First Division. A new an quite unusual champion this season, which was refreshing, but the victory was thanks to ‘Sajber penalties’ – under the old rules the champion would have been another team, which certainly felt victimized in increasingly troublesome years of Yugoslav football, by now full of complains which were already more than just football scheming. Since ‘the victim’ of the new rule was one of the most powerful and popular Yugoslav clubs, it is easy to guess who was most displeased by the Sajber’s ‘reform’. Add to this increasing fan violence with also increasing political overtones and tensions. Add also that Yugoslav football was in transitional period – the previous generation was getting old and moving to play abroad, but the incredibly talented new crop was still too young, coming to full bloom during the 1990s. Hajduk (Split) was already banned for 2 years by UEFA and had to play only for domestic honours, Celik (Zenica) was caught in game-fixing at the end of the previous season and was penalized with 6-point deduction this season for their crime. Partizan (Belgrade) was not in great shape, but little known so far small club from Belgrade was perhaps the most pleasant surprise of the season.
Celik (Zenica) was very weak this season – last and relegated with 17 points. True, they started with minus 6 points, but even if they were not penalized there was no escape from going down: they would have been with 23 points, but still last. Standing from left: Đurđević, Radović, Kuhinja, Štrbac, Nestorović, Kopić. Crouching: Ratković, Milidrag, Erak, Golubica, Fileš.
Napredak (Krusevac) was the other weakling – 17th with 23 points. Relegated, of course. Top row from left: Lilić, Kojić, Radivojević, Todorović, Jokić. Middle row: Narandžić, Rudić, Vukojević, Milun Sakić, Jovanović, Štavljanin, Đorić, Mićović, Miletić. Front row: Milutinović, Momčilović, Kojičić, Filipović, Jezdimirović, Dejan Milovanović.
Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo) survived – 16th with 25 points. Standing from left: Zoran Slišković, Dragan Škrba, Rade Bogdanović, Haris Alihodžić, Ismet Štilić, Gvrilović, GoranJurišić. First row: Dušan Duca Simić, Suad Katana, Nikola Nikić, Edin Bahtić.
Spartak (Subotica) – 15th with 26 points. Good for one more season ate least.
Buducnost (Titograd) – 14th with 28 points. Top row from left: Željko Pipi Božović, Miodrag Radulović, Saša Vujović, Boško Tatar, Niša Saveljić, Srdan Dmitrović, Željko Rolović, Marinko Mirotić.
Middle row: Dragoje Leković, Saša Škara, Vojo Ćalov, Aleksandar – Anto Drobnjak, Ljubomir Radunović – fizioterapeut, Branislav – Bodo Drobnjak, Mladen Miročević, Darko Žarić, Miodrag – Grof Božović.
Sitting: Darko Mugoša, Zlatko Dalić, Slavko Vlahović, Momčilo Vujačić – coach, Stanko Poklepović – chief of the coaching stuff, Milutin Folić – coach, Predrag Mijatović, Željko Petrović, Goran Stanisavljević.
Interesting names here, but normally Buducnost was not very strong and continued the tradition.
FK Sarajevo – 13th with 28 points.
Sloboda (Tuzla) – 12th with 28 points. Top row from left: Peštalić, Jogunčić, Karajčić, Smajlović, Mihić, Herić, Memišević, Pilipović, fiz. Sabitović, Z. Milošević, Mrkić;
Middle row: Jusić, Mladina, V. Milošević, Verlašević, Čogurić, Hadžimahović, Gradaščević, Nalić, dr Muminović, Hukić ;
Sitting: C. Milošević, Sadiković, Hasanbašić, Kolarić, Beširević, tr. Jovićić, G. Milošević, Tahirović, Šarić, Ibrić.
Velez (Mostar) – 11th with 28 points.
NK Rijeka – 10th with 28 points.
Vardar (Skopje) – 9th with 29 points.
NK Osijek – 8th with 31 points. Standing from left: Maričić, Bilić, Šuker, Kostić, Žeravica, Janković.
Front: Žurka, Šmudla, Alar, Rakela, Kapetan.
Radnicki (Nis) – 7th with 31 points.
Partizan (Belgrade) – 6th with 33 points.
Dinamo (Zagreb) – 5th with 34 points.
Rad (Belgrade) – 4th with 35 points. This was their debut at top level – and very successful debut it was. Rarely a newcomer achieves immediately a UEFA Cup spot. And also it happened to be the best season in the history of Rad so far. Standing from left: Đurović, Milinković, Gogić, Đoinčević, Drizić, Savić, Jovanović. Crouching: Arsenijević, Grbović, Vlaisavljević, Jevtović.
Hajduk (Split) – 3rd with 36 points. The UEFA ban on them benefited Rad. Top row from left: Rade Tošić, Damir Jurković, Nikola Jerkan, Robert Ugrin, Ivan Pudar, Danko Rožić, (fizioterapeut), Alen Bokšić, Ivica Vučević, Nenad Gračan, Frane Bućan, Franko Bogdan.
Middle row: Jerko Tipurić, Mladen Pralija, Grgica Kovač, Zvezdan Pejović, Krešimir Sunara, Goran Alar, Robert Jarni, Željko Brkić, Stipe Radovančić, Joško Jeličić.
Sitting: Ivan Katalinić (assistant coach), Dražen Boban, Marin Lalić, Joško Španjić, Dragan Reljić, Petar Nadoveza (coach), Igor Štimac, Branko Karačić, Darko Dražić, Igor Jelavić, Radovan Krstović, Luka Peruzović (assistant coach).
Former stars from 1960s and 70s coached now the new crop of highly talented youngsters. Hajduk so far was constantly producing new stars, year after year, since the late 1960s – amazing work of their youth system.
Crvena zvezda (Belgrade) – 2nd with 38 points. 18 regular wins, 2 penalty shoot-out wins, 5 shoot-out losses, 9 regular losses, 55-30 goal-difference. Crvena zvezda most likely was the bitterest enemy of the ‘Sajber penalties’ – the new rule victimized them: under classic rules they would have been champions by one point advantage. Now they finished 3 points behind another team…
Vojvodina (Novi Sad) won the championship with 41 points. 18 regular wins, 5 penalty shoot-out wins, 1 shoot-out loss, 10 regular losses, 50-38 foal-difference. Wonderful success! But also victory based on the new rule… a controversy remained. However, if Crvena zvezda was unhappy, they better looked at themselves – losing 5 out of 7 shoot-outs. Vojvodina won 5 out of 6 shoot-out – yes, taking full advantage of the new rule, but rules are rules and one still had to score more penalties than the opposition to get a point. Can’t blame Vojvodina for winning penalty shoot-outs.
Vojvodina had wonderful team – for them. Former star from the 1970s Milos Sestic captained them and he was helped by rapidly rising young star Sinisa Mihajlovic. The team played their best and finished first, which was great historic moment – this was just the 2nd title won by Vojvodina and they waited over 20 years for it. Sadly, it was also their last success – at least so far.
To a large degree the success was due to the arrival of Ljupko Petrovic to coach them – he was already well respected coach, but this time achieved real success. Vojvodina triumphed at last with him and the only trouble was that the club most likely was going to lose his coach and star players. But presently it was only joy.
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