1978–79 Yugoslav First League

Prva savezna liga
Season 1978–79
Champions Hajduk Split
Relegated NK Zagreb
OFK Beograd
European Cup Hajduk Split
Cup Winners' Cup Rijeka
UEFA Cup Dinamo Zagreb
Red Star
Matches played 272
Goals scored 761 (2.8 per match)
Top goalscorer Dušan Savić (24)

The 1978–79 Yugoslav First League season was the 33rd season of the First Federal League (Serbo-Croatian: Prva savezna liga), the top level association football competition of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946. Hajduk Split won the league title.

A total of 18 teams competed in the league, with the defending champions Partizan nearly relegated, finishing the season in the 15th place one point clear of the relegation zone. Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb both finished the season on 50 points, but Hajduk won the championship having the better goal difference. However, there was a controversy in the first round when Rijeka defeated Dinamo 2–1 at Kantrida. Dinamo claimed that Edmond Tomić, who joined Rijeka that season from Lirija, didn't serve a one-match suspension following two yellow cards received while playing for his former club. They appealed and after two months it has been decided to award the match 3–0 to Dinamo. After several appeals from both sides, in spring 1979 Football Association of Yugoslavia ruled in favour of Rijeka. The case was brought to Employment Appeal Tribunal, which four years later ruled Dinamo as champions.[1]

The season began on 12 August 1978 and concluded on 17 June 1979. This was the third and last national title win for Hajduk under the guidance of manager Tomislav Ivić, who previously led the club to four consecutive Yugoslav Cup wins in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1976 (not contested in 1975). Striker Dušan Savić of Red Star was the top goalscorer with 24 goals. This was the second achievement for Savić, who previously topped the scoring table in the 1974–75 season. Rijeka entered the 1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup, after defeating Partizan in the final of Yugoslav Cup with an aggregate score 2–1.

Contents

Teams

A total of eighteen teams contested the league, including sixteen sides from the 1977–78 season and two sides promoted from the 1977–78 Yugoslav Second League (YSL) as winners of the two second level divisions East and West. The league was contested in a double round robin format, with each club playing every other club twice, for a total of 34 rounds. Two points were awarded for wins and one point for draws.

Čelik Zenica and Trepča Kosovska Mitrovica were relegated from the 1977–78 Yugoslav First League after finishing the season in bottom two places of the league table. The two clubs promoted to top level were Napredak Kruševac and Željezničar Sarajevo.

Locations of teams' home cities in the 1978–79 Yugoslav First League
Team Location Federal Republic Position
in 1977–78
Borac Banja Luka Banja Luka  SR Bosnia and Herzegovina 01212th
Budućnost Titograd  SR Serbia 01111th
Dinamo Zagreb Zagreb  SR Croatia 0044th
Hajduk Split Split  SR Croatia 0033rd
Napredak Kruševac Kruševac  SR Serbia N/A
OFK Belgrade Belgrade  SR Serbia 01616th
Olimpija Ljubljana Ljubljana  SR Slovenia 01010th
Osijek Osijek  SR Croatia 01313th
Partizan Belgrade  SR Serbia 0011st
Radnički Niš Niš  SR Serbia 01414th
Red Star Belgrade  SR Serbia 0022nd
Rijeka Rijeka  SR Croatia 0055th
Sarajevo Sarajevo  SR Bosnia and Herzegovina 0099th
Sloboda Tuzla  SR Bosnia and Herzegovina 0066th
Velež Mostar  SR Bosnia and Herzegovina 0077th
Vojvodina Novi Sad  SR Serbia 0088th
NK Zagreb Zagreb  SR Croatia 01515th
Željezničar Sarajevo  SR Bosnia and Herzegovina N/A

League table

Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Hajduk Split (C) 34 20 10 4 62 28 +34 50 1979–80 European Cup
2 Dinamo Zagreb 34 21 8 5 67 38 +29 50 1979–80 UEFA Cup
3 Red Star 34 16 9 9 51 33 +18 41
4 Sarajevo 34 17 5 12 56 53 +3 39
5 Velež 34 15 8 11 50 41 +9 38
6 Budućnost 34 15 8 11 33 36 −3 38
7 Radnički Niš 34 11 13 10 38 34 +4 35
8 Sloboda 34 11 10 13 34 34 0 32
9 Željezničar 34 14 4 16 45 52 −7 32
10 Rijeka 34 10 11 13 35 34 +1 31 01979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup0
11 Borac Banja Luka 34 11 9 14 45 56 −11 31
12 Vojvodina 34 11 7 16 35 38 −3 29
13 Osijek 34 8 13 13 32 39 −7 29
14 Napredak Kruševac 34 9 11 14 43 51 −8 29
15 Partizan 34 9 11 14 39 47 −8 29
16 Olimpija 34 11 7 16 34 53 −19 29
17 NK Zagreb (R) 34 8 12 14 32 39 −7 28 01979–80 Yugoslav Second League0
18 OFK Belgrade (R) 34 5 12 17 30 55 −25 22

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Champions:

Results

Home \ Away1 BOR BUD DIN HAJ NAP OFK OLI OSI PAR RNI RSB RIJ SAR SLO VEL VOJ ZAG ŽEL
Borac Banja Luka 2–0 2–2 3–2 1–2 2–1 4–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 2–1 2–2 1–1 2–1 3–0 2–0 3–0 3–0
Budućnost 1–0 3–2 2–1 3–2 1–0 0–0 1–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 1–0 1–4 0–0 1–0 1–0 2–1 2–1
Dinamo Zagreb 4–0 3–0 2–2 4–0 3–0 1–1 2–1 1–0 3–1 2–2 1–0 2–1 2–0 3–1 2–0 3–2 2–1
Hajduk Split 3–1 1–0 1–2 4–0 3–0 3–0 1–0 2–0 2–1 1–0 2–1 5–0 1–1 3–0 2–0 1–0 3–2
Napredak Kruševac 4–1 1–2 2–2 0–0 2–3 1–0 1–1 2–2 4–1 0–1 3–1 0–0 2–2 3–1 2–0 3–0 0–1
OFK Belgrade 1–1 1–1 2–3 0–0 0–0 2–2 0–1 2–1 1–1 2–4 2–0 3–0 0–2 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–2
Olimpija 2–2 0–1 3–2 1–2 3–0 1–0 1–1 2–4 1–0 0–2 1–0 3–1 1–0 2–3 3–1 1–0 2–1
Osijek 2–2 1–1 1–2 1–1 1–0 1–1 3–0 1–1 1–1 2–2 0–0 0–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 2–0
Partizan 3–0 4–2 3–3 2–2 0–3 0–1 2–1 0–0 0–1 1–3 1–0 1–1 3–1 2–1 3–0 0–0 0–2
Radnički Niš 4–0 1–1 2–1 0–2 3–0 4–2 0–0 1–0 0–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 1–0 2–2 2–0 1–1 1–0
Red Star 1–0 1–0 1–2 1–3 3–3 5–1 3–1 1–1 3–0 2–1 0–0 0–1 3–2 1–0 1–0 2–0 5–2
Rijeka 2–0 1–0 2–1 2–2 1–1 0–0 0–1 3–2 2–0 0–0 1–0 5–2 0–0 0–0 3–0 2–0 1–0
Sarajevo 5–1 1–0 0–1 1–2 3–1 5–0 3–0 2–0 2–1 2–1 0–0 3–2 2–1 2–1 3–2 1–1 2–0
Sloboda 1–0 2–1 2–0 1–2 0–0 0–0 4–0 1–0 0–1 1–1 1–0 1–0 5–0 1–1 1–0 0–0 3–1
Velež 4–1 2–2 0–0 1–0 4–0 2–0 2–1 1–0 4–1 3–1 2–1 3–1 1–0 0–0 1–1 1–0 5–2
Vojvodina 1–0 1–0 0–1 0–0 1–0 1–0 0–0 7–0 1–1 0–0 1–0 2–0 3–4 5–0 2–1 0–0 2–0
NK Zagreb 2–2 3–0 2–2 1–1 1–0 3–3 3–0 2–0 1–0 0–1 0–0 0–2 3–1 2–0 2–2 1–0 1–2
Željezničar 3–0 1–1 0–1 2–2 1–1 3–1 2–0 2–1 2–2 1–0 0–1 1–0 4–2 1–0 1–0 2–4 2–1

Source:
1The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank Player Club Goals
1 Dušan Savić Red Star 24
2 Vahid Halilhodžić Velež 16
3 Safet Sušić FK Sarajevo 15
4 Slobodan Santrač Partizan 14
5 Snješko Cerin Dinamo Zagreb 13
Abid Kovačević Borac Banja Luka 13
Zlatko Kranjčar Dinamo Zagreb 13
Ivan Lukačević Osijek 13
9 Muhamed Ibrahimbegović Borac Banja Luka 12
Vladimir Jocić Radnički Niš 12
Miloš Kostić OFK Belgrade 12
Srebrenko Repčić FK Sarajevo 12
Slaviša Žungul Hajduk Split 12

See also

External links