# 1953–54 NK Dinamo Zagreb season

The 1953–54 season was Dinamo Zagreb's eighth season in Yugoslavia's First Federal League, the country's top level football championship. Led by manager Ivan Jazbinšek and fueled by goals provided by the club's prolific striker Dionizije Dvornić, Dinamo ended the season on top of the table, one point in front of Partizan and four points ahead of previous season's champions Red Star.

## Players
### Squad

Note: The following is the full list of players who appeared in league matches for Dinamo in the 1953–54 season. However, only players who started at least 10 league games are included in historic records as having been members of the championship-winning squad, according to NK Dinamo Zagreb's 1945–1985 official almanac. Those players are listed in bold.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| --- | GK | YUG | Branko Kralj |
| --- | GK | YUG | Vladimir Majerović |
| --- | DF | YUG | Ivica Banožić |
| --- | DF | YUG | Tomislav Crnković |
| --- | DF | YUG | Drago Horvat |
| --- | DF | YUG | Josip Šikić |
| --- | MF | YUG | Dragutin Cizarić |
| --- | MF | YUG | Emil Ferković |
| --- | MF | YUG | Ivica Horvat |
| --- | MF | YUG | Dragutin Kukec |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| --- | MF | YUG | Lav Mantula |
| --- | MF | YUG | Branko Režek |
| --- | FW | YUG | Aleksandar Benko |
| --- | FW | YUG | Željko Čajkovski |
| --- | FW | YUG | Zvonimir Cimermančić |
| --- | FW | YUG | Vladimir Čonč |
| --- | FW | YUG | Dionizije Dvornić |
| --- | FW | YUG | Luka Lipošinović |
| --- | FW | YUG | Stojan Osojnak |
| --- | FW | YUG | Zvonko Strnad |

## First Federal League
### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 26 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 72 | 22 | +50 | 42 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 40 | 10 | +30 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 32 | 12 | +20 |

### Matches

| M | Date | Opponents | Venue | Result | Score F–A | Dinamo scorers | Attendance |
| 1 | 30 August 1953 | Sarajevo | A | W | 3–1 | Benko 10', Čajkovski 21', Dvornić 63' | 14,000 |
| 3 | 9 September 1953 | Partizan | H | W | 2–0 | Dvornić 29', Čonč 33' | 20,000 |
| 4 | 13 September 1953 | Radnički | A | D | 0–0 | | 25,000 |
| 2 | 17 September 1953 | BSK | A | W | 2–0 | Benko 10', Režek 20', Čonč 51' | 15,000 |
| 5 | 20 September 1953 | Proleter Osijek | H | W | 6–2 | Benko 27', 33', 88', Dvornić 34', Čonč 43', Čajkovski 55' | 20,000 |
| 6 | 26 September 1953 | Spartak Subotica | A | W | 2–1 | Čonč 7', Benko 42' | 10,000 |
| 7 | 7 October 1953 | Vojvodina | H | L | 0–2 | | 20,000 |
| 8 | 10 October 1953 | Hajduk Split | A | L | 0–1 | | 16,000 |
| 9 | 25 October 1953 | Rabotnički | A | W | 5–1 | Benko 35', 64', 71', 76', Dvornić 89' | 10,000 |
| 10 | 11 November 1953 | Vardar | H | W | 2–0 | Režek 20', Benko 88' | 8,000 |
| 11 | 15 November 1953 | Odred Ljubljana | H | W | 5–3 | Benko 3', Čajkovski 4', Dvornić 6', 36', Mantula 83' | 12,000 |
| 12 | 2 December 1953 | Red Star | A | D | 0–0 | | 35,000 |
| 13 | 6 December 1953 | Lokomotiva | H | W | 1–0 | Čonč 75' | 10,000 |
| 14 | 13 December 1953 | Sarajevo | H | W | 5–0 | Čajkovski 39', Dvornić 48', 50', 71', Luka Lipošinović 70' | 12,000 |
| 15 | 20 December 1953 | BSK | H | D | 1–1 | Čonč 63' | 10,000 |
| 16 | 14 February 1954 | Partizan | A | L | 0–1 | | 25,000 |
| 17 | 21 February 1954 | Radnički | H | W | 4–1 | Dvornić 21', Čonč 35', 61', Benko 71' | 7,000 |
| 18 | 4 March 1954 | Proleter Osijek | A | W | 5–2 | Benko 8', Osojnak 25', Čonč 44', 65', Čajkovski 58' | 6,000 |
| 19 | 7 March 1954 | Spartak Subotica | H | W | 5–0 | Osojnak 35', 75', Čajkovski 60', Mantula 70', B. Čikoš 71' (o.g.) | 25,000 |
| 20 | 14 March 1954 | Vojvodina | A | W | 1–0 | Dvornić 59' | 10,000 |
| 21 | 4 April 1954 | Hajduk Split | H | W | 3–1 | Čonč 35', Čajkovski 60', Osojnak 62' | 35,000 |
| 22 | 7 April 1954 | Rabotnički | H | W | 5–0 | K. Gičevski 2' (o.g.), Čajkovski 6', 29', Dvornić 45', 65' | 5,000 |
| 23 | 11 April 1954 | Vardar | A | D | 1–1 | Čajkovski 55' | 15,000 |
| 24 | 18 April 1954 | Odred Ljubljana | A | W | 6–4 | Lipošinović 7', Čajkovski 22', Čonč 33', 37, Dvornić 82', Osojnak 89' | 6,000 |
| 25 | 25 April 1954 | Red Star | H | W | 1–0 | Osojnak 90' | 40,000 |
| 26 | 2 May 1954 | Lokomotiva | A | W | 6–0 | Osojnak 9', 83', Čajkovski 30', 35', Lipošinović 74', Dvornić 78' | 15,000 |

### Classification

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts |
| 1 | Dinamo Zagreb (C) | 26 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 72 | 22 | 3.273 | 42 |
| 2 | Partizan | 26 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 77 | 30 | 2.567 | 41 |
| 3 | Red Star Belgrade | 26 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 51 | 22 | 2.318 | 38 |
| 4 | Hajduk Split | 26 | 16 | 3 | 7 | 55 | 34 | 1.618 | 35 |
| 5 | Vojvodina | 26 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 60 | 37 | 1.622 | 33 |

## Marshal Tito Cup

The 1953 season of the Yugoslav national cup was played over three months, between August and November. In the first round proper, which featured 16 clubs playing in single legs, Dinamo knocked out third-level side Metalac Zagreb 4–2. In the quarter-final Dinamo played away at rivals FK Partizan, and earned a hard-won victory after a 5–5 draw after extra time and 8–7 victory in the ensuing penalty shoot-out.
In the semi-final, played on 1 November, Dinamo hosted another Belgrade-based club, BSK, in what turned out to become one of the most unusual cup matches in Yugoslav football, a drawn-out affair played over three days which eventually led to BSK progressing through to the final in a replay.

## Players
### Squad statistics
#### Key

Numbers indicate starting appearances + appearances as substitute. Goals column shows total goals scored, numbers in brackets indicate penalties scored. Players with name struck through and marked † left the club during the playing season. Age as of 30 August 1953, first league matchday of the season.
| Pos. | Nat. | Name | DoB (Age) | League | League | Cup | Cup | Total | Total |
| Pos. | Nat. | Name | DoB (Age) | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| FW | | Dionizije Dvornić | (1926-04-27)27 April 1926 (aged 27) | 26 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 30 | 21 |
| MF | | Vladimir Čonč | (1928-01-13)13 January 1928 (aged 25) | 26 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 30 | 13 |
| DF | | Josip Šikić | (1929-08-04)4 August 1929 (aged 24) | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| FW | | Željko Čajkovski | (1925-05-05)5 May 1925 (aged 28) | 24 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 27 | 16 |
| MF | | Branko Režek | b. 1928 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 26 | 2 |
| FW | | Aleksandar Benko | (1925-02-16)16 February 1925 (aged 28) | 21 | 14 | 4 | 0 | 25 | 14 |
| MF | | Lav Mantula | (1928-12-08)8 December 1928 (aged 24) | 21 | 2 | ? | | 23 | 0 |
| DF | | Tomislav Crnković | (1929-06-17)17 June 1929 (aged 24) | 20 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| DF | | Ivica Horvat | (1926-07-16)16 July 1926 (aged 27) | 20 | 0 | | | 23 | 0 |
| GK | | Branko Kralj | (1924-03-10)10 March 1924 (aged 29) | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| FW | | Stojan Osojnak | (1923-06-11)11 June 1923 (aged 30) | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 9 |
| FW | | Luka Lipošinović | (1933-05-12)12 May 1933 (aged 20) | 10 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 4 |
| GK | | Vladimir Majerović | | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| MF | | Emil Ferković | | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MF | | Dragutin Cizarić | | 10 | 0 | | | 13 | 0 |
| DF | | Drago Horvat | | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| DF | | Ivica Banožić | | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| MF | | Dragutin Kukec | | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| FW | | Zvonimir Cimermančić | (1917-08-26)26 August 1917 (aged 36) | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| FW | | Zvonko Strnad | (1926-01-15)15 January 1926 (aged 27) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| MF | | Franjo Beseredi | (1928-02-11)11 February 1928 (aged 25) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |