to win one title during the Banovina of Croatia era in 1940–41, with an impressive 14–3–1 record. As a Croatian champion the club was about the play the playoffs for Yugoslav championship, but with World War II emerging, the championship was never finished. During this time, Hajduk could have had a fantastic generation lead by young Frane Matošić, Ratko Kacijan, as well as prominent Czech international Jiří Sobotka. World War II In April 1941, during World War II, Yugoslavia was invaded, occupied and carved-up by the Axis powers, with Split being annexed directly into Italy. Residents and players were both opposed to the assimilation to Italy, thus the club ceased to compete in defiance throughout the occupation of Split, declining an offer to join the Italian first division under the name "AC Spalato". Instead, Benito Mussolini founded Societa Calcio Spalato, and renamed the club's home ground after his son's name. After the capitulation of Italy in 1943, the Partisans temporarily liberated Split and disarmed the Italian garrison, but the German Army quickly re-occupied the city and granted it to the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) they had installed in Zagreb back in 1941. The attitude of the club did not change when the NDH authorities attempted to include Hajduk in the Independent State of Croatia Cup, as NDH earned resentment in Split for allying and partitioning them to Italy. With the Allies invading southern Italy and controlling the Mediterranean, the Adriatic islands became a haven for the resistance, prompting Hajduk's rebirth on one of them in 1944. The club's players then joined the Partisan general headquarters on the island of Vis in the Adriatic. On 7 May 1944, on the Feast of Saint Domnius, the patron saint of Split, in presence of Partisan leader Josip Broz Tito's and British officers (one of them being Randolph Churchill) Hajduk was formed again and began playing as the official football team of the Yugoslav resistance. They competed with Allied service football teams from across the Adriatic in Italy, where they famously played the British Army in a friendly match in Bari on 23 September, in front at least 40,000 spectators, losing 2–9. The match is considered to be one of the most attended football games during the war years, with a rematch in liberated Split few years after (Hajduk won 1–0). At this time, the club leadership adopted the Partisans' red star as