In the 1920s and 1930s the Kingdom of Yugoslavia national team often hosted matches in Zagreb, but the main venues used for these were grounds owned by Concordia and HAŠK football clubs (present-day Stadion Kranjčevićeva and Stadion Maksimir).
[4] In 1940 the team of Banovina of Croatia (at the time province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) played two unofficial international matches at the stadium, beating Switzerland 4–0 in April (through goals from Florijan Matekalo, August Lešnik and a brace by Zvonko Cimermančić) in front of a crowd of 10,000,[5] and drawing 1–1 against Hungary in December, with Franjo Wölfl scoring the single goal for the home team, in front of 8,000 spectators.
Following the 1941 invasion of Yugoslavia the new Nazi-allied regime formed the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and organized a national team which was officially recognized by FIFA.
They hosted a number of international friendlies in Zagreb during World War II, all of them with teams of other Axis nations.
Although the national football championship was also played intermittently throughout the war, with Građanski hosting matches at Koturaška, the wartime NDH team's primary home stadium was Concordia's ground located on the site of modern-day Stadion Kranjčevićeva.