Fanatic soccer supporters

Hajduk fans are called Torcida (since 1950) as they took their name after their idolized Brazilian fan groups, which are named torcidas, from the Portuguese 'torcer', to cheer on. Supporters popularly call players of Hajduk bili (plural form of white in local dialect of the Croatian language) and are the oldest organized supporters' group in Europe.
Outside of Croatia, Hajduk also has many supporters throughout the rest of the world. It is said that Hajduk has never played a single game anywhere in the world without at least a small group of Torcida in the stands. Countries with huge fan clubs membership include Chile, New Zealand, Australia and Canada - mostly countries with significant Croat immigration from Dalmatia.

Hajduk Split was founded in the famous, centuries old pub Flek in Prague (then also a part of Austro-Hungarian Empire) by a group of students from Split (Fabijan Kaliterna, Lucijan Stella, Ivan Šakić and Vjekoslav Ivanišević). They went to the pub right after the match between Sparta and Slavia and decided it was high time their own town founded it's professional club. They all knew how popular the sport was back home, and how well their friends back home played. The club was officially registered with the authorities on February 13, 1911 and is, thus, the oldest football club in Croatia. The name originates from the hajduk's, romanticized bandits that fought the Ottoman Turks.
Hajduk gathered the pro-Croat party of citizens of Split, Croat unionists or puntari. That's why the club specifically has the name "hrvatski nogometni klub" (Croatian football club) and has Croat coat-of-arms in its logo. The club itself was a protest against the Austro-Hungarian government's policy of not allowing the unification of Croatian provinces and keeping them separated (the government and the emperor didn't allow reunion of Dalmatia with the rest of Croatia).
Hajduk reached its first period of glory in late twenties, when it won two Yugoslav championships, breaking the domination of clubs from Belgrade and Zagreb. Particularly interesting is the club's war episode. After Italian occupation of Split, club ceased to compete in defiance, and declined the offer to join the Italian first division. In 1944, team and staff clandestinely joined Yugoslav partisans on the island Vis and continued to play as an official partisan army team. After the war episode, partisan leader and later president of Yugoslavia, Tito, (impressed by the club's proficency and it's unique Dalmatian spirit) invited Hajduk to move to Belgrade and become an official army team. But, players refused the lucrative offer and continued playing in their hometown. The club, however, continued to be Tito's favorite long after the war.
Hajduk had its best years in the 1970s. The so-called "zlatna generacija" (Golden Generation) won five consecutive cups and three championships in the 1972 to 1979 period. It was the second most succsessful club in Yugoslavia far outstripping the third, it's present day rival, Dinamo Zagreb.

The Hajduk kit is white shirt and blue shorts.

Hajduk won two Yugoslav (kingdom) championships, seven Yugoslav championships, eight Croatian championships, as well as nine Yugoslav Cup titles, four Croatian Cups and six super cups.
Abroad, the club has reached the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup (now UEFA Champions League) three times (last time 1995), and two European semifinals: of Cup of cup's winners 1973, and UEFA cup 1984.

Hajduk is famous for its good youth school. It is one of the most prolific producers of high quality footballers which often continue careers in famous European teams. Some of Hajduk's former players include: Alen Bokšić (ex Juventus, Middlesbrough), Robert Jarni (ex Juventus, Real Madrid), Slaven Bilić (ex Karlsruhe, Everton), Igor Štimac (ex West Ham),Milan Rapaić (Standard Liege), Igor Tudor (Juventus), Ivica Šurjak (ex Paris SG), Luka Peruzović (ex Anderlecht), Aljoša Asanović, Ivica Buljan (ex Hamburger SV) and Zlatko Vujović (ex Bordeaux).

When the Croatian national team won third place at the 1998 World Cup in France, amongst the first 11, there were 5 former Hajduk players.

Since 1979, Hajduk plays at the Poljud stadium. It was built by the Yugoslavian federal government for the 1979 Mediterranean games that were held in Split. Thanks to lavish federal funding the stadium is quite impressive, not so much in size (though it is large) as it is in architecture, having one of the most unique and beautiful designs in the world at the time of it's construction. Before that, Hajduk played it's games at the "Kod stare plinare" stadium ("By the old gas facility"), also known as "Stari plac" ("Old Square") or "Staro Hajdukovo" ("Old Hajduk's"). Before the transformation that area into the football pitch, the area was known as "Kraljeva njiva" ("King's Field") and it was part of a military camp.

Hajduk is by far the most popular sport team in the Croatian region of Dalmatia. Hajduk also has a strong fan base throughout the rest of Croatia, especially in littoral areas, as well as in Slavonia. Hajduk is also a very important part of the region's identity.
In the former Yugoslavia, Hajduk was the team that had supporters all over the country, among all national and religious communities (not only among the Croats); no other club achieved that. It is important to mention the big popularity of Hajduk among Albanians in socialist Yugoslavia, especially on Kosovo, where popularity of Hajduk can be compared with the one in Dalmatia.