NK Aluminij
Also written as Aluminij.
The club
Nogometni klub Aluminij were founded in 1946 in Kidričevo, a small town in northeastern Slovenia built around the aluminium works after which the club is named; the modern successor to that industry, Talum, remains the club's primary sponsor. No other prominent football club sharing the Aluminij name was found in the sources checked here.
The ground is the Aluminij Sports Park (Športni park Kidričevo) in Kidričevo, with a capacity of 1,200. That capacity falls well short of UEFA's minimum for European ties, and Aluminij's home legs in their 2026/27 European campaign were played instead at Ljudski vrt in Maribor. The club's exact playing colours were not established with confidence from the sources read here; one source described the nickname "Rdeče-beli" ("Red and Whites") while another described the kit as white and black.
The head coach is Jure Aršič. The exact date of his appointment and the identity of his immediate predecessor were not established from the sources read here.
Recent seasons
Aluminij have spent the last several seasons cycling between the top-flight PrvaLiga and the Second League. They were relegated from the PrvaLiga in 2021/22, finishing tenth with 24 points from 4 wins, 12 draws and 20 defeats. In the Second League in 2022/23 they finished second with 64 points from 19 wins, 7 draws and 4 defeats, earning promotion back to the top flight. That stay was brief: in 2023/24 they finished tenth in the PrvaLiga again, on 31 points from 8 wins, 7 draws and 21 defeats, and were relegated a second time. They won the Second League outright in 2024/25, top with 64 points from 20 wins, 4 draws and 6 defeats, and returned to the PrvaLiga for 2025/26, where they finished seventh of ten with 36 points from 10 wins, 6 draws and 18 defeats, 42 goals scored and 61 conceded.
Honours and landmarks
Aluminij twice won the Slovenian Second League without going up: they took the title in 2010/11 but declined promotion, then won it again in 2011/12 and accepted, reaching the PrvaLiga for the first time in the club's history. They added a third Second League title in 2024/25. Earlier still they won the Slovenian Third League East in 1996/97, and before Slovenian independence they were Slovenian Republic League champions in 1965/66 and Slovenian Republic Cup winners in 1965, having also finished runners-up in that cup in 1968. Regionally they have won the MNZ Ptuj Cup eleven times between 1991/92 and 2013/14.
The landmark achievement is the 2025/26 Slovenian Football Cup, Aluminij's first major trophy after losing two previous finals, in 2001/02 and 2017/18. The win carried a European qualifying place with it, giving the club its first-ever entry into a UEFA competition for 2026/27.
Notable scorelines
Aluminij's run to the 2025/26 Slovenian Cup included a 6-1 win over Žiri in the round of 32, a 7-1 win over Polana in the round of 16, a 4-0 quarter-final win over Fužinar and a 1-0 semi-final win over Bravo, before beating second-division Brinje Grosuplje 1-0 in the final at the Stadion Z'dežele in Celje on 13 May 2026, Bamba Susso scoring in the 78th minute in front of 3,892, referee David Šmajc. In their first-ever European tie, in the Conference League second qualifying round of 2026/27, Aluminij lost 3-0 away to Dinamo City of Albania, goals from Vila, Kefalia and Përndreca. The club's all-time domestic record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here.
European record
Aluminij's promotions and relegations kept them out of Europe until the 2025/26 Slovenian Cup win qualified them for the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League. No earlier European qualifying campaign for the club was found in the sources read here.
In the Europa League first qualifying round they were drawn against Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova. The first leg, at the Sheriff Arena in Tiraspol on 9 July 2026, finished 0-0 in front of 5,634, refereed by Arnes Talic of Austria. The second leg, played at Ljudski vrt in Maribor on 16 July 2026 in front of 2,000, was lost 1-0, Konan Loukou scoring in the 5th minute; the referee was Anojen Kanagasingam of Switzerland. Sheriff went through 1-0 on aggregate and Aluminij dropped into the Conference League.
There they faced Dinamo City of Albania in the second qualifying round. The first leg in Albania, on 30 July 2026, was lost 3-0, Dinamo scoring through Vila, Kefalia and Përndreca. The return leg at Ljudski vrt in Maribor finished 1-1; the exact date, Aluminij's goalscorer, referee and attendance for that leg were not established from the sources read here. Dinamo City went through 4-1 on aggregate and Aluminij's first European campaign ended there.
Head-to-head notes
No head-to-head pattern against any particular Slovenian rival was established from the sources read here.
Quotes
No directly quoted material was confirmed from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
Jure Aršič is the head coach. Aluminij's 2026/27 European campaign is over, having been eliminated from both the Europa League and the Conference League in qualifying during July and August 2026. The club returns to a PrvaLiga campaign after finishing seventh of ten in 2025/26; their position in the 2026/27 table at the time of writing was not established from the sources read here, nor was any detail of the club's summer transfer business.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK_Aluminij https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK_Aluminij https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Europa_League_qualifying_phase_and_play-off_round https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_phase_and_play-off_round https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Slovenian_Football_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Dinamo_City
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.