# 1952–53 Yugoslav First League
## Teams

Two clubs relegated at the end of the previous season were Rabotnički and Mačva. Teams promoted to the 1952–53 Yugoslav First League were Velež and Spartak.
| Team | Location | Federal Republic | Position in 1952 |
| BSK Belgrade | Belgrade | SR Serbia | 0055th |
| Dinamo Zagreb | Zagreb | SR Croatia | 0044th |
| Hajduk Split | Split | SR Croatia | 0011st |
| Lokomotiva | Zagreb | SR Croatia | 0033rd |
| Partizan | Belgrade | SR Serbia | 0066th |
| Red Star | Belgrade | SR Serbia | 0022nd |
| Sarajevo | Sarajevo | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0099th |
| Spartak | Subotica | SR Serbia | — |
| Vardar | Skopje | SR Macedonia | 0077th |
| Velež | Mostar | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | — |
| Vojvodina | Novi Sad | SR Serbia | 0088th |
| NK Zagreb | Zagreb | SR Croatia | 01010th |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Relegation |
| 1 | Red Star Belgrade (C) | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 47 | 27 | +20 | 31 | |
| 2 | Hajduk Split | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 49 | 35 | +14 | 29 | |
| 3 | Partizan | 22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 58 | 36 | +22 | 25 | |
| 4 | Vojvodina | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 37 | 36 | +1 | 24 | |
| 5 | BSK Belgrade | 22 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 34 | 37 | −3 | 23 | |
| 6 | Sarajevo | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 39 | 33 | +6 | 22 | |
| 7 | Dinamo Zagreb | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 32 | 30 | +2 | 22 | |
| 8 | Lokomotiva | 22 | 6 | 9 | 7 | 33 | 40 | −7 | 21 | |
| 9 | Vardar | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 37 | 46 | −9 | 19 | |
| 10 | Spartak Subotica | 22 | 8 | 3 | 11 | 33 | 44 | −11 | 19 | |
| 11 | Velež (R) | 22 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 30 | 51 | −21 | 15 | Relegation to Yugoslav Second League |
| 12 | NK Zagreb (R) | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 23 | 37 | −14 | 14 | Relegation to Yugoslav Second League |

## Results

| Home \ Away | BSK | DIN | HAJ | LOK | PAR | RSB | SAR | SPA | VAR | VEL | VOJ | ZAG |
| BSK Belgrade | | 1–0 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 4–3 | 1–1 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 3–0 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 1–1 | | 5–1 | 4–3 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 0–0 |
| Hajduk Split | 0–2 | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 6–1 | 6–3 |
| Lokomotiva | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–4 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Partizan | 5–1 | 3–2 | 2–4 | 3–0 | | 2–4 | 2–2 | 6–2 | 9–2 | 4–1 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| Red Star | 5–3 | 3–0 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 5–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 |
| Sarajevo | 2–3 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 7–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | | 3–2 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Spartak Subotica | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 3–1 | | 3–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| Vardar | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 5–1 | | 5–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Velež | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–1 | | 3–5 | 2–0 |
| Vojvodina | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 5–3 | | 0–2 |
| NK Zagreb | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 0–1 | |

## Winning squad

Champions:
* RED STAR BELGRADE (coach: Bane Sekulić, replaced by Žarko Mihajlović)
players (league matches/league goals):
* Miljan Zeković (22/0)
* Todor Živanović (21/17)
* Branko Stanković (21/1)
* Predrag Đajić (21/1)
* Siniša Zlatković (21/0)
* Rajko Mitić (18/8)
* Tihomir Ognjanov (17/3)
* Milorad Diskić (17/0)
* Branislav Vukosavljević (13/8)
* Kosta Tomašević (9/3)
* Dimitrije Tadić (7/0)
* Jovan Cokić (6/2)
* Bela Palfi (6/1)
* Vasilije Šijaković (6/1)
* Ljuba Spajić (6/0)
* Dragoljub Župac (3/0)
* Milivoje Đurđević (2/0)
* Branko Nešović (1/0)
* Svetislav Milić (1/0)
* Miodrag Petrović (1/0)
* Miroslav Lazić (1/0)

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Todor Živanović | Red Star | 17 |
| 2 | Zdravko Rajkov | Vojvodina | 16 |
| 3 | Todor Veselinović | Partizan | 15 |
| 3 | Marko Valok | Partizan | 15 |
| 5 | Bernard Vukas | Hajduk Split | 12 |
| 5 | Vladimir Firm | Lokomotiva | 12 |
| 7 | Frane Matošić | Hajduk Split | 11 |
| 7 | Božo Broketa | Hajduk Split | 11 |
| 9 | Vladimir Zelenika | Velež | 10 |
| 9 | Dobrivoje Živkov | Sarajevo | 10 |
| 9 | Đorđe Cincijevski | Vardar | 10 |