Maribor

Nogometni klub Maribor, commonly referred to as NK Maribor or simply Maribor, is a professional football club based in Maribor, Slovenia, that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of Slovenian football. Nicknamed "The Purples" (Vijoličasti), the club was founded on 12 December 1960. They are regarded as a symbol of Slovenian football, particularly in their home region of Styria in northeastern Slovenia. Maribor have won a record 15 Slovenian PrvaLiga titles, 9 Slovenian Cups and 4 Slovenian Supercups. The club's most successful period was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when they won seven successive league titles. Following the 2010–11 season, Maribor became the major force in Slovenian football for the second time, having won seven out of nine championships since then. Prior to Slovenia's independence in 1991, Maribor played in the Yugoslav football system, where the club, apart from winning the Yugoslav second division in 1967, had no major successes. Maribor are one of three Slovenian teams which participated in the Yugoslavia's highest division, the Yugoslav First League, between the end of World War II in 1945 and the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. The club is also one of the two founding members of the Slovenian PrvaLiga who have never been relegated from the top flight since the league's establishment in 1991. In addition, Maribor is the only Slovenian club to have participated in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. Besides that, the club is one of the only two clubs from former Yugoslavia, beside Red Star Belgrade, that have won an official UEFA trophy since winning the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup. The club holds a long-standing rivalry with Olimpija from the capital Ljubljana, with whom they contest the Eternal derby (Večni derbi). Maribor also have a loyal and passionate fan base and has the highest average all-time attendance in Slovenia. Maribor's home ground is the Ljudski vrt stadium, which has a capacity of 12,702 seats. It was originally built in 1952 and later underwent a series of major reconstructions in the 1990s and 2000s.