68	3. Div	30	22	6	2	95	26	50	1st ↑
1968–69	2. Div	30	23	3	4	70	27	49	1st
1969–70	2. Div	30	16	3	11	48	30	35	4th	R2
1970–71	2. Div	30	9	10	11	36	38	28	7th
1971–72	2. Div	34	15	8	11	63	47	38	5th
1972–73	2. Div	34	10	12	12	45	57	31	12th ↓
1973–74	3. Div	32	7	14	11	30	41	28	15th ↓
1974–75	4. Div								1st ↑
1975–76	3. Div	22	4	8	10	25	26	16	11th
1976–77	3. Div	26	12	8	6	36	25	32	3rd
1977–78	3. Div	26	13	7	6	30	18	33	3rd
1978–79	3. Div	26	14	6	6	33	18	34	2nd
1979–80	3. Div	30	13	6	11	42	30	32	6th
1980–81	3. Div	30	12	9	9	36	22	33	3rd	QF
1981–82	3. Div	30	15	7	8	44	26	37	3rd
1982–83	3. Div	30	12	9	9	47	35	33	5th	QF
1983–84	3. Div	26	21	5	0	55	8	47	1st
1984–85	3. Div	26	20	5	1	74	9	45	1st
1985–86	3. Div	26	20	4	2	73	10	44	1st
1986–87	3. Div	26	16	6	4	49	16	38	2nd
1987–88	3. Div	30	13	6	11	44	32	32	4th
1988–89	3. Div	34	11	9 (5)	14	34	33	27	13th
1989–90	3. Div	34	10	9 (7)	15	37	43	27	15th	R1
1990–91	3. Div	34	13	5 (4)	16	31	45	30	11th
1992	2. HNL West	12	4	3	5	14	13	11	3rd
1992–93	2. HNL South	29	13	6	10	44	34	32	7th	R1
1993–94	2. HNL South	30	21	8	1	62	15	50	2nd	R1
1994–95	2. HNL West	36	24	8	4	86	19	80	2nd ↑
1995–96	1.B HNL	28	15	4	9	45	34	49	2nd ↑
1996–97	1. HNL	30	5	11	14	28	53	26	14th ↓	R1
1997–98	2. HNL West	30	21	5	4	63	15	68	3rd	QF
1998–99	2. HNL	36	13	9	14	39	48	48	13th
1999–2000	2. HNL	32	10	11	11	37	41	41	9th
2000–01	2. HNL	34	13	8	13	40	40	47	10th	R2
2001–02	2. HNL South	30	14	4	12	35	37	46	6th
2002–03	2. HNL South	32	12	6	14	36	48	42	8th	R1
2003–04	2. HNL South	32	2	7	23	23	62	13	12th ↓
2004–05	3. HNL West	30	8	10	12	26	47	34	14th
2005–06	3. HNL West	30	15	9	6	60	35	54	4th
2006–07	3. HNL West	34	13	7	14	44	53	46	13th
2007–08	3. HNL West	34	10	11	13	39	36	41	13th
2008–09	3. HNL West	34	12	8	14	45	41	42	13th	R1
2009–10	3. HNL West	34	10	14	10	47	44	44	11th	R1
2010–11	3. HNL West	34	12	6	16	40	47	42	11th
2011–12	3. HNL West	34	9	12	13	38	48	39	14th
2012–13	3. HNL West	30	13	4	13	46	45	43	8th
2013–14	3. HNL West	28	13	4	11	35	43	43	6th
HNK ORIJENT 1919
2014–15	1. ŽNL	28	18	5	1	65	18	59	1st ↑
2015–16	4. HNL Rijeka	30	11	7	12	42	45	40	8th
2016–17	4. HNL Rijeka	30	10	12	8	49	36	42	8th
2017–18	4. HNL Rijeka	29	20	4	5	58	24	64	2nd ↑
2018–19	3. HNL West	34	21	5	8	72	47	68	3rd ↑
2019–20	2. HNL	19	9	6	4	26	23	33	3rd
2020–21	2. HNL	34	12	9	13	52	49	45	11th
2021–22	2. HNL	30	12	4	14	44	49	40	9th	R1
HNK ORIJENT
2022–23	1. NL	33	10	13	10	45	45	43	6th
2023–24	1. NL	33	7	12	14	34	48	33	11th

References

1. HNK Orijent - Croatian football federation
2. prof. dr. sc. Marinko Lazzarich. "GRADSKI DERBI: Kantrida i Krimeja, ili vječno suparništvo Bijelih i Crvenih". www.klub-susacana.hr (in Serbo-Croatian). SUŠAČKA REVIJA. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
3. Lazzarich, Marinko (2 November 2020). "Stogodišnja sportska odiseja sušačkoga simbola: Od Jugoslavenskoga Športskoga Kluba Orient do Hrvatskoga Nogometnog Kluba Orijent 1919". Edukacija Rekreacija Sport (in Croatian). 29 (42). Rijeka: Učiteljski fakultet Sveučilišta u Rijeci: 5–8. ISSN 1330-7800. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
4. "Nogometni leksikon". nogomet.lzmk.hr (in Serbo-Croatian). Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
5. Ferruccio Burburan; Zlatko Moranjak (2017). Stadioni nogometne Hrvatske (in Croatian). Zagreb: Katalog Knjižnica grada Zagreba. pp. 76, 77. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
6. Ferruccio Burburan; Zlatko Moranjak (2017). Stadioni hrvatske nogometne lige by zlatko moranjak - Issuu. Rijeka: Exsto Rijeka: Institut za Fiumanologiju. pp. 76, 77. Archived from the original on 2022-10-18. Retrieved 18 October 2022.^{[ISBN missing]}
7. V. Vivoda (8 June 2014). "NK Orijent: Eulogija". Hoću Ri (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
8. Ižak Ante Sučić (8 November 2019). "Orijent se voli od malih nogu: Priča o klubu koji je hit 2. HNL". www.germanijak.hr (in Croatian). Germanijak. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
9. "Saša Matijaš novi-stari predsjednik HNK Orijent". Sportokracija (in Croatian). 8 September 2022. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
10. V, I. (7 September 2022). "Orijent 1919 opet postao Orijent, sušačkom klubu vraćeno izvorno ime - SportCom.hr". www.sportcom.hr (in Croatian). Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
11. "Registracije - Hrvatski nogometni savez". hns-cff.hr (in Croatian). File (pdf): 06.10.2022. Zapisnik izvršenih registracija 06.10.2022. Archived from the original on 20 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
12. "Registracije 06.10.2022" (PDF) (in Croatian). Zagreb: HNS. 6 October 2022. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
13. "Momčad" (in Croatian). HNK Orijent 1919. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.

External links

• Official website (in Croatian)
• NK Orijent at Nogometni leksikon (in Croatian)