History

Rijeka was founded in 1925 and was originally called Union Sportiva Fiumena. The club’s history is an interesting one as it is connected to the geopolitical conditions of the Fiume area where the Croatian city of Rijeka is located today.

At the time of their founding, Fiume belonged to Italy. And so Union Sportiva Fiumena therefore started playing in the 3rd division, and they enjoyed good success with successive promotions into what is today’s Serie B.

After the end of World War II, Fume became part of Yugoslavia. The club was was renamed Rijeka and began the 1946-47 season playing in the first division, until 1992, when Yugoslavia broke up into six countries.

Since then and until today, Rijeka plays in the Croatian league and is consistently in the top positions in the standings, having won one championship (2017) and six CroatianCups.

Their route so far

In the 2020-21 season, Rijeka finished third in the Croatian championship, behind champions Dinamo Zagreb and Osijek. In the cup they reached the semi-finals but fell victim to a shock after being eliminated by minnows NK Istra.

The Double-headed Eagle’s opponent booked their tickets for the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers though and began in the 2nd qualifying round.

After eliminating Maltese outfit Gzira United with two victories (0-2, 1-0), they met Hibernian from Scotland.

In Edinburgh the two teams drew 1-1. In the second leg tie in Croatia, Rijeka secured an impressive 4-1 win to book a place in the Play Offs.

This season in the Croatian championship they are currently in fourth place along with Dinamo Zagreb on seven points after four games.

The coach

Goran Tomic, who has experience of playing in Greece, has been at the helm of Rijeka since last March. He spent six months with AEK as a player in 1998.

After starting his coaching career in Sibenik, Croatia, the team of his birthplace and where he made his first professional steps as a player, Tomic traveled to China and stayed there for about four years.

He returned to Croatia and coached Istria, before taking over the fortunes of Lokomotiva Zagreb, whom he led to their greatest success in teh club’s history in the the 2019-20 season, finishing second place in the league.

Tomic succeeded Rozman on the Rijeka bench and despite being at the team for just a few months, he has already won the appreciation of the management and the fans with his work.

The squad

A relatively young team, considering that there are only two players over 30 on the roster, the quality is, however, a given. Under the instructions of Tomic, the team have shown that they can adapt their philosophy to almost every game and opponent.

It can be said that three players stand out from the rest of the squad. The central defender Velkovski, Muric on the wing, who did not travel to Thessaloniki and is expected to leave the club via a transfer, and Drmic, who is on loan from Norwich.

Rijeka’s main striker, Abbas, is also worth a mention. He is in a rich vein of form of late with three goals in five games.