RK_Lokomotiva
Rukometni Klub Lokomotiva Zagreb (English: Lokomotiva Zagreb Handball Club) is a Croatian professional women's handball club from Zagreb.[1]
Lokomotiva was the most successful team in the Yugoslav Championship's early stages, winning eight championships between 1956 and 1970. In 1975, the team reached the final of the European Cup after winning its ninth championship.[2] However, the following fifteen years were unsuccessful, with Radnički Belgrade dominating the championship.[3] The team resurfaced in 1991, winning both the final edition of the Yugoslav Championship and the EHF Cup, its first international trophy, beating Bayer Leverkusen in the final.[4]
Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, Lokomotiva, renamed Kraš Zagreb, won the first edition of the new Croatian League, but the team soon fell second to Podravka Koprivnica. The team's major successes in the 1990s were reaching the Cup Winner's Cup's final in 1996 and 1998.[5] The club reversed to its original name in 2003, and the following seasons marked a timid revival, with Lokomotiva winning the three championship titles and four national cups.
Most recently, Lokomotiva was second in the national championship and won the EHF Challenge Cup in 2017.
Lokomotiva gave eight players of the national team which are surprisingly won the bronze medal at the 2020 European Women's Handball Championship (Lucija Bešen, Dora Kalaus, Larissa Kalaus, Paula Posavec, Stela Posavec, Tena Japundža, Kristina Prkačin and Andrea Šimara). Also the Lokomotiva's coach Nenad Šoštarić was the head coach of the that generation.
