Odbojkarski klub Maribor (English: Maribor Volleyball Club) or simply OK Maribor, known as i-Vent Maribor due to sponsorship reasons, is a professional men's volleyball club based in Maribor, Slovenia. It competes in the Slovenian Volleyball League, the top division of Slovenian volleyball. Founded in 1976, the club has won the Slovenian national championship three times (1992, 1993 and 2021) and the Slovenian national cup four times (1992, 1994, 1995 and 2006). The team plays its home matches at Tabor Hall, which has a seating capacity of 3,261.
History
Following the Second World War, volleyball operations in Maribor began under the Železničar Sports Association (ŽŠD Maribor) in June 1945. The team competed in the inaugural Slovenian national championship in 1946, finishing in fourth place. In 1947, the volleyball department of ŽŠD reorganized independently as Odbojkarski klub Železničar (English: Železničar Volleyball Club; literally 'Railroaders Volleyball Club'). In 1951, the team was relegated from the Slovenian top tier, and it took another twelve years before the club, coached by Štefan Podlesnik, returned to the top flight. Two years later, in 1965, Železničar won the Slovenian Republic championship, a feat they repeated in 1970.
Following a structural reorganization of Slovenia's sports clubs in 1976, Železničar merged with its city rival, Branik, to become Odbojkarski klub Maribor (English: Maribor Volleyball Club). In 1980, Maribor won the Yugoslav second division and qualified for the highest level of Yugoslav volleyball, the Yugoslav Volleyball Championship. The club was relegated during its first season in the top division, but won the second division the following year to secure immediate promotion back to the top flight. Maribor was also the runner-up of the Yugoslav Cup in 1983. The club remained in the top division until 1989, when the Yugoslav League was reorganized and reduced to eight teams. Maribor immediately returned to the top tier after winning the A2 Division in 1990, but dropped out of the Yugoslav top flight the following year. This proved to be the club's final season in the league before the breakup of Yugoslavia.
In 1991, Slovenia gained independence from Yugoslavia, and the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia established its own league system. OK Maribor won the first two editions of the newly established Slovenian Volleyball League, becoming back-to-back national champions in 1992 and 1993. As Slovenian champions, the team competed in the 1992–93 edition of the CEV European Champions Cup, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Swiss team Lausanne UC. During the 1990s, Maribor also won the national cup three times and was the league runner-up on several occasions. In January 2006, Maribor, competing under the sponsorship name Prevent Gradnje IGM, won its fourth national cup title by defeating Salonit Anhovo in the final, the first major trophy won by the club in eleven years.
Between 2009 and 2019, the club went through a period of stagnation, never finishing higher than fourth in the league. In 2009–10, Maribor even finished in the last, 12th place. In December 2019, the club signed a sponsorship deal with Merkur and changed its name to Merkur Maribor. In 2021, Maribor secured its third national championship by defeating ACH Volley 3–2 in the finals, preventing the Ljubljana-based club from winning a 17th consecutive title.
Name changes
Throughout its history, OK Maribor has been named after their main sponsor on numerous occasions:
