1985–86 Yugoslav First League

The 1985–86 Yugoslav First League season was marked by scandal and controversy due to allegedly wide match-fixing during the last week of fixtures.

Prva savezna liga Jugoslavije
Season1985–86
Dates11 August 1985 –
29 June 1986
ChampionsPartizan
RelegatedOFK Belgrade
Vojvodina
European CupRed Star
UEFA CupPartizan
Hajduk Split
Rijeka
Cup Winners' CupVelež
Top goalscorerDavor Čop (22)
Average attendance8,507

Summary

After the last week was played, FK Partizan was crowned champion due to better goal difference than second-placed Red Star Belgrade. However, after weeks of public pressure and huge public outcry, on 20 June 1986, the Yugoslav FA presidency headed by Slavko Šajber decided to impose extraordinary measures that included the following:

  • voiding the already played week 34 matches of the 1985–86 season and ordering a replay of every single one (nine fixtures in total)
  • docking 6 points from each of the 12 clubs suspected of being involved in match-fixing, meaning they would start the following league season with -6 points

Each club agreed to play the replay except for Partizan. As a result their week 34 fixture was registered as a 3–0 defeat, and the club was thus stripped of the league title, which was now awarded to Red Star. Based on this decision, it was Red Star Belgrade who got to represent SFR Yugoslavia in the 1986–87 European Cup.

What followed on domestic front was a series of appeals and lawsuits and the entire case eventually went all the way to the Yugoslav Constitutional Court. By the time Yugoslav Constitutional Court delivered its final ruling to the Court of Joint Labour of SR Serbia on 29 July 1987, the next league season was already completed with FK Vardar winning the title due to 12 teams starting the season with -6 points.

The court's ruling was that there was no evidence of wrongdoing in the week 34 of the 1985–86 season and thus that season's title was given back to Partizan. That also meant that there was no merit for the 6-point docking in the 1986–87 and now that season's table was re-counted so that now Partizan became a new champion.

Still, Vardar got to represent SFR Yugoslavia in the 1987–88 European Cup.

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Partizan (C) 34 21 7 6 65 29 +36 49 Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
2 Red Star Belgrade 34 21 7 6 73 38 +35 49 Qualification for European Cup first round
3 Velež 34 13 11 10 64 50 +14 37 Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
4 Hajduk Split 34 15 7 12 55 44 +11 37 Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
5 Rijeka 34 12 13 9 42 31 +11 37
6 Dinamo Zagreb 34 11 14 9 53 43 +10 36
7 Željezničar 34 15 5 14 58 63 −5 35
8 Vardar 34 14 6 14 52 59 −7 34
9 Osijek 34 12 9 13 39 42 −3 33
10 Sutjeska Nikšić 34 14 4 16 55 61 −6 32
11 Prishtina 34 13 6 15 37 47 −10 32
12 Sloboda Tuzla 34 11 9 14 47 59 −12 31
13 Dinamo Vinkovci 34 11 8 15 51 54 −3 30
14 Budućnost 34 13 4 17 47 52 −5 30
15 Sarajevo 34 11 8 15 41 46 −5 30
16 Čelik 34 11 8 15 39 49 −10 30
17 OFK Belgrade (R) 34 12 6 16 48 63 −15 30 Relegation to Yugoslav Second League
18 Vojvodina (R) 34 6 8 20 33 69 −36 20
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (R) Relegated.
Champions: FK Partizan
PlayerLeague
MatchesGoals
Fahrudin Omerović (goalkeeper)340
Zvonko Varga3217
Ljubomir Radanović324
Vladimir Vermezović321
Admir Smajić302
Slobodan Rojević290
Goran Stevanović283
Nebojša Vučićević276
Miloš Đelmaš2611
Zvonko Živković2412
Bajro Župić240
Milonja Đukić231
Vlado Čapljić213
Radoslav Nikodijević170
Miodrag Bajović150
Miodrag Radović120
Milinko Pantić92
Milorad Bajović60
Dragan Mance [lower-alpha 1]52
Goran Bogdanović50
Jovica Kolb41
Isa Sadriu40
Head coach: Nenad Bjeković
  1. died 3 September 1985 in a car accident

Match-fixing controversy

As mentioned, week 34, the last week of 1985–86 Yugoslav First League season, featured some highly suspicious results. All the matches started at the same time on Sunday, 15 June 1986.[1]

Home team Score Away team Notes
Partizan 4–0† Željezničar In order to become league champions, Partizan needed to beat Željezničar by at least the same margin that Red Star potentially beats Sarajevo by in their match. Since both matches were scheduled to start at the same time, Partizan came up with an impromptu pre-match ceremony for their famous striker Momčilo Vukotić who retired the previous year, meaning that their match versus Željezničar actually started 10 minutes later than Sarajevo-Red Star match.
Sarajevo 0–4† Red Star In order to become league champion, Red Star needed to beat Sarajevo by a larger margin than Partizan potentially beats Željezničar by in their match. Red Star ended up winning away by a four goal margin.
Vojvodina 1–7† Dinamo Zagreb Vojvodina was already mathematically relegated while Dinamo Zagreb needed to win, hopefully by a big margin, in order to have a chance at getting a third UEFA Cup spot through better goal difference. The game ended with a huge win for the visitors who scored 7 goals.
Hajduk Split 5–3† Dinamo Vinkovci Hajduk needed a win in their quest for the third UEFA Cup spot, while Dinamo Vinkovci's Davor Čop was in the middle of a scoring race and needed goals in order to become the league's top scorer. Hajduk won the game while Dinamo's Čop scored a hat-trick for the losing side.
Sutjeska 5–5† Budućnost Budućnost and Sutjeska both needed points to have a chance at avoiding relegation. The game ended in a draw.
Čelik 1–1† Rijeka Rijeka needed points in their fight for the third UEFA Cup spot, while Čelik needed points to have chance at avoiding relegation. The game ended in a draw.
Osijek 2–1 Sloboda
Velež 2–3† OFK Belgrade Velež already ensured a UEFA Cup spot, while OFK Belgrade needed a win to have a chance at avoiding relegation. The game ended with lowly visitors winning at the ground where even the top Yugoslav teams had trouble getting points all season long.
Priština 0–0 Vardar

† results of matches suspected being fixed

Top scorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Davor Čop Dinamo Vinkovci 22
2 Miloš Bursać Sutjeska 20
3 Zlatko Vujović Hajduk Split 18
4 Zvonko Varga Partizan 17
5 Predrag Jurić Velež 15
Marinko Stojaković OFK Beograd
7 Radmilo Mihajlović Željezničar 14
8 Milko Đurovski Red Star 13
Haris Škoro Željezničar
Muhidin Teskeredžić Sarajevo
Miroslav Ćurčić Vojvodina

Attendance
Club Average home attendance Average away attendance
Red Star Belgrade 19,882 16,471
FK Priština 15,000 7,353
FK Partizan 13,765 16,059
Čelik Zenica 12,412 4,706
Dinamo Zagreb 12,353 12,647
FK Vardar 9,941 5,000
FK Velež 9,529 6,471
Hajduk Split 8,882 15,647
FK Vojvodina 7,294 6,059
Budućnost Titograd 6,059 6,412
FK Željezničar 5,941 11,882
NK Rijeka 5,588 6,412
OFK Beograd 5,529 6,118
FK Sarajevo 5,471 7,706
Dinamo Vinkovci 4,176 6,176
NK Osijek 4,000 5,706
Sutjeska Nikšić 3,882 5,647
Sloboda Tuzla 3,412 6,647
  • Overall league attendance per match: 8,507 spectators

See also

References
  1. "Namještanje utakmica je stari zanat". novilist.hr (in Croatian). 10 June 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
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