Rudes

Rudes, in full Nogometni klub Rudes, are a football club from the Rudes neighbourhood of Zagreb, from which they take their name. The club was founded in 1957, although football had been played in Rudes since the early 1950s on a former meadow known as Celina. They are nicknamed Plavi (the Blues) and Rudesani. Their own ground is the Sportski centar Rudes on Rudeska cesta, which holds 1,612. That ground was not licensed for top-flight football, so Rudes play their HNL home matches at the Gradski stadion Velika Gorica, which they share with Gorica. In earlier top-flight seasons they mainly used Stadion Kranjceviceva in Zagreb, although they were cleared to play their final home games of 2023-24 at Sportski centar Rudes.

Rudes have spent most of their history in the lower divisions. After winning the third tier, the 3. HNL, in 2008-09, they won the second-tier 2. HNL in 2016-17 under coach Igor Biscan and reached the top flight for the first time. They stayed for two seasons before finishing bottom in 2018-19. They won the second tier, by then renamed Prva NL, again in 2022-23, but went straight back down after finishing tenth and last in 2023-24. A third second-tier title in 2025-26 brought promotion back to the HNL for 2026-27. Rudes have also won the Zagreb Football Association Cup three times. They have never won a major national trophy or played in European competition.