By 1962, the club got promotion into the group East of the Yugoslav Second League, which was divided back then into two geographical groups, East and West. It stayed at Second national level for two seasons, after which it returned into the Serbian republic league, Yugoslav third tier. In the late 1960s, the club struggled financially, and on February 23, 1969, it is merged with FK Galenika, a club sponsored by the Galenika a.d., a pharmaceutical company located in Zemun. Under the new name FK Galenika Zemun, and with new financial backing, the club soon returned to the higher leagues, winning promotion as soon as 1970 to the Yugoslav Second League.