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Bjelovar

Club · Croatia · Premijer liga

«Kesizubci»

29 Matches
8 wins
1 draw
20 losses
783–862 Goals
−79 Difference
27.0 Scored per game
Form L 23 Apr 2023 · Away RK Metković · 30:32 W 6 May 2023 · Home Zamet · 31:30 L 28 Aug · Home Sisak Cro · 24:33 L 25 Sep · Away Nexe · 24:26 L 4 Oct · Home RK Vinkovci · 25:34 L 10 Oct · Away Dugo Selo · 21:30

The fixture against RK Sisak still carries the word "derbi" in Bjelovar, a leftover from the years when the two sides traded Yugoslav titles between them and neither could afford to lose. That rivalry frames a club whose best seasons belong to a country that no longer exists.

Between 1958 and 1979 Bjelovar won the Yugoslav National Championship nine times, and added three Yugoslav Cups along the way. The peak came in 1972, when the side travelled to Dortmund and beat VfL Gummersbach 19:14 to take the European Cup. Two players from that squad, Miroslav Pribanić and Hrvoje Horvat, went on to win Olympic gold with Yugoslavia the same year. A third, Vladimir Smiljanić-Babura, never saw the club play on from there: he died in 1972, aged 22, months after the final in Dortmund.

The club had started in 1955 as ORK Partizan, formed by merging two local sides, Srednjoškola and Slaven, and only took the name RK Bjelovar in 1991, the year it also won the first Croatian Republic League. It plays at Dvorana Europskih Prvaka — the European Champions Hall, a name the ground earned rather than inherited.

Locally the players are still called Kesizubci, a nickname tied to tied shoelaces rather than anything won on court. Zvonimir Serdarušić, known as Noka, came through the same era before building a coaching career that outgrew the club itself.

Nine championships in a competition that no longer runs is not a number that grows any further.

Latest results

Fixtures and results
10 Oct Premijer liga Dugo Selo A 21:30 L
4 Oct Premijer liga RK Vinkovci H 25:34 L
25 Sep Premijer liga Nexe A 24:26 L
28 Aug Club Friendly Sisak Cro H 24:33 L
6 May 2023 Premijer liga Zamet H 31:30 W
23 Apr 2023 Premijer liga RK Metković A 30:32 L

Standing

Premijer liga

Group stage · Group A

# Team M W D L Goals Pts
1 RK Zagreb 5 5 0 0 185:130 10
2 Nexe 5 4 1 0 159:134 8
3 Dugo Selo 5 3 2 0 145:140 6
4 RK Vinkovci 5 3 2 0 141:144 6
5 Rudar 5 2 3 0 133:142 4
6 Ardiaei 5 1 4 0 133:148 2
7 Porec 5 1 4 0 124:153 2
8 Bjelovar 5 1 4 0 114:143 2
Full table

Team statistics

matches counted in total: 29
29 Matches
8 wins
1 draw
20 losses
783–862 Goals
−79 Difference
27.0 Scored per game
Match outcomes matches counted in total: 29
8wins: 8 · 27% 1draw: 1 · 3% 20losses: 20 · 68%
wins draw losses
Scored and conceded last matches
23 Apr 2023 · Away RK Metković · 30:32
6 May 2023 · Home Zamet · 31:30
28 Aug · Home Sisak Cro · 24:33
25 Sep · Away Nexe · 24:26
4 Oct · Home RK Vinkovci · 25:34
10 Oct · Away Dugo Selo · 21:30
scored — above the line conceded — below the line
Metric Total Home Away
Matches 29 15 14
Scored 783 411 372
Conceded 862 424 438
Scored per game 27.0 27.4 26.6
Conceded per game 29.7 28.3 31.3
Difference −79 −13 −66

Fixtures of Bjelovar

  • 17 Oct · 18:14 Ardiaei H Premijer liga
  • 24 Oct · 17:00 Porec A Premijer liga
  • 31 Oct · 17:00 RK Zagreb H Premijer liga

Honours of Bjelovar

  • Yugoslav National Championship 1958, 1961, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1979 9
  • Yugoslav Cup 1960, 1968, 1976 3
  • Croatian Republic League 1991 1
  • European Cup 1972 1