# 1978–79 NK Rijeka season

The 1978–79 season was the 33rd season in Rijeka’s history and their 17th season in the Yugoslav First League. Their 5th place finish in the 1977–78 season meant it was their fifth 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 | 12 August 1978 | 17 June 1979 | Matchday 1 | 10th | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 35 | 34 | +1 | 029.41 |
| Yugoslav Cup | 30 August 1978 | 24 May 1979 | First round | Winner | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | +6 | 066.67 |
| European Cup Winners' Cup | 13 September 1978 | 25 October 1978 | First round | Second round | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 025.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 44 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 45 | 39 | +6 | 034.09 |

### Yugoslav First League
#### Classification

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 8 | Sloboda Tuzla | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 34 | 34 | 0 | 32 | |
| 9 | Željezničar | 34 | 14 | 4 | 16 | 45 | 52 | −7 | 32 | |
| 10 | Rijeka | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 35 | 34 | +1 | 31 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 11 | Borac Banja Luka | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 45 | 56 | −11 | 31 | |
| 12 | Vojvodina | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 35 | 38 | −3 | 29 | |

#### 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 | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | D | W | D | D | L | D | W | W | D | L | W | L | D | L | D | L | L | D | D | D | L | W | L | L | W | L | W | D | W | L | L | L | W |
| Position | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 |

## Matches
### First League

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Attendance | Rijeka Scorers |
| 1 | 12 Aug | H | Dinamo Zagreb | 2 – 1 | 8,000 | Radin, Desnica |
| 2 | 20 Aug | A | Radnički Niš | 1 – 1 | 15,000 | Desnica |
| 3 | 23 Aug | H | Borac Banja Luka | 2 – 0 | 7,000 | Ružić, Hrstić |
| 4 | 27 Aug | A | Osijek | 0 – 0 | 12,000 | |
| 5 | 3 Sep | H | Velež | 0 – 0 | 10,000 | |
| 6 | 10 Sep | A | Vojvodina | 0 – 2 | 10,000 | |
| 7 | 17 Sep | H | OFK Beograd | 0 – 0 | 5,000 | |
| 8 | 24 Sep | H | Sarajevo | 5 – 2 | 7,000 | Desnica (2, 1p), Fegic, Šestan, Cukrov |
| 9 | 8 Oct | A | Zagreb | 2 – 0 | 5,000 | Hrstić, Bursać |
| 10 | 14 Oct | H | Sloboda | 0 – 0 | 5,000 | |
| 11 | 28 Oct | A | Partizan | 0 – 1 | 15,000 | |
| 12 | 5 Nov | H | Red Star | 1 – 0 | 15,000 | Juričić |
| 13 | 12 Nov | A | Budućnost | 0 – 1 | 10,000 | |
| 14 | 19 Nov | H | Napredak Kruševac | 1 – 1 | 3,000 | Jerolimov |
| 15 | 26 Nov | A | Olimpija | 0 – 1 | 3,000 | |
| 16 | 29 Nov | H | Hajduk Split | 2 – 2 | 8,000 | Fegic, Mijač |
| 17 | 3 Dec | A | Željezničar | 0 – 1 | 5,000 | |
| 18 | 4 Mar | A | Dinamo Zagreb | 0 – 1 | 40,000 | |
| 19 | 11 Mar | H | Radnički Niš | 0 – 0 | 6,000 | |
| 20 | 18 Mar | A | Borac Banja Luka | 2 – 2 | 4,000 | Tomić, Šestan |
| 21 | 25 Mar | H | Osijek | 3 – 3 | 8,000 | Radin (p), Cukrov, Ružić |
| 22 | 8 Apr | A | Velež | 1 – 3 | 6,000 | Desnica |
| 23 | 15 Apr | H | Vojvodina | 3 – 0 | 5,000 | Jerolimov, Bursać, Desnica |
| 24 | 22 Apr | A | OFK Beograd | 0 – 2 | 4,000 | |
| 25 | 29 Apr | A | Sarajevo | 2 – 3 | 8,000 | Tomić, Cukrov |
| 26 | 6 May | H | Zagreb | 2 – 0 | 6,000 | Ružić, Desnica (p) |
| 27 | 9 May | A | Sloboda | 0 – 1 | 4,000 | |
| 28 | 13 May | H | Partizan | 2 – 0 | 8,000 | Tomić, Cukrov |
| 29 | 20 May | A | Red Star | 0 – 0 | 15,000 | |
| 30 | 27 May | H | Budućnost | 1 – 0 | 8,000 | Radin |
| 31 | 31 May | A | Napredak Kruševac | 1 – 3 | 8,000 | Cukrov |
| 32 | 3 Jun | H | Olimpija | 0 – 1 | 4,000 | |
| 33 | 10 Jun | A | Hajduk Split | 1 – 2 | 12,000 | Machin |
| 34 | 17 Jun | H | Željezničar | 1 – 0 | 2,000 | Hrstić |
Source: rsssf.com

### Yugoslav Cup

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Attendance | Rijeka Scorers |
| R1 | 11 Oct | H | Borac Čačak | 3 – 0 | 3,000 | Cukrov (2), Mijač |
| R2 | 8 Nov | H | Istra | 0 – 0 (4–3 p) | 2,000 | |
| QF | 25 Feb | A | Radnički Niš | 1 – 0 | ? | Tomić |
| SF | 4 Apr | A | Red Star | 1 – 0 | 10,000 | Ružić |
| F | 16 May | H | Partizan | 2 – 1 | 20,000 | Cukrov, Bursać |
| F | 24 May | A | Partizan | 0 – 0 | 55,000 | |
Source: rsssf.com

### Cup Winners' Cup

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Attendance | Rijeka Scorers |
| R1 | 13 Sep | H | Wrexham | 3 – 0 | 9,000 | Tomić, Durkalić, Cukrov |
| R1 | 27 Sep | A | Wrexham | 0 – 2 | 10,469 | |
| R2 | 18 Oct | H | Beveren | 0 – 0 | 8,000 | |
| R2 | 1 Nov | A | Beveren | 0 – 2 | 15,000 | |
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 | 32+0 | 0 | 6+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| Sergio Machin | 34+0 | 1 | 4+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 40 | 1 |
| Nikica Cukrov | 28+0 | 5 | 6+0 | 3 | 4+0 | 1 | 38 | 9 |
| Savo Filipović | 6+4 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Zvjezdan Radin | 30+0 | 3 | 6+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 40 | 3 |
| Miloš Hrstić | 31+0 | 3 | 5+1 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 41 | 3 |
| Milan Ružić | 32+0 | 3 | 5+0 | 1 | 4+0 | 0 | 41 | 4 |
| Srećko Juričić | 28+1 | 1 | 6+0 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 39 | 1 |
| Milan Radović | 5+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Damir Desnica | 28+1 | 7 | 3+1 | 0 | 4+0 | 0 | 37 | 7 |
| Dragoljub Bursać | 21+8 | 2 | 5+0 | 1 | 2+2 | 0 | 38 | 3 |
| Salih Durkalić | 9+0 | 0 | 1+0 | 0 | 2+0 | 1 | 12 | 1 |
| Ivica Car | 3+3 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Željko Mijač | 6+1 | 1 | 2+0 | 1 | 1+0 | 0 | 10 | 2 |
| Ive Jerolimov | 18+1 | 2 | 1+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 24 | 2 |
| Miroslav Šugar | 4+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Zoran Šestan | 3+10 | 2 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 13 | 2 |
| Adriano Fegic | 20+6 | 2 | 2+0 | 0 | 3+0 | 0 | 31 | 2 |
| Edmond Tomić | 19+12 | 3 | 5+1 | 1 | 3+0 | 1 | 40 | 5 |
| Milan Bačvarević | 7+3 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| Mauro Ravnić | 2+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Željko Belić | 0+3 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Danko Peranić | 7+2 | 0 | 2+2 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Miroslav Uljan | 0+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Edin Jasprica | 2+2 | 0 | 2+0 | 0 | 0+0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |