NK Maribor

Founding and early years (1960–1967)

Nogometni klub Maribor was founded on 12 December 1960 by officials and players of NK Branik Maribor, a club that folded a few months earlier. Srečko Koren was appointed the first president of the club, and Andrija Pflander the first head coach. The club played their first friendly match on 5 February 1961 against Kovinar, defeating them 2–1 with two goals by Stefan Tolič. In their first season, Maribor won the Slovenian Republic League (third tier in Yugoslavia) and qualified for the 1961–62 Yugoslav Second League through the play-offs. In 1961, the club also moved to a newly built Ljudski vrt stadium. After six seasons in the second division, Maribor won the league and was promoted to the top flight Yugoslav First League in the 1966–67 season.

Yugoslav top division (1967–1972)

Maribor played their first match in the Yugoslav top tier against Vardar in Skopje; Maras scored the only goal for Maribor in a 1–1 draw. Their first win came in August 1967, when Maribor defeated Proleter Zrenjanin 3–0 at home. During the season, the first ever match in the Yugoslav top flight involving two clubs from Slovenia was held, when Maribor hosted a goalless match against their rivals Olimpija from Ljubljana in front of 13,000 spectators. Each match between the two sides during this period attracted large crowds, with attendance sometimes as high as 20,000. Maribor finished their inaugural top division season in 12th place out of 16 teams.

In the 1969–70 season, Maribor finished 10th out of 18 clubs, their highest ever ranking in Yugoslav football. Their last season in the top division was 1971–72, when the team finished dead last with just 20 points in 34 matches. Mladen Kranjc was Maribor's top scorer in each of the five Yugoslav top division seasons, scoring a total of 54 league goals, which eventually led to his transfer to one of the top Yugoslav clubs, Dinamo Zagreb. During their five-year stay in Yugoslav's top division, the club played a total of 166 league matches and achieved 40 wins, 57 draws and 69 defeats.

Dark years and bribery scandal (1972–1991)

In the 1972–73 season, Maribor were competing in the second tier. They finished the season in second place, only behind Zagreb, which meant that they qualified for the Yugoslav first division promotion play-offs. In the first qualifying round against Montenegrin side Budućnost, Maribor won on penalties and qualified for the decisive round against Proleter. The first leg was played at home on 8 July 1973, and is acknowledged as one of the most memorable matches in the history of Maribor, as it still holds the club's home attendance record. There were 20,000 spectators, 15,000 of whom were already present in the stands almost three hours before the start, eventually helping Maribor to win the game 3–1. However, the two-goal advantage proved to be insufficient as Proleter won the second leg 3–0 and was promoted. When the score was 1–0 for Proleter, Josip Ražić equalised in the 23rd minute, but the goal was not awarded by the referee. Later, the television replay showed that the ball had actually crossed the goal line and that the goal should have stood.

The period between 1973 and 1991 is one of the darkest in the club's history. In the following 1973–74 season, the club failed to stay near the top of the second division and finished the season in 13th place. In the 1974–75 season, Maribor were relegated to the third-tier Slovenian Republic League for the first time in 14 years, but the club immediately returned to the second division by being 15 points clear at the top of the Republic League table at the end of the 1975–76 season. The club nearly returned to the top tier in 1978–79 when they finished as runners-up of the second division, six points behind Bosnian side Čelik Zenica, but failed to win the promotion play-offs.

At the end of the 1980–81 season, after Maribor managed to avoid relegation from the second Yugoslav division, a bribery scandal emerged and caused the club to be relegated by the decision of the Football Association of Yugoslavia disciplinary committee. The club allegedly had a secret fund that served to bribe officials and opponents. The fund was abolished in 1968 after the club's promotion to the first division, but was later established again in 1976. After the scandal and the subsequent relegation, Maribor spent the following years bouncing between the second and third Yugoslav divisions until Slovenia's independence in 1991.

Domestic domination after independence (1991–2004)

Following Slovenia's independence in June 1991, Maribor were one of the founding members of the newly formed Slovenian First League for the inaugural 1991–92 season. In the first few seasons, Maribor's rivals Olimpija from Ljubljana dominated the league. Nevertheless, Maribor managed to win the first edition of the Slovenian Cup in 1992 after beating Olimpija 4–3 on penalties in the final. In the next season, Maribor made their debut in international UEFA competitions, appearing in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They played their first international match on 19 August 1992, when they hosted Ħamrun Spartans of Malta and won 4–0. Ante Šimundža scored the first European goal for the club. Maribor were Slovenian League runners-up in 1991–92, 1992–93 and 1994–95, before finishing fourth in the 1995–96 season. During this period Maribor won another cup title in 1993–94, defeating Mura 3–2 on aggregate over two legs in the final.

The 1996–97 season proved to be a turning point in the history of Maribor. The club won the league and became champions for the first time in their history. During the season, the average home attendance was 5,289 spectators, which is still a record as of 2024^[update]. The final match of the season was played on 1 June 1997 against Beltinci in front of 14,000 spectators, which is also a joint-record of the Slovenian top division. In that season Maribor also won the 1996–97 Slovenian Cup, thus winning the domestic double, a feat they repeated in the 1998–99 season. After their first title in 1996–97, Maribor went on to win six more titles, bringing their total number to seven consecutive titles by 2003. In the 1999–2000 season, the club, led by head coach Bojan Prašnikar, defeated Genk and Lyon in the qualifying rounds of the 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League and thus qualified for the group stage of the competition for the first time. Maribor were drawn into the group with Dynamo Kyiv, Bayer Leverkusen, and Lazio. They finished in last place with four points out of six games.

Financial difficulties (2004–2008)

The 2003–04 Slovenian Cup was the last trophy won by Maribor before the club declined for several years. Between 2004 and 2007, the club was plagued by major financial difficulties, and even came close to being disbanded at one point. Due to their large debts, which at one point amounted to over €3 million, the club could not afford to buy new players. As a result, the first team at the time consisted mostly of youth players mixed with a couple of foreign players brought to the club on free transfers. In the autumn of 2006, the leadership of the club changed, and it was not until January 2011 that the club announced that the debt had been paid in full. During this period, Maribor never finished higher than third in the league, and were runners-up of the Slovenian Cup twice, in 2007 and 2008. They were, however, one of the eleven winners of the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup, in which they defeated Spanish side Villarreal 3–2 on aggregate in the final round, only a couple of months after Villareal had played in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League.

Zlatko Zahovič's golden era (2008–2020)

In July 2007, Maribor appointed former Slovenian international Zlatko Zahovič as the club's sporting director, which marked the beginning of the golden era of the club.

In May 2008, Maribor played their first match at the renovated stadium in front of over 12,000 spectators. In the same month, Darko Milanič, who later became the most successful manager in the club's history, was appointed as manager. Under his leadership, Maribor won the league in the 2008–09 season, their first title in six years. The following season, they failed to retain the league title, finishing second behind Koper. However, they won the cup title after beating Domžale 3–2 in the final, as well as their first ever Slovenian Supercup title after beating Interblock.

At the end of 2010, the club celebrated its 50th anniversary, and also secured its ninth Slovenian league title during the course of the season. In the following years, Maribor won four more consecutive titles, bringing the total championship tally to 13, before finally losing the title in 2016 to their biggest rivals Olimpija Ljubljana. In 2012, Maribor also obtained a record number of points (85). Furthermore, Maribor also won two back-to-back doubles in this period, beating Celje on both occasions in the 2012 and 2013 Slovenian cup finals.

In 2011, Maribor made a breakthrough in international competitions. They eliminated Rangers in the UEFA Europa League play-offs and qualified for the group stage, their first group stage appearance in European competitions in more than a decade. They obtained one point in six matches, holding Braga to a 1–1 draw at home. In the next season, they again qualified for the group stage, and managed to win four points after defeating Panathinaikos and drawing with Tottenham Hotspur, both at home.

In their third consecutive appearance in the group stage, in 2013–14, Maribor advanced to the knockout phase of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League for the first time. In the round of 32, they were eliminated by the eventual winners of the competition, Sevilla, 4–3 on aggregate. Their successful European run was upgraded in the 2014–15 season, when Maribor finally qualified for the UEFA Champions League group stage for the second time in their history, after eliminating Celtic in the play-offs. They were drawn into Group G with Chelsea, Schalke 04, and Sporting CP. After a draw and a defeat against each team, Maribor won three points in six matches.

In 2015–16, Maribor failed to win the league title for the first time in six years, but reclaimed the throne the following season, winning their 14th national title. As Slovenian champions, Maribor represented Slovenia in the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League, and for the third time in the club's history reached the group stage. Maribor competed in Group E, along with Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, and Liverpool. The club again obtained three points in six matches, the same as in 2014, after drawing with Sevilla at home and twice against Spartak. Their 7–0 defeat to Liverpool was the club's heaviest home defeat in European competitions, and their second highest European defeat overall. In the same season, Maribor failed to win a trophy for the first time since 2007–08, losing the league title to Olimpija on head-to-head record after finishing with the same number of points. Olimpija also eliminated Maribor in the quarter-finals of the national cup, and therefore Maribor failed to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 2002–03.

In 2018–19, Maribor won its 15th national title under the guidance of Milanič, who won his sixth league title with the club and became the most successful manager in the Slovenian top division. However, Milanič and Zahovič left the club in March 2020 after a series of poor results. During Zahovič's era, Maribor won eight league titles and reached the UEFA Champions League group stages twice.