NK Istra 1961

Istra 1961

Full name	Nogometni Klub Istra 1961
Nickname(s)	Verudeži Zeleno-žuti (The Green-Yellows)
Founded	1961 (1961)
Ground	Aldo Drosina Pula, Croatia
Ground Capacity	8,923
Owner	Round Midnight Investments
Manager	Darko Raić-Sudar (interim)
League	Prva HNL
2015–16	Prva HNL, 9th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Nogometni Klub Istra 1961 (English: Istra 1961 Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Istra 1961 or simply Istra 1961, is a football club from Pula, Croatia, currently playing in the Croatian First Division.

The football club NK Uljanik from which the club originates was founded in 1948. In 1961, it joined with another local club, NK Pula, to form NK Istra. For this reason, 1961 is occasionally considered as the club's founding year. The greatest club success was in the 2002–03 season when they finished runners-up in the Croatian Cup, losing to Hajduk Split 4–1 on aggregate. In the 2004–05 season, the club changed its name into NK Pula 1856, because the year 1856 was the year that the Austro-Hungarian Empire made Pula the port of its arsenal and the shipyard Uljanik was opened. Also in the same year, in competed in the Prva Liga for the first time. In 2005, it was renamed again to NK Pula Staro Češko due to a sponsorship contract with the brewery Daruvarska pivovara (Staro Češko is a beer brand). Just one year later, the name was once again changed, this time to NK Pula. Again, just a year later in summer 2007, the name was changed for the fifth time in as many years, to NK Istra 1961. The change of name came after an ultimatum from the local fans Demons who said the club would have their support only if the club changed its name and club colours to the traditional city colours (yellow and green).

Its crest features the city's Roman Arena in Pula, as well as the old team crest.

Pula play their home matches at the recently renovated Stadion Aldo Drosina, which has a capacity of approximately 10,000 spectators.

Recent seasons

Key

Top scorer shown in bold when he was also top scorer for the division.

First-team squad

As of 3 September 2016

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 Ivan Brkić 2 DF Renato Gojković 4 MF Dejan Polić 5 DF Ivica Jurkić 7 MF Mário Lúcio 8 MF Nikola Prelčec 9 FW Theophilus Solomon (on loan from Rijeka) 10 FW Abdelhakim Bouhna 11 FW Goran Roce 12 GK Vanja Iveša 13 DF Mateo Bertoša 14 FW David Barišić 15 DF Risto Mitrevski 16 DF Nikola Žižić 17 MF Hong-Sung Min 18 DF Asen Georgiev

No. Position Player 20 DF Darko Mišić 21 MF Valentino Stepčić 22 DF Lirim Kelmendi 23 DF Mato Miloš (on loan from Rijeka) 24 FW Ivor Ljubanović 25 DF Kenan Hadžić 27 MF Marko Trojak 28 MF Saša Urošević 30 MF Viktor Marić 33 GK Ivica Ivušić 35 MF Goran Paracki 77 FW Šime Gržan 92 MF David Puclin 98 MF Vladimir Burić 99 MF Jamilu Collins (on loan from Rijeka)

Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors

Honours

• Croatian Second Division:

Winners (2): 2003–04, 2008–09

• Croatian Third Division:

Winners (1): 2000–01

• Croatian Cup:

Runners up: 2002–03

3rd–4th Place: 2013–14

Managers

• Igor Pamić (2004–05)
• Milivoj Bračun (2005–06)
• Krunoslav Jurčić (2006–07)
• Nenad Gračan (2007)
• Elvis Scoria (Oct 30, 2007 – Nov 2, 2009)
• Valdi Šumberac (Nov 2, 2009 – Feb 27, 2010)
• Zoran Vulić (Feb 28, 2010 – May 22, 2010)
• Ante Miše (May 22, 2010 – Aug 2, 2010)
• Robert Jarni (Aug 4, 2010 – Sept 19, 2010)
• Davor Lasić (interim) (Sept 19, 2010 – Oct 5, 2010)
• Zoran Vulić (Oct 6, 2010 – March 21, 2011)
• Igor Pamić (March 29, 2011– October 5, 2015)
• Andrej Panadić (October 6, 2015– July 18, 2016)
• Goran Tomić (July 26, 2016– December 1, 2016)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to NK Istra 1961.

• Official website (Croatian)
• Istra 1961 profile at UEFA.com
• Istra 1961 profile at Sportnet.hr (Croatian)
• Istra 1961 profile at Nogometni magazin (Croatian)