Orijent

Orient

The club was founded in Sušak in 1919, under the name Jugoslavenski Športski Klub Orient. At that time, Sušak was predominantly Croatian, while Fiume, the western part of the city, was predominantly Italian. The club legend says that one of the club's founders saw a ship named Orient at the New York Harbor during his journey through the United States and, upon return, suggested the new club to be named Orient and his suggestion was accepted. Although Orijent spent most of its history playing in lower tiers of Yugoslav and Croatian football, it was and still is popular among Sušak's population.

The club was disbanded by the communists in 1945 and re-established as FD Jedinstvo. Its greatest success came in 1969, when they were the champions of Yugoslav Second League's Division West but were unable to win promotion through playoff. In the early 1970s, Orijent contested a total of eight derbies with city rivals Rijeka. Other notable successes include quarter-finals of Yugoslav Cup in 1980–81 and 1982–83. Orijent played top-tier football only once, in season 1996–97, when they finished 14th and were relegated.

In June 2014, the club was liquidated due to its inability to service mounting debts. Shortly thereafter, the club was re-established and admitted to the fifth tier of the Croatian football league system for the start of the 2014–15 campaign. Over the following five seasons, they gained promotion on three occasions, reaching the Croatian Second Football League starting with the 2019–20 campaign.

Names

As regimes changed, Orijent was often forced to change its name. At various stages of its history, the club was known as Jedinstvo, Primorac, Primorje, and Budućnost. Finally, from 1953 onward, the club has been carrying the original name, Orijent, in various forms (NK Orijent, HNK Orijent 1919, HNK Orijent).

After the liquidation in 2014, the club was re-established as HNK Orijent 1919. In September 2022, the club assembly voted to rename the club by leaving out 1919, however, the original year of formation would remain visible in the crest. The new name entered the official HNS register on 6 October 2022.