1978–79 Yugoslav First League

Yugoslav First League
Season	1978–79
Dates	12 August 1978 – 17 June 1979
Champions	Hajduk Split
Relegated	NK Zagreb; OFK Beograd
European Cup	Hajduk Split
Cup Winners' Cup	Rijeka
UEFA Cup	Dinamo Zagreb; Red Star
Matches played	272
Goals scored	761 (2.8 per match)
Top goalscorer	Dušan Savić (24)
	← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 Yugoslav First League season was the 33rd season of the First Federal League (Serbo-Croatian: Prva savezna liga), the top level association football competition of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946. Hajduk Split won the league title.

A total of 18 teams competed in the league, with the defending champions Partizan nearly relegated, finishing the season in 15th place, one point above the relegation zone. Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb both finished the season on 50 points, but Hajduk won the championship having the better goal difference. However, there was a controversy in the first round when Rijeka defeated Dinamo 2–1 at Kantrida. Dinamo claimed that Edmond Tomić, who joined Rijeka that season from Lirija, didn't serve a one-match suspension following two yellow cards received while playing for his former club. They appealed and after two months it has been decided to award the match 3–0 to Dinamo. After several appeals from both sides, in spring 1979 Football Association of Yugoslavia ruled in favour of Rijeka. The case was brought to Employment Appeal Tribunal, which four years later ruled Dinamo as champions.^[1]

The season began on 12 August 1978 and concluded on 17 June 1979. This was the third and last national title win for Hajduk under the guidance of manager Tomislav Ivić, who previously led the club to four consecutive Yugoslav Cup wins in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1976 (not contested in 1975). Striker Dušan Savić of Red Star was the top goalscorer with 24 goals. This was the second achievement for Savić, who previously topped the scoring table in the 1974–75 season. Rijeka entered the 1979–80 European Cup Winners' Cup, after defeating Partizan in the final of Yugoslav Cup with an aggregate score 2–1.

Teams

A total of eighteen teams contested the league, including sixteen sides from the 1977–78 season and two sides promoted from the 1977–78 Yugoslav Second League (YSL) as winners of the two second level divisions East and West. The league was contested in a double round robin format, with each club playing every other club twice, for a total of 34 rounds. Two points were awarded for wins and one point for draws.

Čelik Zenica and Trepča Kosovska Mitrovica were relegated from the 1977–78 Yugoslav First League after finishing the season in bottom two places of the league table. The two clubs promoted to top level were Napredak Kruševac and Željezničar Sarajevo.

Locations of teams' home cities in the 1978–79 Yugoslav First League

Team	Location	Federal Republic	Position in 1977–78
Borac Banja Luka	Banja Luka	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	01212th
Budućnost	Titograd	SR Montenegro	01111th
Dinamo Zagreb	Zagreb	SR Croatia	0044th
Hajduk Split	Split	SR Croatia	0033rd
Napredak Kruševac	Kruševac	SR Serbia	—
OFK Belgrade	Belgrade	SR Serbia	01616th
Olimpija Ljubljana	Ljubljana	SR Slovenia	01010th
Osijek	Osijek	SR Croatia	01313th
Partizan	Belgrade	SR Serbia	0011st
Radnički Niš	Niš	SR Serbia	01414th
Red Star	Belgrade	SR Serbia	0022nd
Rijeka	Rijeka	SR Croatia	0055th
Sarajevo	Sarajevo	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	0099th
Sloboda	Tuzla	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	0066th
Velež	Mostar	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	0077th
Vojvodina	Novi Sad	SR Serbia	0088th
NK Zagreb	Zagreb	SR Croatia	01515th
Željezničar	Sarajevo	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	—

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Hajduk Split (C)	34	20	10	4	62	28	+34	50	Qualification for European Cup first round
2	Dinamo Zagreb	34	21	8	5	67	38	+29	50	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3	Red Star Belgrade	34	16	9	9	51	33	+18	41	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
4	Sarajevo	34	17	5	12	56	53	+3	39
5	Velež	34	15	8	11	50	41	+9	38
6	Budućnost	34	15	8	11	33	36	−3	38
7	Radnički Niš	34	11	13	10	38	34	+4	35
8	Sloboda Tuzla	34	11	10	13	34	34	0	32
9	Željezničar	34	14	4	16	45	52	−7	32
10	Rijeka	34	10	11	13	35	34	+1	31	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
11	Borac Banja Luka	34	11	9	14	45	56	−11	31
12	Vojvodina	34	11	7	16	35	38	−3	29
13	Osijek	34	8	13	13	32	39	−7	29
14	Napredak Kruševac	34	9	11	14	43	51	−8	29
15	Partizan	34	9	11	14	39	47	−8	29
16	Olimpija	34	11	7	16	34	53	−19	29
17	NK Zagreb (R)	34	8	12	14	32	39	−7	28	Relegation to Yugoslav Second League
18	OFK Belgrade (R)	34	5	12	17	30	55	−25	22	Relegation to Yugoslav Second League

Source: rsssf.org
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	BBL	BUD	DIN	HAJ	NAP	OFK	OLI	OSI	PAR	RNI	RSB	RIJ	SAR	SLO	VEL	VOJ	ZAG	ŽEL
Borac Banja Luka		2–0	2–2	3–2	1–2	2–1	4–0	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	2–1	3–0	2–0	3–0	3–0
Budućnost	1–0		3–2	2–1	3–2	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–4	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–1
Dinamo Zagreb	4–0	3–0		2–2	4–0	3–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	2–1	2–0	3–1	2–0	3–2	2–1
Hajduk Split	3–1	1–0	1–2		4–0	3–0	3–0	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–1	5–0	1–1	3–0	2–0	1–0	3–2
Napredak Kruševac	4–1	1–2	2–2	0–0		2–3	1–0	1–1	2–2	4–1	0–1	3–1	0–0	2–2	3–1	2–0	3–0	0–1
OFK Belgrade	1–1	1–1	2–3	0–0	0–0		2–2	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–4	2–0	3–0	0–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–2
Olimpija	2–2	0–1	3–2	1–2	3–0	1–0		1–1	2–4	1–0	0–2	1–0	3–1	1–0	2–3	3–1	1–0	2–1
Osijek	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	3–0		1–1	1–1	2–2	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0
Partizan	3–0	4–2	3–3	2–2	0–3	0–1	2–1	0–0		0–1	1–3	1–0	1–1	3–1	2–1	3–0	0–0	0–2
Radnički Niš	4–0	1–1	2–1	0–2	3–0	4–2	0–0	1–0	0–0		1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	2–0	1–1	1–0
Red Star	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–3	3–3	5–1	3–1	1–1	3–0	2–1		0–0	0–1	3–2	1–0	1–0	2–0	5–2
Rijeka	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	3–2	2–0	0–0	1–0		5–2	0–0	0–0	3–0	2–0	1–0
Sarajevo	5–1	1–0	0–1	1–2	3–1	5–0	3–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	3–2		2–1	2–1	3–2	1–1	2–0
Sloboda Tuzla	1–0	2–1	2–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	4–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	5–0		1–1	1–0	0–0	3–1
Velež	4–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	4–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	4–1	3–1	2–1	3–1	1–0	0–0		1–1	1–0	5–2
Vojvodina	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	7–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	3–4	5–0	2–1		0–0	2–0
NK Zagreb	2–2	3–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	3–3	3–0	2–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–2	3–1	2–0	2–2	1–0		1–2
Željezničar	3–0	1–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	3–1	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	4–2	1–0	1–0	2–4	2–1

Source: DataSoccer.it
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Winning squad

Champions: Hajduk Split
Player	League
Player	Matches	Goals
Boriša Đorđević	32	4
Šime Luketin	32	3
Vedran Rožić	32
Mišo Krstičević	31	8
Boro Primorac	30
Luka Peruzović	30
Dražen Mužinić	29
Ivica Šurjak	27	6
Zlatko Vujović	25	9
Nenad Šalov	25	1
Ivan Budinčević	21
Zoran Vujović	18	4
Slaviša Žungul	17	12
Davor Čop	16	2
Mićun Jovanić	16	2
Špiro Ćosić	11
Damir Maričić	9
Ivica Matković	4
Mario Boljat	3	1
Robert Juričko	2
Milorad Nižetić	2
Marijan Zovko	1
Ivan Gudelj	1
Ivan Katalinić	1
Head coach: Tomislav Ivić

Source: ^[2]

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Dušan Savić	Red Star	24
2	Vahid Halilhodžić	Velež	16
3	Safet Sušić	Sarajevo	15
4	Slobodan Santrač	Partizan	14
5	Snješko Cerin	Dinamo Zagreb	13
	Abid Kovačević	Borac Banja Luka
	Zlatko Kranjčar	Dinamo Zagreb
	Ivan Lukačević	Osijek
9	Muhamed Ibrahimbegović	Borac Banja Luka	12
	Vladimir Jocić	Radnički Niš
	Miloš Kostić	OFK Belgrade
	Srebrenko Repčić	Sarajevo
	Slaviša Žungul	Hajduk Split

External links

^ ts/eZd (2 November 2008). "Neodigrana utakmica Rijeka – Dinamo, novi Slučaja Tomić?". ezadar.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 21 March 2011.
^ NogoNet - Nogomet na netu - 1.liga ||1978||79 ||

Yugoslavia Domestic Football Full Tables

[1] ts/eZd (2 November 2008). "Neodigrana utakmica Rijeka – Dinamo, novi Slučaja Tomić?". ezadar.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 21 March 2011.

[2] NogoNet - Nogomet na netu - 1.liga ||1978||79 ||

[1]

[2]

v t e 1978–79 in European football (UEFA)
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League cups	England Republic of Ireland Scotland Switzerland
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final) UEFA Cup (Final) Super Cup
Non-UEFA competitions	Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup '77–'78 '79–'80