# 1972–73 Yugoslav First League

The 1972–73 Yugoslav First League season was the 27th season of the First Federal League of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Prva savezna liga Jugoslavije), the top level association football competition of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946. A total of 18 teams competed in the league, with the previous season's runners-up Red Star winning the title.

## Teams

A total of eighteen teams contested the league, including sixteen sides from the 1971–72 season and two sides promoted from the 1971–72 Yugoslav Second League (YSL) as winners of the two second level divisions East and West. The league was contested in a double round robin format, with each club playing every other club twice, for a total of 34 rounds. Two points were awarded for wins and one point for draws.
Radnički Kragujevac and NK Maribor were relegated from the 1971–72 Yugoslav First League after finishing the season in bottom two places of the league table. The two clubs promoted to top level were Bor and Spartak Subotica.
| Team | Location | Federal Republic | Position in 1971–72 |
| Bor | Bor | SR Serbia | — |
| Borac Banja Luka | Banja Luka | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | 01313th |
| Čelik | Zenica | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | 01212th |
| Dinamo Zagreb | Zagreb | SR Croatia | 0088th |
| Hajduk Split | Split | SR Croatia | 01010th |
| OFK Belgrade | Belgrade | SR Serbia | 0033rd |
| Olimpija Ljubljana | Ljubljana | SR Slovenia | 0099th |
| Partizan | Belgrade | SR Serbia | 0055th |
| Radnički Niš | Niš | SR Serbia | 01414th |
| Red Star | Belgrade | SR Serbia | 0022nd |
| Sarajevo | Sarajevo | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | 01515th |
| Sloboda | Tuzla | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0077th |
| Spartak Subotica | Subotica | SR Serbia | — |
| Sutjeska Nikšić | Nikšić | SR Montenegro | 01616th |
| Vardar | Skopje | SR Macedonia | 01111th |
| Velež | Mostar | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0066th |
| Vojvodina | Novi Sad | SR Serbia | 0044th |
| Željezničar | Sarajevo | SR Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0011st |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Red Star Belgrade (C) | 34 | 21 | 10 | 3 | 71 | 28 | +43 | 52 | Qualification for European Cup first round |
| 2 | Velež | 34 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 48 | 27 | +21 | 46 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 3 | OFK Belgrade | 34 | 16 | 13 | 5 | 52 | 31 | +21 | 45 | Qualification for UEFA Cup first round |
| 4 | Partizan | 34 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 50 | 37 | +13 | 43 | |
| 5 | Željezničar | 34 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 59 | 41 | +18 | 42 | |
| 6 | Sloboda Tuzla | 34 | 8 | 18 | 8 | 34 | 32 | +2 | 34 | |
| 7 | Sarajevo | 34 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 48 | 50 | −2 | 34 | |
| 8 | Dinamo Zagreb | 34 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 39 | 47 | −8 | 33 | Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round |
| 9 | Hajduk Split | 34 | 14 | 3 | 17 | 50 | 50 | 0 | 31 | |
| 10 | Vardar | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 35 | 50 | −15 | 31 | |
| 11 | Radnički Niš | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 24 | 40 | −16 | 30 | |
| 12 | Borac Banja Luka | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 30 | 26 | +4 | 29 | |
| 13 | Vojvodina | 34 | 10 | 9 | 15 | 39 | 46 | −7 | 29 | |
| 14 | Čelik | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 27 | 44 | −17 | 28 | |
| 15 | Bor | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | 36 | 57 | −21 | 28 | |
| 16 | Olimpija | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 35 | 43 | −8 | 26 | |
| 17 | Spartak Subotica (R) | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 37 | 48 | −11 | 26 | Relegation to Yugoslav Second League |
| 18 | Sutjeska Nikšić (R) | 34 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 32 | 49 | −17 | 25 | Relegation to Yugoslav Second League |
* ↑ Vardar was invited to the Balkans Cup.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BOR | BBL | ČEL | DIN | HAJ | OFK | OLI | PAR | RNI | RSB | SAR | SLO | SPA | SUT | VAR | VEL | VOJ | ŽEL |
| Bor | | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–5 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 |
| Borac Banja Luka | 3–1 | | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 6–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 |
| Čelik | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 4–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 4–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 0–4 | 7–3 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Hajduk Split | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 5–0 | 0–3 | 7–0 | 3–2 |
| OFK Belgrade | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 2–0 | | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 4–3 |
| Olimpija | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 |
| Partizan | 2–2 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Radnički Niš | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Red Star | 5–1 | 2–0 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | | 4–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 |
| Sarajevo | 3–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | | 0–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 2–4 |
| Sloboda Tuzla | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–3 |
| Spartak Subotica | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Sutjeska | 5–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 |
| Vardar | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–1 |
| Velež | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Vojvodina | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | | 1–1 |
| Željezničar | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 7–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |

## Winning squad

Champions Red Star Belgrade
Zoran Antonijević Jovan Aćimović Zoran Bingulac Vladislav Bogićević Kiro Dojčinovski Ratomir Dujković Milovan Đorić Slobodan Janković Živorad Jeftić Nikola Jovanović Stanislav Karasi
Mihalj Keri Branko Klenkovski Petar Krivokuća Vojin Lazarević Dušan Nikolić Mile Novković Miroslav Pavlović Aleksandar Panajotović Vladimir Petrović
Ognjan Petrović
Sead Sušić Zoran Filipović
Dragan Džajić

## Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Vojin Lazarević | Red Star | 25 |
| 1 | Slobodan Santrač | OFK Belgrade | 25 |
| 3 | Dušan Bajević | Velež | 21 |
| 4 | Petar Nadoveza | Hajduk Split | 19 |
| 5 | Stanislav Karasi | Red Star | 17 |
| 6 | Josip Bukal | Željezničar | 15 |
| 7 | Salem Halilhodžić | Velež | 14 |
| 8 | Nenad Bjeković | Partizan | 13 |
| 9 | Zvonko Ivezić | Vojvodina | 12 |
| 10 | Momčilo Vukotić | Partizan | 11 |