NK Međimurje

The club was founded in June 2003 and started to compete in the Croatian Second League, where they replaced NK Omladinac, a club based in the Čakovec suburb of Novo Selo Rok. They finished top of the league at the end of the 2003–04 season, clinching promotion to the Croatian First League.

They started their first season in the top flight with three defeats in their opening three matches, before beating Zagreb 1–0 on the road on Day 4 to clinch their first win of the season. However, they continued to experience very little success after that, only grabbing two further wins in the following 18 matches and being bottom of the table as the league split in two groups in March 2005. Their performance improved in the bottom-6 group, the Relegation League, where they had a streak of seven games undefeated and finished 5th, overtaking Zadar on the final day of the season.

In their second top-flight season in 2005–06, they once again found themselves bottom of the table in March, although with 5 wins and only one point fewer than both Inter Zaprešić and Slaven Belupo. After three defeats in their opening three matches in the Relegation League, they managed a streak of seven games undefeated and overtook Inter Zaprešić after beating them on the penultimate day of the season.

In 2006–07, they experienced mixed fortunes in their opening seven games, but then managed four consecutive wins and even found themselves in 4th place after Day 11. They eventually finished the season in 9th place, their best result in the top flight, with 11 wins in 33 matches. The 2007–08 season, however, brought very little success and they found themselves bottom of the table for majority of the season. They eventually finished rock-bottom, with only 15 points and mere three wins from 33 matches, 18 points behind the 11th-place Inter Zaprešić, and were effectively relegated to the Croatian Second League.

In 2008–09, they finished fifth in the Croatian Second League, but were nevertheless directly promoted back to the Croatian First League for the 2009–10 season as the league was expanded to 16 teams and Slavonac CO, who finished above them, decided to withdraw from the top flight after failing to secure a proper stadium as their home ground.[1]

In the first half of the 2009–10 season, they performed well at home, recording 5 wins and 2 draws in 9 matches, but poor performance on the road (they lost all 8 away matches) saw them start the second half of the season in 13th place, just above the relegation zone. Despite winning two away matches in the second half of the season, a series of draws and defeats (including a crushing 5–1 defeat at home to Rijeka) saw them dropping into the relegation zone with 6 matches left. A 4–1 defeat at Hajduk Split on the penultimate day of the season confirmed their 15th-place finish and relegation back to the second division. The 4–1 loss was later investigated for match fixing allegations.[2]

In 2010-2011 season, they finished seventh in the Croatian Secound League, they finished strong in last 6 games but that was not enaugh to return to Croatian First League. During the season they had three managers. In Croatian Football Cup they lost to HNK Rijeka in away match 1:0 in Last 16 round.

The 2011-2012 season was tough for former first division club marking they first relegation tu third level football in Croatia. Four managers try to avoid relegation during the season.

The seasons 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 mark the success in Croatian Third League North with finishing first season secound and secound season first but in either season they didn't make the financial criteria for promotion in Croatian Secound League.

In three consecutive seasons 2014-2015, 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 they finished Third, First and First in Croatian Third League East but in every season they also didn't meet the financial criteria for promotion in Croatian Secound League. This successfull period of NK Međimurje history was lead by manager Mario Kovačević.

Season 2017-2018 was finaly the year when they meat financial critaria for promotion but they struggel all season for conformation on the football pitch. Nevertheless they were promoted in the end finaly in Croatian Secound League. The manager of this success was Matija Kristić.

Season 2018-2019 was first season in Croatian Secound League after six seasons in third level football in Croatia. They started very well, and after six rounds they were in secound position behind NK Varaždin. After sixed round they were in battle to avoid relegation and they succeded in last round with win in home match against NK Zadar.

The 2019-2020 was cancelled tue the world-wide pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and before pandemic started they were in 10th place of 16th teams in Croatian Secound League. The manager on start of the season was Matija Kristić but he was sacked after thired round, and was succed by young manager Damir Lepen-Jurak.

In 2020-21 season NK Međimurje singed former player of NK Međimurje Goran Vincetić. The season started excellent, after twelve rounds they were secound behind NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac but then the Coronavirus casses was found in the team players so the team was in isolation for two weeks. Team preform poorly in last four matches with all four loos. Goran Vincetić was sacked in mid-season and former manager of NK Međimurje Mario Kovačević was hierd.

During seasons when they are both in the same league (generally 3. HNL or 2. HNL), Međimurje have contested the Northern Derby with NK Varaždin.[3]

As of 4 February 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  CRO Matija Jesenović 2 DF  CRO Bruno Čovo (on loan from Slaven Belupo) 3 DF  CRO Dorian Jakupak 4 DF  CRO Nemanja Gajić 5 DF  CRO Josip-Domagoj Hranilović 6 MF  CRO Leo Hajdinjak 7 FW  CRO Jan Marcijuš 8 MF  CRO Ivan Radošević 9 FW  CRO Stjepan Igrec 10 MF  CRO Niko Havelka (on loan from Slaven Belupo) 11 FW  CRO Nino Brcković

No. Pos. Nation Player 12 GK  SVN Uroš Poljanec 13 FW  BIH Ahmed Hasanović 14 MF  CAN Ivan Mamić 15 DF  CRO Robin Zanjko 16 DF  FRA Claudio Merville 17 DF  CRO Josip Palić 18 DF  CRO Dalibor Vrbanić (on loan from Lokomotiva) 19 MF  CRO Marin Kuzminski (on loan from Osijek) 20 MF  CRO Neven Hlišć 21 MF  CRO Marko Čovo 22 FW  SVN Sandro Jovanović

• Croatian Second League
  • Winners (1): 2003–04
• Croatian Third League North
  • Winners (1): 2013–14
  • Runners-up (2): 2012–13
• Croatian Third League East
  • Winners (2): 2015–16, 2016–17
  • Third place (3): 2014–15, 2017–18

Key

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

• Međimurje profile at UEFA.com
• Međimurje profile at Sportnet.hr (in Croatian)