History of NK Maribor

The team was disbanded in August 1960 due to the food poisoning affair before the match against Karlovac in the promotion play-offs for the Yugoslav Second League.

Srečko Koren was appointed as the first club president, Andrija Pflander as the first head coach, and Oto Blaznik as the first team captain.

[6] However, at the first general assembly on 26 December 1960, it was decided that the club would be called NK Maribor, with purple and white as its main colours.

[7] Blaznik was the one who proposed the combination of purple and white jerseys to the club board after seeing photos of Italian side Fiorentina in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

[9] The team won the Republic League (third tier in Yugoslavia) in its first season, and thus qualified for the play-offs to advance to the Yugoslav second division.

[9][10] Maribor went through as a winner in the first two rounds of the qualifications and eventually defeated Uljanik from Pula in the final phase with 2–1 on aggregate, therefore earning promotion to the second Yugoslav division.

[10][13] The club's first match in the Yugoslav top division was played on 20 August 1967 against Vardar in Skopje, which ended in a 1–1 draw with Maras scoring the only goal for Maribor.

[9] During their five-year stint in the Yugoslav top division, Maribor played a total of 166 matches and achieved 40 wins, 57 draws and 69 defeats, with a goal difference of 166–270.

[11] Mladen Kranjc, one of the best players in the history of the club,[20] was the best goalscorer for the team in each of its five seasons spent in the Yugoslav top league, having scored 54 goals, which brought him a transfer from Maribor to Dinamo Zagreb.

[19] The first leg was played in Maribor on 8 July 1973, and is considered one of the most historic matches in the history of the club, as it still holds the record for the most spectators in the home game.

[22] Two goals advantage was, however, not enough as Proleter won the second leg 3–0 at home and earned the promotion to the top flight, eliminating Maribor 4–3 on aggregate.

[19] Maribor immediately returned to the second division after only one season and was again close to promotion to the top tier in 1978–79 when they finished as runners-up, six points behind Čelik.

[29] During the first couple of seasons, Maribor's rivals Olimpija from Ljubljana, which had a long tradition of playing in the Yugoslav first division and at the time still had their squad composed of players from that era, dominated the league.

The final ended in a goalless draw and was won by Maribor on penalties, with the decisive goal scored by Edim Hadžialagić.

[41] One of the most famous matches in the history of the Slovenian league was played in the final round of the 2000–01 season, when Olimpija met Maribor at their home stadium in Ljubljana.

[43] Celje was leading 1–0 until the 86th minute, when Danijel Brezič and Damir Pekič scored two late goals for Maribor and thus secured their seventh consecutive title.

Before the 2007–08 season, former Slovenian international Zlatko Zahovič was appointed sports director of Maribor, which marked the beginning of the golden era of the club.

[60] At the beginning of the 2009–10 season, Maribor won its first Slovenian Supercup title, the only domestic trophy missing among club honours.

[63] Maribor played in another Supercup match at the beginning of the 2010–11 season, but failed to defend the title after losing to Koper on penalties.

[64] The team had an impressive run in the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League where it played a total of six matches, defeating Videoton (1–1, 2–0) and Hibernian (3–0, 3–2), before losing in the play-offs against Serie A club Palermo (0–3, 3–2).

[79] Under the leadership of the newly appointed manager Ante Čačić, Maribor won another Supercup title in July 2013 after beating Olimpija.

[86] In the 2014–15 season, Maribor reached the group stages of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1999 after eliminating Zrinjski Mostar, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Celtic in the qualifying rounds.

[88] Maribor managed to score three points in six games after drawing with Sporting CP and Chelsea at home and with Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen.

[89] During the next season, Maribor sacked two managers, Šimundža and Krunoslav Jurčić,[90][91] and failed to win the domestic title for the first time since 2009–10 after finishing second behind their rivals Olimpija.

[101] Maribor have won two remaining games, but lost the league title to Olimpija on head-to-head record after finishing with the same number of points.

[111][112] In early 2021, Bogatinov left the club due to alleged disputes with former Maribor player Marko Šuler, who became the new sports director.

[114] Within two years after Zahovič's departure, Maribor sacked three managers (Sergej Jakirović, Mauro Camoranesi and Simon Rožman[115]) and went on a record run of nine consecutive winless matches against their biggest rivals Olimpija.

[116] In 2021–22, Maribor won its 16th national title on the final day of the season after beating Mura 3–1, ending a three-year trophyless drought.

[117] Ognjen Mudrinski was one of the key members of the team; he was voted as the PrvaLiga player of the year, and also finished as the league's top scorer with 17 goals.

[124] The club managed to reach the cup final, but failed to win the trophy after losing to Olimpija 2–1 after extra time with a last minute penalty kick.