ŽAK Subotica (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, t ...

: ЖAK Cубoтицa) was a football club based in Subotica,

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

. The club was formed in 1921 and the name comes from the initials of ''Železničarski atletski klub'' derived from the fact that the club was backed by the Yugoslav Railways company. It played in the

1935–36 Yugoslav Football Championship The 1935–36 Yugoslav Football Championship ( Serbo-Croato-Slovenian: Državno prvenstvo 1935/36 / Државно првенство 1935/36) was the 13th season of Kingdom of Yugoslavia's premier football competition. It was played in a cup form ...

where it was eliminated in the round of sixteen by Slavija Osijek. Afterwards, it played in the

1940–41 Serbian League The 1940–41 Serbian League ( Serbian: 1940–41 Српска лига / 1940–41 Srpska liga) was first held after the formation of the Banovina of Croatia and the consequent withdrawal of Croatian and Slovenian based clubs from the Yugoslav F ...

where it finished 5th out of 10. With the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and the

Axis invasion of Yugoslavia An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

, the city came under Hungarian occupation and the club competed in the Hungarian Second League under its Hungarian translated name, Szabadkai Vasutas AC. During this period the coach was Geza Takács and among its best known players was

István Nyers István Nyers (; 25 May 1924 – 9 March 2005), also known as Stefano Nyers, was a Hungarian footballer who played as a forward or as a winger. Although he played in only two international matches for Hungary, he is considered one of the gre ...

who begin his senior career at the club. After the end of the Second World War, the club made a tour throughout Serbia in order to prepare for competition, however the new socialist authorities demanded that most of the pre-1945 clubs to be disbanded and new clubs to be formed. ŽAK was dissolved in 1945 and its players made a meeting where they decided to join the newly founded FK Spartak Subotica which beside the players, the stadium, the colors and the fans, it also inherited the tradition of being backed by the railways.gradsubotica.co.rs

Notable players

Players with national team appearances: ; Yugoslavia * Jovan Beleslin *

Miloš Beleslin Miloš Beleslin (; 8 September 1901 – 7 March 1984) was a Yugoslavian footballer. Club career Born in Sereg, Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, he started playing in Szeged in Szegedi AK. His played his first official match on M ...

Mihalj Kečkeš Mihalj Kečkeš (; 24 September 1913 – 31 December 1985) was a Yugoslav footballer. Born in Subotica in 1913, then still within Austro-Hungary, he was a midfielder and he begin his career playing in FK Bačka 1901. He also played with the oth ...

* Tihomir Ognjanov ; Hungary *

''For a list of former players with Wikipedia article, please see: :ŽAK Subotica players.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zak Subotica Defunct football clubs in Serbia Football clubs in Yugoslavia Association football clubs established in 1921 Association football clubs disestablished in 1945 Sport in Subotica 1921 establishments in Serbia 1945 disestablishments in Serbia