FC Nitra

FC Nitra is a Slovak association football club, playing in the town of Nitra. Established in 1909, FC Nitra is one of the oldest football clubs in Slovakia.

History

Czechoslovak era

Nitra were promoted and relegated 4 times from the Czechoslovak First 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. This year was most successful in club history because they reached also Mitropa Cup final. Another successful period was end of 80s when Nitra stayed on top positions in Czechoslovak First League (in 1989 they reached 3rd place) with players like Michal Hipp, Lubomir Moravcik, Ladislav Molnar, Peter Paluch, Jozef Majoros, Robert Tomaschek, Miroslav Sovic. FC Nitra was the first football professional club in the former Czechoslovakia.

Slovak era

Nitra was involved in the inaugural Slovakian championship in 1994 but was relegated to the second division after their 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 90s, 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 head coach Ivan Galad, who took control of the team in the winter of 2004, guiding the team to a fourth-place finish in the second division.

Robert Rak became the top goal scorer both in the second division in the 2004/2005 season and (together with Erik Jendrisek) in the first division in the 2

This page also has a version in other languages :  Нитра (russian)