NK Neretvanac Opuzen is a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

n professional

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, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club from

Opuzen Opuzen () is a small town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The town is located upstream from the mouth of the river Neretva, in southern Dalmatia. This settlement is known as a major center of tangerine production in Croatia. Opuzen got i ...

founded in 1932, currently playing in the 3. NL – South. Neretvanac played four seasons in the Croatian second division in the 1990s. The club is named after the river which runs through Opuzen.

History

In 1976, Neretvanac hosted

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

in a friendly organised after Opuzen fans sent in over 50,000 coupons to match sponsor

Slobodna Dalmacija (, where "Free" is an adjective) is a Croatian daily newspaper published in Split. History was first issued on 17 June 1943 by Tito's Partisans in an abandoned stone barn on Mosor, a mountain near Split, while the city was occupied by the I ...

. Hajduk won 6:0 in front of 6,000 spectators, which was noted to be twice the number the population of Opuzen at the time. Neretvanac played in the Croatian second division from independence to 1995, when they finished last and were relegated. NK Neretvanac most recently qualified for the 2016 Croatian Cup, losing to

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 (), commonly referred to as Istra 1961, is a Croatian professional football club based in Pula, that competes in the Croatian First League. It is a common opinion amongst many people that ''Istra 1961'' was founded i ...

in the first round. In 2017, Neretvanac signed a cooperative development agreement with nearby

1.HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga (; ), abbreviated as HNL and also known for sponsorship reasons as the SuperSport HNL, is a professional association football league in Croatia and the highest level of the Croatian football league system. Establishe ...

club

Derby

NK Neretvanac share a longstanding rivalry with

NK Neretva Nogometni klub Neretva Metković (), commonly referred to as NK Neretva or simply Neretva, is a Croatian professional football club based in the town of Metković, in the region of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. The club's first name was NK Narona. O ...

from

Metković Metković () is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia, located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the river Neretva and on the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Climate Since records began in 1997, the highest temper ...

, entitled "El Clasico" which dates back to 1946. NK Neretva won the first derby match 3–0. They also have a smaller derby with Jadran Ploče.

Former players

Marko Grgić Marko Grgić may refer to: * Marko Grgić (footballer) * Marko Grgić (handballer) {{hndis, Grgic, Marko ...

* Nikola Katić (2014–15) returned to Neretvanac after joining

and being placed in their reserves team. Katić was capped once by Croatia in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neretvanac Opuzen, NK Football clubs in Dubrovnik-Neretva County 1932 establishments in Croatia Association football clubs established in 1932