NK Osijek

NK Osijek are a football club from the city of Osijek in Slavonia, eastern Croatia, and were the Slavonian club with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First League. The club traces its roots to NK Udarnik, formed in 1945 in the tradition of the banned JSK Slavija, but marks 27 February 1947 as its founding date, when NK Slavonija and NK Bratstvo merged to form FK Proleter. After playing as Slavonija from 1962, the club took the city's name in 1967 and changed from red and blue to blue and white. This is where the nickname Bijelo-plavi (the White and Blues) comes from. Since 2023 Osijek have played at the Opus Arena, a 13,005-seat stadium west of the city centre, after 65 years at Gradski vrt.

Osijek's only major trophy is the Croatian Football Cup, which they won in 1999 by beating Cibalia 2-1 after extra time in the final. They were cup runners-up in 2012 and finished second in the league in 2020-21. In the Yugoslav era, winning the Croato-Slovenian League in 1953 took them into the Yugoslav First League. A second-tier title in 1977 brought them back up, and apart from 1980-81 they stayed there until the league broke up. Osijek have never been relegated from the Croatian First Football League. In Europe they reached the UEFA Cup third round in 2000-01. In 2017-18 they knocked out PSV Eindhoven, then went out to Austria Wien on away goals in the Europa League play-off round.