HNK Rijeka in European football

Croatian club in European football

HNK Rijeka in European football
Club	Rijeka
Seasons played	24
First entry	1978–79 European Cup Winners' Cup
Latest entry	2024–25 UEFA Europa League

HNK Rijeka are a Croatian football club. This article details their record in UEFA club competitions.

History

HNK Rijeka has participated in UEFA competitions on 23 occasions, with 19 appearances since 1999 and 11 consecutive appearances since 2013–14. The club's greatest achievement was the 1978–79 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter–final, where they lost 2–0 on aggregate against Juventus. Among other notable continental successes, Rijeka qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Europa League in two consecutive seasons, in 2013–14 and 2014–15, keeping an undefeated run for 12 consecutive home matches. They also qualified for the group stages in 2017–18 and 2020–21. Rijeka is one of only three Croatian clubs that have qualified for the group stages of UEFA Champions League or Europa League. In 2014–15, Rijeka became the first club from former Yugoslavia to win eight European fixtures in one season. Rijeka faced eventual competition winners on two occasions, Real Madrid in the 1984–85 UEFA Cup and Sevilla in the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League.

Matches in Europe

By competition

Competition	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Last season played
UEFA Champions League	8	2	2	4	10	11	2017–18
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League	68	26	17	25	98	86	2020–21
UEFA Conference League	14	7	3	4	24	14	2023–24
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	10	3	3	4	8	9	1979–80
UEFA Intertoto Cup	4	1	1	2	3	5	2008
Total	104	39	26	39	143	125	+18

Source: uefa.com, Fully up to date on 31 August 2023.
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against. Defunct competitions indicated in italics.

By ground

Ground	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Home	52	27	12	13	86	50	+36
Away	52	12	14	26	57	75	−18
Total	104	39	26	39	143	125	+18

Source: uefa.com, Fully up to date on 31 August 2023.
Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against.

By season

Non-UEFA competitions are listed in italics.

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Agg.
1962–63	Intertoto Cup	Group B3	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	2–1	3–4	1st out of 4
			Basel	5–1	2–2
			PSV Eindhoven	3–1	3–2
		QF	Dozsa Pecs	2–2	1–2	3–4
1965–66	Intertoto Cup	Group B1	Motor Jena	0–3	1–3	4th out of 4
			Tatran Prešov	0–0	1–3
			Szombierki Bytom	0–3	1–0
1974–75	Mitropa Cup	Group A	Tatabánya	3–1	1–3	2nd out of 3
1974–75	Mitropa Cup	Group A	Wacker Innsbruck	1–3	0–0	2nd out of 3
1977–78	Intertoto Cup	Group 6	Frem Kobenhavn	2–2	0–2	3rd out of 4
			Ruch Chorzów	0–1	4–2
			Grazer AK	1–1	3–0
1978–79	Balkans Cup	Group B	Skënderbeu	6–0	0–1	1st out of 3
		Group B	Aris Thessaloniki	2–0	2–1	1st out of 3
		Final	Jiul Petroșani	4–1	0–1	4–2
1978–79	Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Wrexham	3–0	0–2	3–2
1978–79	Cup Winners' Cup	R2	Beveren	0–0	0–2	0–2
1979–80	Balkans Cup	Group A	PAS Giannina	2–1	3–1	1st out of 3
		Group A	Partizani Tirana	3–0	1–4	1st out of 3
		Final	Sportul Studențesc	1–1	0–2	1–3
1979–80	Cup Winners' Cup	R1	Germinal Beerschot	2–1	0–0	2–1
		R2	Lokomotíva Košice	3–0	0–2	3–2
		QF	Juventus	0–0	0–2	0–2
1984–85	UEFA Cup	R1	Valladolid	4–1	0–1	4–2
1984–85	UEFA Cup	R2	Real Madrid	3–1	0–3	3–4
1985–86	Mitropa Cup	SF	Debreceni	0–1^†		–
1985–86	Mitropa Cup	3rd Pl.	Sigma Olomouc	3–2^†		–
1986–87	UEFA Cup	R1	Standard Liège	0–1	1–1	1–2
1999–2000	Champions League	QR2	Partizan	0–3	1–3	1–6
2000–01	UEFA Cup	QR	Valletta	3–2	5–4 (a.e.t.)	8–6
2000–01	UEFA Cup	R1	Celta Vigo	0–1 (a.e.t.)	0–0	0–1
2002–03	Intertoto Cup	R1	St Patrick's Athletic	3–2	0–1	3–3 (a)
2004–05	UEFA Cup	QR2	Gençlerbirliği	2–1	0–1	2–2 (a)
2005–06	UEFA Cup	QR2	Litex Lovech	2–1	0–1	2–2 (a)
2006–07	UEFA Cup	QR1	Omonia	2–2	1–2	3–4
2008–09	Intertoto Cup	R1	Renova	0–0	0–2	0–2
2009–10	Europa League	QR2	Differdange	3–0	0–1	3–1
2009–10	Europa League	QR3	Metalist Kharkiv	1–2	0–2	1–4
2013–14	Europa League	QR2	Prestatyn Town	5–0	3–0	8–0
		QR3	Žilina	2–1	1–1	3–2
		PO	VfB Stuttgart	2–1	2–2	4–3
		Group I	Vitória de Guimarães	0–0	0–4	4th out of 4
			Real Betis	1–1	0–0
			Lyon	1–1	0–1
2014–15	Europa League	QR2	Ferencváros	1–0	2–1	3–1
		QR3	Víkingur	4–0	5–1	9–1
		PO	Sheriff Tiraspol	1–0	3–0	4–0
		Group G	Standard Liège	2–0	0–2	3rd out of 4
			Sevilla	2–2	0–1
			Feyenoord	3–1	0–2
2015–16	Europa League	QR2	Aberdeen	0–3	2–2	2–5
2016–17	Europa League	QR3	İstanbul Başakşehir	2–2	0–0	2–2 (a)
2017–18	Champions League	QR2	The New Saints	2–0	5–1	7–1
		QR3	Red Bull Salzburg	0–0	1–1	1–1 (a)
		PO	Olympiacos	0–1	1–2	1–3
	Europa League	Group D	AEK Athens	1–2	2–2	3rd out of 4
			Milan	2–0	2–3
			Austria Wien	1–4	3–1
2018–19	Europa League	QR3	Sarpsborg 08	0–1	1–1	1–2
2019–20	Europa League	QR3	Aberdeen	2–0	2–0	4–0
2019–20	Europa League	PO	Gent	1–1	1–2	2–3
2020–21	Europa League	QR3	Kolos Kovalivka	2–0 (a.e.t.)
		PO	Copenhagen		1–0
		Group F	Napoli	1–2	0–2	4th out of 4
			Real Sociedad	0–1	2–2
			AZ	2–1	1–4
2021–22	Conference League	QR2	Gżira United	1–0	2–0	3–0
		QR3	Hibernian	4–1	1–1	5–2
		PO	PAOK	0–2	1–1	1–3
2022–23	Conference League	QR2	Djurgården	1–2	0–2	1–4
2023–24	Conference League	QR2	Dukagjini	6–1	1–0	7–1
		QR3	B36 Tórshavn	2–0	3–1	5–1
		PO	Lille	1–1 (a.e.t.)	1–2	2–3
2024–25	Europa League	QR2	TBC	–	–	–

Last updated on 31 August 2023.

Records and statistics

Record wins and defeats

Home win
- 6–1 v. Dukagjini, 2023–24, 3 August 2023.
- 5–0 v. Prestatyn Town, 2013–14, 18 July 2013.
Away win
- 5–1 v. Víkingur, 2014–15, 31 July 2014.
- 5–1 v. The New Saints, 2017–18, 18 July 2017.
Home defeat
- 0–3 v. Partizan, 1999–2000, 4 August 1999.
- 0–3 v. Aberdeen, 2015–16, 16 July 2015.
- 1–4 v. Austria Wien, 2017–18, 2 November 2017.
Away defeat
- 0–4 v. Vitória de Guimarães, 2013–14, 19 September 2013.

Record by country of opposition

Updated on 31 August 2023.

Country	Pld	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Win%
Austria	4	1	2	1	5	6	−1	025.00
Belgium	10	2	4	4	7	10	−3	020.00
Bulgaria	2	1	0	1	2	2	+0	050.00
Cyprus	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	000.00
Denmark	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	100.00
Faroe Islands	4	4	0	0	14	2	+12	100.00
France	4	0	2	2	3	5	−2	000.00
Germany	2	1	1	0	4	3	+1	050.00
Greece	6	0	2	4	5	10	−5	000.00
Hungary	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2	100.00
Ireland	2	1	0	1	3	3	+0	050.00
Italy	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	016.67
Kosovo	2	2	0	0	7	1	+6	100.00
Luxembourg	2	1	0	1	3	1	+2	050.00
Macedonia	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2	000.00
Malta	4	4	0	0	11	6	+5	100.00
Moldova	2	2	0	0	4	0	+4	100.00
Netherlands	4	2	0	2	6	8	−2	050.00
Norway	2	0	1	1	1	2	−1	000.00
Portugal	2	0	1	1	0	4	−4	000.00
Scotland	6	3	2	1	11	7	+4	050.00
Serbia	2	0	0	2	1	6	−5	000.00
Slovakia	4	2	1	1	6	4	+2	050.00
Spain	12	2	5	5	12	14	−2	016.67
Sweden	2	0	0	2	1	4	−3	000.00
Turkey	4	1	2	1	4	4	+0	025.00
Ukraine	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1	033.33
Wales	6	5	0	1	18	3	+15	083.33

Player and manager statistics

Updated on 31 August 2023.^[1]

Players with most European appearances

Player	App
Zoran Kvržić	38
Ivan Tomečak	38
Mate Maleš	24
Ivan Vargić	23
Anas Sharbini	22
Domagoj Pavičić	19
Marko Vešović	19
Dario Župarić	18
Vedran Jugović	16
Andrej Kramarić	16

Top-scoring players in European competitions

Player	Goals
Andrej Kramarić	8
Zoran Kvržić	7
Leon Benko	6
Mario Gavranović	6
Damir Desnica	4
Adriano Fegic
Alexander Gorgon
Adis Jahović
Franjo Ivanović	3
Marco Pašalić	3

Managers with most European appearances

Coach	App
Matjaž Kek	42
Simon Rožman	8
Miroslav Blažević	6
Nenad Gračan
Josip Skoblar
Goran Tomić
Igor Bišćan	4
Sergej Jakirović
Robert Rubčić
Elvis Scoria
Dragutin Spasojević

Players and manager in bold are currently active for Rijeka.

Most goals in a single match:
- 3 goals:
  - Damir Desnica (7 November 1979 v Lokomotíva Košice)
  - Leon Benko (18 July 2013 v Prestatyn Town)
  - Adis Jahović (7 August 2014 v Víkingur)
  - Andrej Kramarić (23 October 2014 v Feyenoord)
  - Franjo Ivanović (3 August 2023 v Dukagjini)

UEFA coefficient history (2013–)

Updated on 12 August 2023.

In European football, UEFA coefficients are used to rank and seed teams in club competitions. The coefficients are calculated by UEFA, who administer football within Europe.^[2]

2013–2018

Source: Bert Kassies website

Accumulated	Valid	Rank	Movement	Coefficient	Change
2008–09 to 2012–13	2013–14	241	–12	4.916	+0.142
2009–10 to 2013–14	2014–15	178	+63	8.925	+4.009
2010–11 to 2014–15	2015–16	131	+47	13.700	+4.775
2011–12 to 2015–16	2016–17	127	+4	14.275	+0.575
2012–13 to 2016–17	2017–18	125	+2	15.550	+1.275

2018–

5-year calculation

Source: Bert Kassies website

Accumulated	Valid	Rank	Movement	Coefficient	Change
2013–14 to 2017–18	2018–19	91	+34	15.500	—
2014–15 to 2018–19	2019–20	104	–13	13.500	–2.000
2015–16 to 2019–20	2020–21	121	–17	11.000	–2.500
2016–17 to 2020–21	2021–22	113	+8	13.500	+2.500
2017–18 to 2021–22	2022–23	104	+9	15.000	+1.500
2018–19 to 2022–23	2023–24	127	–23	11.500	–3.500
2019–20 to 2023–24	2024–25	119	+8	12.000	+0.500

10-year calculation

Source: Bert Kassies website

Accumulated	Valid	Rank	Movement	Coefficient	Change
2008–09 to 2017–18	2018–19	173	—	16.500	—
2009–10 to 2018–19	2019–20	161	+12	18.500	+2.000
2010–11 to 2019–20	2020–21	150	+11	20.000	+1.500
2011–12 to 2020–21	2021–22	130	+20	23.000	+3.000
2012–13 to 2021–22	2022–23	124	+6	25.500	+2.500
2013–14 to 2022–23	2023–24	123	+1	27.000	+1.500
2014–15 to 2023–24	2024–25	125	–2	25.500	–1.500

References

^ "Rijeka profile". UEFA.com. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
^ See column Team Ranking in "UEFA European Cup Coefficients Database". Bert Kassies. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2015.