NK Lokomotiva was founded as
ŽŠK Victoria (Željezničarski športski klub "Victoria") in 1914. After
World War I, the name of the club was changed to
Željezničar, under which they competed between the two wars. At that time, they were mostly in the shadow of the city's bigger clubs
Građanski,
Concordia and
HAŠK. They played in the first level only in the
1940–41 season. In 1945, the club was renamed Lokomotiva and soon their most productive years followed. They continuously played for 8 seasons (1947–1955) in the
Yugoslav First League with the best league result in
1952, when they finished third, behind
Hajduk Split and
Red Star Belgrade. Some of the players at that time were
Vladimir Čonč,
Vladimir Firm,
Drago Hmelina, Franjo Beserdi and Oto Bobek, younger brother of legendary
Stjepan Bobek. They won
Yugoslav Second League in 1956, but were relegated again from the First League in the summer of 1957 and never returned to the Yugoslav top flight again. They played in the Yugoslav Second League until 1970 and then also in the
Yugoslav Inter-Republic League in the last years before the
dissolution of Yugoslavia. After Croatian independence and the formation of the
Prva HNL in 1991, Lokomotiva played in the lower leagues of Croatian football, mostly spending their time in the
Treća HNL. In 2006, before relegation to the fourth division, Lokomotiva became the
feeder team for
Dinamo Zagreb. This sparked a story of one of the most incredible rises through the leagues in Croatian football. Lokomotiva gained promotion in each of the next three season, finishing first in the
Četvrta HNL in the 2006–07 season, second in the
Treća HNL in the 2007–08 season, and third in the
Druga HNL in the 2008–09 season. The promotion from the second to the first division of Croatian football in 2009 meant that in the
2009–10 season, Lokomotiva would be back in the top flight for the first time after 52 years. The side recovered from a poor start in the league and finished in a respectable 8th position out of 16 teams, with notable victories 4–2 away against
NK Zagreb, home 3–0 over
Rijeka, and 2–1 over Hajduk Split. Their top scorer,
Nino Bule, finished with 14 goals. Due to rules against second sides being in the same division, they legally split their connection to Dinamo Zagreb. To meet the criteria for the Prva HNL, they played their games at
Stadion Maksimir before moving on to
Stadion Kranjčevićeva which is now the club's home. The club's base and youth teams area are located in
Kajzerica neighborhood, at a ground known as Igralište na Kajzerici, which itself was a prominent
motorcycle speedway stadium in the 1960s. The
2012–13 season was one of the best in recent history for Lokomotiva. They finished in second place ahead of clubs such as Rijeka, Hajduk Split and
RNK Split. Young star
Andrej Kramarić, on loan from Dinamo Zagreb, finished second in the scoring charts with 15 goals. With the second-place finish, Lokomotiva qualified for the
2013–14 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. In their first European encounter, the side faced
FC Dinamo Minsk, losing on the away goals rule after winning 2–1 away from home, but losing 3–2 at home. Lokomotiva established itself as a 1. HNL side, finishing between 4th and 6th place for the next six seasons. The club managed its first European aggregate victory over
Airbus UK Broughton F.C. in the
2015–16 UEFA Europa League and navigating three stages of qualifying rounds in the
2016–17 UEFA Europa League, before losing 4–2 to
Belgian Pro League side
K.R.C. Genk in the playoff round. In the
2019–20 season, which was interrupted by the
COVID-19 pandemic, Lokomotiva had the best season in its history, finishing in second place in the league and finishing as runners-up in the
Croatian Football Cup, losing 1–0 to Rijeka in the final. With Croatia's improved UEFA Ranking, this meant that Lokomotiva went into the
2020–21 UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds for the first time in its history, where it drew
SK Rapid Wien in the second qualifying round.
Name changes •
ŽŠK Victoria (1914–1919) •
ŠK Željezničar (1919–1941) •
HŽŠK (1941–1945) •
FD Lokomotiva (1945–1946) •
FD Crvena Lokomotiva (1946–1947) •
NK Lokomotiva (1947–present) ==Honours==