First Division. One dominant leader, one hopeless outsider. Apart from that, a surprising relegation and late punishment – UEFA slapped 2-year ban from European competitions on Hajduk (Split) in 1987. It was for the behavior of the fans in the 1987-88 Cup Winners Cup match against Olimpique (Marseille), but earlier incidents in the first half of the 1980s contributed as well. Since Hajduk did not qualify to play in Europe at the time, the punishment was enacted for seasons when Hajduk qualified to play in the European tournaments, that is, now.
Vardar (Skopje) – last with 25 points and relegated. Standing from left: fiz. Belevski, pom. trener Gruevski, Markovski, Filevski, A.Stojanović, Sinani, Naumovski, Urošević, Grošev, Simovski, pom. trener Mojsov, trener Dončevski. Sitting: Kocić, Trajanovski, T. Trajčevski, Z. Trajčevski, Boškovski, Džipunov, Vasilevski, Angelovski, G. Stojanović.
Velez (Mostar) – 17th with 36 points and relegated. A surprise, really – Velez had strong reputation. Top row from left: Emir Tufek, Josko Popovic, Andjelko Kvesic, Marinko Knezovic, Ronald Hrkac, Sejo Rebac, Stipe Juric.
Middle row: Vukasin Petranovic, Ahmet Gosto,Anel Karabeg, Sead Kajtaz, Nenad Dzidic, Ismet Sisic, Ivan Jurilj, Vladimir-Vanja Gudelj, Elvis Margeta, Vela Pudar.
Sitting: Mili-Toza Hadziabdic, Zijad Repak, Meho Kodro, Zeljko Cavar, Darko Birjukov, Veselin Djurasovic, Zdenko Jedvaj, Ibro Rahimic.
NK Osijek (Osijek) – 16th with 38 points. Top row from left: S. Končalović, I. Perić, R. Špehar, G. Skeledžić, M. Miličević, D. Lepinjica, N. Gluhačević, T. Štajnbrikner. Middle row: M. Janković, J. Sinanović, G. Radojević, M. Žitnjak, M.Maričić, B. Šerić, I. Kolar. Sitting: S. Vidović, Ž. Pakasin, M. Vukčević, I. Maras, Z. Stanković, I. Grnja, A. Batinić, D. Živković, S. Mišković, A. Lukić.
Radnicki (Nis) – 15th with 38 points. Top row from left: Nikolić, Zarić, Cvejić, Manojlović, Mehinagić, Mladenović, Veljković, Manojlović, tr. Janković. Middle row: Kocić, Antić, Stojiljković, Momirović, Momčilović, Višnjić, Jakšić, Mitrović, tr. Milenković; Front row: Sudimac, Dimoski, Pejić, Savov, Dimoski, tr. Halilović, Milošević, Antonijević, Lukić, Radosavljević.
Borac (Banja Luka) – 14th with 39 points.
FK Sarajevo (Sarajevo) -13th with 40 points.
Spartak (Subotica) – 12th with 40 points.
Vojvodina (Novi Sad) – 11th with 42 points. The previous season champions dropped down and practically out of sight.
Buducnost (Titograd) – 10th with 42 points. Standing from left: B.Brnović,Ž.Leković, M.Božović, D. Leković, Dmitrović, Janović. Crouching:Vlahović, Mirotić, Mijatović, Petrović, Stanisavljević.
Sloboda (Tuzla) – 9th with 45 points. Third row from left: fiz. Sabitović, Verlašević, Pilipović, Čogurić, Mrkić, Peštalić, Jovanović, Konjić, Hadžimahović, Šulović,
Middle row: Nalić, Ivanović, C. Milošević, Smajlović, Jogunčić, Radovanović, Šarić, dr. Muminhodžić, Memišević, pom.trener Hukić;
First row: Z. Milošević, Sadiković, Ibrić, tr. Jovičić, Lukić, G. Milošević, Hasanbašić, Tahirović.
Sloboda was the only team without penalty shoot-out win – they lost all 4 shoot-outs.
Olimpija (Ljubljana) – 8th with 46 points.
Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo) – 7th with 46 points. Back row from left: trener Braculj, Curic, Viteskic, Jurisic, Bogdanovic, Stilic, Komsic, Milosevic, Pavlovic, Alihodzic, trener Smajlovic. Front: Nikic, Hadzijalagic,Nikolic, Krunic ,Skrba, Gajic, Osim, Ilic, Velic
NK Rijeka (Rijeka) – 6th with 47 points.
Rad (Belgrade) – 5th with 52 points. Rad, behind Olympiakos (Athens), dressed in blue, had impressive season for top-league newcomer.
Partizan (Belgrade) – 4th with 55 points.
Hajduk (Split) – 3rd with 56 points.
Dinamo (Zagreb) – 2nd with 56 points. They finished first in the first half of the season, but dropped out of the championship race in the spring.
And the well-known new champions – Crvena zvezda (Belgrade). Top row from left: Vladimir Petrovic, Bukumirović, Najdoski, Pančev, Kanatlarovski, Belodedić, Radinović, Bešić, Dujković.
Third row: Stojanović, Marović, Vasilijević, Milojević, Prosinečki, Raosavljević, Simeunović, ?.
Second row: Nešović, Stanojević, Mrkela, Šekularac, Stošić, Vujović, Antonijević.
Front row: Šabanadžović, Lukić, Jurić, Stojković, Savićević, Musović.
Nothing surprising in their victory, except that they were behind Dinamo (Zagreb) at the end of the first half of the season and it was hard to imaging in December 1989 that they will be so dominant in the srping. At the end: 24 wins, 3 penalty shoot-out wins, 2 penalty shoot-out losses and 5 regular losses. Scored 79 goals, received 29, earned 75 points. Dinamo (Zagreb) had stronger defensive record (25 goals), but when it came to scoring goals Crvena zvezda had no rival: Dinamo, second-best scorers, managed only 53 goals. Crvena zvezda left them 19 points behind, there was no rivalry really in the spring, it was just Crvena zvezda. Thus, the 17th title was collected.