Hapoel Be’er Sheva set a new Israeli Premier League record points tally without winning a title in the 2057/58 campaign. But, despite apparently being delighted with Trebor Mahtal’s efforts, the board failed to back him financially. So Mahtal wasted no time in resigning at the start of the summer.
He made that decision after spotting a couple of potentially interesting opportunities, which took a while to come to fruition. So Mahtal again headed off to the World Cup to earn some extra cash. He witnessed two big shocks as holders England and France crashed out on penalties in the second round to Argentina and Wales, who both only qualified 3rd in their groups. The shocks ended there, other than South Africa reaching the quarter finals, and Argentina progressed to the Final to face arch-rivals Brazil. Mahtal’s former Kobenhavn midfielder Rodrigo Pinheiro, now of Man City, scored the opener and made the other two as Brazil won 3-0
But Mahtal’s time at the World Cup was cut short as the 74-year-old agreed a move to his 18th country and 24th new job. And he was heading back to Eastern Europe with a move to Croatia.
Who Are HNK Rijeka?
Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka is a professional club based in Rijeka, a beautiful port city on the Adriatic Sea coast of Croatia, 81 miles southwest of the capital Zagreb. The football club was founded in November 1906, making it the oldest active Croatian club and has fierce rivalries with Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb, local rivalries with Istra 1961 and Orijent and a competitive rivalry with Osijek.
Rijeka actually played in Italy’s Serie A back in the 1920s due to Mussolini’s reform and remained in Italian football through to the 1940s, when post-war shuffles saw it move into the Yugoslav league. Rijeka was a founding club of the Croatian First League, which formed following the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992 and became known as HNK Rijeka in 1995. It won its maiden title in 2017 and six Croatian Cups between 2005 and 2020.
Rijeka has added one title during this save, winning the league in 2025 and coming runner-up in 2028, and added one more cup in 2027. The club is famed for youth production and has solid infrastructure of 17 youth recruitment and facilities, 16 training facilities and 15 junior coaching supporting the 13,673-capacity Rijeka Stadium, which opened in 2042. The club only had £5m in the bank, around £1m of transfer budget and was overspending its £169k weekly wage budget. But Mahtal put that right by selling a 31-year-old midfielder to Saudi for a new club record £10.5m and their supposed best player also to Saudi for £10m. And he sold another nine players for an additional £6m, slashing £70k off the wage spend.
That left the best player at Rijeka as centre backs Lubos Urban and Jean-Pierre Zagnon, along with versatile holding midfielder Mateo Matic, 30-year-old striker Domagoj Vukovic, Paraguayan winger Sebastián Aguilar and full backs Ladislav Sura and Ivan Ivic. But Mahtal was excited about the potential at the club, including 16-year-old Danijel Knapic and fellow striker Darko Sutic, who was wanted by Benfica and Milan, goalkeeper Dirk Breiden, left back Emanuele Rabar, midfielder Vladimir Gabris and striker Kale Vostinic. He eventually added winger Matej Boromisa on loan from rivals Dinamo, but settled on just the one signing as he was happy with a youthful squad that set up nicely in a 4-2-4 approach.
Getting Started In Croatia
Dinamo and Hajduk remain the dominant forces in Croatian football but Osijek, who had a takeover 10 years ago, won four in a row before Dinamo claimed it back last season. Mahtal’s sales really hurt Rijeka’s chances in the eyes of the (usually clueless) bookies, who tipped them to finish 6th with title odds of 100/1. Cash-rich Osijek are 1/2 favourites followed by Dinamo (11/4), Hajduk (11/1), Lokomotiva (33/1) and Gorica (50/1).
The Croatian league started far too early for Mahtal’s liking on 21 July, the same day as the World Cup Final. But his side began with a dominant display, racking up 16 shots to Lokomotiva’s 7 and eventually winning 1-0 through Sutic’s second-half strike. They immediately had a tough test with a trip to Dinamo in Mahtal’s second game and were very unlucky to lose 3-2 to an injury-time winner before winger Stefan Stephens grabbed a deserved injury-time winner to earn a deserved 2-1 win at home to Varazdin.
Their bright start continued as Aguilar and Vukovic goals secured a 2-0 win at Sesvete. Another big game followed as they hosted Hajduk, dominated the first half and eventually got their reward as Zagnon poked home from a free kick, only to concede Hajduk’s first shot on target.
Rijeka built on that as Sutic bagged a hat trick in a 4-1 victory at Zrinski Osjecko 1664 and both goals in a 2-1 win at Slaven Belupo. Vukovic’s late goal earned a 2-2 at leaders Osijek before a mini-injury crisis saw a 4-2 defeat at home to Dinamo. But a good run of results saw Rijeka secure themselves in 3rd place, before a brilliant Vukovic hat trick inspired a surprise 3-0 win at Hajduk. However, they continued to trail Osijek, who remained unbeaten through to their visit to Rijeka in early December. The visitors injured Sutic and scored their first shot from a corner, Vukovic dragged his side level but Osijek restored the lead from their second attack. A special moment saw Knapic score his first senior goal, but his side fell apart to lose 5-2 and send Osijek 12 points clear heading into the winter break.
Battling Dinamo For 2nd
January was a painful month as a mass of clubs came in for Rijeka’s better players, including Anderlecht’s £20m bid for Sutic being accepted by the board but turned down when Mahtal protested the transfer (before Osijek ludicrously offered £5m for him). And, while Rijeka spent nothing, Osijek blew £56m on two players, including a 31-year-old French defender for £46.5m from Spurs!
Rijeka began 2059 by edging past Lokomotiva 2-1 and thrashing Varazdin 4-0 before a brace by improving winger Stefan Stevens earned a 3-0 win at Sesvete. Their good form continued through to a 3-2 defeat at Osijek, who basically secured the title by opening up a 15-point lead with nine games remaining. However, Dinamo had a flying start to the year, winning six on the bounce to move just 3 points behind Rijeka. The 2nd and 3rd place sides immediately faced off at Rijeka Stadium in late March. They got a lucky break in the first half as Vukovic won and converted a penalty and doubled the lead as Ivic crossed for Boromisa to seal the points against his parent club.
Dinamo then drew 1-1 with Hajduk as Matic and Vukovic earned a 2-0 win at Lokomotiva, which moved Rijeka 8 points clear of their rivals with seven games remaining. Osijek continued to dominate but did lose a couple of games en route to wrapping up their fifth title in six years with five games remaining. While Rijeka managed to lose 4-1 at Hajduk but Aguilar and Sutic goals secured a 2-0 win over Zrinski Osjecko 1964 to wrap up 2nd place.
Rijeka finished 13 points behind Osijek, who tied Dinamo’s record of 92 points set back in 2007. They finished the campaign with 24 wins, 7 draws and 5 defeats, scoring 80 and conceding 40, but had the highest non-penalty xG of 68.9 – which was telling considering Osijek had more than double the penalties of any other team in the league (12). Vukovic was the league’s top scorer with 30 in 36 and Sutic was 3rd with 22 in 36, while Matic and Stevens got the 2nd-most assists with 11 apiece.
An Impressive First Season In Croatia
Mahtal was pleased with Rijeka’s progress in his first season, especially considering they lost two of their best players for big money in the summer. Vukovic stepped up with a new club record 32 goals, including the 30 league goals that took him just 26 behind the club record of 142 scored by Franjo Ivanovic between 2023 and 2039. Sutic got 22 but they lacked goals beyond the front two, who were backed by Stevens (9) and Urban (5). Stevens was the surprise star with 13 assists followed by Matic (11) and Sutic and Boromisa (10).
Mahtal knew that he’d be likely to lose some of his star players, especially Sutic who was wanted by Tottenham among many other clubs. But they’d be really up against it to compete with free-spending Osijek next season.
Could Mahtal lead Rijeka into a title fight? Join us tomorrow to find out!
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