# 1952 Yugoslav First League

The First Federal League of Yugoslavia's 1952 season (colloquially the Yugoslav First League) was shortened and sped-up. It was completed over a period of little more than three and a half months, beginning on 2 March 1952 and finishing on 22 June 1952. The reason for the changes was a desire to start the next season in the fall of 1952, thus implementing the fall-spring format that had become a norm all across Europe by this time.
The clubs were initially divided into two groups of six teams each, where everyone within a given group played each other twice (home and away).
Then, according to the placement in these preliminary groups, three new groups were formed:
* First two teams in each of the two preliminary groups advanced to the 4-team group, the winner of which would become a champion.
* Teams placed 3rd and 4th in each of the two preliminary groups got to move to a 4-team group that would decide final league standings from 5th to 8th place.
* The bottom two teams in each of the two preliminary groups moved to a 4-team group that would decide final league standings at the bottom (places 9th through 12th) and thus determine who gets relegated to the Second League.

## League
### Preliminary stage
#### Group 1

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Dinamo Zagreb | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 13 | +14 | 16 | Qualification for Championship group |
| 2 | Lokomotiva | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 9 | +11 | 14 | Qualification for Championship group |
| 3 | Partizan | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 24 | 15 | +9 | 12 | Qualification for Central group |
| 4 | Vojvodina | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 21 | 15 | +6 | 10 | Qualification for Central group |
| 5 | Rabotnički | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 30 | −21 | 5 | Qualification for Relegation group |
| 6 | Mačva Šabac | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 29 | −19 | 3 | Qualification for Relegation group |
| Home \ Away | DIN | LOK | MAČ | PAR | RAB | VOJ |
| Dinamo Zagreb | | 5–2 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 3–2 |
| Lokomotiva | 1–0 | | 3–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Mačva Šabac | 2–3 | 1–0 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–5 |
| Partizan | 0–3 | 2–1 | 6–3 | | 1–0 | 1–2 |
| Rabotnički | 3–0 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 0–8 | | 0–3 |
| Vojvodina | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–4 | 5–2 | |

#### Group 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Red Star Belgrade | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 16 | +4 | 14 | Qualification for Championship group |
| 2 | Hajduk Split | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 11 | +12 | 12 | Qualification for Championship group |
| 3 | BSK Belgrade | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 12 | +7 | 10 | Qualification for Central group |
| 4 | Vardar | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 13 | 18 | −5 | 10 | Qualification for Central group |
| 5 | NK Zagreb | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 8 | Qualification for Relegation group |
| 6 | Sarajevo | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 8 | 21 | −13 | 6 | Qualification for Relegation group |
| Home \ Away | BSK | HAJ | RSB | SAR | VAR | ZAG |
| BSK Belgrade | | 0–1 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 6–0 | 0–0 |
| Hajduk Split | 2–3 | | 6–0 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Red Star | 3–2 | 3–1 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Sarajevo | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| Vardar | 1–0 | 0–5 | 2–1 | 5–0 | | 2–1 |
| NK Zagreb | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 3–2 | 1–0 | |

### Final round
#### Championship group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Hajduk Split (C) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 9 |
| 2 | Red Star Belgrade | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 6 | +5 | 8 |
| 3 | Lokomotiva | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 19 | −7 | 4 |
| 4 | Dinamo Zagreb | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 14 | −6 | 3 |
| Home \ Away | DIN | HAJ | LOK | RSB |
| Dinamo Zagreb | | 0–3 | 2–4 | 0–0 |
| Hajduk Split | 1–1 | | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Lokomotiva | 4–3 | 2–4 | | 2–3 |
| Red Star | 2–2 | 1–0 | 5–0 | |

#### Central group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 5 | BSK Belgrade | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 6 | +9 | 11 |
| 6 | Partizan | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 11 | +6 | 7 |
| 7 | Vardar | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 5 |
| 8 | Vojvodina | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 15 | −8 | 1 |
| Home \ Away | BSK | PAR | VAR | VOJ |
| BSK Belgrade | | 3–2 | 5–1 | 2–1 |
| Partizan | 1–2 | | 7–1 | 5–5 |
| Vardar | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 3–1 |
| Vojvodina | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | |

#### Relegation group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation |
| 9 | Sarajevo | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 8 | |
| 10 | NK Zagreb | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 | |
| 11 | Rabotnički (R) | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 14 | −4 | 5 | Relegation to Yugoslav Second League |
| 12 | Mačva Šabac (R) | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | −1 | 4 | Relegation to Yugoslav Second League |
| Home \ Away | MAČ | RAB | SAR | ZAG |
| Mačva Šabac | | 3–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 |
| Rabotnički | 3–2 | | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Sarajevo | 1–0 | 5–1 | | 0–0 |
| NK Zagreb | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Stanoje Jocić | BSK Belgrade | 13 |
| 2 | Vladimir Firm | Lokomotiva | 11 |
| 3 | Drago Hmelina | Lokomotiva | 10 |