Hajduk, the soccer club of Split, Croatia. In its stormy history, the club was trough three wars and has changed four states: the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Republic of Yugoslavia and, finally, the Republic of Croatia that it has always longed to and acknowledged as its own. Still, the club has never changed its name and has left the First Division. By its national and European achievements alike, Hajduk is certainly the most successful Croatian soccer club. In its history there are fifteen National Championships, as well as twelve National Cups. In Europe, Hajduk has had remarkable achievements in all competitions - from the Champions Cup, to the Winners Cup, to the UEFA Cup. In the Champions Cup, it reached the quarter-finals three times: in 1975-76, when it was eliminated by PSV; in 1979-80, when HSV was better. In the Champions League, in 1994-95, it was eliminated by the seasons champions; Ajax. In the Winners C up, in 1973. Hajduk played in the semifinals, but the English Leeds was better, and in 1977-78 it was eliminated by the Austrian Vienna by penalties. In the UEFA s Cup, in 1983-84 Hajduk reached the semi-finals but was won Tottenham, and in 1985-86 it the quarter-final by Waregem. The splendid story of Hajduk begun in February of 1911. when four Split students brought the ball to Split from Prague, since when soccer has become the most popular game in the 1700 years of the history of Split, a town very rich with sports. Soon after, Hajduk grew into a big soccer club to keep that level since in spite of the wars that were interrupting its activities. This is probably why its fans motto is "Hajduk live forever!". In such a long, rich and unique history that cannot be made a few lines of text, many curiosities happened to Hajduk. The first curiosity is its first goal in 1911. that was achieved by knee; in 1924. its entire team players as the national team, with the exception of the goal-keeper who was a foreigner; the game Hajduk played in Bari, in the year of 1944. was attended by 50.000 spectators; in 1950, Hajduk won the championship without a singled lost game, in the period from 1970. to 1980., it won nine trophies; in 1979, it was built the Europe s most beautiful stadium of the time, of the capacity of over 50.000… it can be considered another curiosity that over 200 Hajduk s players played in the best national teams (Bernard Vukas, Ivica Šurjak, Ivan Buljan, Alen Bokšić, Aljoša Asanović, Igor Štimac, Slaven Bilić, Robert Jarni, Milan Rapajić...) and that they have won 11 Olympic medals. Hajduk played at almost 500 worlds stadiums, in some 80 centuries, on all continents. It was received by many great world statesmen, and throughout it's lifetime, Hajduk has been supported by a most beautiful army of fans, organized around the ardent - "Torcida"...

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