1946 the communist authorities established a new identity for the city's most representative club in order for it to take part in the upcoming Yugoslav championship and rebranded and restructured the club into Società Cultura Fisica Quarnero (S.C.F. Quarnero), which later added also the bilingual title Sportsko Društvo Kvarner. The new name followed the geographic neutral naming conventions requested to local councils by the central authorities in Belgrade in order to approve the reestablishment of the local sport club activities and to participate in competitions. The initiative came from Ettore Mazzieri, the city's sport commissioner for the Yugoslav military administration and a previous Fiumana manager. The first match with the Quarnero identify was played on the 7th of August 1946, bringing a revenge against Hajduk Split for the loss from the previous year. The club began the new course with a resounding 2–0 against the best Yugoslav side of the time. Quarnero initially continued to play in the Fiumana amaranto colours, but started switching colours after the first few championships games, and continued appearing with new kits every few matches until season 1957–58. Luigi Sošić and in particular Giovanni Cucera took over the role of first post-war presidents shaping the new communist direction of the club, while all former Fiumana players and staff simply carried on playing in the renamed club for the next few years, before the Italian exodus slowly forced many of them to leave the city after the season 1947–48. As all clubs in Yugoslavia had to undergo a transformation into general sport clubs following the Stalinist model imposed by Belgrade in 1945, S.C.F. Quarnero incorporated 11 other sections in addition to football, including boxing, fencing, basketball and tennis. The international tennis champion Orlando Sirola started his career at the club, before his exile. The authorities in Belgrade soon decided that Rijeka's club should be invited to participate in the first Yugoslav First League in 1946-47 as an external guest, representing the occupied Zone B of the Julian March region, but only after a play-off with the Pula-based club Unione Sportiva Operaia. When the city of Rijeka was assigned to Yugoslavia in February 1947 and Tito broke all ties with Stalin in 1948, most Yugoslav clubs underwent a further re-organisation. Thus in 1948 Quarnero became once again an all-football club, and the name was also consequently modified once more into Società Calcio Quarnero – Nogometni Klub Kvarner.