1952 Yugoslav First League

The First Federal League of Yugoslavia's 1952 season (colloquially the Yugoslav First League) was shortened and sped-up. It was completed over a period of little more than three and a half months, beginning on 2 March 1952 and finishing on 22 June 1952. The reason for the changes was a desire to start the next season in the fall of 1952, thus implementing the fall-spring format that had become a norm all across Europe by this time.

The clubs were initially divided into two groups of six teams each, where everyone within a given group played each other twice (home and away).

Then, according to the placement in these preliminary groups, three new groups were formed:

• First two teams in each of the two preliminary groups advanced to the 4-team group, the winner of which would become a champion.
• Teams placed 3rd and 4th in each of the two preliminary groups got to move to a 4-team group that would decide final league standings from 5th to 8th place.
• The bottom two teams in each of the two preliminary groups moved to a 4-team group that would decide final league standings at the bottom (places 9th through 12th) and thus determine who gets relegated to the Second League.

League

Preliminary stage

Group 1

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Updated to games played on 11 May 1952.
Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group 2

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Updated to games played on 11 May 1952.
Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Final Round

Championship group

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Updated to games played on 22 June 1952.
Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Central group

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Updated to games played on 22 June 1952.
Source:
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation group

Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Cup

The cup was played from August 24, 1952, until November 29, 1952.

Qualification

Partizan 5 - 4 Radnicki Kragujevac

BSK Beograd 1 - 2 Partizan

(rest unknown)

Round of Sixteen

Lovcen (?) 0 - 3 Partizan

Hajduk Split x - x X

X x - x X

X x - x X

X x - x X

X x - x X

Crvena Zvezda x - x X

Radnicki Nis x - x X

Quarter finals

Hajduk Split 0 - 5 Partizan

Crvena Zvezda Beograd x - x X

Radnicki Nis x - x X

X x - x X

Semi finals

Crvena Zvezda Beograd x - x X

Partizan 4 - 1 Radnicki Nis

Finals

November 29, 1952 - Belgrade, Serbia

Partizan 6 - 0 Crvena Zvezda Beograd

Stadium: Centralnog doma Jugoslovenske Armije (JNA Stadium)

Attendance: 50,000

Referee: Vasa Stefanovič (Beograd)

Crvena Zvezda: Srboljub Krivokuća, Branko Stanković, Miljan Zeković, Siniša Zlatković, Milorad Diskić, Predrag Đajić, Kosta Tomašević, Rajko Mitić, Tihomir Ognjanov, Todor Živanović, Branislav Vukosavljević

Partizan: Slavko Stojanović, Bruno Belin, Ratko Čolić, Zlatko Čajkovski, Stefanović, Miodrag Jovanović, Marko Valok, Todor Veselinović, Stjepan Bobek, Aleksandar Atanacković, Branko Zebec

See also

• Yugoslav Cup
• Yugoslav League Championship
• Football Association of Yugoslavia

External links

• Yugoslavia Domestic Football Full Tables