The club was founded in 1919 as
HGŽK Cibalia Vinkovci, and in 1925 the team merged with local rivals RŠK Sloga. In the 1930s the club was coached by
Bane Sekulić,
Károly Nemes and Rajmond Breznik. After
World War II the club was banned by the new Communist regime. After the war re-established clubs Sloga and OFD Graničar merged and formed
NK Dinamo Vinkovci which began competing within the Yugoslav football system. The club would see several humble decades before finally making it to the
Yugoslav First League in 1982. They played in the top-tier league for five seasons until they were relegated to the
Yugoslav Second League in 1987. In 1990 the team returned its traditional name of
Cibalia. The club spent much of the 1990s in the
Prva HNL, Croatian top level. It remained in the Prva HNL until the
2003–04 season when it was relegated to the
Druga HNL. The club was also penalized by
UEFA in the same season with a deduction of six points for failure to fulfill financial obligations related to past player transfers. Nevertheless, in the
2004–05 season, Cibalia outdid all of its opponents in the second league by a large margin, won the promotion playoffs and returned to Prva HNL. It was in this season that they also had
Croatian
mixed martial arts legend
Mirko Filipović play the final 8 minutes of a match vs
HNK Vukovar. Cibalia also had some success playing in the
Croatian Cup, where it reached the final in 1999 (lost to
Osijek) and semi-final in 2000, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. The
2009–10 season was Cibalia's best ever season in the top division of Croatian football. They finished third after giants
Dinamo Zagreb and
Hajduk Split, having spent most of the season in second position. They qualified for the
second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League but eventually lost to Northern Irish side Cliftonville and exited the tournament. Cibalia were relegated from the 1. HNL in 2018 and also faced bankruptcy. They ended up being relegated directly to the third division, where they finished the season in first place and were promoted after receiving a second division license in May 2019. ==Honours==