| Founded | 1923; 102 years ago (1923) |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1992 |
| Country | Yugoslavia |
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Yugoslav Second League |
| Domestic cup | Yugoslav Cup |
| International cup(s) | European Cup UEFA Cup |
| Last champions | Red Star Belgrade (1991–92) |
| Most championships | Red Star Belgrade (19 titles) |
| Most appearances | Enver Marić (439) |
| Top scorer | Slobodan Santrač (218) |
TheYugoslav First League (Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu,Serbian:Прва савезна лига у фудбалу,Prva savezna liga u fudbalu,Croatian:Prva savezna nogometna liga,Slovene:Prva zvezna nogometna liga,Macedonian:Прва сојузна фудбалска лига,romanized: Prva sojuzna fudbalska liga,Albanian:Liga e parë federale e futbollit,Hungarian:Első szövetségi labdarúgó-bajnokság) was the premierfootball league in theKingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) andSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945–1992).
The First League Championship was one of two national competitions held annually in Yugoslavia, theYugoslav Cup being the other.
The league became fully professional in 1967.[1]
This was the first club competition on a national level for clubs fromKingdom of Yugoslavia (named theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes until 1929). The league was started in 1923 and the first four seasons had a cup tournament format, while the firstround-robin league competition was held in 1927. In the period from 1927 to 1940 seventeen seasons were completed, with all the titles won by clubs from Croatia (Građanski Zagreb,Concordia Zagreb,HAŠK Zagreb andHajduk Split) or Serbia (BSK andSK Jugoslavija).
It was governed at first by theCroatian-namedNogometni Savez Jugoslavije (Football Association of Yugoslavia), founded in April 1919 inZagreb,[2] until in late 1929 disagreements arose between the Zagreb andBelgrade branches of the association. This resulted in the association headquarters being moved to Belgrade in May 1930 where it adopted theSerbian nameFudbalski Savez Jugoslavije and continued operating the league until it was suspended due to the outbreak ofWorld War II.[3] Consequently, with the moving of headquarters, Croatian players and coaches boycotted Yugoslavia national team. With theAxis invasion of Yugoslavia, separateCroatian andSerbian leagues were established, which operatedduring the World War II.
| # | Club | Champions | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BSK | 5 | 4 |
| 2 | Građanski Zagreb | 5 | 2 |
| 3 | Hajduk Split | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | SK Jugoslavija | 2 | 3 |
| 5 | Concordia Zagreb | 2 | 1 |
| 6 | HAŠK | 1 | 0 |
| 7 | Slavija Sarajevo | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | SAŠK Sarajevo | 0 | 1 |
| Republic | Titles | Clubs |
|---|---|---|
| SR Serbia | 32[b] | Red Star,Partizan,Vojvodina |
| SR Croatia | 11 | Hajduk Split,Dinamo Zagreb |
| SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | 3 | Sarajevo,Željezničar |
| SR Macedonia | 0 | – |
| SR Montenegro | 0 | – |
| SR Slovenia | 0 | – |
| Club | Champions | Runners-up | Third place | Total top three finishes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Star Belgrade | 19[b] | 9 | 7 | 35 |
| Partizan | 11 | 9 | 8 | 28 |
| Hajduk Split | 7 | 6 | 8 | 21 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 4 | 11 | 7 | 22 |
| Vojvodina | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
| Sarajevo | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Željezničar | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Velež Mostar | 0 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| OFK Belgrade* | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Radnički Belgrade | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Radnički Niš | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Lokomotiva Zagreb | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Sloboda Tuzla | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Rank | Club | MP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Star | 1335 | 719 | 328 | 288 | 2560 | 1415 | +1145 | 1766 |
| 2 | Partizan | 1335 | 657 | 354 | 324 | 2285 | 1428 | +857 | 1668 |
| 3 | Dinamo Zagreb | 1302 | 597 | 366 | 339 | 2151 | 1495 | +656 | 1560 |
| 4 | Hajduk Split | 1302 | 587 | 346 | 369 | 2088 | 1486 | +602 | 1520 |
| 5 | Vojvodina | 1221 | 465 | 311 | 445 | 1670 | 1595 | +75 | 1241 |
| 6 | Sarajevo | 1228 | 447 | 311 | 470 | 1674 | 1773 | -99 | 1205 |
| 7 | Velež Mostar | 1174 | 435 | 309 | 430 | 1668 | 1615 | +53 | 1179 |
| 8 | Željezničar | 1063 | 403 | 274 | 386 | 1456 | 1424 | +32 | 1080 |
| 9 | OFK Beograd | 977 | 343 | 281 | 353 | 1355 | 1355 | 0 | 967 |
| 10 | Radnički Niš | 979 | 339 | 250 | 390 | 1088 | 1244 | -156 | 928 |
| 11 | Vardar | 1005 | 328 | 251 | 426 | 1195 | 1459 | -264 | 907 |
| 12 | Rijeka | 898 | 310 | 252 | 336 | 1083 | 1163 | -80 | 857 |
Table only shows best-finish achievements in major European/Intercontinental competitions during the SFR Yugoslavia period (1945–1992).
No minor European tournaments (like Mitropa Cup) included.
Table sorted by success atEuropean Cup / UEFA Champions League first and foremost.
While the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup is recognised as the predecessor to the UEFA Cup, it was not organised by UEFA.[9] Consequently, UEFA do not consider clubs' records in the Fairs Cup to be part of theirEuropean record.[9][10] However, FIFA do view the competition as a major honour.[11]
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Complete list of players who scored 100 goals or more in the 1946-1992SFR Yugoslavia period.
Source:RSSSF; Last updated 14 December 2007[4][b]
Over the years the Yugoslav First League featured many different teams, but there were always a number of teams that stood out, typically from the bigger cities. Among these were:
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The following data indicates historical Yugoslav coefficient rankings among European football leagues.[12]
The1990–91 season was the last season held in its usual format, with clubs from all federative units participating in the championship. Thebreakup of the country also broke up its top-flight league into several smaller ones.
The UEFA recognised theFirst League of FR Yugoslavia as its successor league.
In June 1991 Slovenia declared independence and Croatia followed suit in October of the same year. This meant that their football associations separated from theFootball Association of Yugoslavia so they both started their own football leagues. TheSlovenian PrvaLiga was launched in late 1991, while the CroatianPrva HNL saw its first edition in 1992. Affected by the ongoingwar in Croatia, the season was held over the course of a single calendar year, from February to June 1992. Both leagues have been going on ever since.
The1991–92 season was the last season held officially under the name ofSFR Yugoslavia, even though Slovenian and Croatian clubs have already abandoned the competition to play in their own leagues. Clubs from the remaining four federative units all took part in the competition, but since theBosnian War broke out towards the end of the season, Bosnian clubs never finished it, withŽeljezničar ofSarajevo only managed to play 17 out of 33 scheduled fixtures, whileSloboda Tuzla andVelež Mostar ended the season with a few games short of completing the season. Still, since most of the games were played as planned,Crvena Zvezda ofBelgrade is credited with winning the last Yugoslav First League championship.
Macedonian clubs abandoned the competition after the 1991–92 season because the newMacedonian First League was launched the following season. For the 1992–93 season Bosnian clubs were all on hiatus due to full blown fighting that developed there, with the sole exception ofBorac ofBanja Luka (the strongestBosnian Serb side at the time) which temporarily moved to Belgrade and joined the newly formed league featuring clubs from Serbia and Montenegro, this time restyled as theFirst League of FR Yugoslavia. (Serbia and Montenegro, the only ones left after other four member republics declared independence, renamed their countryFederal Republic of Yugoslavia.) The league lasted under that name until the 2002–03 season, when the country changed its name so the league was renamed First League of Serbia and Montenegro. Finally, in June 2006 Montenegro declared independence and peacefully departed the union, so from the2006–07 season onwards Montenegro started operating separate top-flight football league supervised by its football association. On the other hand, as the legal successor of Serbia-Montenegro state union, Serbia also got the continuity of the country's league that was formed as Prva liga (First League) in 1992, and renamed and rebranded as Superliga in summer 2005.
Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed independence in late winter 1992, and already in April same yearN/FSBiH applied for membership with FIFA and UEFA.[13] Meanwhile, due to the outbreak ofBosnian War in April 1992 no games were played in the 1992–93 season. In late 1993 some parts of the country re-launched football competitions with reduced scope. But just as the country was divided along ethnic lines, so was football.
In 1993Bosnian Croats launched theFirst League of Herzeg-Bosnia in which only Croatian clubs competed on parochial scale within the limits ofWest Herzegovina and few other enclaves. In the same yearBosnian Serbs also organized their ownFirst League of the Republika Srpska, on a territory held by Republika Srpska regime at the time.Only football on a territory under the control of thenRepublic of Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions and auspices of N/FSBiH, at the time consequently withBosniak majority, apart from a brief competition for the season1994–95 (won byČelik Zenica), came to a standstill.Competition under auspices of N/FSBiH did not resume until1995–96 season when theFirst League of Bosnia and Herzegovina was launched.[13]
These three separate football leagues were operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina until 1998, and 2000. Since FIFA and UEFA showed support only for the association operating under patronage of the official and internationally recognized state institutions, during the war and prior toDayton Peace Agreement as well as after its signage, they endorsed unification of all three organizations as N/FSBiH. This also came as a consequence of FIFA decision to recognize N/FSBiH already in July 1996, while in the same year UEFA admitted N/FSBiH as an adjacent member until 1998 when they recognized its full membership. This meant that only N/FSBiH clubs and itsnational team could compete at the international and official level.[13]
Final unification has been preceded by several stages. At first was created a playoff where clubs were playing for the champion under N/FSBiH auspices. Idea was that playoff under unified N/FSBiH auspices should bring together clubs competing under three separate organizations for the first time but was rejected by Serb association, leaving clubs from Croat football association and N/FSBiH participating playoff for the seasons1997–98 and1999–00, while1998–99 playoff was canceled due to Croat's association hesitation on the decision on which stadiums games should be played. Next season playoff was resumed for the last time prior to full and final agreement on unified N/FSBiH and its competition,Premier League BiH(Premijer Liga), in the fall 2000. However, the first2000–01 season seen clubs fromFederation of BiH only, while clubs from Republic of Srpska entity continue to compete in their own separate league as their entity association still refused to join agreed unified N/FSBiH and its new competition. However, UEFA and FIFA never intended to recognize this separate organization nor its competition, which meant clubs couldn't compete outside territory of the entity and wouldn't see any international football. This situation forced clubs to insist that their organization also join N/FSBiH, and two years later they became part of the competition for the season2002–03. Ever since the year 2000 Premier League is the top tier of Bosnia and Herzegovina football, with two entity-based leagues, First League of Republika Srpska and First League of the Federation of BiH, being pushed to the second tier of the football pyramid and serve as feeder leagues to Premier League.[13]
Bosnia and Herzegovina →Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2000–present; from 1994 to 2000 had aFirst League of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Croatia →HNL (1992–present)
Kosovo →Football Superleague of Kosovo (2016–present)[14][c]
North Macedonia →Macedonian First League (1992–present)
Montenegro →Montenegrin First League (2006–present; from 1992 to 2006 had ajoint league with Serbia)
Serbia →Serbian SuperLiga (2006–present, from 1992 to 2006 had ajoint league with Montenegro)
Slovenia →Slovenian PrvaLiga (1991–present)UEFA recognised FR Yugoslavia and subsequently Serbia as the only official successor of Yugoslavia[15][16][17] and consequently the clubs from FR Yugoslavia kept the ranking and ponctuation within UEFA.
| National teams | |
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| League system | |
| Domestic cups | |
| Subassociations | |
