The club had a huge influence on the development of football in Croatia and Kingdom of Yugoslavia and achieved its greatest success in the period between the two World Wars.

Građanski was therefore founded as a multi-sports club with a distinctly Croatian identity intended to cater to the public of Zagreb, with sections dedicated to football, handball, and cycling.

After the Yugoslav championship was launched on a national level in 1923, Građanski's greatest rivals outside of Zagreb soon became BSK Belgrade, SK Jugoslavija, and Hajduk Split.

He then modified it into the now famous WW system which brought the Hungary national football team to the final game of the 1954 World Cup, and which was later exported to Brazil as the 4–2–4 formation.

In June 1934 Građanski played a match in Zagreb with the Brazil national team which ended in a 0–0 draw, with footballing greats such as Leônidas and Waldemar in their lineup.

[2] In May 1936 Liverpool FC suffered their first continental defeat in Zagreb, a 5–1 thrashing in front of an audience of 10,000 with August Lešnik scoring a hat-trick and Berry Nieuwenhuys claiming a consolation goal for the Reds.

[4] In 1940 Građanski managed to beat the Hungarian side Újpest FC 5–0 on aggregate in the quarter-final, only to lose to Rapid Bucharest in the semi-final.

[5] Rapid Bucharest progressed to the final on a coin toss, although the tie, against Ferencváros, was never played because of the outbreak of World War II.

Many former Građanski players continued their career at Dinamo after the war (including Ivan Jazbinšek, August Lešnik, Zvonimir Cimermančić, Milan Antolković) as well as their coach Márton Bukovi, while some others moved to FK Partizan in Belgrade, which was established after the war as the official Yugoslav Army club (these included Florijan Matekalo and Stjepan Bobek).

Only four players appeared for all three national teams during this turbulent period – Miroslav Brozović, Zvonimir Cimermančić, Branko Pleše and Franjo Wölfl.

Like Bobek, Brozović moved to Belgrade and continued to play for Partizan after the war, while the other three joined the newly formed Dinamo Zagreb.