First Division. If seeing Partizan and Crvena zvezda way above the rest of the league was hardly a surprise, seeing who was relegated was surprising. May be not so much OFK Beograd, but the last team… Vojvodina (Novi Sad) in the role of hopeless outsider? Unbelievable… yet, true. Apart from their sorry state, the league was similar to previous season, even if the level of football now was lower than before. Goal difference decided the title and also decided the second relegated team. Relegation was possible for most teams, though – in the final table 7 points was the difference between the 3rd and the 17th. And bronze medals were decided on goal-difference too.
Vojvodina (Novi Sad) arguably had their worst season ever. Why the sudden sharp decline could be debatable, but the fact was they were hopeless outsiders this season: last with 20 points. 10 points behind the 17th…
Although it was unusual to see OFK Beograd relegated, their decline was going on for many years, eventually reaching the logical bottom. True, they were a bit unlucky – 5 teams finished with 30 points and unfortunately OFK Beograd had the worst goal-difference among them. Too bad… Standing from left: Milenkovic, Bjelic, Stojakovic, Duric, Ivanovic, Kuzmanovski.
Crouching: Stojadinovic, Kahrovic, Markovic, Stevovic, R. Stankovic.
Well, the squad pretty much tells why they went down…
Celik (Zenica) – lucky survivors: 16th with 30 points.
Lucky survivors were FK Sarajevo too – 15th with 30 points – but why they had so disastrous season?
Buducnost (Titograd) was 14th with 30 points as well, but for them it was normal to fight to survival and finish near relegation zone.
Dinamo (Vinkovci) – 13th with 30 points. Not bad for them to survive.
Sloboda (Tuzla) – 12th with 31 points. Near peril, but avoiding it.
Pristina (Pristina) – 11th with 32 points. Standing from left: Vokri, Zaveli, Sengulji, Domi, Pupovac, Cimili, Dinali, Prekazi, Mehinovic, Stefanovic.
Sitting: Tortosi, F. Murici, Sinani, Cana, Dz. Murici, Salja, Nedzipi, Morina, Keljmendi.
Sutjeska (Niksic) – 10th with 32 points.
Osijek (Osijek) – 9th with 33 points.
Vardar (Skopje) – 8th with 34 points.
Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo) – 7th with 35 points. Top row from left: Crnogoric, Mioc, Elez, Verlasevic, Skoro, Komsic, Skrba.
Middle row: Milanovic, Vuric, D. Jankovic, Ninkovic, Mihajlovic, Sliskovic, Gavrilovic.
Front: Ivanovic, Pavlovic, Z. Samardzija, Janjus, Baljic, Sabanadzovic.
Dinamo (Zagreb) – 6th with 36 points.
Rijeka (Rijeka) – 5th with 37 points.
Hajduk (Split) – 4th with 37 points.
Velez (Mostar) – 3rd with 37 points. Clinched bronze medals on better goal-difference.
Crvena zvezda (Belgrade) – 2nd with 49 points. So close were the eternal enemies in this fight for the title, that the caption reads ‘champions’. Alas, they were not… lost the title by single goal!
Partizan (Belgrade) dramatically won the championship – everything between them and their arch-rivals was equal: both finished with 21 wins, 7 ties, 6 losses and 49 points. It came to better goal-difference: Crvena zvezda had 73-38 – plus 35. Partizan; 65-29 – plus 36! A single goal difference, but in their favour and they came on top. Hardly the best squad in the history of Partizan, but strong enough. Lucky victory, but only title counts, so never mind.