History of the club

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History of the club

History of NK Olimpija

One life, one love!

Olympia is otherwise a small place in the Peloponnese, where the ancient Greeks organized the Olympic Games between the 8th century BC and the 4th century AD. The place also gave its name to the modern Olympic Games and, of course, to some sports clubs, the most famous of which are the Greek Olympiakos and the Paraguayan Olimpia Asunción. But what about in our country?

In 1955, at a time when the club was called Odred, a sports association was founded at the University of Ljubljana as an umbrella organization for student sports activities. On the suggestion of one of the founding members, Dušan Brglez, the new association was named Olympia.

A few years later, when the Bežigrad football club left the Odred sports association and briefly changed its name to the generic all-Slovenian Triglav, the Academic Sports Association was already the strongest and best-organized sports organization in Ljubljana. At the end of 1961, the long-planned merger of Triglav with AŠD Olimpija finally materialized, and the football club received the name it still bears today. In the spring part of the 1961/62 season, the club thus started competing as Olimpija.

The club played its first official match under the new name on March 25, 1962, in Nova Gorica. A crowd of 2,500 spectators gathered, who, despite good playing conditions, witnessed an average football performance. Olimpija secured a routine victory with goals from Živko Velkavrh and Danilo Brezigar. In that season, Olimpija won first place in the Slovenian National League (SNL) and returned to the Second Federal League, climbing to the highest tier of competition within a few years. From 1965 onwards, the name Olimpija became synonymous with Slovenian football.

about the club

History of the Club by Decades

1911

The beginnings of the NK Olimpija club before the First World War.

1918

After the First World War, football boomed in Slovenia.

1945

The Yugoslav period – a new big club was born.

1991

A new country, new milestones, the birth of the Slovenian league.

1995

A turbulent period of false rises and heavy falls.

2005

A whole new chapter, a new project, has begun.

2015

National championship title after 21 years.

2017

Double crown after 25 years.

2019

Two more cup trophies.

2021

NK Olimpija Since the Takeover by Adam Delius.

Trophies

Olimpija – A club of many trophies and victories

The Olimpija football club boasts a rich history and numerous achievements. The club was a long-standing participant in the Yugoslav football league, playing in the First Yugoslav Federal League for an impressive 19 seasons – more than any other Slovenian club. In 1970, Olimpija made history by reaching the final of the Yugoslav Cup.

After Slovenia’s independence, Olimpija became one of the most successful teams in the country, winning the Slovenian championship seven times and claiming the national cup title eight times. In 1995, the club added the Super Cup trophy to its collection, further cementing its status as a football institution in Slovenia.

Olimpija remains a symbol of football tradition, passion and winning mentality!

National Champions

1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2016, 2018, 2023

Cup Winners

1993, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023

Super Cup Winners

1995

Emblem and colors

Origin and Evolution of the Club Crest

After World War II, in 1945, the Svoboda Physical Education Society was founded on the basis of the Ljubljana Sports Club (SK), which took over the field, players and green-and-white colours of the former club, but not the coat of arms. The coat of arms of Svoboda was completely renovated to suit the new political reality. It had a rectangular-triangular shape, with a red star at the top, a shield with Triglav and the sea in the middle, and the name of the society at the bottom.

In December 1946, Svoboda merged with several smaller clubs and was renamed the Physical Culture Club Enotnost. The colors became red and white, and the coat of arms symbolized the name of the club: a red square with three stylized athletes holding hands, with a green peace branch in the middle, a red star in the upper left corner, and the name of the club at the bottom.

At the end of 1948, the football section of Enotnosti became independent under the new name Odred. The colors remained red and white, and the coat of arms was a simple tilted square, divided into white and red halves, in the middle of which was written in gold letters “Odred”. The club existed under this name until December 1960, when it was renamed Triglav. The coat of arms of this period is unknown, the only preserved symbol is a red round stamp with the name “Triglav Ljubljana”.

In 1962, the club became a member of the Academic Sports Association (AŠD) Olimpija and adopted its black and white colors and the symbol of the triangular coat of arms with the Olympic rings and the name Olimpija. At the end of the 1960s, the club’s colors became green and white, and the coat of arms was adapted – the triangular shape remained, but in new colors. In the mid-1970s, the coat of arms was supplemented with a dragon for the first time after World War II. The new, completely green, round coat of arms depicted a dragon at the top and Ljubljana Castle at the bottom. Variations of this coat of arms were in use until Slovenia’s independence.

In 1991, Olimpija presented a new, still round coat of arms in green and white. The dragon was stylized and placed in the center, and at the top was the name of the general patron of the SCT in blue. In 2000, after the withdrawal of the SCT, the coat of arms was corrected by removing the name of the patron.

In 2003, during the time of businessman Jurij Schollmayer, the coat of arms underwent a complete transformation. The shape changed to the letter U, but it retained all the recognizable elements: the dragon, the green-and-white color scheme and the soccer ball, which first appeared in the coat of arms. After the club’s bankruptcy in 2005, architect Luka Jančič designed a new coat of arms – a round shape, with a stylized dragon and a ball in the center. This symbol accompanied the club during its return to the first league.

The current green and white crest with a dragon, the club name and a soccer ball was introduced in 2010 and appeared on the jerseys in the 2010/11 season. It was designed by the marketing agency Pristop. The crest retains all the key elements that have been a constant in various versions of the club crest since the 1970s. In the last fifteen years, the crest has only been minimally corrected and remains a recognizable symbol of Olimpija.

Emblem and colors

Club Colors

Throughout its history, Olimpija has played in three color combinations: black-and-white, red-and-white, and, of course, green-and-white. Before World War II, the club was initially black-and-white, then green-and-white from 1937 to 1946, red-and-white from 1946 to 1962, and after joining the parent organization AŠD Olimpija, it was once again black-and-white until 1969.

In December 1968, the club’s management decided at the regular annual assembly to change the color combination. To emphasize the connection with the local community, they made the decision that the club would henceforth play in the green-and-white colors of the city of Ljubljana. And so, since the 1969/70 season, for over half a century, Olimpija has worn the green-and-white colors for which it is known throughout Slovenia, the former Yugoslavia, and beyond in Europe.