The Lendava Football Club was founded on May 11, 1903. The first friendly match was played on August 3, 1913. The first stake match was in 1920 in Murska Sobota, where the players arrived by a horse-drawn carriage. In 1935, the club got a real football field, playing in the meadow opposite the umbrella factory. During the Second World War the club played in the colors of Szombathely. After the end of the war they competed in the Maribor district and in 1946 they won the title of Slovenia. At that time the club was renamed to NK Nafta. The 1947 match against Crvena zvezda in Belgrade was not played because Nafta canceled the federal championship due to financial difficulties.