1973–74 Yugoslav First League

1973–74 Yugoslav First League (Prva savezna liga Jugoslavije, Prvenstvo 1973/74) competition was the 46th top league season since 1923 in various incarnations of Yugoslavia. It was won by Hajduk Split by the tightest of margins over second placed Velež. The two teams were tied on points at the end of the season, so the goal difference decided the title.

Prva savezna liga

Season	1973–74
Dates	19 August 1973 – 14 May 1974
Champions	Hajduk Split (5th Federal League title) (7th Yugoslav title overall)
Relegated	Borac Banja Luka NK Zagreb
European Cup	Hajduk Split
Cup Winners' Cup	Red Star
UEFA Cup	Velež Partizan
Top goalscorer	Danilo Popivoda (17)
← 1972–73 1974–75 →

Had the current three-points-for-a-win system been in use instead of the standard two-points-for-a-win that was used at the time, Velež Mostar would have been champions with 64 points, while Hajduk would have been be second with 63.

This was Hajduk's 7th league title overall (their 5th after the World War II).

Teams

A total of eighteen teams contested the league, including sixteen sides from the 1972–73 season and two sides promoted from the 1972–73 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.

Spartak Subotica and Sutjeska Nikšić were relegated from the 1972–73 Yugoslav First League after finishing the season in bottom two places of the league table. The two clubs promoted to top level were Proleter Zrenjanin and NK Zagreb.

Team	Location	Federal Republic	Position in 1972–73
Bor	Bor	SR Serbia	01515th
Borac Banja Luka	Banja Luka	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	01212th
Čelik	Zenica	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	01414th
Dinamo Zagreb	Zagreb	SR Croatia	0088th
Hajduk Split	Split	SR Croatia	0099th
OFK Belgrade	Belgrade	SR Serbia	0033rd
Olimpija Ljubljana	Ljubljana	SR Slovenia	01616th
Partizan	Belgrade	SR Serbia	0044th
Proleter Zrenjanin	Zrenjanin	SR Serbia	—
Radnički Niš	Niš	SR Serbia	01111th
Red Star	Belgrade	SR Serbia	0011st
Sarajevo	Sarajevo	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	0077th
Sloboda	Tuzla	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	0066th
Vardar	Skopje	SR Macedonia	01010th
Velež	Mostar	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	0022nd
Vojvodina	Novi Sad	SR Serbia	01313th
NK Zagreb	Zagreb	SR Croatia	—
Željezničar	Sarajevo	SR Bosnia and Herzegovina	0055th

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Hajduk Split (C)	34	18	9	7	52	24	+28	45	Qualification for European Cup first round
2	Velež	34	19	7	8	54	34	+20	45	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3	Red Star Belgrade	34	19	5	10	72	46	+26	43	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
4	Partizan	34	12	13	9	41	33	+8	37	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
5	OFK Belgrade	34	13	9	12	35	32	+3	35
6	Čelik	34	12	11	11	30	28	+2	35
7	Dinamo Zagreb	34	12	9	13	34	33	+1	33
8	Željezničar	34	10	12	12	39	39	0	32
9	Sloboda Tuzla	34	8	16	10	34	38	−4	32
10	Olimpija	34	11	10	13	36	42	−6	32
11	Vardar	34	12	7	15	38	40	−2	31
12	Vojvodina	34	10	11	13	33	37	−4	31
13	Proleter Zrenjanin	34	13	5	16	36	48	−12	31
14	Sarajevo	34	11	9	14	29	42	−13	31
15	Radnički Niš	34	11	9	14	29	43	−14	31	Qualification for Balkans Cup
16	Bor	34	13	5	16	32	49	−17	31
17	Borac Banja Luka (R)	34	8	14	12	43	43	0	30	Relegation to Yugoslav Second League
18	NK Zagreb (R)	34	9	9	16	28	44	−16	27

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

Results

Home \ Away	BOR	BBL	ČEL	DIN	HAJ	OFK	OLI	PAR	PRO	RNI	RSB	SAR	SLO	VAR	VEL	VOJ	ZAG	ŽEL
Bor		3–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	4–2	1–0	1–0	3–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–2	2–1	0–2
Borac Banja Luka	1–0		3–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	5–0	1–1	1–1	5–0	1–1	0–1	3–1	0–0	1–1	6–4
Čelik	2–0	1–0		2–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–3	2–0	1–0	3–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–0
Dinamo Zagreb	4–2	0–1	2–0		0–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	3–0	0–0	1–3	4–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–0
Hajduk Split	3–0	4–1	1–0	2–3		2–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	2–0	4–1	1–0	4–1	6–0	2–2	3–0	2–1	1–1
OFK Belgrade	4–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–2		1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	6–1	2–2
Olimpija	4–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1		2–0	2–0	3–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–2
Partizan	2–3	3–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	0–0		0–0	3–1	2–1	4–0	3–2	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–3	1–1
Proleter Zrenjanin	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	1–0	1–0		2–0	3–2	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0
Radnički Niš	0–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–0		1–0	0–0	3–3	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–2	2–0
Red Star	5–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	5–2	1–0	4–1	4–0		1–0	2–2	1–2	2–0	3–2	6–1	3–1
Sarajevo	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–1	4–2	0–0	3–2	0–1	3–4		0–0	0–0	1–3	3–1	1–0	1–0
Sloboda Tuzla	0–0	0–0	2–2	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–2	0–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–1		1–2	2–0	1–0	3–1	0–0
Vardar	3–1	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	5–0	1–3	3–0	2–0		2–3	1–1	1–1	2–0
Velež	2–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	5–0	2–1	1–1	4–2	1–1	4–2	2–1	3–0	1–0		1–0	2–0	0–1
Vojvodina	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	5–3	0–2	3–1	1–2	2–2	0–0	3–1	1–0	2–1		0–0	0–0
NK Zagreb	2–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–1	3–1	0–4	2–0	0–2	0–0	0–2	1–2	0–1	1–0		2–0
Željezničar	4–1	1–1	1–1	3–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–0	1–3	0–0	1–3	2–1	2–2	2–0	0–1

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

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Danilo Popivoda	Olimpija	17
2	Dušan Bajević	Velež	16
3	Husnija Fazlić	Borac Banja Luka	15
4	Stanislav Karasi	Red Star	14
	Nenad Bjeković	Partizan
	Mate Gavran	Čelik
7	Slaviša Žungul	Hajduk Split	12
	Dušan Šujica	Vardar
	Slobodan Radović	Bor
10	Aleksandar Panajotović	Red Star	11

Match-fixing allegations

FK Velež player Vahid Halilhodžić, whose team spent the spring of 1974 in a tight league title race with Hajduk Split, alleged in a 2023 interview that Hajduk fixed its last 1973-74 league match away at OFK Beograd (Hajduk won 0-2) while further insinuating that the approach took place through OFK goalkeeper Petar Borota.

See also

• 1973–74 Yugoslav Second League
• 1973 Yugoslav Cup

External links

• Yugoslavia Domestic Football Full Tables
• 1974 Kup Marsala Tita