FC Nitra

Football club infobox
clubname = FC Nitra


fullname = Football Club Nitra
nickname = Trogári
founded = 1909
ground = Štadión pod Zoborom, Nitra
capacity = 11,384
chairman = Eugen Árvay
manager = flagicon|Czech Republic Pavel Malura
league = Corgoň Liga
season = 2007-08
position = First Division, 3rd
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FC Nitra is a Slovak football club, playing in the town of Nitra. Established in 1909, FC Nitra is one of the oldest football clubs in Slovakia. Nitra were promoted and relegated 4 times from the Czechoslovakian league with their longest stay being 5 years (1979-1984, 1986-1991). Nitra came close to clinching the title in 1962 only to lose out by 3 points to Dukla Prague. FC Nitra was the first football professional club in the former Czechoslovakia.

__TOC__Nitra was involved in the inaugural Slovakian championship in 1994 but was relegated to the second division after the first season. The following season they were promoted back to the first division, only for the same fate to occur and were again relegated. Roller coaster seasons became somewhat of an FC Nitra speciality during the early 90's, until the promotions stopped in 2001 where fans had to wait five long seasons before seeing their club again return to the top flight where they finished with a respectable fifth place. This was mainly due to the work of headcoach Ivan Galád, who took control of the team in the winter of 2004, guiding the team to a fourth place finish in the second division.

Róbert Rák became the top goal scorer both in the second division in the 2004/2005 season and (together with Erik Jendrišek) in the first division in the 2005/2006 season. In the beginning of the next season he transferred to MFK Ružomberok. Galád coached the team very defensively (as according to his words no good striker was in the team). Galád lost his job after not much good results of the team at the end of 2006/2007 season (many losses and draws). The former Czech player Pavel Hapal was named as the head coach of the team for the 2007/2008 season. His way of coaching brought almost immediately very good results and the team finished 3rd (the best in the history of the club). After the season Hapal decided to leave the club to accept an offer from the top Czech club FK Mladá Boleslav. Pavel Malura, another coach from the Czech Republic, has taken the job.

Events timeline

* 1909 - Founded as "NYÖTTSO Nitra"
* 1911 - Renamed "NYTVE Nitra"
* 1919 - Renamed "Nyitrai SC Nitra"
* 1921 - Renamed "SK Nitra"
* 1923 - Renamed "AC Nitra"
* 1948 - Renamed "Sokol Nitra"
* 1949 - Renamed "ZSJ Sokol spojene zavody Nitra"
* 1949 - Renamed "ZK KP Nitra"
* 1953 - Renamed "DSO Slavoj Nitra"
* 1956 - Renamed "TJ Slovan Nitra"
* 1966 - Again Renamed "AC Nitra"
* 1976 - Renamed "TJ Plastika Nitra"
* 1989 - First European qualification, 1990
* 1990 - Renamed "FC Nitra"

Honours

Domestic

* Slovakian League "(1993 - Present)"
** "Best finish:" 3th - 2007-08

* Czechoslovakian League "(1945 - 1992)"
** "Best finish:" 2nd - 1962

European

* Intertoto Cup
** "Best finish:" Second round - 2006

* UEFA Cup
** "Best finish:" First round - 1990

Current squad

"As of July, 2008."

Famous players

*Michal Hipp
*Lubomir Moravčík
*Igor Demo
*Róbert Tomaschek
*Miroslav König
*Róbert Rák
*Štefan Senecký
*Miroslav Stoch

External links

* [http://www.fcnitra.sk/ Official website] sk icon
* [http://www.ultrasnitra.sk FC Nitra] Ultras sk icon