1979–80 Yugoslav First League


The 1979–80 Yugoslav First League was won by Red Star Belgrade.

Teams

A total of eighteen teams contested the league, including sixteen sides from the 1978–79 season and two sides promoted from the 1978–79 Yugoslav Second League 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.
NK Zagreb and OFK Belgrade were relegated from the 1978–79 Yugoslav First League after finishing the season in bottom two places of the league table. The two clubs promoted to top level were Vardar and Čelik.
TeamLocationFederal RepublicPosition
in 1978–79
Borac Banja LukaBanja Luka01111th
Budućnost TitogradTitograd0066th
ČelikZenica
Dinamo ZagrebZagreb0022nd
Hajduk SplitSplit0011st
Napredak KruševacKruševac01414th
OlimpijaLjubljana01616th
OsijekOsijek01313th
PartizanBelgrade01515th
Radnički NišNiš0077th
Red StarBelgrade0033rd
RijekaRijeka01010th
SarajevoSarajevo0044th
SlobodaTuzla0088th
VardarSkopje
VeležMostar0055th
VojvodinaNovi Sad01212th
ŽeljezničarSarajevo0099th

Death of Marshal Tito

The season's week 25 derby match Hajduk vs. Red Star on 4 May 1980 at Poljud Stadium featured a mass display of public grief.
Played on a Sunday afternoon, the contest was in the 41st minute when three men entered the pitch, signaling to the referee, Husref Muharemagić of Janja, to stop the match. After the match was halted, the Mayor of Split, Ante Skataretiko, took to the microphone to inform the 50,000+ crowd that Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito had died.
This was followed with sudden scenes of mass crying; some players, such as Hajduk's twenty-one-year-old striker Zlatko Vujović, collapsed down to the ground and weeped as the crowd launched into a rendition of "Druže Tito, mi ti se kunemo", a popular personality cult song that professes loyalty and devotion to Comrade Tito.
Meanwhile at Koševo Stadium during the FK Sarajevo vs. NK Osijek match, the news broke out of Tito's death broke in the 43rd minute with the contest locked at 1-1.
The matches - along with a third between Dinamo and Zeljeznicar - were immediately abandoned, with the decision being made by the Yugoslav FA to declare the matches null and void, and order replays two and a half weeks later on Wednesday, 21 May 1980 at the same stadiums.
Red Star won the derby replay 3-1.

League table

Top scorers