NK Lokomotiva is a Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

n football club based in Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

, currently competing in the Prva HNL, the country's top division. Founded originally as ŽŠK Victoria in 1914, the club's only period of success came in the late 1940s and early 1950s before spending most of the following five decades as lower-level minnows.

In the mid-2000s Lokomotiva was turned into Dinamo Zagreb's farm team

Farm team

In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team or nursery club, is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher level at a given point...

 and between 2007 and 2009 they won three consecutive promotions which saw them rise from fourth level to first level in the Croatian football league system

Croatian football league system

The Croatian football league system is a series of connected leagues for club football in Croatia. This system has hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels.-Present System:...

. They host their home matches at Dinamo's Stadion Maksimir, as their own ground in the Novi Zagreb

Novi Zagreb

Novi Zagreb is the part of the city of Zagreb located south of the Sava river, on the way from the Pleso airport to the city center...

's Kajzerica

Kajzerica

Kajzerica is a neighborhood located in the Novi Zagreb – zapad city district of Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. It is located west of Bundek Lake and east of the Western Rotary and Adriatic Bridge. It has a population of 4,000....

 neighbourhood is unsuitable for top level football.

History

Founded in 1914, Lokomotiva was mostly in the shadow of the city's bigger clubs Građanski, Concordia

HŠK Concordia

HŠK Concordia was a Croatian football club formed in Zagreb. The club was founded asthe Srednjoškolski športski klub in 1906.By the end of the First World War the club had played many matches with both domestic and foreign clubs...

 and HAŠK

HAŠK

HAŠK was a Croatian football club established in Zagreb in 1903 which ceased operating in 1945. The club was one of the most successful sides in Zagreb and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the period between the two World Wars...

. The club's most productive years came after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 when they continuously played for 8 season (1947.-1955.) in the Yugoslav First League

Yugoslav First League

The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...

 with best league result in 1952

Yugoslav First League 1952

The First Federal League of Yugoslavia's 1952 season was shortened and sped-up. It was completed over a period of little more than 3 and a half months, beginning on March 2, 1952 and finishing on June 22, 1952...

, when they finished third, behind Hajduk and Red Star Belgrade

Red Star Belgrade

Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...

. They were relegated again from the First League in the summer of 1957 and never returned to the top flight again.

After croatian independence and formation of HNL in 1991, Lokomotiva played in lower croatian leagues, mostly spending their time in Treća HNL

Treća HNL

The Croatian Third Football League is the third tier of the football league system in Croatia. The league was established in 1991 following the dissolution of the Yugoslav League. It is operated by the Croatian Football Federation.-Subdivisions:...

. In 2006 after they were relegated to Četvrta HNL, Lokomotiva became Feeder team for Dinamo Zagreb

Dinamo Zagreb

GNK Dinamo Zagreb, commonly referred to as Dinamo Zagreb , or by their nickname Modri are a Croatian football club based in Zagreb. They play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Croatian football, having won thirteen Croatian championship titles, ten...

. That will result Lokomotiva gaining promotion in the each of the next three seasons, finshing 1st in 4.HNL 2006/2007, 2nd in 3.HNL 2007/2008, and 3rd 2.HNL 2008/2009, respectively.

In 2009/2010 season Lokomotiva played first league football after 52 years. To meet the critera for 1.HNL they moved to Dinamo's Maksimir Stadium.

After a bad start and three loses, Lokosi performed above expectations and at the end finished 8th in Prva HNL, with notable victories 4:2 away against NK Zagreb

NK Zagreb

NK Zagreb is a Croatian football club, from the Croatian capital of Zagreb.NK Zagreb's home is the Stadion Kranjčevićeva with capacity of 8,850. The club's fans are known as the White Angels...

, home 3:0 vs Rijeka

NK Rijeka

HNK Rijeka is a Croatian football club, from Rijeka on the Croatian coast.-History:The club was founded as NK Kvarner in 1946, after Rijeka passed from Italy to Yugoslavia following the end of World War II. During its early period in Yugoslavia, the club had moderate success in various Yugoslav...

 and 2:1 vs Hajduk Split

HNK Hajduk Split

HNK Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian football club founded in 1911 and based in the city of Split. The club's home ground since 1979 is the 35,000-seater Poljud Stadium and the team's traditional home colours are white shirts with blue shorts and...

. Squad was one of the youngest in the league with only two players above the age of 30.

Name changes

• ŽŠK Victoria (1914–1919)
• ŠK Željezničar (1919–1941)
• HŽŠK (1941–1945)
• FD Lokomotiva (1945–1946)
• FD Crvena Lokomotiva (1946–47)
• NK Lokomotiva (1947–present)

Current squad

On loan

Notable players

Otto Barić

Otto Baric

Otto Barić is a Croatian-Austrian football manager.-1970s to 1980s:Barić started his coaching career in 1969 at West German club Germania Wiesbaden and moved after one season to Austrian club Wacker Innsbruck, where he spent next two seasons and won two consecutive league champions titles before...

 Zvonimir Cimermančić

Zvonimir Cimermancic

Zvonimir Cimermančić was a Croatian footballer.He began his playing career with HŠK Građanski Zagreb's youth side before moving to ŠK Slavija Varaždin. In 1938 he returned to Građanski and in the following season won the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's last national championship...

 Tvrtko Kale

Tvrtko Kale

Tvrtko Kale is a Croatian-Israeli football player who played as of June 2010 for Hapoel Haifa. The newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija rated him the best player in the Croatian First League in 2004....

 Silvio Marić

Silvio Marić

Silvio Marić is a retired Croatian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.- Club career :Born in Zagreb, Marić began his professional career at Dinamo Zagreb in 1992. In the autumn of 1998, he appeared for Dinamo Zagreb in all of their six group matches in the UEFA Champions League and...

 Ante Mladinić

Ante Mladinic

Ante "Biće" Mladinić was a Croatian football manager.The Croat had a modest playing career turning out for Hajduk Split and Lokomotiva Zagreb. Later as coach he had spells at NK Zagreb, Hajduk, FK Partizan, and the Yugoslavia national football team in the mid-1970s...

 Edin Mujčin

Edin Mujcin

Edin Mujčin is a Bosnian football player.Mujčin moved to Croatia during the Bosnian war.Mujčin spent most of his career with Croatian top team Dinamo Zagreb, winning several national titles and appearing in both UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup...

External links

• Lokomotiva profile at UEFA.com
• Lokomotiva profile at Sportnet.hr
  Sportnet.hr
  Sportnet.hr is a Croatian sports news website.It was launched in 2000 and covers sports news from both Croatia and the rest of the world. It is considered the largest and most detailed sports news website on the Croatian internet, primarily covering the country's most popular sports such as...
  
   
• Lokomotiva profile at Nogometni magazin
  Nogometni Magazin
  Nogometni Magazin is a news organization that focusses on Croatian football news. It was launched in March of 2002. The site's editor-in-chief is Vladimir Benić and it is based out of Zagreb....