DAC 1904 Dunajská StredaDAC 1904 Dunajská Streda carries its origins in its very name. The town in southern Slovakia, then known as Dunaszerdahely and part of Hungary, got its first organised sports club in 1904, the Dunaszerdahelyi Atlétikai Club, and the abbreviation DAC has survived every later change: Slavoj in 1953, Jednota in 1965, DAC again in 1974, then FC DAC, FK DAC 1904 in 2000 and FC DAC 1904 since 2014. The Žitný ostrov region around the town is home to most of Slovakia's Hungarian speakers, about one in ten of the country's population, and the club is their passion. In the first half of the 2018/19 season it averaged 7,500 spectators, a figure that made it the best-supported club in the country.
The foundations of the club's modern history were laid in the 1980s. DAC was promoted to the Czechoslovak First League in 1984–85 and made its debut there the following season. In 1986–87 it won the Slovak Cup, beating Nitra on penalties (6–5) after a goalless final, and then took the Czechoslovak Cup, which remains the only major trophy in its history. The Slovak winner met the Czech winner in that final, and the winner of the Czechoslovak Cup earned a place in the Cup Winners' Cup.
That is how DAC arrived in Europe in 1987–88. In the qualifying round it beat AEL Limassol 6–1 on aggregate, winning 5–1 in the second leg, and then lost narrowly to Young Boys 3–4 over two legs. The domestic league that season brought the club's best finish in the Czechoslovak top flight, third place. In 1988–89 it returned to the UEFA Cup, and its most memorable match came against Östers IF: after losing the first leg 0–2, DAC won the return 6–0 to go through 6–2 on aggregate. In the second round it met Bayern Munich and went out 1–5 over two matches, but it had already shown what a provincial club from Dunajská Streda could do on the European stage.
After the split of Czechoslovakia, DAC finished fourth in the top flight in 1992–93 and third in the first Slovak Superliga season that followed, 1993–94. It also lost the 1994–95 Slovak Cup final to Inter Bratislava, 1–1 after extra time and 1–3 on penalties. The 1993–94 UEFA Cup brought a heavy 0–4 aggregate defeat against Casino Salzburg, and the club's form dipped, ending in relegation in 1997–98. In the late 2000s it was even playing in the Slovak third league, where it won the western group in 2007–08, before two successive promotions took it back to the top level in 2013.
The modern chapter is one of near-misses. DAC has finished as runner-up in the Slovak league in 2018–19, 2020–21, 2022–23 and 2023–24, and it finished second again in 2025–26, but it is still waiting for its first national championship. The club plays in yellow and blue, in Dunajská Streda, where the old Mestský štadión once hosted a Slovak Cup final. Its identity has always rested on the town and the community behind it, with the 1987 cup and the nights against Östers and Bayern as the points the club still measures itself against.
