1990–91 Yugoslav First League

The Yugoslav First Federal League's 1990/1991 season was the 63rd time the competition was contested. The title was won by Red Star Belgrade, the club's 18th in its history. It also turned out to be the last season in which teams from SR Croatia and SR Slovenia participated. In 1991 these constituent republics declared their independence from Yugoslavia.

Prva savezna liga Jugoslavije
Season1990–91
Dates4 August 1990 –
16 June 1991
ChampionsRed Star
European CupRed Star
Cup Winners' CupHajduk Split
UEFA CupDinamo Zagreb
Partizan
Goals scored883
Top goalscorerDarko Pančev (34)

Two points were awarded for a win, while the tied matches were decided by a penalty shootout with the winner getting a point.

The first half of the season (the fall part) completed on December 19, 1990, with the postponed week 17 match in Split between Hajduk and Red Star. The second half of the season (the spring part) began on February 17, 1991.

Location of teams competing in the 1990-91 Yugoslav First League

Incidents

Ethnically motivated violent pitch invasion

The season featured a huge politically and ethnically motivated incident during the Hajduk Split vs. FK Partizan tie on Wednesday, 26 September 1990 at Poljud Stadium, when a mob of hardcore Hajduk fans invaded the pitch during second half in an attempt to lynch Partizan players. All of the Partizan players managed to run away into the dressing room, thus escaping unharmed. While chanting anti-Serb slogans, the violent mob then set fire to the Yugoslav flag that was displayed on the stadium's official mast. They then proceeded to raise the Croatian chequerboard flag (at the time not in official use and thus considered a Croatian nationalist symbol). At the moment of the incident, Partizan was leading 0-2 courtesy of a Milan Đurđević brace. The match was never resumed and eventually registered 0-3 in Partizan's favour.

Dinamo v. Red Star match-fixing allegations

On Saturday, 18 May 1991, Dinamo Zagreb hosted champions-elect Red Star Belgrade at Maksimir Stadium. The match was of no competitive importance since Red Star had already clinched the league title as it prepared to go to Bari some ten days later for the European Cup Final while Dinamo cemented its hold on the second place that ensured a UEFA Cup spot. However, the match still carried a degree of tension due to pitting a marquee Croatian side versus a marquee Serbian one at a time when ethnic incidents, some of them deadly, started taking place in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, and especially in light of the fact this was the first time the two teams met at Maksimir following the previous season's violent clashes in the stands that called the match off.

This time the match began as scheduled and finished without interruption with Red Star going 0-2 in front before Dinamo mounted a spirited come-back for a 3-2 win at full time. However, more than 20 years later, allegations appeared that the contest had been fixed via confessions from two of the match's protagonists.

Speaking to Globus magazine in September 2012, Robert Prosinečki, Red Star midfielder back in 1991, said his team "let Dinamo win that day".[1][2]

Prompted by Prosinečki's claims, Ljupko Petrović, Red Star's head coach in 1991, expanded: "We didn't lose that match by arranging with someone from Dinamo beforehand to let them win. No. We were simply forced into losing by the political circles that wanted to ensure Dinamo's win that day. The war had practically already begun, Croatia was about to declare independence, and the match was taking place only a year after the previous incident when Zvonimir Boban assaulted a policeman - our first away match versus Dinamo since then. I remember that Franjo Tuđman came to the match and watched it from the luxury box with his cronies and that the overall atmosphere within the stadium was extremely hostile such that no result but Dinamo's win was going to be acceptable. We got up 0-2, but towards the end of the first half Dinamo got a penalty on a scandalous and very obvious dive by Davor Šuker. Later, they managed to tie the score. At halftime I protested vehemently with the referee, a Montenegrin guy whose name I can't recall at the moment, and from what he told me it was apparent between the lines that it was already decided we had to lose that match for political reasons. Because Tuđman is sitting in the stands and because he doesn't want a Serbian team winning in the middle of Zagreb right in front of his eyes at a time when he's creating an independent state. I got thrown out of the match, we conceded once more, we lost the match and that's the whole story".[3]

League table
Pos Team Pld W PKW PKL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Red Star Belgrade (C) 36 25 4 2 5 88 35 +53 79 Qualification for European Cup first round
2 Dinamo Zagreb[lower-alpha 1] 36 20 6 4 6 72 36 +36 66 Qualification for UEFA Cup first round
3 Partizan 36 18 5 3 10 62 36 +26 59
4 Proleter Zrenjanin 36 17 1 3 15 50 49 +1 52 Qualification for Intertoto Cup
5 Borac Banja Luka 36 14 7 4 11 42 38 +4 49
6 Hajduk Split[lower-alpha 1] 36 15 3 6 12 49 38 +11 48 Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
7 Vojvodina 36 14 5 4 13 47 52 −5 47
8 Rad 36 14 4 3 15 42 34 +8 46
9 Osijek[lower-alpha 1] 36 14 4 2 16 52 57 −5 46
10 Radnički Niš 36 14 4 1 17 35 49 −14 46
11 Sarajevo 36 13 5 5 13 37 48 −11 44
12 Velež 36 12 6 4 14 54 55 −1 42
13 Zemun 36 12 6 4 14 40 53 −13 42
14 Olimpija[lower-alpha 1] 36 14 2 1 19 41 59 −18 44
15 Rijeka[lower-alpha 1] 36 13 3 7 13 33 25 +8 42
16 Željezničar 36 11 7 6 12 35 41 −6 40
17 Budućnost 36 13 2 4 17 43 48 −5 41
18 Sloboda Tuzla 36 11 1 6 18 36 56 −20 34
19 Spartak Subotica 36 1 2 8 25 25 74 −49 5
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion.
Notes:
  1. After the season, Croatian and Slovenian clubs left the Yugoslav federation and formed their own leagues. Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split, Osijek and Rijeka joined 1992 Prva HNL, while Olimpija joined 1991–92 Slovenian PrvaLiga.
Champions: Red Star Belgrade
PlayerLeague
MatchesGoals
Vlada Stošić354
Miodrag Belodedić341
Stevan Stojanović (goalkeeper)330
Darko Pančev3234
Vladimir Jugović327
Ilija Najdoski322
Duško Radinović300
Robert Prosinečki2911
Dragiša Binić2713
Slobodan Marović271
Refik Šabanadžović260
Dejan Savićević258
Siniša Mihajlović [lower-alpha 1]141
Ivica Momčilović130
Rade Tošić110
Ljubiša Milojević81
Goran Jurić [lower-alpha 2]80
Goran Vasilijević70
Dejan Joksimović50
Ivan Adžić41
Vladan Lukić41
Enes Bešić30
Milić Jovanović (goalkeeper)30
Slaviša Čula20
Duško Savić20
Đorđe Aćimović10
Aleksandar Ilić10
Mitar Mrkela [lower-alpha 3]10
Milorad Ratković10
Head coach: Ljupko Petrović
  1. bought from FK Vojvodina January '91
  2. sold to Celta de Vigo in December 1990
  3. sold to FC Twente in early fall 1990

Top scorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Darko Pančev Red Star 34
2 Davor Šuker Dinamo Zagreb 22
3 Zvonimir Boban Dinamo Zagreb 15
4 Ljubomir Vorkapić Vojvodina 14
Predrag Mijatović Partizan
6 Dragiša Binić Red Star 13
Anto Drobnjak Budućnost
Meho Kodro Velež
9 Vladimir Gudelj Velež 12
10 Zoran Slišković Željezničar 11
Robert Prosinečki Red Star
Goran Vlaović Osijek
Zoran Kuntić Spartak Subotica
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See also

References
  1. Robert Prosinečki: Štimac nema karizmu Archived 28 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine;Globus, September 2012
  2. Zvezda pustila Dinamo 1991.;Kurir, 28 September 2012
  3. Ljupko Petrović: Zvezda je 1991. morala da pusti Dinamo zbog Tuđmana!;Blic, 28 September 2012
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