Club
Club history
Named after the mountain above Žrnovnica, Mosor was founded in 1929. The club crest features an eel in the shape of the letter M — a fish that lives in the Žrnovnica river and is one of the emblematic symbols of the people of Žrnovnica. The club won the NSO Split Group Championship in 1969/70, the NSO Split Championship in 1971/72, the Split–Makarska Inter-Municipal League in 1976/77 and the Dalmatian Football League – Central Group in 1985/86. The golden years arrived in independent Croatia. A record four times the club won the title of champions of the Third HNL – South Group. Its greatest success is promotion to the First B HNL and fifth place in the 1996/97 season, after finishing runners-up in the Second HNL South the season before. In total, the club has spent as many as 16 seasons since independence in the second tier, and its best result in the unified Second HNL is third place in the 2011/12 season.
The art of achieving great results with little money
- On average, our budget for the Second League in those years was around 600–700 thousand kuna, certainly the smallest of all second-division clubs. We did not pay players, and with the help of the club’s friends we paid nothing for accommodation, transport or sports equipment either... You had to know how to play the Second League and be successful, and to repeat it with that budget – said Vinko Barbarić, president and former player of the club.
In Croatia, Mosor spent nine years in the third league (four championship titles, two runner-up finishes and two third places). It played in the final stages of the Croatian Cup five times, twice reaching the round of 16. In the 1998/99 season, Osijek — the eventual cup winner — proved better in the round of 32 at Pricvić, in extra time (0:1). In the 1999/2000 season in Žrnovnica, second-division Slaven Belupo of coach Mile Nižetić, with Srđan Andrić, won in the round of 16 (0:2). The 2003/04 season is well remembered. In the round of 32, third-division Mosor — with brothers Ante and Frane Vitaić, Zoran Roglić... — eliminated first-division Inker of coach Josip Kuže at Pricvić (1:0). Then, at Gradski vrt in the round of 16, the side of coach Valentin Roglić lost to Osijek with Robert Špehar (2:3), even though Mosor had led (2:1).
Mosor’s juniors earned promotion to the first league three times, twice as winners of the final tournament of the champions of the football centres (coach Saša Javorčić), once as runners-up. They also reached the final stages of the junior cup three times, and their greatest success was third place in the junior HNL behind cup winners Dinamo (coach Vedran Milović). Six times the juniors were champions of Dalmatia, i.e. of the Second HNL South.
Mosor also achieved impressive results at prestigious European junior tournaments in Denmark (winning the Lyngby Cup in 2001, beating Eintracht 4:2 in the final, and before that Rosenborg, Charlton...) and in France (third place in Saint-Étienne against the likes of Real Sociedad, Nantes, Lyon and Marseille, and second place in St. Joseph). Many well-known players have been members of Mosor, among them numerous Hajduk players. Some arrived on loan, some as free agents eager to prove themselves, some concluded their careers here. Alongside all this, an impressive infrastructure was built. The hardest thing in football is to sustain success over the long term, with continuity. Mosor managed it — for a full quarter of a century.
Among the most successful amateur clubs in Croatia
- We were only relegated from the second league when the competition format changed, and the following year we would return as champions; we were almost always near the top. We are the most decorated club of the third league and among the most decorated in the County Cup. It will be hard for anyone to repeat the results of our seniors and juniors — we launched so many players... I am proud of it all – said Barbarić.
Nevertheless, in 2016 Mosor was relegated to the 1st County League. And in the 2018/19 season the first team was disbanded. At the end of 2019, through the merger of two associations, the club changed its name to the Croatian Volunteer War Veterans Football Club Mosor–Sveti Jure, while retaining the club’s continuity and legal legacy.
- We were not relegated from the fourth league either; we left it ourselves so as not to go into an orchestrated bankruptcy. There always have been and always will be uglier and nicer things, but at Mosor mostly nice things happened, because almost every year the club won a significant trophy or played in the unified second league, or was the best in the third... These are impressive results for a club from a small place. We are certainly among the most decorated amateur clubs in the country. Then came the 2015/16 season and an unsporting elimination by expulsion into the 1st County League — I would say a forced relegation, over “non-cooperation”, and a breakdown of communication at all higher levels for political and interest-driven reasons. That was not sporting. But ever since then, too, I have been more than proud of every season – said Barbarić. Colonel Barbarić is certainly the longest-serving president in the HNL, in office from 1990 to this day. He is the alpha and omega of the club, and certainly at the very top of the most decorated presidents in the HNL.
A name that obliges
In December 2019 the club changed its name to the Croatian Volunteer War Veterans Football Club "Mosor — Sveti Jure". The name honours the Croatian volunteer defenders of the Homeland War and Saint George, alongside the mountain that gave the club its life. That name is no ornament: it is the standard by which we raise our players. And the club is a family — several times a year we bring parents, coaches and children together for a gathering by the river.
Greatest achievements
- Played in the Croatian 1.B league — season 1996/97
- Runners-up of the 2nd Croatian league — 1995/96
- Four-time champions of the 3rd league South (1993/94, 1998/99, 2002/03, 2003/04)
- Split sub-association champions 1971/72 and promotion to the third federal league
The club today
Today the club lives for its youth: we work exclusively with children — from beginners to cadets. Our home is Žrnovnica, a district of the city of Split — we train at the Pricvić ground by the river, ten minutes from Split’s neighbourhoods, wearing red, white and blue.
Results and fixtures (Croatian FA) ↗Our values
Our club proudly bears the name of Croatian volunteer war veterans. We raise children through sport: discipline, respect and love for their community — and our doors are open to every child.
The club is a family
Several times a year, parents, coaches and kids gather for a barbecue by the river next to the pitch. You don’t just enrol a child here — the whole family is welcome.
