Yugoslavia traditionally had the strongest championship among Communist countries and this season was no exception. Some clubs may not had players equal to their squads from the 1970s, 1960s, or 1950s, but there was still plenty of talent. Except one outsider, the league was tough and fairly equal – 7 points divided the 17th from the 6th at the end – and 4 teams competed for the title. There were ups and downs, of course – Velez (Mostar) was seemingly fading, Crvena zvezda had miserable season, but Radnicki (Nis) was still running strong, Vardar (Skopje) was improving and little known Dinamo (Vinkovci) managed to stay in the league at least for one more year.
Galenika (Zemun) was the outsider, finishing last with 20 points and winning just matches during the season. Top row from left: Vranjes, Petrovic, Tupajic, Memisi, Bogicevic, Baros, Pejovic, Milinkovic, Panic, Kostic – coach.
Middle row: assistant coach Radovanovic, Pavicevic, Batkoski, Kalusevic, Micic, Stojadinovic, Lacmanovic, Cikic, Zivkovic, Nikolic – physio.
Sitting: Dimitrijevic, Celar, Dujkovic, Cabrinovic – coach, Santrac, Bankovic, Gajin, Curcin.
The league debutant was clearly not up to the task. Essentially, Galenika did what every small club knew to the top league did: depended on famous veterans. But Santrac and Dujkovic were at their best 10 years ago and were not enough help now. Certainly not enough to keep Galenika in the first division. Perhaps Galenika was the most bearded squad in Estern Europe, if not the whole Europe, but this novelty helped not.
OFK Beograd, in decline for some time, reached the bottom – they were unable to rebuild after their good squad of the early 1970s aged and the inevitable happened: they finished 17th with 28 points and were relegated.
Osijek was happy to survive, taking 16th place with 29 points.
So were fellow Croatians of Rijeka – 15th with 30 points.
Buducnost (Titograd) was 14th with 31 points. Standing from left: Kuzeljevic, Vorotovic, Nikitovic, J. Mirocevic, Vlahovic, Drobnjak
Crouching: Batrovic, Ljumovic, Radonjic, Radinovic, Hadziosmanovic.
Velez (Mostar) finished above Buducnost only because of better goal-difference. It was alarming drop, but also inevitable – one of the best Yugoslav teams of the 1970s aged and badly needed rebuilding. Third row from left: Tojaga, Hadžiabdić, S. Jurić, Karabeg, Marić, M. Mulahasanović, Grozdanić, Jakirović, Tanović.
Middle row: F. Džidić, Štilić, Međedović, Tuce, Rahimić, Vukoje, Čolić (assistant coach), Vučković (director).
Sitting: Kajtaz, Kalajdžić, Bijedić, Milutinović (coach), Bajević, Mičić, Vladić, Đurasović.
Dinamo (Vinkovci) did well – they survived the trying season, which was pretty much the best they could do. Also with 31 points, but better goal-difference placed them above Velez – 12th. It was unlikely the small club will be able to recruit strong players, so the future was exactly as the presence: fighting to stay in the league.
FK Sarajevo was 11th with 32 points, but there was no reason to worry – the club traditionally fluctuated rather widely from top to bottom. Not a bad squad, so most likely they could be better next year.
FK Sarajevo’s neighbours and rivals Zeljeznicar managed to finish just above – 10th with 33 points – and were in very similar situation. They also fluctuated widely as a rule of thumb and also had promising squad, expected to play stronger football soon.
Vojvodina (Novi Sad) – 9th with 34 points and nothing strange about it: they have been mid-table club for quite some time.
With 35 points Vardar (Skopje) took 8th place, but the usually lowly club was impreoving and climbing up. Standing from left: Dragi Setinov, Zoran Banković, Aleksandar Nedev, Đore Jovanovski, Blagoj Georgiev, Kočo Dimitrovski.
Front row: Petar Georgievski, Borče Micevski, Toni Savevski, Gordan Zdravkov, Stojmir Urošević.
Olimpija (Ljubljana) finished 7th also with 35 points. Standing from left: Lazar Radevic,Srecko Katanec,Janez Hudarin,Zdenko Iskra,Zvone Tercic,Ljubisa Dalanovic
Front row: Peter Amersek,Branko Bosnjak,Mihajlo Petrovic,Marko Elsner,Vili Amersek.
Nothing special, but at least locally the team fueled hopes that the good days of the early 1970s may come back – there was strong core of players: the Amersek brothers, Elsner, and especially Srecko Katanec, rapidly becoming big star. However, it was difficult to maintain big hopes – Marko Elsner – or Elzner – moved to Crvena zvezda.
Good season for Sloboda (Tuzla) – they were 6th with 35 points, but ahead of Olimpija and Vardar on superior goal-difference. Standing from left: coaches Omar Jusić and Faruk Pašić, Omerović, Mursel Kovačević, Miljanović, Memišević, Ibrić, Zahirović, ?, Nazif Šehić.
Crouching: Smajlović, Tomić, Mersad Kovačević, Cvjetković, Šećerbegović, Sabitović – physio.
Nothing exceptional, but Sloboda never had many exceptional players.
Very disappointing season for Crvena zvezda – 5th with 37 points. There was no obvious reason for Crvena zvezda finishing low – the squad looked like the strongest in the country – and most likely was just temporary flop.
Radnicki (Nis), still running strong, finished 4th with 40 points. Perhaps not a true title contender, but coming close. Top row from left: Panajotovic, Aleksic, Vojinovic, Bojovic, Avramovic, ?
Middle row: Dimovski, Nenkovic, Obradovic, Gavrilovic, Stevanovic, Milenkovic, Nikolic, Stojiljkovic
Front row: Halilovic, Radosavljevic, Antic, Djordjevic, Savic.
Dinamo (Zagreb) took 3rd place, but there was no shame to it – they were title contenders to the end and lost second place only on worse goal-difference. Third row: Srećko Bogdan, Snježan Cerin, Vladimir Deželić, Tomislav Ivković, Zlatan Arnautović, Eddie Krnčević, Mustafa Arslanović, Ante Rumora, Dragan Bošnjak.
Middle row: Rudolf Belin (assistant coach), Marijan Vlak, Željko Hohnjec, Hrvoje Dragičević, Emil Dragičević, Zvonko Marić, Mladen Munjaković, Ismet Hadžić, Josip Čačković (physio).
Sitting: Džemal Mustedanagić, Drago Dumbović, Zlatko Kranjčar, Stjepan Deverić, Miroslav Blažević (coach), Velimir Zajec, Marko Mlinarić, Milivoj Bračun, Zvezdan Cvetković, Borislav Cvetković.
A winning squad, very well build and talented – and at its prime.
With 43 points, Hajduk (Split) ended 2nd – goal-difference placed it higher than Dinamo (Zagreb). Hajduk was the usual candidate for the title and fought to the end. By now, there were only two members of the fantastic squad of the first half of the 1970s – Salov and Rozic. All others were gone to play abroad or retired, by the club continued to produce and recruit strong players.
Partizan (Belgrade) clinched their 9th title with 45 points. They managed to win a race against tough opposition and that was great. Familiar too, but after 1965 Partizan was never quite able to build a team of the kind they had in the 1950s and early 1960s. They were always somewhat short when compared to Crvena zvezda and Hajduk. Not quite the top players. Titles came rarely as a result and hardly ever repeated the next year. This squad was indeed strong and talented, but betrayed also the familiar problem – to every single player Partizan had, the opposition – including Crvena zvezda – had matching or better player. Partizan did well in the tough race between equals, in a battle which depended not just who play better, but who made fewer mistakes, but it was unlikely this vintage will build a dynasty – just like the once before and back to mid-60s.