From the beautiful Croatian city of Split which is located on the Adriatic Sea comes one of the finest clubs from ex-Yugoslavia and the member of the Big Four during the period of Communist Yugoslavia which is Hajduk Split.Founded in 1911 by four Croatian students who studied in the Czech capital of Prague,Hajduk experienced early success in the end of the 1920s when they were twice champions of the Yugoslav First League (1927,1929) and twice runners-up in 1924 and 1928 and in the 1930s they will be three times runners-up (1932,1933,1937) until they won the title of the Banate of Croatia just before WWII in Yugoslavia started in 1941.During WWII Hajduk was banned by the Italian occupation authorities but it was reborn in 1944 and in the 1950s the club went through a period a reinassaince when won the Yugoslav First League in 1950,1952 and 1955 where the club had in its squad players like Vladimir Beara,Bernand Vukas,Frane Matosic and others.Also in 1950 the oldest supporters group in Europe was founded by Hajduk Split fans the Torcida Split which was founded by Vjenceslav Zuvela who was an engineering student.After the glorious 1950s which were marked with three Yugoslav First Laague titles,two Yugoslav Cup finals in which they ended as runners-up (1953,1955) and a runner-up of the Yugoslav First League (1953).But in the 1960s Hajduk went into a decline and in the seasons between 1963 and 1966 Hajduk finished in the league no better than 10th but only thanks to PEtar Nadoveza who was the league’s top scorer and only won the Yugoslav Cup in 1967.But the 1970s were Hajduk’s golden era in which they won four Yugoslav First Leagur titles (1971,1974,1976,1979-the last time they won the title),five Yugoslav Cups (1972,1973,1974,1976,1977),made a UEFA Cup Winners Cup semifinal in the 1972-73 season and a quarterfinal in the same competition in the 1977-78 season and two European Champions Cup quaterfinals (1975-76,1979-80).In that period the legendary white shirt was worn by players such as Ivan Buljan,Ivica Surjak,Drazen Muzinic and others who wore the legendary white shirt in the golden era of Hajduk Split.Besides that in the 1980s Hajduk went into a decline again and won only two Yugoslav Cups (1984 and 1987) in the period after 1991 when Croatia became an independent country Hajduk went to win the Croatian League title six times (1992,1994,1995,2001,2004,2005) with six Croatian Cup titles (1993,1995,2000,2003,2010,2013).Besides that Hajduk Split didn’t a league title in more than decade nevertheless it is the pride of Dalmatia and it’s white shirt was worn by many greats of the club from Vukas and Matosic in the 1950s,through Buljan and Surjak in 1970s,Sliskovic,Vulic and Gudelj in the 1980s,Asanovic,Bilic,Stimac,Srna,Kranjcar,Rapaic and Kalinic in the 1990s and 2000s.Hajduk Split remains the pride of Dalmatia,its biggest club and it is the 2nd biggest club in Croatia with supporters across the country.But it is the white shirt of Hajduk Split in which they won titles and made a brief run in European competition is what made the club and it is one of the classic shirts of the 1970s and one of the most recognizable ever coming from the former Communist bloc.
Kristian's Football Blog 