NK Svoboda Ljubljana

Svoboda Ljubljana
Full name	Nogometni klub Svoboda Ljubljana
Nickname(s)	Vitezi (The Knights)
Founded	1952; 72 years ago
Ground	Svoboda Sports Park
Capacity	800
President	Hajro Rizvić
Head coach	Ermin Rakovič
League	3. SNL – West
2023–24	3. SNL – West, 7th of 14
Website	https://www.nksvoboda.si/
Home colours	Away colours

NK Svoboda Ljubljana (Nogometni klub Svoboda Ljubljana, 'Svoboda Ljubljana Football Club'), commonly referred to as simply Svoboda, is a Slovenian football club from Ljubljana which plays in the Slovenian Third League.

History

The club was founded as ŠD Svoboda in 1952. In the late 1950s, they merged with NK Grafičar, took over its place in the Slovenian Republic League and played under this name until 1962. The most successful period for the club was in the 1970s, when they played in the Yugoslav Second League under the sponsorship of Mercator. In 1971, they won the Slovenian Republic League for the first time and earned promotion to the Yugoslav Second League – West.

Year	Postiton	Year	Postiton
1971	1st	1977	17th
1972	13th	1978	1st
1973	8th	1979	16th
1974	18th	1980	1st
1975	1st	1981	8th
1976	12th	1982	16th

During this period, they also won two Republic Cup titles, in 1976 and 1978. Thus, Svoboda participated in the Yugoslav Cup and in the 1978–79 season reached the round of 16, where they were eliminated by Borac Banja Luka.

After Slovenia's independence in 1991, Svoboda played in the Slovenian PrvaLiga for three seasons, finishing in 11th, 6th, and 13th place. In 1994 the club was replaced by Slavija with many players leaving from them to Vevče. Svoboda then played several seasons in lower divisions, before returning to the scene in 2003, when they were promoted to the Slovenian Second League. They have played there for three seasons, scoring the best result in the 2004–05 season with third place, which was not enough to secure promotion, due to Slovenian First League being decreased to ten teams. In the next two seasons Svoboda was relegated from the second and third division, having serious financial troubles. The club was taken over by NK Interblock in 2008 to become their feeder team for youth selections, but this collaboration lasted only one season. Svoboda started on their own again in 2009. In 2018, Svoboda returned to the Slovenian Third League after they won a promotion play-off against Žiri.

Managers

Manager	Period
Sanel Konjević	2009–2010
Vanja Starčević	2011
Suad Beširević	2011–2012
Željko Mitraković	2012
Zoran Pejović	2012–2016
Damir Vrabac	2016–2017
Damir Šabotić	2017
Damir Vrabac	2018
Jedinko Perica	2018–2021
Željko Filipović	2021
Goran Ćurt	2022
Amir Agić	2022
Hajro Rizvić	2022
Stanko Božičević	2023
Hajro Rizvić	2023
Marinko Mačkić	2024
Ermin Rakovič	2024–present

Honours

League

Slovenian Republic League
- Winners: 1970–71, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1979–80
Slovenian Third League
- Winners: 2002–03
Ljubljana Regional League (fourth tier)
- Winners: 2010–11, 2017–18
Slovenian Fifth Division
- Winners: 1994–95, 2009–10

Cup

Slovenian Republic Cup
- Winners: 1975–76, 1977–78
MNZ Ljubljana Cup
- Winners: 2003–04^[2]

Domestic league and cup results

Season	League	Position	Pts	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Cup
1991–92	1. SNL	11	40	40	14	12	14	51	55	Round of 64
1992–93	1. SNL	6	38	34	14	10	10	38	33	Quarter-finals
1993–94	1. SNL	13	23	30	9	5	16	31	59	First round
1994–95	2. MNZ LJ	1	28	18	13	2	3	43	20	First round
1995–96	1. MNZ LJ	3	48	26	15	3	8	48	33	did not qualify
1996–97	1. MNZ LJ	3	45	25	14	3	8	54	33	did not qualify
1997–98	3. SNL – West	2	42	25	11	9	5	41	21	did not qualify
1998–99	3. SNL – Centre	3	47	26	14	5	7	78	50	did not qualify
1999–2000	3. SNL – Centre	11	26	26	6	8	12	34	39	did not qualify
2000–01	3. SNL – Centre	9	33	26	8	9	9	32	34	did not qualify
2001–02	3. SNL – Centre	3	47	26	13	8	5	45	32	did not qualify
2002–03	3. SNL – Centre	1	62	25	19	5	1	76	23	did not qualify
2003–04	2. SNL	8	34	32	9	7	16	48	47	did not qualify
2004–05	2. SNL	3	61	33	18	7	8	52	33	First round
2005–06	2. SNL	9	25	27	7	4	16	26	33	First round
2006–07	3. SNL – West	11	29	26	9	15	2	39	59	did not qualify
2007–08	2. MNZ LJ	8	21	20	7	0	13	40	50	did not qualify
2008–09	did not enter any competitions
2009–10	2. MNZ LJ	1	38	16	12	2	2	71	22	did not qualify
2010–11	Regional	1	56	26	17	5	4	60	27	did not qualify
2011–12	3. SNL – West	14	22	26	5	7	14	23	49	did not qualify
2012–13	Regional	2	55	26	17	4	5	64	31	did not qualify
2013–14	Regional	8	32	26	9	5	12	44	50	did not qualify
2014–15	Regional	6	28	19	9	1	9	33	31	did not qualify
2015–16	Regional	2	44	22	14	2	6	52	34	did not qualify
2016–17	Regional	4	40	22	12	4	6	42	31	did not qualify
2017–18	Regional	1	58	22	18	4	0	65	18	did not qualify
2018–19	3. SNL – Centre	6	32	27	7	11	9	44	52	did not qualify
2019–20	3. SNL – West^[a]	2	31	14	9	4	1	47	19	did not qualify
2020–21	3. SNL – West	7	22	19	7	1	11	33	47	did not qualify
2021–22	3. SNL – West	13	16	26	4	4	18	20	55	did not qualify
2022–23	3. SNL – West	6	39	26	11	6	9	32	30	First round

^ The season was not completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

*Best results are highlighted.

References

^ "Klubi" [Clubs] (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
^ "Novice: Finale članskega pokala MNZ Ljubljana" (in Slovenian). MNZ Ljubljana. Archived from the original on 11 June 2004. Retrieved 30 October 2016.

External links

Official website (in Slovene)

[3] The season was not completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Klubi-1] "Klubi" [Clubs] (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia. Retrieved 29 July 2016.

[2] "Novice: Finale članskega pokala MNZ Ljubljana" (in Slovenian). MNZ Ljubljana. Archived from the original on 11 June 2004. Retrieved 30 October 2016.

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