1988–89 Yugoslav First League

The 1988–89 Yugoslav First League season was the 43rd 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.

Prva savezna liga Jugoslavije

Season	1988–89
Dates	6 August 1988 – 4 June 1989
Champions	Vojvodina (2nd title)
Relegated	Napredak Kruševac (17th) Čelik Zenica (18th)
European Cup	Vojvodina
Cup Winners' Cup	Partizan
UEFA Cup	Red Star Rad Dinamo Zagreb
Top goalscorer	Davor Šuker (18)
← 1987–88 1989–90 →

The season began on 6 August 1988 with its fall part completing on 18 December 1988. Following a two-month winter break, the season resumed on 26 February 1989 and ran until 4 June 1989.

New rule: "Šajber's penalties"

The season saw the introduction of a new way of awarding points when a league match ends in a draw. Two points were still being awarded for a win, while in case of a draw at the end of the ninety minutes — penalty kicks were taken and the shootout winner was awarded one point while the loser got nothing. The 1988-89 season was the very first to feature this tie-break method, and the Yugoslav FA's decision to implement it caused a lot of criticism and controversy. The biggest proponent of the new rule was the Yugoslav FA (FSJ) president Slavko Šajber and it was often derisively referred to in the media as 'Šajber's penalties'.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	PKW	PKL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Vojvodina (C)	34	18	5	1	10	50	38	+12	41	Qualification for European Cup first round
2	Red Star Belgrade	34	18	2	5	9	55	30	+25	38	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3	Hajduk Split	34	15	6	4	9	50	29	+21	36	Banned from European competition[lower-alpha 1]
4	Rad	34	13	9	2	10	46	38	+8	35	Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
5	Dinamo Zagreb	34	16	2	7	9	42	29	+13	34
6	Partizan	34	15	3	4	12	52	37	+15	33	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
7	Radnički Niš	34	14	3	4	13	42	35	+7	31
8	Osijek	34	13	5	2	14	49	50	−1	31
9	Vardar	34	13	3	4	14	46	51	−5	29
10	Rijeka	34	14	0	7	13	35	34	+1	28
11	Velež	34	13	2	2	17	42	43	−1	28
12	Sloboda Tuzla	34	11	6	6	11	35	42	−7	28
13	Sarajevo	34	11	6	4	13	35	42	−7	28
14	Budućnost	34	12	4	3	15	32	43	−11	28
15	Spartak Subotica	34	11	4	3	16	30	39	−9	26
16	Željezničar	34	12	1	3	18	34	49	−15	25
17	Napredak Kruševac (R)	34	11	1	4	18	42	59	−17	23	Relegation to Yugoslav Second League
18	Čelik[lower-alpha 2] (R)	34	9	5	2	18	31	60	−29	17

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

1. In November 1987, UEFA banned Hajduk Split from European competitions for two seasons. The immediate catalyst for the punishment was crowd trouble during club's 1987–88 European Cup Winners' Cup second round return leg against Marseille on 5 November 1987, however, repeated prior incidents at Hajduk's European home matches throughout early-to-mid 1980s (such as the 1983–84 UEFA Cup semifinal first leg infamous 'rooster incident' against Tottenham Hotspur) also contributed to the decision. Since Hajduk's 1987-88 Yugoslav League performance failed to qualify the club for 1988-89 European competition, the punishment was enacted for seasons when Hajduk did manage to qualify: 1989-90 and 1990-91.
2. Čelik were docked 6 points.

Champions: FK Vojvodina

Player	League
	Matches	Goals
Čedo Maras (goalkeeper)	34	0
Budimir Vujačić	31	7
Siniša Mihajlović	31	4
Miloš Šestić	30	7
Goran Kartalija	28	1
Dušan Mijić	28	1
Svetozar Šapurić	28	1
Stevan Milovac	26	2
Ljubomir Vorkapić	25	6
Dragan Punišić	25	4
Slaviša Jokanović	24	4
Dejan Joksimović	23	5
Milan Popović	20	1
Zoran Mijucić	19	4
Željko Dakić	15	2
Dragan Gaćeša	15	0
Miroslav Tanjga	14	1
Dragan Marković	7	0
Zoran Milosavljević	6	0
Enes Muhić	4	0
Marijan Zovko	4	0
Jovo Bosančić	2	0
Zoran Hajdić	1	0
Dragan Vasić (goalkeeper)	1	0
Head coach: Ljupko Petrović

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Davor Šuker	Osijek	18
2	Mladen Mladenović	Rijeka	13
3	Semir Tuce	Velež	12
	Dušan Arsenijević	Rad
	Dragan Stojković	Red Star
6	Anto Drobnjak	Budućnost	10
	Dejan Lukić	Radnički Niš
	Mirko Mihić	Sloboda Tuzla
	Vasil Gunev	Napredak Kruševac
10	Branko Karačić	Hajduk Split	9
	Vladimir Gudelj	Velež
	Radmilo Mihajlović	Dinamo Zagreb
	Edin Ćurić	Željezničar

See also

• 1988–89 Yugoslav Second League
• 1988–89 Yugoslav Cup

External links

• Yugoslavia Domestic Football Full Tables