Champions 1981

In the 1980/1981 Championship, the Crvena zvezda team defended their title and became the National Champion of Yugoslavia for the 14th time. Formally, the 36th Championship after the WWII ended on June 14th, but a week before the season end (June 10th), the outcome was clear, due to a better goal-difference (10 goals more) Crvena zvezda had over the second placed team Hajduk. Crvena zvezda deserved the triumph. The main reasons for this assertion are continuous hard work over the years, extraordinary capacity for cohesion, high mobility in decisive moments as well as the most consistent physical preparation throughout all 34 rounds, high motivation, fierce fighting and collective spirit of the whole team as well as traditional vitality. This last argument (being a logical consequence of the former ones) was decisive for winning the title.

The coach, Branko Stanojević, admitted that there had been oscillations, but that in the Crvena zvezda team they had been less obvious than in other teams. Crvena zvezda won 44 points (two more than Hajduk and 3 more than Radnički from Niš), scored most goals – 62, and conceded least -31. These statistics demonstrate, without a doubt, that the red and white team was the one with the most constant performance, most vicious attack and most reliable defense.

However, there were some serious difficulties, and when the team’s principal moral supporter, Vladimir Petrović got injured, the performance of the whole team went down, at the end of the autumn session and in some important spring matches, like the one against Hajduk. The same thing also happened when two other key players got injured – the goalkeeper Ljukovčan and the unstoppable dribbler Šestić. Besides these problems, two players (Milovanović and Dušan Savić) were absent due to military service since the very beginning, and later Rajković, Blagojević and Milosavljević were also to join them. The team could neither rely on the players who had recently completed the military service – the goalkeeper Stojanović, Jelikić, Muslin and Radomir Savić.

- When you put all the facts together – stated Stanković – it appears that during past three years, since I have been a head of the coaching staff, two teams have come and gone! Such a flow would shake the best European teams. Do we need an example other than Partizan, unable to come to for a long time now or Hajduk, extremely vulnerable to the very end? How could I not be extremely satisfied with the results my team has accomplished? With 12 team-mates absent, they presided the rank during 30 rounds and finally triumphed.

Only Rajko Janjin played all the championship games, and the best Crvena zvezda scorer was Zdravko Borovnica who scored 12 goals.

Roster:
Cvjetin Blagojević 16-2, Zdravko Borovnica 29-12, Slobodan Goračinov 2, Boško Đurovski 26, Milko Đurovski 10-5, Goran Živanović 1-1, Milan Janković 30-5, Rajko Janjanin 34-6, Zoran Jelikić 10-1, Milan Jovin 16-2, Ivan Jurišić 27-1, Zlatko Krmpotić 32-1, Živan Ljukovčan 17-14 received goals, Srba Marinković 1, Dragan Miletović 23, Nedeljko Milosavljević 6-2, Slavoljub Muslin 10, Vladimir Petrović 23-6, Slavko Radovanović 1, Milenko Rajković 14, Srebrenko Repčić 33-10, Radomir Savić 12, Dragan Simeunović 16-16 received goals, Srboljub Stamenković 1, Ljubiša Stojanović 12, Zdravko Čakalić 2, Miloš Šestić 31-7.

Coach:
Branko Stanković

Champions 1980 Champions 1984