Rijeka showed that they will be a formidable opponent in the HNL once again this upcoming season by defeating the reigning champions in this year’s Super Cup.
The Super Cup is contested between the previous year’s league champions and the previous year’s Croatian Cup champions.
Slovenian defender, Miral Samardžić, made his debut for Rijeka and capped off his first match with the opening goal of the game in the 11th minute. The former captain of Sheriff Tiraspol transferred to Rijeka for 220,000 euros this summer and is expected to be a steady rock in Rijeka’s back line
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Dinamo’s Leonardo German Sigali also had a successful debut for his respective club by tying the match in the 39th minute with his first goal for his new club. Sigali, a 27-year-old center back, most recently spent several seasons playing for Argentina’s Godoy Cruz.
The newly acquired Moises Lima was the hero for Rijeka late in the game.
Moises, who spent last season at Rijeka on loan from Portuguesa, was bought outright by the Croatian club over the summer.
His 70th minute goal proved to be the game winner and helped his team conquer the HNL champions in front of a sold-out crowd at Stadium Kantrida in Rijeka.
“You couldn’t as for a better opening [to the season]. This is a gift for all the fans and this trophy means a lot to us,’ Rijeka coach, Matjaž Kek said after the match.
Though the match was in Rijeka, Dinamo was the home team due to them winning the league. Rules state that the winner of the HNL will host the winners of the cup, but the HNS chose to hold the match in Rijeka, causing slight problems with the club and fans.
The home team gets priority for fan attendance, so Rijeka fans had trouble getting tickets to a match in their own stadium, but according to Rijeka officials, space for the growing fan base will not be a problem in the future.
Provisional plans have been leaked showing a conceptual image of Rijkea’s new stadium. It is not clear what the maximum capacity will be, but the stadium is described as looking like “Bayern Munich’s stadium from the outside, and Juventes’ modern new stadium on the inside.”
The stadium is expected to be ready for action in June of 2016.
Rijeka and Dinamo, along with the rest of Croatia’s top teams, will begin play in the Prva Liga on July 18.
Don’t put too much emphasis into people/families/individuals who invested into hotels and other items in Cro as good examples of good buniess or good businessmen. A lot of that was done in the 90s and early 00s and the properties in question were sold for far less their true value as political favors. Plenty of items were privatized for far less what they were truly worth.
Jadan, mali i nemocan hajduk has its own issues. The city wants a private investor, but they don’t want to give up total control. Its just a complete mess with that town and its political leaders. If a foreigner did come in and buy jadan, mali i nemocan hajduk, they better bring in their own private security firm, because it wont be easy to get rid of all the leachers.
You can’t say they were false rumors because they were not. Interest and discussions did take place. Problem was with Hajduk is they can’t see the bigger picture. One has to negotiate and see the bigger picture. Team is only heading down the table.
Irrelevant if they are or are not like Volpi.
The Luksic family are good businessmen. They invested a lot of money in Croatia, but wisely enough, they only really invested in hotels.
As a matter of fact, they actually reduced the workforce of many of these hotels (not criticizing them for it, as it may have been necessary) and I’m sure they upset a lot of unions as a result. They’re not doing anyone any favors. They are running a business and are looking to turn a profit.
They rarely invest in businesses that do not turn a profit, and they rarely invest in businesses that they are not familiar with.
I highly doubt they are the same type of businessman as Gabriele Volpi who seems to genuinely be interested in owning and developing sports teams, and has experience in doing so.
All of these ‘Luksic buying Hajduk’ reports were probably just one big false rumor.
@Split
Yea, I too would feel more comfortable with the Luksic family purchasing Hajduk…but at the same time you can’t make assumptions that they’d be good owners simply because they are dijaspora Croats.
I don’t think anyone ever knew what the exact terms of the agreement were. No news articles provided any details on it. All I ever remember reading was that they made an offer of $15 million for the majority stake in Hajduk (assuming these reports were real and not just pure speculation, which they probably were).
Refereeing to the Luksic family and only them. American thing was a joke and not worth mentioning.
@ARMADA
I was half joking about about unsustainable part.
But, Volpi is definitely losing money right now, and probably will be for at least the next 5+ years.
Having a rich foreign oil tycoon come in and purchase your team, only to treat it as his toy is not a sustainable model.
Having the rich owner bankroll the entire squad with his own personal cash, without making any real revenue from ticket sales or youth program players will only last for as long as that owner remains interested. Once the owner gets bored and moves on, the team collapses.
HOWEVER, that being said…I think Volpi is one of those rare oil tycoon owners who is actually trying to build something sustainable here.
He hasn’t been making any unnecessary transfer purchases with his personal wallet. Instead, he has been making shrewd moves, picking up talented players for free (ie. Kramaric, Benko, etc). He’s focused on paying salaries on time, investing in the youth setup, and even the stadium he plans on building is a modest one, suitable for the city of Rijeka (not like the retarded Brazilians building what they did in Manaus). Volpi even got himself the best coach in the HNL in Matjaz Kek (who I think should be coaching our NT).
He’s invested millions, and is taking his time to do things right (instead of buying up mediocre foreign talent like Dinamo is doing to simply secure another year at the top). I’m glad Rijeka sold the team to him, and I hope Hajduk can find an owner as good as he has been because Hajduk is sitting on a goldmine of youth talent and could do so much more.
Guys, I hope you aren’t referring to that shady American consortium headed by that lawyer Michael Glover, as the rich owner that Hajduk should have been sold to.
The deal they were offering was a raw deal, which included very little money being investing into Hajduk (definitely not enough to turn anything around). It was a faceless group of investors, many of whom probably didn’t know what Croatia was, let alone Hajduk Split.
Watching Ndamukong Suh from the Detroit Lions openly express his sudden desire to be a part owner of a team in a country he only recently heard of was comical. Then, when the deal fell through, this same consortium suddenly has an interest in NK Istra 1961, lol.
It was a very, very shady deal that lacked a lot of transparency. It was probably just a bunch of rich American investors looking for a place to launder their money.
Clearly there are no rich Croatian owners clamoring to buy up HNL teams and save them from their own demise….to foolishly mock “foreign” owners is to spite your nose in spite of your face.
Face up to the future of this league or watch it die….it is that simple.
P.S. Smart, well-funded foreign owners would NOT stand for the comedy show that is Mamic….
@ split
i know, it is a shame… for all the Hajduk/Dalmatinci cracks I have, I don’t despise the team or anything and I have respect for Torcida – even I know that Rijeka won’t overtake Hajduk as the traditional #2 in the league, eventually Hajduk will get their act together and hell – maybe even win the league in my lifetime again!
@armada
those dummies in hajduk had a chance for a rich owner to change it around but they would not go for it, they have no one to blame but themself, a real shame
A strong Hajduk is great for the league and Croatian soccer in general. By no means do I want to see Hajduk completely collapse and get relegated to some county liga, but Grad Split has to sell to a private investor or else the results from last year will become the norm (bunch of kids, no trophies, etc.)
@ IvicA
Nothing unsustainable going on really…. Yes, we’ve made some nice signings but look at our youth teams and feeder clubs… Don’t be surprised in the coming years when you see a ton of former Rijeka players in the NT conversation over Hajduk guys….
Listen, Volpi has money but the guy is smart and owns a number of clubs. If Hajduk had this kind of ownership, Torcida and Splicani around the world could be cumming in their pants…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Hajduk v. Dinamo will always be the traditional #1 rivalry in the domovina… but for the next 2-3 years at least, its going to be a 2 horse race of Rijeka and Dinamo and personally, with Dinamo not having a typical Dinamo team this year, we should give them a good run this year and I predict it’ll be the closest title race in years….. with Hajduk in a distant 3rd or 4th even…
BAHAHAHHAAHHAH!
I guess they should all strive to live I’m their parents basement and spend their time trolling forums
Friends, the destruction and homosexualization of lijepa nasa continues…….
http://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/nova-droga-stigla-na-zrce/759642.aspx
Honestly, we need to blow up Zrce or kick all these homosexual-loving, drug-using party-going losers who occupy Zrce in the summer months. The decaying of the croatian youth continues.
Forza Fiume !
Bas mi drago da Rijeka je bilo Shampion.
Man Rijeka needs to be cultivated into the the world city that is has always been.
If the nogomet klub is an activating factor so be it.
Can’t wait to take in a match with my Father and Son for the summer of 2016!
Any evolution happening in Hrvatska should be celebrated.
Only fitting that Rijeka would be first in having a modern stadion .
@ARMADA
So…the way you run a klub is to sell it to some billionaire foreigner and hope he just throws a bunch of money at it in an unsustainable fashion?
😉
To all you half retarded Dalmatinci, Hajduk loving wahoo’s…. This friends is how you run a klub and that friends will be the nicest stadion in Hrvatska, bar none.
SAMI PROTIV SVIHHHHHHHHHH
Keep it, super vein of me. Sorry about that.
@Ante
Apologies did not intend to duplicate you. Thus I used a small b but see now it could be taken to be you.
Wow! A Ante B imposter. Awesome.
Congratulations to Rijeka and Armada on the Superkup! I said it since day one that ever since Volpi came on that Rijeka would be Dinamo’s newest rival. That has come to fruition.
Congratulations jos jednom!!
@ Rob
Some Italian business man named Gabriele Volpi. He’s like a Roman Abramovich of Italy, but less idiotic with his money.
He owns an Italian waterpolo team and he owns Spezia Calcio (a team that plays in Serie B). Oh, he also owns like a ton of oil in Nigeria.
Not sure what his Croatian ties are (maybe his family is originally from Istra) but Spezia Calcio is coached by Nenad Bjelica and has several young Croats on the team.
He paid almost nothing for a majority stake in Rijeka (something like 6 million Euro for 70% ownership). But unlike other HNL owners he actually pays players on time. They’re planning on building a new stadium soon and is seriously investing in this team.
who owns Rijeka football club?
Over the past 3 years they seem to be making good decision on and off the pitch. Hajduk should look closely at Rijeka’s approach in running a football club.
Nice stadium.