FC Nitra is a Slovak association football club, playing in the town of

Nitra Nitra (; also known by other #Etymology, alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the valley of the river Nitra (river), Nitra. It is located 95 km east of Bratislava. With a population of ...

. Established in 1909, FC Nitra is one of the oldest football clubs in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

History

Czechoslovak era

Nitra were promoted and relegated 4 times from the

Czechoslovak First League The Czechoslovak First League (, ) was the premier football (soccer), football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed Gauliga Sudetenland and Ga ...

with their longest stay being 5 years (1979–1984, 1986–1991). Nitra came close to clinching the title in 1962 only to lose out by 3 points to

Dukla Prague Dukla Prague () was a Czech football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the semi-finals of the ...

. This year was most successful in club history because they reached also

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, Mitteleuropäischer Pokal or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European association football, football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the suc ...

final. Another successful period was end of 80s when Nitra stayed on top positions in

(in 1989 they reached 3rd place) with players like

Michal Hipp Michal Hipp (born 13 March 1963) is a Slovak football manager and a former player. Early and personal life Hipp grew up in Horná Kráľová, a village in the district of Šaľa. His son, Patrik, is also a footballer who played for FC Nitra in ...

Ľubomír Moravčík Ľubomír Moravčík (born 22 June 1965) is a Slovak football manager and former player. A creative midfielder renowned for his technical ability, he was capable of unleashing powerful, accurate shots, and pinpoint crosses with both feet. He pla ...

Ladislav Molnár Ladislav Molnár (born 12 September 1960) is a Slovak football manager and former goalkeeper. Honours Manager 1.FC Košice *Slovak Cup: Runners-up: 1999-00 Koba Senec *Slovak Cup (1): 2001-02 Dukla B.Bystrica *Slovak Super Liga The Slova ...

, Peter Palúch, Jozef Majoroš, Róbert Tomaschek,

Miroslav Sovič Miroslav Sovič (born 9 March 1970 in Košice) is a former Slovak footballer who played for Lokomotíva Košice, 1. FC Košice, FC Nitra, appearing in 5 league matches. Sparta Praha and he ended his career at MFK Košice. Sovič played for S ...

. FC Nitra was the first football professional club in the former Czechoslovakia.

Slovak era

Nitra was involved in the inaugural Slovakian championship in 1994 but was relegated to the second division after their first season. The following season they were promoted back to the first division, only for the same fate to occur and were again relegated. Roller coaster seasons became somewhat of an FC Nitra speciality during the early 90s, until the promotions stopped in 2001 where fans had to wait five long seasons before seeing their club again return to the top flight where they finished with a respectable fifth place. This was mainly due to the work of head coach Ivan Galád, who took control of the team in the winter of 2004, guiding the team to a fourth-place finish in the second division. Róbert Rák became the top goal scorer both in the second division in the 2004/2005 season and (together with Erik Jendrišek) in the first division in the 2005/2006 season. In the beginning of the next season he was transferred to

MFK Ružomberok MFK Ružomberok () is a Slovak professional football club playing in the city of Ružomberok. History Established in 1906, the club's colours have been traditionally white, yellow and red, which are also featured on the town's flag. However, t ...

. Galád coached the team very defensively (as according to his words no good striker was in the team). Galád lost his job after not much good results of the team at the end of 2006/2007 season (many losses and draws). The former Czech player

Pavel Hapal Pavel Hapal (born 27 July 1969) is a Czech former footballer and coach of Baník Ostrava. Playing career As a footballer, Hapal played for Dukla Prague, CD Tenerife, Sparta Prague, and SK Dynamo České Budějovice. At international level, he ...

was named as the head coach of the team for the 2007/2008 season. His way of coaching brought almost immediately very good results and the team finished 3rd (the best in the history of the club). After the season Hapal decided to leave the club to accept an offer from the top Czech club

FK Mladá Boleslav FK Mladá Boleslav is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Mladá Boleslav. Since 2004, the club has been participating in the Czech First League. In the Czech First League, Mladá Boleslav were runners up in 2005–06 and o ...

. Pavel Malura, another coach from the Czech Republic, has taken the job. In spring 2009 the new manager

Petar Kurčubić Petar (, sr-Cyrl, Петар) is a South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros cognate to Peter. Derivative forms include Pero, Pejo, Pera, Perica, Petrica, Periša. Feminine equivalent is Petra. People mon ...

was appointed. In 2021 after the club was relegated from the top flight, they did not obtain a licence for the league below and so were further demoted another level.

Events timeline

* 1909 – Founded as ''Nyitrai ÖTTSO'' * 1911 – Renamed ''Nyitrai TVE'' * 1919 – Renamed ''Nyitrai SC'' * 1921 – Renamed ''SK Nitra'' * 1923 – Renamed ''AC Nitra'' * 1948 – Renamed ''Sokol Nitra'' * 1949 – Renamed ''ZSJ Sokol spojene zavody Nitra'' * 1949 – Renamed ''ZK KP Nitra'' * 1953 – Renamed ''DSO Slavoj Nitra'' * 1956 – Renamed ''TJ Slovan Nitra'' * 1966 – Again Renamed ''AC Nitra'' * 1976 – Renamed ''TJ Plastika Nitra'' * 1989 – First European qualification,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

* 1990 – Renamed ''FC Nitra''

Honours

Domestic

Czechoslovakia *

''(1925–1993)'' ** ''Runners-Up (1):'' 1961–62 ** ''Third place (1):'' 1988–89 * 1.SNL (1st Slovak National football league) ''(1969–1993)'' ** ''Winners (3):'' 1978–79, 1985–86, 1991–92 Slovakia * Slovak League ''(1993–Present)'' ** ''Third place (1):'' 2007–08 *

Slovenský Pohár The Slovak Cup (), currently named Slovnaft Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Slovnaft, is the only nationwide knockout competition in Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa League qualification rounds. History The compet ...

''(Slovak Cup) (1961–Present)'
1
** ''Runners-up (4):'' 1974–75, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1990–91 *

Slovak Second Division The Slovak Second Football League (), officially known as MONACObet LIGA for sponsorship reasons, is the annual second tier football competition in Slovakia. Currently, the competition consists of 16 teams. History The league was formed as a se ...

(1993–Present) ** ''Winners (3):'' 1994–95, 1997–98, 2004–05 ** ''Runners-Up (2):'' 2000–01, 2016–17

Czechoslovak and Slovak Top Goalscorer

The Czechoslovak League top scorer from 1944–45 until 1992–93. Since the 1993–94 Slovak League Top scorer. :¹Shared award

European

''
2
** ''Runners-up:'' 1961 *

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

** ''Winners (3):''

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

Sponsorship

Current squad

''Updated 5 August 2021''

Out on loan

Current technical staff

:''Updated 2 March 2023''

Results

League and Cup history

''Slovak League only (1993–present)'' : ¹ FC Nitra did not obtain a licence for the 2021–22 season

European competition history

UEFA-administered

Not UEFA-administered

Player records

Most goals

Notable players

Had international caps for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries while playing for FC Nitra. :''Past (and present) players who are the subjects of Wikipedia articles can be found

here Here may refer to: Music * ''Here'' (Adrian Belew album), 1994 * ''Here'' (Alicia Keys album), 2016 * ''Here'' (Cal Tjader album), 1979 * ''Here'' (Edward Sharpe album), 2012 * ''Here'' (Idina Menzel album), 2004 * ''Here'' (Merzbow album), ...

.''

Former managers

* Zoltán Opata (1935–36) *

Karol Bučko Karol Bučko is a Slovak former football manager. He coached ŠK Slovan Bratislava, Sokol NV Bratislava, Slávia Bratislava, TTS Trenčín, FC Nitra, Inter Bratislava, Banik Ostrava and VSS Košice. References

Czechoslovak football ...

(1959–63) * Ladislav Putera (1963–64) * Eduard Farman (1964–65) * (1965–68) * Jozef Čurgaly (1968–70) * (1970–74) * (1974–75) * Theodor Reimann (1975–76) * (1976–77) * (1978–83) * (1983) *

Jiří Lopata Jiří Lopata (22 December 1936 – 20 April 2021) was a Czech football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, fo ...

(1984) *

Stanislav Jarábek Stanislav Jarábek (born 9 December 1938) is a Slovak former football player and manager who played for Spartak Trnava. He played for Czechoslovakia on 1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the ...

(1984–85) * Jozef Jarabinský (1985–86) * Kamil Majerník (1986–88) * Milan Lešický (1988–91) * Karol Pecze (1991–92) *

(1992–93) * S. Dominka (1993) * (1993–95) *

Milan Albrecht Milan Albrecht (born 16 July 1950) is a retired Slovak footballer. During his career he played for Jednota Trenčín and Banská Bystrica before finishing with Baník Ostrava and Vítkovice. He earned 5 caps for the Czechoslovakia national foo ...

(2001) * Ivan Galád (2004–07) *

(1 Jul 2007 – 30 Jun 2008) * Pavel Malura (9 Jun 2008 – 28 Sep 2008) * Marián Süttö (28 Sep 2008 – 31 Dec 2008) *

(1 Jan 2009 – 30 Jun 2009) * Ivan Galád (1 Jul 2010 – 13 Jan 2011) * Ivan Vrabec (15 Jan 2011 – 14 Mar 2011) * Cyril Stachura (15 Mar 2011 – 19 Nov 2011) * ''(interim)'' (20 Nov 2011 – 19 Dec 2011) *

Ladislav Jurkemik Ladislav Jurkemik (born 20 July 1953) is a former Slovak football player and later a football manager. He played in the Czechoslovak First League for Inter Bratislava and Dukla Banská Bystrica. Jurkemik played internationally for Czechoslova ...

(20 Dec 2011 – 5 Nov 2012) * Jozef Vukušič (6 Nov 2012 – 30 Jun 2013) * Ladislav Šimčo (1 Jul 2013 – 27 Aug 2013) * Vladimír Koník (27 Aug 2013 – 19 Feb 2014) * Ladislav Hudec (19 Feb 2014 – June 2014) *

(Jun 2014 – 23 Sep 2015) * (23 Sep 2015 – 5 Jan 2017) * Ivan Galád (5 Jan 2017 – 13 Mar 2019) * Michal Kuruc (13 Mar 2019 – 20 Jun 2019) * Marián Süttö (20 Jun 2019 – 6 Jan 2020) *

Anatoliy Demyanenko Anatoliy Vasilyovych Demyanenko (, born 19 February 1959), sometimes referred to as Anatoli Demianenko, is a Ukrainian football coach and former player. As a player, he was deployed at left-back and notably represented Dynamo Kyiv and the USSR ...

(6 Jan 2020 – May 2020) * Miroslav Nemec (May 2020 – 29 Jun 2020) * Ivan Galád (29 Jun 2020 – Aug 2020) *

Gergely Geri Gergely Geri (born 19 January 1977) is a Slovak professional football head coach and former player and previously head coach of FC Košice. Previously, he was an assistant of Ivan Galád in Zlaté Moravce Zlaté Moravce (; 1776 Morawce, , ) ...

(Aug 2020 – 1 Dec 2020) * Ivan Galád ''(interim)'' (1 Dec 2020 – 4 Jan 2021) * Michal Ščasný (4 Jan 2021 – 22 Jan 2021) *

Peter Lérant Peter Lérant (born 30 January 1977) is a Slovak professional football manager and former player who played as a centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks durin ...

(22 Jan 2021 – 25 Mar 2021) * Michal Ščasný (26 Mar 2021 – 24 Jan 2022) * Miloš Foltán (25 Jan 2022 - 12 apr 2022) * (13 apr 2022 – July 2022) * Jozef Kozák (July 2022 – 28 Feb 2023) * (1 mar 2023-)

References

External links

*
FC Nitra
–

Ultras Ultras are a type of association football fans who are known for their fanatical support. The term originated in Italy, but is used worldwide to describe predominantly organised fans of association football teams. The behavioural tendency ...

(archived 23 August 2006) {{Commons category, FC Nitra

Sport in Nitra

Nitra FC 1909 establishments in Slovakia