Yugoslav football league system

The Yugoslav football league system refers to the system of interconnected leagues in association football which was in place during the existence of Yugoslavia and organized by the Football Association of Yugoslavia (FSJ).

The exact formats and numbers of levels changed several times, the last time in 1988, when the four inter-republic groups were introduced at third level. The groups were called that way because unlike the fourth tier groups they did not correspond territorially to Yugoslavia's six federal republics.

The system

The following table shows the structure as it was employed in the 1990–91 season, the last season before Slovenian and Croatian clubs departed after their countries declared independence. Bosnian and Macedonian clubs also abandoned the system during and after the following 1991–92 season. Serbia and Montenegro stayed unified as FR Yugoslavia and continued competing together all the way until 2006. The league system structure was kept similar, with the 4 Inter-Republic leagues being replaced by 4 leagues distributed geographically: Montenegrin League, Serbian League East, Serbian League North and Serbian League West.

Lev.

Leagues

1

First Federal League
18 clubs – 2 relegations

2

Second Federal League
20 clubs – 2 promotions, 4 relegations

3

Inter-Republic League North
18 clubs – 1 promotion

Inter-Republic League South
18 clubs – 1 promotion

Inter-Republic League East
18 clubs – 1 promotion

Inter-Republic League West
18 clubs – 1 promotion

4

Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic League
Croatian Republic Football League
Macedonian Republic Football League
Montenegrin Republic League
Serbian Republic Football League
Slovenian Republic Football League
Vojvodina Football League

See also