HNK Hajduk Split
Also written as Hajduk, Hajduk Split.
The club
Hajduk were founded on 13 February 1911 by a group of students from Split who were studying in Prague. They have played at the Stadion Poljud, the shell-shaped ground on the northern edge of the city, since 1979; it holds 33,987. The club are known as Bili, the Whites, and as Majstori s mora, the Masters from the Sea. They play in white shirts with blue shorts and socks, a combination the club describes as white sails on a blue sea.
Recent seasons
Hajduk have finished second in the Croatian league in 2022/23, second in 2023/24, third in 2024/25 and second again in 2025/26. Positions for 2020/21 and 2021/22 were not confirmed from the sources read here. The 2025/26 runners-up finish is what put them into this season's European qualifying, at the Europa League first qualifying round.
Honours and landmarks
In the Yugoslav era Hajduk won nine league championships and nine Yugoslav Cups. Since Croatian independence they have won six league titles, in 1992, 1993/94, 1994/95, 2000/01, 2003/04 and 2004/05, eight Croatian Cups and five Croatian Super Cups. The record attendance at Poljud is 62,000 against Dinamo Zagreb on 28 February 1982, from a ground configured very differently to the one in use now; the record for the modern all-seated Poljud is 38,000, again against Dinamo Zagreb.
Notable scorelines
The club's largest win in the Croatian top flight is 10-0 against Radnik Velika Gorica in 1994; in the Yugoslav era they beat Slavija Sarajevo 14-0 in 1934, and their first competitive match was a 9-0 win over Calcio Spalato. Their heaviest Croatian league defeat is 1-5 against Varteks in 2001. No single all-time record defeat was confirmed from the sources read here. Two European results are still cited by the club: a 4-1 home win over Saint-Etienne in the 1974/75 European Cup and a 3-2 home win over Hamburger SV in the 1979/80 European Cup quarter-final, which was not enough after a 0-1 defeat in Hamburg. Most recently, a 5-2 win away at Zalgiris in Vilnius on 6 August 2026.
European record
Hajduk's European standing rests on a run of deep campaigns in the Yugoslav era: three European Cup quarter-finals, in 1975/76, 1979/80 and 1994/95, a UEFA Cup semi-final in 1983/84 and a Cup Winners' Cup semi-final in 1972/73, lost to Leeds United. No season-by-season modern European record was established from the sources read here beyond the current campaign, and the club has not reached a European group or league phase in recent years.
The 2026/27 route has already taken three rounds. As Croatian runners-up Hajduk entered the Europa League at the first qualifying round and beat Zilina 3-2 on aggregate, winning 2-0 at Poljud on 9 July 2026 and losing 2-1 in Slovakia on 16 July. In the second qualifying round they met Pafos of Cyprus and went out 4-2 on aggregate, and the way it happened matters. Hajduk won the first leg 2-0 at Poljud on 23 July 2026 through Michele Sego and Dario Melnjak. In the return in Limassol on 30 July, Pafos led 2-0 by the first minute of stoppage time, levelling the tie, and then scored twice in extra time to win 4-0 on the night. Hajduk were ninety-one minutes from going through and lost by two. That defeat dropped them into the Conference League third qualifying round.
Quotes
No directly quoted material was confirmed from the sources read here. The club's official site returned 403 responses to the fetches attempted for this dossier and no Croatian outlet read here carried checkable verbatim material on the current tie.
Right now (2026/27)
Gonzalo Garcia is the head coach and Ivan Bilic the chairman. The summer was one of low-cost additions and modest sales. In came Etnik Brruti from Malisheva on a free on 29 May 2026, Alec Van Hoorenbeeck from FC Twente for an undisclosed fee on 25 June, Mathieu Acapandie free from Nantes on 26 June, Alberto del Moral free from Real Oviedo on 28 June, Dalisson de Almeida on loan from Cordoba on 29 June, and Marin Soticek on loan from Basel on 29 July. Out went Bruno Durdov to Gornik Zabrze for 900,000 euros on 16 June, and Hugo Guillamon to Sporting Gijon and Filip Krovinovic to Gremio, both free, on 27 July. Net transfer income was the 900,000 euros for Durdov.
The tie Hajduk are in right now is the Conference League third qualifying round against Zalgiris of Lithuania, and the first leg could hardly have gone better. Hajduk won 5-2 at the LFF Stadium in Vilnius on 6 August 2026. Michele Sego scored from the penalty spot after five minutes; Nikola Petkovic equalised for Zalgiris on 34; Sego scored again on 44; then Adrion Pajaziti on 55, Dalisson on 72 and Rokas Pukstas on 75 put the tie out of reach before Marko Capan pulled one back on 86. The second leg is at Poljud on 13 August 2026 with Hajduk three goals up.
The league form is the worry. Hajduk lost 2-1 to Varazdin on 2 August 2026 in their opening SuperSport HNL fixture and drew 2-2 with Istra 1961 on 9 August, one point from two games for a side that finished second last season.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HNK_Hajduk_Split https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_HNK_Hajduk_Split_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Europa_League https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Europa_League_qualifying https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_UEFA_Conference_League_qualifying_(third_and_play-off_round_matches)
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.