1999–2000 First League of FR Yugoslavia

The 1999–2000 First League of FR Yugoslavia was the eighth season of the FR Yugoslavia's top-level football league since its establishment. It was contested by 21 teams, and Red Star Belgrade won the championship.

First League of FR Yugoslavia
Season1999–2000
Dates31 July 1999 – 20 May 2000
ChampionsRed Star
22nd domestic title
RelegatedProleter
Hajduk Beograd
Mogren
Spartak Subotica
Borac Čačak
Champions LeagueRed Star
UEFA CupPartizan
Napredak Kruševac
Intertoto CupObilić
Matches played420
Goals scored1,094 (2.6 per match)
Top goalscorerMateja Kežman (27)
← 98-99
00-01 →

Incidents

Tragedy at the Eternal Derby: the death of Aca Radović

The season was marred by a tragic event on 30 October 1999, during Partizan vs. Red Star tie (the 113th edition of the Večiti derbi) when seventeen-year-old Red Star fan Aleksandar "Aca" Radović from Opovo was killed by a signaling rocket fired from within the stadium. Radović, a third-year student at the First Belgrade Gymnasium, was supporting his team from the Partizan Stadium's north end when in 20th minute of the match he got hit in the chest by a signaling rocket fired from the opposite end of the stadium, which is where Partizan fans were located. Partizan just scored a goal to go up 1-0 and a certain section of their fans Grobari fired a series of ship signaling rockets from the south stand where they traditionally gather as a way of celebrating the goal. Most of those rockets landed on the stadium's north stand where Red Star's fans Delije always gather, and one of them hit the unfortunate teenager right in the chest near his throat, cutting his aorta. He died almost instantly as he was being moved from the stands onto the stadium's athletic track and into the ambulance car.[1]

Amazingly, the match was not stopped and the two teams continued playing, a decision that led to a lot of public criticism directed at two clubs, the football league, and the FA.

Further investigation conducted by the police discovered that the particular rocket that killed Radović was fired by Partizan fan Majk Halkijević (born 1975) from Krnjača. In addition to Halkijević, three other individuals — Nenad "Kec" Kecojević (born 1976) from Mali Mokri Lug, Aleksandar "Sale" Aleksić (born 1975) from Krnjača, and Zoran "Prcko" Jovanović (born 1974) from Belgrade — were also firing rockets at the stadium during the match. According to the investigation, the ship signaling rockets were originally purchased in Greece before being smuggled into Serbia. In Belgrade, Grobari leader Zoran "Čegi" Živanović bought 10 of them along with 60 flares, all from Mirko Urban. Čegi brought the stuff to Partizan Stadium on the day of the derby, handing it over to Časlav "Čaja" Kurandić. Čaja then took the flares and rockets into the stadium with help from FK Partizan's equipment manager Branko "Gavran" Vučićević who hid them inside the bags with team's sports equipment. Once inside the team's dressing room, the packages with flares and rockets were passed to Goran "Tuljak" Matović and Dragan "Lepi Gaga" Petronić through the dressing room's window. The packages were then carried through the east stand and onto the south stand through the protective fence while Nikola "Džoni" Dedović diverted steward's attention. On the south stand, group leader Čegi distributed the rockets and flares to a certain number of Grobari, including Majk Halkijević.[2]

At the trial that dragged on for almost two years, the accused were not tried for murder but for a lesser charge of disturbing public order and causing general endangerment. The verdict was delivered on 1 March 2001, with Halkijević getting one year and 11 months sentence.[3] Aleksandar "Sale" Aleksić got one year and eight months while Nenad "Kec" Kecojević, Zoran "Čegi" Živanović (Grobari leader), and Časlav "Čaja" Kurandić got year and a half. Furthermore, Dragan "Lepi Gaga" Petronić and Srđan Šalipurović got six months, while Mirko Urban also known as Mirko Pekar (Mirko the Baker), accused of selling the rockets to Grobari, got a year and a half.[4] Others who were on the accused list but received no sentence were Zoran "Prcko" Jovanović, Nikola "Džoni" Dedović, Branko "Gavran" Vučićević, and Goran "Tuljak" Matović.[5]

Teams

Due to decision of the Football Association of FR Yugoslavia of enlargement of the league from 18 to 22 teams, the teams from earlier season was not relegated.

Before that season FK Priština was withdrew from the competition due to situation in Kosovo, so a status of the team was frozen.

From the 1998–99 Second League of FR Yugoslavia to the league was entered: Borac Čačak, Čukarički, Hajduk Beograd and Sutjeska Nikšić.

Location of teams in the 1999–2000 First League
Club City Stadium Capacity
Partizan Belgrade Partizan Stadium 32,710
Red Star Belgrade Red Star Stadium 55,538
Vojvodina Novi Sad Karađorđe Stadium 17,204
Zemun Zemun, Belgrade Zemun Stadium 10,000
Rad Belgrade Stadion Kralj Petar I 6,000
Proleter Zrenjanin Stadion Karađorđev park 13,500
Hajduk Kula Kula Stadion Hajduk 6,000
Obilić Belgrade FK Obilić Stadium 4,500
Železnik Belgrade Železnik Stadium 8,000
Mogren Budva Stadion Lugovi 4,000
OFK Beograd Karaburma, Belgrade Omladinski Stadium 20,000
Sartid Smederevo Smederevo City Stadium 17,200
Spartak Subotica Subotica City Stadium 13,000
Radnički Kragujevac Čika Dača Stadium 15,000
Hajduk Beograd Belgrade Stadion Hajduk Lion 4,500
Čukarički Belgrade Stadion Čukarički 7,000
Sutjeska Nikšić Gradski stadion (Nikšić) 10,800
Borac Čačak Čačak Stadium 6,000
Budućnost Podgorica Podgorica Podgorica City Stadium 12,000
Radnički Niš Niš Čair Stadium 18,000
Milicionar Belgrade SC MUP Makiš 4,000

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Red Star Belgrade (C) 40 33 6 1 85 19 +66 105 Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
2 Partizan 40 32 5 3 111 30 +81 101 Qualification for UEFA Cup qualifying round
3 Obilić 40 28 5 7 71 32 +39 89 Qualification for Intertoto Cup first round
4 Rad 40 17 9 14 56 46 +10 60
5 Sutjeska Nikšić 40 17 9 14 50 50 0 60
6 Čukarički 40 15 11 14 42 43 −1 56
7 OFK Beograd 40 15 10 15 58 62 −4 55
8 Železnik 40 15 9 16 55 47 +8 54
9 Zemun 40 15 9 16 47 57 −10 54
10 Vojvodina 40 15 8 17 54 50 +4 53
11 Radnički Niš 40 16 4 20 50 49 +1 52
12 Budućnost Podgorica 40 15 7 18 45 45 0 52
13 Radnički Kragujevac 40 13 13 14 35 41 −6 52
14 Hajduk Kula 40 15 7 18 39 46 −7 52
15 Milicionar 40 14 9 17 52 52 0 51
16 Sartid 40 14 8 18 42 47 −5 50
17 Proleter Zrenjanin (R) 40 12 10 18 36 49 −13 46 Relegation to Second League of FR Yugoslavia
18 Hajduk Beograd (R) 40 14 3 23 56 75 −19 45
19 Mogren (R) 40 13 5 22 40 70 −30 44
20 Spartak Subotica (R) 40 8 5 27 34 84 −50 29
21 Borac Čačak (R) 40 6 4 30 36 100 −64 22
Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Napredak Kruševac from Second League qualify for 2000–01 UEFA Cup as runner-up of 1999–2000 FR Yugoslavia Cup.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.

Champions

Red Star Belgrade (Coach: Miloljub Ostojić (sacked couple of weeks into the season), Slavoljub Muslin)

Players[6] (league matches/league goals)

Top goalscorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Mateja Kežman Partizan
27
2 Mihajlo Pjanović Red Star
22
3 Petar Divić OFK Beograd
21
4 Vladimir Ivić Partizan 19
Saša Ilić Partizan
6 Dragan Đukanović Mogren
17
7 Nenad Mirosavljević Proleter Zrenjanin 15
Gabrijel Radojičić Obilić
9 Bogić Popović Hajduk Beograd 14
Zoran Janković Vojvodina

References
  1. Radović Aca; B92 Blog, 31 October 2008
  2. Ubistvo na stadionu;NIN 4 November 1999
  3. Navijačima od šest do 23 meseca; Glas javnosti, 1 March 2001
  4. Grupi navijaca zatvorske kazne;novine.ca, 2001
  5. Uneli rakete kroz svlačionicu Archived 2012-10-03 at the Wayback Machine; Glas javnosti, 2 November 1999
  6. Red Star official website
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