1964–65 Yugoslav First League


The 1964–65 Yugoslav First League had an odd number of teams because FK Vardar was allowed to compete in the top league despite getting relegated the previous season. The state and FA authorities made this decision due to the major earthquake that hit Skopje on 26 July 1963. The thinking was that having a team in top-flight would boost the citizens' morale.
After week 8 of fixtures on 13 September 1964, the league went on an almost two-month break in order to accommodate the October 1964 Yugoslav Olympic national team's participation at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics where the team consisting entirely of players from the Yugoslav First League made it out of its round-robin group but lost in the quarterfinals to West Germany. The season resumed on 8 November 1964.

Teams

At the end of the previous season only FK Novi Sad was relegated - in spite of finishing last, FK Vardar was allowed to stay in top flight due to the 1963 Skopje earthquake. Since NK Zagreb and Sutjeska Nikšić were promoted from Yugoslav Second League, the league was contested by 15 teams.
TeamLocationFederal RepublicPosition
in 1963–64
Dinamo ZagrebZagreb0033rd
Hajduk SplitSplit01010th
OFK BelgradeBelgrade0022nd
PartizanBelgrade0055th
Radnički NišNiš0088th
Red StarBelgrade0011st
RijekaRijeka0099th
SarajevoSarajevo0044th
SutjeskaNikšić
TrešnjevkaZagreb01111th
VardarSkopje01414th
VeležMostar01212th
VojvodinaNovi Sad0077th
NK ZagrebZagreb
ŽeljezničarSarajevo0066th

League table

Champions

player
Vladica Kovačević
Josip Pirmajer
Ljubomir Mihajlović
Milan Galić
Ivan Ćurković
Mustafa Hasanagić
Radoslav Bečejac
Jovan Miladinović
Joakim Vislavski
Fahrudin Jusufi
Branko Rašović
Velibor Vasović
Velimir Sombolac
Milan Damjanović
Milan Vukelić
Lazar Radović
Bora Milutinović
Mane Bajić
Miodrag Petrović
Milutin Šoškić
Branislav Mihajlović
Jovan Ćurčić
Vojislav Simeunović

Top scorers