NK Zadar

Full name	Nogometni klub Zadar
Founded	1945; 79 years ago (1945) as FD Zadar
Dissolved	20 July 2020; 3 years ago (2020-07-20)
Ground	Stadion Stanovi
Capacity	5,860
2019–20	Treća HNL - South, 11th (relegated)
Home colours Away colours

Nogometni klub Zadar (English: Football Club Zadar), commonly referred to as NK Zadar or simply Zadar, was a Croatian football club based in Zadar, a city on the Adriatic coast, best known for playing in the top flight of Croatian football for almost twenty years.^[1]

History

The first football club in Zadar was established in 1876 and was named AC Dalmazia. The club played mostly in Italian leagues until the city annexation to Yugoslavia in 1945. On April 26, 1945, a new club named Fiskulturno društvo Zadar was founded, with departments of football, basketball and athletics. On February 9, 1949, the football department was spun off as NK Zadar.^[2]

Zadar played in the Yugoslav Second League on a number of occasions, most recently in 1986.

In 1992, as Zadarkomerc the club was a founding member of the Croatian First League. Since 2001, the club has officially been called NK Zadar.

The club's greatest success in the Croatian Football Cup was achieved in season 1995–96, when they lost in the semi-final against Croatia Zagreb.^[3]

NK Zadar played in the top tier from 1992 to 1999, from 2001 to 2005, and from 2007 to 2015. Most recently, the club has been experiencing financial difficulties, and after two seasons spent in the Croatian Third League – South (2016–17, 2017–18), the club was promoted to the Croatian Second League. After a mid-table finish in 2018–19, Zadar were administratively relegated to the Third League. As of June 2019, the club had hired an attorney to appeal against their relegation.^[4]

On 20 July 2020 it was announced that NK Zadar had dissolved because of bankruptcy. A new team, HNK Zadar, was announced as its formal successor.

Stadium

NK Zadar's home stadium is the Stanovi with a capacity of 3,858 persons.^[5]

Supporters

The club's supporters are known as the Tornado Zadar.

Honours

• Prva B HNL:
  • Runners-up (1): 1995–96
• Druga HNL:
  • Runners-up (1): 2006–07
• Treća HNL - Jug:
  • Third place, promotion (1): 2017–18

Seasons

Key

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

Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have:

• Played at least 150 league games for the club;
• Scored at least 50 league goals for the club; or
• Played at least one international match for their national team while playing for NK Zadar.

Years in brackets indicate their spells at the club.

• Jakov Surać (1992–1998, 2001–2016)^[6]
• Fahrudin Šehić (1992–1999)^[7]
• Zvonimir Jurić (1994–2005)^[8]
• Dalibor Zebić (1996–1999, 2001–2005)^[9]
• Luka Modrić (1996–2001; youth team)
• Dragan Blatnjak (2001–2003)
• Danijel Subašić (youth team until 2003; senior team 2003–2009)
• Josip Bilaver (2003–2017)^[10]
• Želimir Terkeš (2004–2011, 2012–2013, 2014–2018)^[11]
• Dragan Župan (2005–2006, 2006–2009, 2012–2013, 2016–2020)
• Šime Vrsaljko (youth team until 2006)

Note: For a complete list of NK Zadar players, see Category:NK Zadar players.

Managerial history