A fan’s guide – the club from early doors to today
More Premijer liga titles have gone to western Herzegovina than the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. While none of these trophies has made their way to Posušje, a small town a short drive from the long-established football hubs of Mostar and Široki Brijeg, local club HŠK have Europe in their sights.
Overseen by a Minister of the Economy for the region, Dario Sesar, since promotion in 2021, HŠK Posušje have significantly modernised the club’s infrastructure, making major improvements to their stadium, Mokri Dolac.
As the power in the domestic game in Bosnia-Herzegovina shifts away from Sarajevo, the Plavo-bijeli (‘Blue-and-Whites’) are perfectly placed to usurp classic names from the Yugoslav era, most notably Željezničar, and other rusting footballing institutions such as Sloboda Tuzla and Čelik Zenica.
Croatian-speaking Herzegovina, its football clubs sporting badges forming the red-and-white chequerboard šahovnica of Croatia, receives investment from just over the border. The resultant silverware and regular European participation have been prevalent since Croatian independence in the early 1990s.
Just as the national team has popularised the Croatian brand around the world, so Zrinjski Mostar and Široki Brijeg have illustrated to fans of Aston Villa and Aberdeen in recent seasons that there’s much shared culture either side of a border the best part of 1,000km in length, the thin strip of Dalmatia nearest the Adriatic dotted with lucrative resorts.
But there’s more to HŠK Posušje than soft power and flag waving. Beside the senior team, embarking on a tenth season in BiH’s fully unified top flight in 2024-25 but only the fourth in succession, the club is looking to establish a fully working academy.
It currently involves 350 young players who now have a pitch beside the seniors. When a more permanent structure is built, it will incorporate thousands of plaques, namechecking all those who donated to make concrete this valuable resource.
The first XI, meanwhile, who finished one league position below a European place in 2023-24, can now play under floodlights, using modern changing facilities, their games watched from a recently installed press box.
This wasn’t always the case. In 1950, in this same site in the centre of Posušje, a team called NK Zidar used the field here – we assume there was a pitch marked out. By 1963, the renamed NK Boksit could take advantage of the better facilities in place, underscored by the kudos of representing the local bauxite mine.
In Tito’s Socialist era, clubs tainted with having participated in the war-time Croatian league set up by the Fascist authorities in Zagreb were banned, and those in industrial hubs, such as Tuzla and Zenica, were backed. Zrinjski Mostar, for example, were a distant memory.
This all changed after the division of Yugoslavia and establishment of an independent Croatia in the early 1990s. As their neighbours in larger Croatian communities revived long moribund football teams, initially to compete in the Croat-only First League of Herzeg-Bosnia.
By the late 1990s, a play-off with their Bosniak counterparts allowed the winners to enter UEFA competition. No longer isolated, leading teams in western Herzegovina welcomed support from Zagreb to develop stadiums and attract better players.
This was also the case in Posušje, where the Mokri Dolac ground was opened in 1998, a crowd of 10,000 witnessing the visit of Zrinjski Mostar, who would soon welcome the arrival of a young Luka Modrić. By then time he did, in 2003, Croatian and Bosniak clubs were competing in the same division as Serbian ones in the integrated Premier liga of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Before then, the weaker, regional Herzeg-Bosnia league involving teams from western Herzegovina played out until the year 2000, allowing smaller clubs such as Posušje the opportunity to challenge dominant Široki Brijeg if they could find the wherewithal to hire a better class of coach and key players.
A look at the six little-known winners of the Herzeg-Bosnia Cup until 2000 – including Troglav Livno, Brotnjo and Orašje – should suggest something about the standard of football here while war was still raging across much of former Yugoslavia. It could be argued that it was a miracle that organised football existed at all in Bosnia-Herzegovina through the 1990s.
Having been used as a base for military aircraft, forcing Posušje to play in nearby Imotski, at the picturesque ground of Gospin Dolac, Mokri Dolac welcomed back the first team for 1998-99. Shortly after he had led Varteks Varaždin to the Croatian Cup final, Posušje hired former Vinkovci defender Stanko Mršić as coach, finding someone who would go on to set the record for the most games as coach in the top league in Croatia, managing Osijek and Cibalia among others.
Mršić could get the best out of an average team, which is exactly what he did at Mokri Dolac, leading them to the first of two consecutive Herzeg-Bosnia titles in his only season there. A mean defence, marshalled by ex-Hadjuk keeper and co-coach Vjeran Simunić between the sticks, conceded only 14 goals and two games out of the 26 that won the outsiders the title.
In theory, this should have given Posušje a chance at entry into Europe via a play-off with FK Sarajevo but the two clubs couldn’t agree on a choice of venue. No representative from Bosnia-Herzegovina took part on the subsequent UEFA Cup. Mršić headed to Osijek, leaving Simunić to steer Posušje to another Herzeg-Bosnia title in 2000, the last before the league was combined with Bosnia’s.
This time, Posušje did take part in the play-offs, now organised as an eight-team mini-league to test out the logistics of running a full 22-team division a few months later.
A 3-2 defeat at Široki Brijeg put paid to Posušje’s chances of the overall national title and, therefore, Europe. Simunić left for Zrinjski before carving out a career coaching in the Far East. Singapore League Cup winners’ medals now sit alongside the one he earned at Posušje in 2000.
The Hajduk connection continued with the arrival of a former assistant coach at the Poljud, Ivica Kalinić, while the growing band of Posušje fans named their group the Torcida after their Split counterparts. Though by no means disgraced, the team finished mid-table in the first all-Bosnia-Herzegovina Premijer liga of 2000-01, maintaining a steady presence until relegation in 2009.
Having brought in several foreign imports to fill gaps in the early 2000s, and remunerated experienced coaches, Posušje no longer had the modest revenue generated from regular fixtures with Zrinjski Mostar and Široki Brijeg, and so blipped out of existence during 2009-10.
Before the 2010-11 campaign, the old management reconvened and decided to set up a new entity, Hrvatski Športski Klub (HŠK) Posušje, focusing on local young talent, refraining from relatively expensive imports from Croatia and elsewhere.
Starting out in the amateur fourth tier at county level, Posušje claimed a runners-up spot in their first season, climbing up a division due to a technicality and staying there in last place the following season for the same reason.
Some five seasons in, this collection of inexperienced youngsters had gained enough experience to hold their own in the southern division of the third flight, which is when the regional Minister of the Economy, Dario Sesar, stepped in as chairman.
Missing out on promotion by solitary goal in two play-off games against Goražde in 2018, Posušje again topped their divisional table in the curtailed season of 2020, before achieving an immediate double promotion under Denis Ćorić.
The former Široki Brijeg striker was quickly dimissed as Posušje struggled in their first top-flight season for over a decade in 2021-22, and fared little better in 2022-23 despite the goals of Gabrijel Boban, a distant cousin of Croatian legend Zvonimir.
The return of Ćorić halfway through 2023-24 campaign helped turn HŠK’s season around, Posušje finishing a highest-ever fifth, above former champions Železničar and Široki Brijeg. Ćorić was duly named Manager of the Year, earning him a move to Železničar.
Now a credible force in the domestic game, equipped with an infrastructure far superior to fellow league rivals from small towns, Posušje could lure players such as striker Nikola Mandić and midfielder Karlo Kamenar from Zrinjski, both once capped at youth level by Croatia.
While Europe may still not be within reach, today this revived club with solid financial backing can meet the biggest names in the Premijer liga on a level playing field.
Stadium Guide
The field of dreams – and the story behind it
With a capacity of 4,500 accommodated in two stands along the long sidelines around a grass pitch, Mokri Dolac is one of the best grounds of its size in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Built in 1998 from a basic pitch used for military helicopters in the early 1990s, the stadium has been modernised in the early 2020s, floodlights, VIP and press areas, and decent changing facilities installed.
Improvements are ongoing, particularly with a new academy in mind, but for the time being, spectators have a choice between sitting in one of four sectors in the North Stand (Tribina Sjever), A-D, or six in the South (Tribina Jug), E-K. Seats in B-C and G-I are over the halfway line.
Currently the ground is open to the elements, with plans to add a roof to the South Stand.
getting here
Going to the stadium – tips and timings
The ground is a short walk from anywhere in Posušje, and at most 10mins from the bus terminus at the junction of the main roads of Ante Starčevića and Kralja Tomislava on the north-western corner of town.
A direct bus service is linked with the major city of Mostar an hour’s drive away.
getting in & what to buy
Buying tickets and merchandise
Tickets go on sale two hours before kick-off, from outlets behind each of the two stands. If you’re here the day before the game, you should be able to pick one up during office hours from the club offices at the ground.
An across-the-board KM8/€4 is usually charged, depending on the opposition. There are no online sales.
Blue-and-white scarves and replica shirts should be available from a stall set up at the ground on match days – there is no club shop as such. Second-choice kit is black.
Where to Drink
Pre-match beers for fans and casual visitors
Any bar or café in Posušje is within walking distance of the ground but the Caffe Petica on Fra Grge Martića is closer than most, a standard coffee spot with alcohol served and sport shown on TV. The action moves outside to the terrace in warmer months and for Croatia games in major tournaments.
Part of the overall improvements to the Mokri Dolac the Dribbling sports bar behind the east goal on Fra Petra Bakule serves both main brands of Croatian beer, Karlovačko and Ožujsko, along with Warsteiner and Franziskaner Weiß in a smart interior with the TV tuned to football.
