HNK Šibenik

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

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

All-time top scorers Hnk Šibenik

European record

Summary

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

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.

• YUG Petar Nadoveza (1959–1963)
• YUG Krasnodar Rora (1962–1964)
• YUG Nikica Cukrov (1971–1975)
• YUG Petar Nikezić (1982–1984)
• YUGCRO Dean Računica (1986–1992)
• YUG Slaven Bilić (1988–1989)
• YUGCRO Tomislav Erceg (1990–1991)
• CRO Mate Baturina (1993–1996)
• ALB Ylli Shehu (1994–1995)
• BIH Mario Jurić (1995–1999, 2007)
• ALB Amarildo Zela (1996–1997)
• CRO Ivica Križanac (1997–1998)
• CRO Joško Popović (1997–1999)
• CRO Gordon Schildenfeld (2001–2007)
• CRO Mate Maleš (2003–2007)
• CRO Ante Rukavina (2004–2007)
• CRO Nikola Kalinić (2006–2007)
• BIH Ermin Zec (2007–2010)
• BIH Mehmed Alispahić (2008–2011, 2016–2017, 2017–2018)
• BIH Samir Duro (2009)
• MKD Daniel Georgievski (2010–2012)
• CRO Duje Ćaleta-Car (2012–2013)
• CRO Mateo Barać (2015–2016)
• LTU Simonas Stankevičius (2016)
• NGR Jamilu Collins (2016–2017)
• CRO Nediljko Labrović (2018–2021)
• BIH Boris Pandža (2018–2021)
• MKD Todor Todoroski (2019–2021)
• NMK Isnik Alimi (2020–2021)
• CRO Ivan Močinić (2020–2021)
• HTI Christopher Attys (2020–2021)
• KOS Emir Sahiti (2020–2021)
• KOS Suad Sahiti (2020–2021)
• IND Sandesh Jhingan (2021–2022)
• ALB Eros Grezda (2022)
• CRO Duje Čop (2022–2023)
• BIH Zoran Kvržić (2023)
• NMK David Toshevski (2023–2024)
• CRO Ivan Santini (2024–2025)
• CRO Zoran Nižić (2024–2025)
• NMKLeonard Zuta (2024–2025)

Coaching history

• YUG Ivica Šangulin (1983–1985)
• YUG Petar Nadoveza (1985–1986)
• YUG Đorđe Milić (1986–1987)
• YUG Milan Ribar (1987–1988)
• YUG Žarko Nedeljković (1988–1989)
• YUG Mladen Vranković (1989–1990)
• YUG Nikica Cukrov (1990–1992)
• Bosnia Franjo Džidić (1992–1993)
• CRO Krasnodar Rora (1993)
• CRO Branko Tucak (1993–1994)
• CRO Ivica Matković (1993–1994)
• CRO Ivica Šangulin (1994–1995)
• CRO Rajko Magić (1995)
• CRO Željko Maretić (1995–1996)
• CRO Vinko Begović (1996–1997)
• CRO Željko Maretić (1997–1998)
• CRO Ivan Buljan (1998)
• CRO Stipe Kedžo (1998)
• CRO Rajko Magić (1998–1999)
• CRO Stanko Mršić (1999)
• CRO Anđelko Godinić (1999)
• CRO Goran Krešimir Vidov (1999)
• CRO Željko Maretić (1999–2000)
• CRO Vjekoslav Lokica (2000)
• CRO Milo Nižetić (2000–2001)
• CRO Vjekoslav Lokica (2001–2002)
• CRO Franko Bogdan (2002)
• CRO Stanko Mršić (2002–2003)
• CRO Luka Bonačić (2003)
• CRO Franko Bogdan (2003–2004)
• CRO Milan Petrović (2004)
• CRO Petar Bakotić (2004–2005)
• CRO Ivan Pudar (2005–2007)
• BIH Anel Karabeg (2007)
• CRO Ivica Kalinić (2007–2009)
• CRO Anđelko Godinić (interim) (2009)
• CRO Branko Karačić (2009–2010)
• CRO Anđelko Godinić (interim) (2010)
• CRO Vjekoslav Lokica (2010–2011)
• CRO Goran Tomić (2011–2013)
• CRO Ivo Šupe (2013)
• CRO Damir Petravić (2013)
• CRO Ivan Bulat (interim) (2013)
• CRO Nikica Cukrov (2013–2014)
• CRO Damir Petravić (2014)
• CRO Mirko Labrović (2014–2016)
• CRO Krešimir Sunara (2016)
• CRO Goran Tomić (2016)
• CRO Ivan Katalinić (2016)
• CRO Anđelko Godinić (2016)
• CRO Stipe Balajić (2016–2017)
• CRO Zoran Slavica (2017)
• CRO Borimir Perković (2017–2019)
• CRO Krunoslav Rendulić (2019–2021)
• ESP Sergi Escobar (2021)
• ESP Mario Rosas (2021–2022)
• CRO Ferdo Milin (2022)
• CRO Marko Kartelo (interim) (2022)
• CRO Marko Kartelo (2022)
• CRO Ivica Matas (interim) (2022)
• CRO Dean Računica (2022)
• AUT Damir Čanadi (2022)
• CRO Mario Cvitanović (2022–2023)
• AUT Damir Čanadi (2023)
• CRO Mario Carević (2023–2024)
• CRO Marko Kartelo (2024)
• CRO Rajko Vidović(2024-2025)
• CRO Marin Oršulić (2025-)

References

References

1. (2 June 2025). "HNS izbacio Šibenik u četvrtu ligu! Nije uspio riješiti dugovanja i dobiti licenciju". Sportske.Jutarnji.hr.
2. "Javna ustanova športski objekti "Šibenik"".
3. (6 May 2020). "Nastavak nogometnih natjecanja 30. svibnja". Croatian Football Federation.
4. (June 2, 2025). "Šibenik demoted to 4th tier of Croatian football". Croatia Week.
5. "Hajduk's five-year wait comes to an end". [[UEFA]].
6. "UEFA.com".
7. "Momčad". HNK Šibenik.
8. "Prva momčad". HNK Šibenik.