HNK Rijeka
Also written as Rijeka.
The club
Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka were founded on 25 November 1906 in a city that has been, in turn, Hungarian, the Free State of Fiume, Italian, Yugoslav and Croatian, and the club's honours list reflects it: a Fiuman championship in 1920-21, an Italian Coppa Federale in 1927-28, six Yugoslav Second League titles and two Yugoslav Cups. The present name dates from 1995. They are the Riječki bijeli, Rijeka's Whites, and play in white.
The club played at Stadion Kantrida until July 2015 and has since used Stadion Rujevica, an all-seater within its training complex with 8,191 seats. Plans for a rebuilt Kantrida have come and gone; in June 2026 the City of Rijeka stepped away from a privately financed 2023 proposal and said it would seek a new design with joint public funding, with nothing signed. Damir Mišković is president and owns 70 per cent through Teanna Limited, the city holding the other 30.
Recent seasons
Rijeka were runners-up in 2023-24, champions in 2024-25 with 65 points from 36 matches, 18 wins, 11 draws and 7 defeats, 49 goals scored and 21 conceded, and fourth in 2025-26 with 53 points, 14 wins, 11 draws and 11 defeats, 49 goals scored and 36 conceded, behind Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split and Varaždin. They also reached the 2025-26 Croatian Cup final and lost it, and reached the Conference League round of 16.
The 2026-27 season opened on 2 August 2026 with a 2-1 home win over the promoted Rudeš, goals from Justas Lasickas on 31 minutes and Daniel Adu-Adjei on 62, Stefan Vukić replying on 70, in front of 4,497.
Honours and landmarks
Two Croatian championships, 2016-17 and 2024-25, both doubles. Seven Croatian Cups: 2004-05, 2005-06, 2013-14, 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2024-25. One Croatian Super Cup, 2014. Two Yugoslav Cups, 1977-78 and 1978-79. One Balkans Cup, 1977-78. Eight times Croatian league runners-up.
The 2016-17 title ended Dinamo Zagreb's run of eleven consecutive championships. The 1998-99 season is a grievance the club has never let go: level with Osijek on the last day, an 89th-minute Admir Hasančić goal was disallowed for offside and Rijeka finished a point behind Croatia Zagreb, and a later three-dimensional reconstruction commissioned by 24sata concluded he had been onside.
Notable scorelines
No club record win or record defeat was confirmed from the sources read here. The results the club is measured by are European: 3-1 at home against Real Madrid in the 1984-85 UEFA Cup, the return in Madrid lost 3-0 with three Rijeka players sent off, one of them the deaf winger Damir Desnica, dismissed for a second yellow for allegedly insulting the referee; 2-0 at home against AC Milan in the 2017-18 Europa League group stage; and a 3-1 win over Feyenoord in 2014-15 with an Andrej Kramarić hat-trick. Kramarić was sold to Leicester City in January 2015 for a club-record 9.7 million pounds.
European record
By 2026-27 Rijeka had entered UEFA competition in 26 seasons, including fourteen consecutively from 2013-14. The furthest they have gone is the 1979-80 Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final, lost 2-0 on aggregate to Juventus.
In 2013 they beat VfB Stuttgart 4-3 on aggregate to reach the Europa League group stage, and returned in 2014-15, when they beat Feyenoord and Standard Liège and drew with the holders Sevilla. In 2017 they reached the Champions League play-off and lost 3-1 on aggregate to Olympiacos, then beat Milan 2-0 in the Europa League group stage. They reached the Europa League groups again in 2020-21, a fourth time in eight years, and did not progress on any of the four.
The Conference League brought three successive play-off round exits, in 2021-22, 2023-24 and 2024-25. In 2025-26 they went further than ever in the competition: they beat Omonia 4-1 on aggregate in the knockout phase play-offs to reach the round of 16, where Strasbourg beat them 3-2 on aggregate, Rijeka losing 2-1 at home and drawing 1-1 away.
Quotes
- "Prednost je prednost, trebala je biti veća, ali utakmica u četvrtak je pokazala da Ilves može biti jako nezgodan ako mi ne budemo pravi, ako ne budemo taktički disciplinirani" - Matjaž Kek, Rijeka head coach, on nk-rijeka.hr, 12 August 2026. https://nk-rijeka.hr/matjaz-kek-nemamo-sto-kalkulirati-moramo-pokazati-pravo-lice-pravi-odnos-i-kvalitetu/ - "Nemamo što kalkulirati moramo pokazati pravo lice, pravi odnos i kvalitetu. Moramo razmišljati o kvaliteti igre i kako zabiti gol, a ne razmišljati o prednosti" - Matjaž Kek, Rijeka head coach, on nk-rijeka.hr, 12 August 2026. https://nk-rijeka.hr/matjaz-kek-nemamo-sto-kalkulirati-moramo-pokazati-pravo-lice-pravi-odnos-i-kvalitetu/ - "Umjetna trava je druga podloga, ako Ilves stalno trenira i igra na njoj znači da im je lakše. Bili smo u nedjelju pogledati utakmicu i uvjete koji nas čekaju, jednostavno se treba jednim treningom prilagoditi." - Matjaž Kek, Rijeka head coach, on nk-rijeka.hr, 12 August 2026. https://nk-rijeka.hr/matjaz-kek-nemamo-sto-kalkulirati-moramo-pokazati-pravo-lice-pravi-odnos-i-kvalitetu/ - "Prvi dojmovi su jako dobri, jako mi se sviđa ovdje." - Yusuf Kabadayı, Rijeka forward, on nk-rijeka.hr, 9 August 2026. https://nk-rijeka.hr/yusuf-kabadayi-jedva-cekam-zaigrati-u-dresu-rijeke/ - "Kada izađem na travnjak, očekujte vatromet!" - Yusuf Kabadayı, Rijeka forward, on nk-rijeka.hr, 9 August 2026. https://nk-rijeka.hr/yusuf-kabadayi-jedva-cekam-zaigrati-u-dresu-rijeke/
Right now (2026/27)
Víctor Sánchez left on 27 May 2026 after a season that brought fourth place, the cup final and the Conference League round of 16. Matjaž Kek returned on 7 June 2026, almost eight years after the end of his first spell, on a two-year contract with an option for a third. His first spell produced the 2016-17 double, two further Croatian Cups and three Europa League group-stage campaigns.
The squad has been substantially rebuilt. Jakov Puljić returned as a free agent, announced on 2 June 2026, and Ivan Ćubelić arrived, with Croatian reporting of a fee around 300,000 euros. Captain and goalkeeper Martin Zlomislić left for Qarabağ. Kek then signed the Slovenian goalkeeper Igor Vekić, whom he had worked with in the Slovenia set-up, announced on 5 August 2026, and on 9 August the German winger Yusuf Kabadayı arrived from Augsburg on a season-long loan with an option to buy. Nikolas Matić signed a two-year contract on 10 August. Niko Janković, previously written off, has been reintegrated and scored the goal that decided the Ilves first leg.
The tie they are in right now is the Conference League third qualifying round, Main Path, against Ilves of Finland. Rijeka won the first leg 1-0 at Rujevica on 6 August 2026, Janković scoring on 16 minutes in front of 5,268. The second leg is at the Tammelan Stadion in Tampere on 13 August 2026, refereed by Genc Nuza of Kosovo, on artificial turf, and it is the club's first competitive visit to Finland; a win would be Rijeka's 50th in European competition. Getting there took a 2-0 aggregate win over Derry City in the second qualifying round, 1-0 at home on 23 July through Toni Fruk and 1-0 in Derry on 30 July through Daniel Adu-Adjei. The winner of the Ilves tie meets the winner of Bohemians against Midtjylland in the Conference League play-off round on 20 and 27 August.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNK_Rijeka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_HNK_Rijeka_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%E2%80%9325_Croatian_Football_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025%E2%80%9326_Croatian_Football_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Croatian_Football_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_(first_and_second_round_matches) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_(third_and_play-off_round_matches) https://nk-rijeka.hr/matjaz-kek-nemamo-sto-kalkulirati-moramo-pokazati-pravo-lice-pravi-odnos-i-kvalitetu/ https://nk-rijeka.hr/yusuf-kabadayi-jedva-cekam-zaigrati-u-dresu-rijeke/ https://nk-rijeka.hr/nikolas-matic-potpisao-za-rijeku/ https://www.uefa.com/uefaconferenceleague/match/2049173 https://www.uefa.com/uefaconferenceleague/match/2049203
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.