NK Široki Brijeg is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian team from the town of Široki Brijeg that currently plays in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Considering the size of the town, NK Široki Brijeg has had a great deal of success and has started to expand that success to European Cups as well in recent years as is demonstrated by the club being a regular competitor in European Cups for the past 8 years. The club was established in spring 1948, but due to many circumstances, some of them including unfavourable conditions towards the town of Široki Brijeg during the communist rule and relative size of it then, NK Široki Brijeg has experienced its greatest successes in the 1990s and onwards, and has become one of the most successful and organized clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina today. They play on Pecara Stadium, a modern stadium with a capacity of about 8,000. The stadium itself meets all UEFA criteria. The club also has a fully equipped sports and recreational center just outside of town which is used as training grounds for the team. Currently the second best team in the Bosnian Premijer Liga, Siroki Brijeg will hope to either achieve Europe through the League or the Kup Final. Their upcoming schedule looks like this (in my opinion, it isn't too difficult at all for a team of their standards): vs. Velez Mostar (BIHPL) @ Slavija (BIHPL) @ Zeljeznicar (KUP Final) @ Kozara Gradiska (BIHPL) Not too difficult of a schedule, with all non-Kup competitors being placed in the middle of the BPL table or below. We (Velez Mostar) might be a bit of a challenge for Siroki Brijeg, but I still think they will scrap out a win. They will definitely give Zeljeznicar a run for their money by the end of the season's title race.
Siroki Brijeg defeated Velez Mostar 2-0 this past Wednesday. Nice victory for this club. They currently stand at second place, which is good enough for a Europa league spot. They are only four points away from Zeljeznicar, who have 49 points. Despite the small margin between these two teams in point difference, I don't see Siroki Brjeg catching up to Zeljeznicar due to the easy schedule Zeljeznicar has down the road (including games against GOSK Gabela Gabela, Sloboda Tuzla, etc.). But, I can see Siroki Brijeg putting up a fight and making sure Zeljo works for their league title.
Siroki Brijeg took a terrible blow, in a 2-0 loss yesterday to Slavija.... Yeah, you read that right, a 2-0 loss to Slavija. Even with this loss, Siroki have only lost once in their last five games, while winning three of them and drawing once. And with the blunder, Siroki Brijeg look like they (and every other team in the BiHPL) have no shot at grabbing the firs place spot Zeljeznicar holds, and taking it away from them. Their next game is versus FK Sarajevo, at home. I think this just might play out as a draw if things go Siroki's way, but at the end of the day, I will go with a 1-0 victory for Sarajevo.
Siroki Brijeg defeated third-placed FK Sarajevo, and convincingly as well (3:1). Must be a confidence-booster for the club, especially after the terrible result when they lost by two goals to Slavija last round. Next, they play Kozara away. Siroki fans must be hoping they don't suffer another terrible blow like they did to Slavija away.....
In what seems to be their last hope of winning a title for this 2011-12 BiHPL season, Siroki Brijeg took a bad blow today from Zeljeznicar. They lost to their opponents 1:0 in the first leg of the Kup Final, meaning they'll need at least two goals at home in the second leg to win any championship this year. And they are lucky that they weren't in a worse situation, like 2:0 or 3:0, as it seems Zeljo were cheated out of a couple goals or so.
Siroki Brijeg 2-1 Kozara Good win for Siroki, and it only slightly keeps them in the title race. But it's pretty obvious Zeljeznicar will be champions, and I hope they are. Siroki has the pleasure of playing Leotar at home in their next fixture.
Siroki Brijeg 5-1 Leotar This win for Siroki was equal to Zeljeznicar's pounding on Sloboda last week. The only difference is thats Siroki conceded a goal but scored one more. Anyways, Siroki Brijeg will play NK Celik next. Ipredict a 2-0 win in favor of Siroki, despite it being an away game for them.
Siroki Brijeg have qualified for the second round of the UEFA Europa League for the 2012-13 qualifications. They will await the winner of St. Patrick's Athletic (from the Republic of Ireland) and IBV (from Iceland). And in other news concerning Siroki Brijeg, their junior team has taken the Dupla Kruna. Congrats to the youngsters. This also probably means that Siroki Brijeg likely won't be falling out of the title picture in the nearby future.
Siroki Brijeg in Europe Siroki Brijeg have finally begun their conquest to the 2012-13 Europa League today. Starting off in the second qualifying round, Siroki Brijeg took on St. patrick Athletic's out of Ireland. With a home game first, scoring a goal was crucial for Siroki Brijeg as they would like to take the advantage of home field. St. Patrick Athletic's struck first early on in the match from a 12th minute tap-in. Siroki created several good chances throughout the first half, but they weren't able to capitalize on a single one of them. A few minutes before the first half ended, Siroki Brijeg received a red card. Siroki now faced a tough challenge, trying to at least draw their Irish opponents while being down a man n the pitch. The second half didn't bring too many chances from either team. Things looked bad for Siroki, as it seemed they would be heading into Ireland down 1-0. But about 20 seconds before the final whistle, Sirok Brijeg scored their much-needed goal with the Brazilian, Wagner, scoring. The second leg between these two clubs will be played on July 26, at Richmond Park, which can seat 3,000 people.
I think Siroki need to bring a new plan to the club, one that includes rebulding from scratch. I say they ship out Wagner for ~ 500,000 euros, Nikola Maric for ~ 100,000 euros, and Dalibor Silic for ~ 100,000 euros (these three are far more than 30 years of age, time to say good-bye). That gives Siroki Brijeg ~ 700,000 more euros in funds, which they can use for stadium rennovation, transfers, debts, etc. They should keep this as their future core base - GK - Robert Mikulic (20 yrs old) DF - Damir Dzidic (25 yrs old) Slavko Brekalo (22 yrs old) Mateo Berbosa (23 years old) Mladen Jurcevic (29 yrs old) Ivica Dzidic (28 years old) MF - Danijel Kozul (23 yrs old) Dino Coric (22 yrs old) Danir Zlomislic (21 yrs old) FW - Mateo Roskam (25 yrs old) These players, if made as a core group, can grow together. This would create great chemistry, and they'd know each others strengths playing for so long. This kind of plan could benefit Siroki Brijeg in a positive type of way.
Adding on.. FT - St. patrick's Athletic 2-1 Siroki Brij (AET) Siroki Brijeg will pack their bags and head back home to Bosnia after a disappointing loss in a close game against St. Patrick's. The one goal in extra time eliminated Siroki out of the UEFA Europa League qualifications.
Yeah, this Siroki generation is finished. They've been there and done that. They won a Premijer Liga back in 2006, did consistently well in Europe for a few seasons, holding their own against teams like Austria Vienna, Besiktas, and Sturm Graz in the last few years. They're fortunate that they managed to have another good season last year after all the early problems, but I don't think they'll be able to keep performing like this anymore. They need to find replacements for some of their core players like Wagner, Silic, and Varea. They've got some good players like the Dzidic brothers, Roskam, and Coric. Now they just need to replace some of the older legs and bring the average age of the squad down.
Siroki Brijeg and FK Slavija both drew with each other 1-1 on the opening day of the Premijer Liga. I must say, this is a bit of a disappointment for Siroki, drawing to a bottom-feeder despite finishing in second place last season. They next take on HSK Zrinjski Mostar, should be a great match to watch, I am looking forward to seeing the outcome from this match.
NK Siroki Brijeg has suffered a very close loss to Zrinjski Mostar. The big battle finished 1-0 in favor of Zrinjski. They are a tough team, but after finishing second in last season, I am sure Siroki and their fans believed they had a real strong chance of at the leas pulling out one point from this match. The next three games for Siroki goes like this: vs. Radnik Bijeljina @ Celik Zenica vs. Rudar Prijedor Siroki's only real challenge is against Celik, and they are playing away. This might be a game where Siroki would be pleased to come away with a draw.
So time to update this thread as well... Siroki Brijeg's most recent friendly - Siroki Brijeg 0-0 Dinamo Zagreb Siroki drew an attendance of 5,000 for this match (which i believes strengthens the case for an ExYugo league, but that's for another time to discuss), and it seems like a surprising result when you think of it this way - 6th placed BiH team against a Champions League team. Nonetheless, I still think Siroki is heading on their way down from glory, as they have't achieved anything special this season besides still being alive in the Kup but they haven't faced much tough competition, so I'd take their Kup results with a grain of salt). Not many signings (that have been made recently) for the club so nothing to report in that category.
