Rudar

Rudar Velenje traces its start to August 1948, when the coal miners' union at the Velenje lignite pit backed the founding of a football club for a region already keen on the game. The club played on borrowed ground for years, first near Pesje and then west of the railway station, before the Ob Jezeru stadium opened on 3 July 1955, built with help from volunteers and the mine itself. It now holds 1,864 for league matches.

A professional coach, Živko Stakič, arrived in 1974/75, and by 1977 Rudar had won the Slovenian Republic championship and gone up to the Yugoslav Second League, staying there until 1982. A second republic title followed in 1990/91, on the eve of independence. The Slovenian Cup of 1997/98 remains the club's one national trophy since: Rudar beat Primorje over two legs, losing away 1-2 before winning 3-0 at home, and the run opened a place in the Cup Winners' Cup. Zoran Pavlović and Saša Gajser , both midfielders in that period, went on to play for Slovenia at Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup. More recently, defender Jaka Bijol passed through the club in 2017/18 on his way to Udinese and Leeds United, and to a place in Slovenia's Euro 2024 squad.

Independence brought no league title, only a run of third-place finishes — 1998/99, 1999/00, 2008/09 and 2013/14 — and a habit of yo-yoing between divisions. Rudar topped the second tier in 2003/04 and then turned down promotion; a second second-tier title in 2004/05 sent them back up, only for relegation to follow within a year. Through the pandemic break the following season, the club went ten draws and fifteen defeats without a single win.