At that time, almost five years had passed since the end of the First World War, and a full four years since the founding of the Yugoslav Football Association in Zagreb... However, the national championship, at the level of the entire Kingdom of SHS, was organized only for the year 1923. And the first winner was Zagreb's Građanski.

The competition system required clubs to first go through qualifications at the regional level and thus qualify for the final of the national championship. Građanski opened the competition in the first division of the Zagreb Football Sub-Association, winning first place.

The final was played in a single-elimination cup system, with winners from six sub-associations participating.

Građanski defeated Ilirija from Ljubljana, the predecessor of today's Olimpija, 2-1 away in the quarter-finals, had a bye in the semi-finals, and won their inaugural national championship title under peculiar circumstances.

They started the final match on Sunday shortly after noon, finished it on Monday in the late afternoon hours, and 45 minutes after the referee's final whistle, they gathered again and – started a new encounter. This was the schedule of the final matches against SAŠK from Sarajevo in the battle for the championship title of Yugoslavia's inaugural championship in October 1923.

The match was played at Concordia's ground, today's Kranjčevićeva. It started on Sunday, and after 90 minutes of play, the score was 1-1. Extra time followed, which 'spilled over' into Monday. The Sunday match was interrupted 18 minutes before the end of extra time due to darkness. The following day, those remaining 18 minutes were played, but there were no goals in that period either. A 45-minute break followed so the players could prepare for a new match. A new referee stepped in, Građanski appeared with one new player, while SAŠK played with an identical lineup. The Zagreb team won the new encounter 4-2 and claimed the trophy.

Interestingly, this was also a clash between two brothers: Viktor 'Viki' Götz wore Građanski's jersey while his brother Ferdinand 'Ferry' Götz served as both player and coach for SAŠK.

Građanski took the lead in the 31st minute when Franz Mantler scored from the penalty spot. Just four minutes later, Anton Felver equalized. At the very end of the first half, the Zagreb team shook the net twice and pulled away with a two-goal advantage – first Mantler scored his second goal in the 40th minute to put the blues back in front, and Emanuel 'Emil' Perška scored the third goal two minutes later. When the 'Zagreb Götz' scored the fourth goal in the 48th minute, the winner was practically already in sight. The visitors only managed to reduce the deficit in the 54th minute when Felver scored again.