# 1979–80 NK Rijeka season

The 1979–80 season was the 34th season in Rijeka’s history and their 18th season in the Yugoslav First League. Their 10th place finish in the 1978–79 season meant it was their sixth successive season playing in the Yugoslav First League.

## Competitions

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Yugoslav First League | 15 July 1979 | 29 June 1980 | Matchday 1 | 10th | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 34 | 47 | −13 | 035.29 |
| Yugoslav Cup | 19 October 1979 | 19 October 1979 | First round | First round | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 000.00 |
| European Cup Winners' Cup | 19 September 1979 | 19 March 1980 | First round | Quarterfinal | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | +0 | 033.33 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 41 | 14 | 12 | 15 | 40 | 53 | −13 | 034.15 |

### Yugoslav First League
#### Classification

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Velež | 34 | 13 | 8 | 13 | 44 | 39 | +5 | 34 | Qualification for Balkans Cup |
| 9 | Željezničar | 34 | 9 | 15 | 10 | 41 | 47 | −6 | 33 | |
| 10 | Rijeka | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 34 | 47 | −13 | 33 | |
| 11 | Budućnost | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 32 | |
| 12 | Dinamo Zagreb | 34 | 9 | 14 | 11 | 43 | 44 | −1 | 32 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | L | W | L | W | D | L | D | W | D | L | W | L | D | L | W | L | D | W | L | W | W | L | D | L | W | W | L | W | D | D | D | L | W | L |
| Position | 17 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 10 |

## Matches
### First League

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Attendance | Rijeka Scorers |
| 1 | 15 Jul | A | Vardar | 1 – 3 | 20,000 | Cukrov |
| 2 | 22 Jul | H | Čelik | 1 – 0 | 3,500 | Jerolimov |
| 3 | 29 Jul | A | Napredak Kruševac | 1 – 5 | 20,000 | Radović |
| 4 | 1 Aug | A | Budućnost | 2 – 1 | 5,000 | Radović (2) |
| 5 | 4 Aug | H | Sarajevo | 1 – 1 | 2,000 | Ružić |
| 6 | 12 Aug | A | Partizan | 0 – 2 | 25,000 | |
| 7 | 19 Aug | H | Osijek | 0 – 0 | 5,000 | |
| 8 | 26 Aug | A | Sloboda | 1 – 0 | 5,000 | Desnica |
| 9 | 2 Sep | H | Borac Banja Luka | 0 – 0 | 8,000 | |
| 10 | 6 Sep | A | Velež | 1 – 3 | 5,000 | Tomić |
| 11 | 9 Sep | H | Olimpija | 2 – 0 | 5,000 | Radović, Nikolić |
| 12 | 7 Oct | A | Vojvodina | 1 – 3 | 2,000 | Bursać |
| 13 | 14 Oct | H | Željezničar | 2 – 2 | 6,000 | Tomić (2) |
| 14 | 20 Oct | A | Red Star | 0 – 3 | 17,000 | |
| 15 | 3 Nov | H | Hajduk Split | 2 – 0 | 15,000 | Radović (2) |
| 16 | 17 Nov | A | Dinamo Zagreb | 1 – 5 | 5,000 | Radović |
| 17 | 25 Nov | H | Radnički Niš | 0 – 0 | 5,000 | |
| 18 | 1 Mar | H | Vardar | 4 – 0 | 2,000 | Hrstić, Tomić, Radović, Bačvarević |
| 19 | 9 Mar | A | Čelik | 0 – 1 | 5,000 | |
| 20 | 12 Mar | H | Napredak Kruševac | 2 – 1 | 3,000 | Radović, Mijač |
| 21 | 15 Mar | H | Budućnost | 2 – 0 | 2,000 | Mijač, Fegic |
| 22 | 6 Apr | A | Sarajevo | 0 – 2 | 9,000 | |
| 23 | 13 Apr | H | Partizan | 0 – 0 | 8,000 | |
| 24 | 20 Apr | A | Osijek | 0 – 2 | 2,000 | |
| 25 | 4 May | H | Sloboda | 1 – 0 | 2,000 | Tomić |
| 26 | 11 May | H | Velež | 1 – 0 | 3,000 | Tomić |
| 27 | 18 May | A | Borac Banja Luka | 0 – 3 | 4,000 | |
| 28 | 25 May | A | Olimpija | 1 – 0 | 5,000 | Tomić |
| 29 | 1 Jun | H | Vojvodina | 1 – 1 | 3,000 | Ružić |
| 30 | 5 Jun | A | Željezničar | 1 – 1 | 15,000 | Tomić |
| 31 | 8 Jun | H | Red Star | 2 – 2 | 10,000 | Ružić, Bursać |
| 32 | 15 Jun | A | Hajduk Split | 1 – 4 | 8,000 | Ružić |
| 33 | 22 Jun | H | Dinamo Zagreb | 2 – 0 | 8,000 | Radović, Ružić |
| 34 | 29 Jun | A | Radnički Niš | 0 – 2 | 6,000 | |
Source: rsssf.com

### Yugoslav Cup

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Rijeka Scorers |
| R1 | 17 Oct | A | Sarajevo | 1 – 1 (2–4 p) | Tomić |
Source: rsssf.com

### Cup Winners' Cup

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Attendance | Rijeka Scorers |
| R1 | 19 Sep | A | Beerschot | 0 – 0 | 14,000 | |
| R1 | 3 Oct | H | Beerschot | 2 – 1 | 12,000 | Radović (2) |
| R2 | 24 Oct | A | Lokomotíva Košice | 0 – 2 | 5,000 | |
| R2 | 7 Nov | H | Lokomotíva Košice | 3 – 0 | 18,000 | Desnica (3) |
| QF | 5 Mar | H | Juventus | 0 – 0 | 22,000 | |
| QF | 19 Mar | A | Juventus | 0 – 2 | 55,000 | |
Source: worldfootball.net

### Squad statistics

Competitive matches only.
| Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Name | League | League | Cup | Cup | Europe | Europe | Total | Total |
| Radojko Avramović | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sergio Machin | 27+1 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 5+0 | 0 | 34 | 0 |
| Nikica Cukrov | 16+0 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 21 | 1 |
| Savo Filipović | 8+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Zvjezdan Radin | 16+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 5+0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| Miloš Hrstić | 24+0 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 6+0 | 0 | 31 | 1 |
| Milan Ružić | 26+0 | 5 | 0+0 | 0 | 6+0 | 0 | 32 | 5 |
| Srećko Juričić | 32+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 6+0 | 0 | 39 | 0 |
| Milan Radović | 29+0 | 10 | 1+0 | 0 | 6+0 | 2 | 36 | 12 |
| Damir Desnica | 13+0 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 3 | 18 | 4 |
| Dragoljub Bursać | 5+5 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 11 | 2 |
| Nikica Milenković | 15+3 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 5+0 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| Duško Lukić | 16+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 18 | 0 |
| Željko Mijač | 16+5 | 2 | 0+1 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 24 | 2 |
| Ive Jerolimov | 19+5 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| Miroslav Šugar | 17+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| Adriano Fegic | 8+3 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| Edmond Tomić | 18+8 | 8 | 1+0 | 1 | 3+2 | 0 | 32 | 9 |
| Milan Bačvarević | 13+2 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| Mauro Ravnić | 30+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 6+0 | 0 | 37 | 0 |
| Željko Maretić | 7+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Danko Peranić | 1+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Željko Nikolić | 8+3 | 1 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| Nebojša Petrović | 3+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Nenad Gračan | 2+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Milivoj Pršo | 1+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Neshat Zhavelli | 3+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Rade Ljepojević | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Mladen Stipančić | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |