RD Ribnica

The town of Ribnica had a handball lesson before it had a club: on 23 December 1955 Maks Drobnič taught the first session, and the following year the men who had learned from him formed a team. It played under the name Partizan for its first decade, outdoors, before dropping that name in 1966 and moving into the Slovenian Republic League. RD Ribnica found its level within Yugoslavia by 1975, reaching the Second Federal League's northern division, and its best season came in 1978/79, when it finished runner-up. A proper hall followed in 1977, and by 1983/84 the club had climbed as far as the First B Yugoslav League.

Independence changed the stage but not the ceiling: in the Slovenian top flight, Ribnica's highest league finish has been eighth, in 2004/05. The club has since built toward the podium rather than the top of it, finishing second in 2017–18 and 2019–20 and taking bronze four times, most recently in 2024–25.

The youth setup has done more for the club's name outside Slovenia than the senior side has: its age-group teams won Slovenian titles through the 1990s, and in 2000 a Ribnica cadet side took the European Club Cadet Championship. Jan Grebenc came through that system, won bronze with the Slovenian national team at the 2017 World Championship, and came back to Ribnica in 2022. The club now plays out of the 600-seat Športni center Ribnica.

What Ribnica has not done is win anything at senior level in Slovenia — no league title, no cup, only a run to the Cup's final four in 2016 to show for the near misses.