1985–86 Yugoslav First League

Prva savezna liga Jugoslavije

Season	1985–86
Champions	Partizan
Relegated	OFK Belgrade Vojvodina
European Cup	Red Star
UEFA Cup	Partizan Hajduk Split Rijeka
Cup Winners' Cup	Velež
Top goalscorer	Davor Čop (22)
Average attendance	8,507
← 1984–85 1986–87 →

The 1985–86 Yugoslav First League season was marked by scandal and controversy due to allegedly wide match-fixing during the last week of fixtures.

After the last week was played, FK Partizan was crowned champion due to better goal difference than second-placed Red Star Belgrade. However, after weeks of public pressure and huge public outcry, on 20 June 1986, the Yugoslav FA presidency headed by Slavko Šajber decided to impose extraordinary measures that included the following:

• voiding the already played week 34 matches of the 1985–86 season and ordering a replay of every single one (nine fixtures in total)
• docking 6 points from each of the 12 clubs suspected of being involved in match-fixing, meaning they would start the following league season with -6 points

Each club agreed to play the replay except for Partizan. As a result their week 34 fixture was registered as a 3–0 defeat, and the club was thus stripped of the league title, which was now awarded to Red Star. Based on this decision, it was Red Star Belgrade who got to represent SFR Yugoslavia in the 1986–87 European Cup.

What followed on domestic front was a series of appeals and lawsuits and the entire case eventually went all the way to the Yugoslav Constitutional Court. By the time Yugoslav Constitutional Court delivered its final ruling to the Court of Joint Labour of SR Serbia on 29 July 1987, the next league season was already completed with FK Vardar winning the title due to 12 teams starting the season with -6 points.

The court's ruling was that there was no evidence of wrongdoing in the week 34 of the 1985–86 season and thus that season's title was given back to Partizan. That also meant that there was no merit for the 6-point docking in the 1986–87 and now that season's table was re-counted so that now Partizan became a new champion.

Still, Vardar got to represent SFR Yugoslavia in the 1987–88 European Cup.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Partizan (C)	34	21	7	6	65	29	+36	49	1986–87 UEFA Cup
2	Red Star	34	21	7	6	73	38	+35	49	1986–87 European Cup
3	Velež	34	13	11	10	64	50	+14	37	01986–87 European Cup Winners' Cup0
4	Hajduk Split	34	15	7	12	55	44	+11	37	1986–87 UEFA Cup
5	Rijeka	34	12	13	9	42	31	+11	37
6	Dinamo Zagreb	34	11	14	9	53	43	+10	36
7	Željezničar	34	15	5	14	58	63	−5	35
8	Vardar	34	14	6	14	52	59	−7	34
9	Osijek	34	12	9	13	39	42	−3	33
10	Sutjeska	34	14	4	16	55	61	−6	32
11	Prishtina	34	13	6	15	37	47	−10	32
12	Sloboda Tuzla	34	11	9	14	47	59	−12	31
13	Dinamo Vinkovci	34	11	8	15	51	54	−3	30
14	Budućnost	34	13	4	17	47	52	−5	30
15	Sarajevo	34	11	8	15	41	46	−5	30
16	Čelik	34	11	8	15	39	49	−10	30
17	OFK Belgrade (R)	34	12	6	16	48	63	−15	30	01986–87 Yugoslav Second League0
18	Vojvodina (R)	34	6	8	20	33	69	−36	20

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Champions:

• PARTIZAN (coach: Nenad Bjeković)

players (league matches/league goals):
Fahrudin Omerović (34/0) -goalkeeper-
Zvonko Varga (32/17)
Ljubomir Radanović (32/4)
Vladimir Vermezović (32/1)
Admir Smajić (30/2)
Slobodan Rojević (29/0)
Goran Stevanović (28/3)
Nebojša Vučićević (27/6)
Miloš Đelmaš (26/11)
Zvonko Živković (24/12)
Bajro Župić (24/0)
Milonja Đukić (23/1)
Vlado Čapljić (21/3)
Radoslav Nikodijević (17/0)
Miodrag Bajović (15/0)
Miodrag Radović (12/0)
Milinko Pantić (9/2)
Milorad Bajović (6/0)
Dragan Mance (5/2) died 3 September 1985 in a car accident
Goran Bogdanović (5/0)
Jovica Kolb (4/1)
Isa Sadriu (4/0)

Match-fixing controversy

As mentioned, week 34, the last week of 1985–86 Yugoslav First League season, featured some highly suspicious results. All the matches started at the same time on Sunday.^[1]

Home team	Score	Away team	Notes
Partizan	4–0†	Željezničar	In order to become league champions, Partizan needed to beat Željezničar by at least the same margin that Red Star potentially beats Sarajevo by in their match. Since both matches were scheduled to start at the same time, Partizan came up with an impromptu pre-match ceremony for their famous striker Momčilo Vukotić who retired the previous year, meaning that their match versus Željezničar actually started 10 minutes later than Sarajevo-Red Star match.
Sarajevo	0–4†	Red Star	In order to become league champion, Red Star needed to beat Sarajevo by a larger margin than Partizan potentially beats Željezničar by in their match. Red Star ended up winning away by a four goal margin.
Vojvodina	1–7†	Dinamo Zagreb	Vojvodina was already mathematically relegated while Dinamo Zagreb needed to win, hopefully by a big margin, in order to have a chance at getting a third UEFA Cup spot through better goal difference. The game ended with a huge win for the visitors who scored 7 goals.
Hajduk Split	5–3†	Dinamo Vinkovci	Hajduk needed a win in their quest for the third UEFA Cup spot, while Dinamo Vinkovci's Davor Čop was in the middle of a scoring race and needed goals in order to become the league's top scorer. Hajduk won the game while Dinamo's Čop scored a hat-trick for the losing side.
Sutjeska	5–5†	Budućnost	Budućnost and Sutjeska both needed points to have a chance at avoiding relegation. The game ended in a draw.
Čelik	1–1†	Rijeka	Rijeka needed points in their fight for the third UEFA Cup spot, while Čelik needed points to have chance at avoiding relegation. The game ended in a draw.
Osijek	2–1	Sloboda
Velež	2–3†	OFK Belgrade	Velež already ensured a UEFA Cup spot, while OFK Belgrade needed a win to have a chance at avoiding relegation. The game ended with lowly visitors winning at the ground where even the top Yugoslav teams had trouble getting points all season long.
Priština	0–0	Vardar

^† results of matches suspected being fixed

Attendance

Club	Average home attendance	Average away attendance
Red Star Belgrade	19,882	16,471
FK Priština	15,000	7,353
FK Partizan	13,765	16,059
Čelik Zenica	12,412	4,706
Dinamo Zagreb	12,353	12,647
FK Vardar	9,941	5,000
FK Velež	9,529	6,471
Hajduk Split	8,882	15,647
FK Vojvodina	7,294	6,059
Budućnost Titograd	6,059	6,412
FK Željezničar	5,941	11,882
NK Rijeka	5,588	6,412
OFK Beograd	5,529	6,118
FK Sarajevo	5,471	7,706
Dinamo Vinkovci	4,176	6,176
NK Osijek	4,000	5,706
Sutjeska Nikšić	3,882	5,647
Sloboda Tuzla	3,412	6,647

• Overall league attendance per match: 8,507 spectators

European competitions

European Cup 1985–86

• First round:

FC Kuusysi – FK Sarajevo L (2−1, 2−1) 4−2 on aggregate

UEFA Cup 1985–86

• First round:

Dinamo Bucureşti – Vardar W (2−1, 0−1) 2−2 on aggregate, Vardar won on away goals

Hajduk Split – Metz W (5−1, 2−2) 7−3 on aggregate

Portimonense – Partizan W (1−0, 0−4) 1−4 on aggregate

• Second round:

Dundee United – Vardar L (2−0, 1−1) 3−1 on aggregate

Partizan – Nantes L (1−1, 0−4) 1−5 on aggregate

Torino – Hajduk Split W (1−1, 1−3) 2−4 on aggregate

• Third round:

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk – Hajduk Split W (0−1, 0−2) 0−3 on aggregate

• Quarterfinal:

Hajduk Split – KSV Waregem L (1−0, 0−1) 1−1 on aggregate, KSV Waregem win on penalties

Cup Winners' Cup 1985–86

• First round:

Crvena Zvezda – FC Aarau W (2−0, 2−2), 4−2 on aggregate

• Second round:

Lyngby BK – Crvena Zvezda W (2−2, 1−3), 3−5 on aggregate

• Quarterfinal:

Crvena Zvezda – Atlético Madrid L (0−2, 1−1), 1−3 on aggregate

See also

• 1985–86 Yugoslav Second League
• 1985–86 Yugoslav Cup

References

External links

• Yugoslavia Domestic Football Full Tables

Yugoslav First League Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1923–1940) Seasons 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 Former clubs Bačka BASK BSK Belgrade Concordia Crnogorac Građanski Niš Građanski Skoplje Građanski Zagreb Hajduk Split HAŠK Ilirija Ljubljana Jedinstvo Beograd Jugoslavija Krajišnik Banja Luka Ljubljana Mačva NAK Novi Sad Pobeda Skoplje Primorje Ljubljana Radnički Kragujevac SAŠK SAND Subotica Slavija Osijek Slavija Sarajevo Slavija Varaždin Somborski SK Sparta Zemun Viktorija Zagreb Vojvodina ŽAK Subotica ŽAK Velika Kikinda FPR Yugoslavia / SFR Yugoslavia (1945–1992) Seasons 1945 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1950 1951 1952 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 Former clubs 14. Oktobar Bor Borac Budućnost Crvenka Čelik Dinamo Vinkovci Dinamo Zagreb Hajduk Split Iskra Lokomotiva Mačva Maribor Nafta Napredak Naša Krila Novi Sad OFK Belgrade Olimpija Osijek Partizan Pelister Ponziana Priština Proleter Rabotnički Rad Radnički Belgrade Radnički Kragujevac Radnički Niš Red Star Belgrade Rijeka Sarajevo Sloboda Spartak RNK Split Sutjeska Teteks Trepča Trešnjevka Vardar Velež Vojvodina NK Zagreb Zemun Željezničar

1985–86 in European football (UEFA) « 1984–85 1986–87 » Domestic leagues Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '85 '86 England Finland '85 '86 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '85 '86 Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '85 '86 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '85 '86 Spain Sweden '85 '86 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia Domestic cups Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Finland '85 '86 France East Germany West Germany Greece Hungary Iceland '85 '86 Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '85 '86 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Wales Yugoslavia League cups England Republic of Ireland Scotland Soviet Union Spain UEFA competitions European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Intertoto Cup