The 1964–65 Yugoslav First League had an odd number of teams because

FK Vardar FK Vardar () is a professional Association football, football club based in Skopje, North Macedonia, which competes in the Macedonian First Football League, Macedonian First League. They are the most successful football club in Football in Maced ...

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 An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

(6.1

Richter scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

) that hit

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

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 The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequ ...

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 West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. The season resumed on 8 November 1964.

Teams

At the end of the previous season only

FK Novi Sad RFK Novi Sad 1921 () is a professional football club based in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian League Vojvodina, the third tier of the national league system. History Founded in 1921 as NTK, the club was refounded in 1948 ...

was relegated – in spite of finishing last,

was allowed to stay in top flight due to the

1963 Skopje earthquake The 1963 Skopje earthquake () was a 6.1 moment magnitude earthquake which occurred in Skopje, SR Macedonia (present-day North Macedonia), then part of the SFR Yugoslavia, on July 26, 1963, which killed over 1,070 people, injured between 3,000 an ...

. Since

NK Zagreb Nogometni klub Zagreb (''Zagreb Football Club''), commonly known as NK Zagreb or simply Zagreb (), is a Croatian football club based in the capital city of Zagreb. It currently competes in the fifth tier league competition of Croatian footbal ...

and Sutjeska Nikšić were promoted from

Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second League ( Bosnian: ''Druga savezna liga,'' Croatian: ''Druga savezna liga'', Serbian: ''Друга савезна лига'', Slovenian: ''Druga zvezna liga'', Macedonian: ''Втора сојузна лига'', ''Vtora sojuzna l ...

, the league was contested by 15 teams.

League table

Results

Winning squad

Champions: *

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

(Coach: Aleksandar Atanacković) player (league matches/league goals) *

Vladica Kovačević Vladimir "Vladica" Kovačević (, ; 7 January 1940 – 28 July 2016) was a Yugoslav and Serbian footballer who played as a forward. Club career Born in Ivanjica, Kovačević moved to Belgrade in 1955 and joined the youth system of Partizan. H ...

(28/14) * Josip Pirmajer (27/7) * Ljubomir Mihajlović (26/0) *

Milan Galić Milan Galić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Галић, ; 8 March 1938 – 13 September 2014) was a Yugoslav and Serbian professional footballer who played as a striker. He was part of the Yugoslav squad that won gold at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Durin ...

(24/15) *

Ivan Ćurković Ivan Ćurković (, ; born 15 March 1944) is a Serbian sports executive and former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. During his playing career that spanned 21 seasons from 1960 to 1981 ...

(23/0) (goalkeeper) * Mustafa Hasanagić (20/13) *

Radoslav Bečejac Radoslav Bečejac (; born 21 December 1941) is a Yugoslav former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career After starting out at Proleter Zrenjanin, Bečejac was transferred to Yugoslav First League club Partizan in 196 ...

(20/2) *

Jovan Miladinović Jovan Miladinović (30 January 1939 – 11 September 1982), commonly known as Zoran, was a Yugoslav football player and coach. During his club career he played for FK Partizan and 1. FC Nürnberg. He earned 17 caps for the Yugoslavia national ...

(19/0) * Joakim Vislavski (18/5) *

Fahrudin Jusufi Fahrudin Jusufi ( sr-Cyrl, Фахрудин Јусуфи, ; 8 December 1939 – 9 August 2019) was a Yugoslav footballer who most notably played for Partizan, Eintracht Frankfurt and the Yugoslavia national team. Playing career Club career Ju ...

(18/0) * Branko Rašović (17/0) *

Velibor Vasović Velibor Vasović (Serbian Cyrillic: Велибор Васовић; 3 October 1939 – 4 March 2002) was a Serbian footballer and manager, also one of the legendary players of Partizan Belgrade and Ajax and is regarded one of greatest defenders ...

(15/0) *

Velimir Sombolac Velimir Sombolac (Serbian Cyrillic: Велимир Сомболац; 27 February 1939 – 22 May 2016) was a Serbian footballer and manager. He was part of the Yugoslav squad that won gold at the 1960 Summer Olympics. Playing career Club Follow ...

(14/0) * Milan Damjanović (11/0) * Milan Vukelić (10/0) *

Lazar Radović Lazar Radović (Cyrillic: Лазар Радовић; born 13 November 1937) is a Montenegrin retired footballer. Club career Radović played in Holland for Xerxes alongside Eddy Treijtel and Willem van Hanegem and was prepared to follow van Ha ...

(8/0) *

Bora Milutinović Velibor "Bora" Milutinović ( sr-Cyrl, Велибор Бора Милутиновић; born 7 September 1944) is a Serbian former professional footballer and manager. He has managed at five editions of the FIFA World Cup, tied for the record al ...

(6/0) *

Mane Bajić Mane Bajić (Serbian Cyrillic: Мане Бајић; 7 December 1941 – 6 March 1994) was a Serbian footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Bajić experienced his football affirmation in Partizan, where he played from 1962 to 1970. D ...

(5/1) * Miodrag Petrović (5/1) *

Milutin Šoškić Milutin Šoškić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милутин Шошкић; 31 December 1937 – 27 August 2022) was a Serbian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is considered one of FK Partizan's greatest players. Biography He was ...

(4/0) (goalkeeper) * Branislav Mihajlović (2/0) * Jovan Ćurčić (1/0) (goalkeeper) * Vojislav Simeunović (1/0)

Top scorers

External links

Yugoslavia Domestic Football Full Tables
{{DEFAULTSORT:1964-65 Yugoslav First League Yugoslav First League seasons

Yugo Yugo (), also known as the Zastava Yugo, Zastava Koral (, sr-Cyrl, Застава Корал) and Yugo Koral, was a subcompact car, subcompact hatchback manufactured by Zastava Automobiles from 1980 until 2008, originally a Socialist Federal R ...