NK Celje
Also written as Celje.
The club
Nogometni klub Celje were founded in 1919 as SK Celje in the Slovenian town of Celje. The club became NK Kladivar in 1946, took the sponsor name Publikum in 1992 and dropped it in early 2007. Together with Maribor, Celje are one of only two clubs to have played in every season of the Slovenian PrvaLiga since the league was established in 1991.
The ground is the Stadion Z'dežele, known as the Arena Petrol until it was renamed in July 2017. The main stand went up in 2003 and the last of the three further stands opened in 2008; capacity is 13,059 seats, about half of them covered. Before that the club played at the Glazija Stadium and then, after Glazija was demolished in the early 1980s, at the Skalna Klet. The club's playing colours were not confirmed from the sources read here.
The head coach is the Portuguese Vítor Campelos, appointed in 2026. He follows Ivan Mayewski, who had a short spell earlier the same year, and Albert Riera, who was in charge from 2024 to 2026 and had also had a spell in 2023.
Recent seasons
Celje finished eighth in 2021/22 with 42 points, then second in 2022/23 with 67. They won the title in 2023/24 with 79 points from 36 matches, 24 wins, 7 draws and 5 defeats, 75 goals scored and 34 conceded. In 2024/25 they slipped to fourth on 61 points but won the Slovenian Cup. In 2025/26 they were champions again, 74 points from 34 matches, 23 wins, 5 draws and 6 defeats, 85 scored and only 32 conceded, the best defensive and attacking numbers in the division.
Honours and landmarks
Slovenian First League champions three times, in 2019/20, 2023/24 and 2025/26, and runners-up in 2002/03, 2014/15 and 2022/23. Slovenian Cup winners in 2004/05 and 2024/25, and runners-up nine times. Before independence the club won the Slovenian Republic League in 1963/64 and the Slovenian Republic Cup in 1964. The first Slovenian Cup, in 2005, came with a 1-0 win over Gorica in front of their own supporters at the Arena Petrol.
In 2024/25 Celje reached the quarter-finals of the Conference League, the first time any Slovenian club had reached the last eight of a major European club competition.
Notable scorelines
The club's biggest European win is 7-2 at home to Belasica of North Macedonia in the qualifying round of the 2003/04 UEFA Cup, part of a 12-2 aggregate that also included a 5-0 win in the away leg. Celje also beat Aarhus 7-1 at home in the 2001 Intertoto Cup and Petržalka 5-0. The heaviest defeats are 5-0 away to Slovan Bratislava in the 2024/25 Champions League second qualifying round and 4-0 at home to AEK Athens in the 2025/26 Conference League round of sixteen. Celje's all-time domestic record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here.
European record
Celje first appeared in Europe in 1993/94, losing 1-0 on aggregate to Odense in the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round, and spent the next two decades going out early: Maccabi Haifa in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup first round, Levski Sofia in 2005/06, Dacia Chișinău in 2012/13, Tromsø in 2013/14, Śląsk Wrocław in 2015/16.
The 2023/24 Conference League brought the first real run. Celje knocked out Vitória de Guimarães on penalties after a 4-4 aggregate, then beat Neman Grodno 5-1, before losing 5-2 on aggregate to Maccabi Tel Aviv in the play-off round.
2024/25 was the breakthrough. Celje beat Flora 7-1 on aggregate in the Champions League first qualifying round, lost 6-1 to Slovan Bratislava in the second, lost 3-2 to Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League third qualifying round, and then found their level in the Conference League. They beat Pyunik 4-2 in the play-off, finished 21st of 36 in the league phase with a 5-1 home win over Istanbul Basaksehir and a 3-2 win over The New Saints, eliminated APOEL 4-2, beat Lugano 3-1 on penalties after a 5-5 aggregate that included a 5-4 extra-time defeat in Switzerland, and went out to Fiorentina 4-3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.
2025/26 was almost as good. After losing to AEK Larnaca in the Europa League, Celje beat Lugano again, 7-4 on aggregate after a 5-0 win in Switzerland, then Baník Ostrava 3-0. They finished 13th of 36 in the Conference League league phase, beating AEK Athens 3-1 at home, Shamrock Rovers 2-0 away and Legia Warsaw 2-1 at home. They knocked out Drita 6-4 in the knockout play-offs and then lost the round of sixteen to AEK Athens, beaten 4-0 at home in the first leg and winning the return 2-0 in Athens, out 4-2 on aggregate.
Quotes
No directly quoted material was confirmed from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
Vítor Campelos is the head coach. Celje entered the Champions League as Slovenian champions and are still in it.
In the second qualifying round they drew 3-3 away to Egnatia of Albania on 22 July 2026, Mario Kvesić scoring twice and Armandas Kučys once, then drew 2-2 after extra time at home on 28 July, Kvesić scoring both again including a penalty in the 97th minute. It finished 5-5 on aggregate and Celje won the shootout 4-1, Svit Sešlar, Artemijus Tutyškinas, Yaya Dukuly and Ivan Ćalušić all scoring from the spot.
The third qualifying round was against Ararat-Armenia. Celje lost the first leg 2-1 at the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium in Yerevan on 4 August 2026, Sešlar scoring a 22nd-minute penalty before Artur Serobyan and França turned it round in front of 8,110. The return at the Stadion Z'dežele on 11 August 2026 was won 2-0 with late goals from Yaya Dukuly on 83 minutes and Benjamin Verbič on 85, in front of 5,060, and Celje went through 3-2 on aggregate. Marco Guida of Italy refereed.
They now face Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League play-off round, away on 19 August 2026 and at home the following week. It is the same opponent who beat them 6-1 on aggregate at the second qualifying stage two years ago. Losing the play-off would put Celje into the Europa League league phase rather than out of Europe.
Domestically the PrvaLiga has started. Slovenian match reports have Celje beating Olimpija Ljubljana 1-0 at the Stadion Z'dežele on 8 August 2026 in round four, the goal coming on 70 minutes, with Campelos making heavy changes ahead of the Ararat-Armenia return. The full 2026/27 league table and Celje's summer transfer business were not confirmed from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NK_Celje https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Champions_League_qualifying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Slovenian_PrvaLiga https://sportklub.n1info.si/nogomet/prva-liga/plt4-krog-2026-27-celje-olimpija/ https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2049103 https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2049113 https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/match/2049211
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.