20.11.12

Croatia- early days...

Up until the foundation of The Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918 Croatia was a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 
Football was introduced to Croatia in 1873 by a group of Englishmen who came to work on building a new factory in Rijeka.
 Sailors of the Royal Navy played a game in Croatia in 1887, but interest among the locals was not great. 
In 1903 Prvi nogometni i športski klub Zagreb, (First Football And Sport Club Zagreb- known by the acronym PNIŠK) was founded. 
In 1904 the football section of Hrvatski akademski športski klub (Croatian Academic Sport Club-HAŠK) came into being. 
In 1905 PNIŠK played Ferencvárosi Torna Club in Budapest, losing 11-1.
 PNIŠK and HAŠK  played each other for the first time on 26th October 1906 at Zagreb. 800 spectators watched a 1-1 draw. This is considered the first official game between two Croatian sides and gave rise to the foundation of many new clubs.


PNIŠK / HAŠK (light tops) Slavia Prague (halved tops)


On 23rd and 26th June 1907 a combined PNIŠK / HAŠK team played two matches in Prague against Slavia Prague. 

Slavia won both games;15-0 and 20-0.