« Les Maîtres de la mer » ou la traversée singulière du vingtième siècle par Hajduk Split

The sea played a key role in the introduction of football to Dalmatia under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, thanks to the British ships that docked in its ports. In 1911, Croatian students studying in Prague founded the Hajduk Split club. After World War I, the team grew by playing matches against the crews of Entente ships, although Italian crews were not welcome. Under the direction of coach Luka Kaliterna, the team of young players practiced a technical game that shone for the first time during a tour of French North Africa (1923). They became the 'Masters of the Sea' and went on tour after tour, while winning two Yugoslavian championship titles in 1927 and 1929. The Axis invasion and dismantling of Yugoslavia (1941) led to the club's demise, when it was replaced by AC Spalato under the Italian occupation. The club was reborn in 1944 on the island of Vis and re-founded as Hajduk NOVJ. The team performed on propaganda tours in the south of liberated Italy and as far afield as the Middle East. Having returned to civilian life, Hajduk won further championship titles in Tito's Yugoslavia before being caught up in war again in 1991. But the club’s unfailing link with the sea was never broken.