The 1980–81

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 ...

season was the 35th season of the Second Federal League (), the second level

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

competition of

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, since its establishment in 1946. The league was contested in two regional groups (West Division and East Division), with 16 clubs each.

West Division

Teams

A total of sixteen teams contested the league, including ten sides from the 1979–80 season, two clubs relegated from the

1979–80 Yugoslav First League The 1979–80 Yugoslav First League was won by Red Star Belgrade. Teams A total of eighteen teams contested the league, including sixteen sides from the 1978–79 season and two sides promoted from the 1978–79 Yugoslav Second League (YSL) as ...

and four sides promoted from the Inter-Republic Leagues played in the 1979–80 season. The league was contested in a

double round robin A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

format, with each club playing every other club twice, for a total of 30 rounds. Two points were awarded for wins and one point for draws. Čelik and

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

were relegated from the 1978–79 Yugoslav First League after finishing at the bottom two places of the league table. The four clubs promoted to the second level were

AIK Bačka Topola FK TSC ( sr-Cyrl, ФК ТСЦ), commonly known as TSC, is a Serbian professional Association football, football club based in Bačka Topola. Its initial founding date in 1913 as Topolyai Sport Club makes it currently the second-oldest football cl ...

, GOŠK-Jug, Jedinstvo Brčko and

Svoboda Svoboda () means "freedom" in various Slavic languages. It may refer to: People * Svoboda (surname) Organizations Media * Radio Svoboda, operated by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty * ''Svoboda'' (newspaper), a daily Ukrainian language newspa ...

. At the end of season the bribery scandal involving

Maribor Maribor ( , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

emerged, and caused the club to be relegated from second tier to third by the decision of the

Football Association of Yugoslavia The Football Association of Yugoslavia (FSJ) (, ; ; ) was the governing body of football in Yugoslavia, based in Belgrade, with a major administrative branch in Zagreb. It organized the Yugoslav First League, the Yugoslavia national football t ...

disciplinary committee. The club had a secret fund that was used for bribing officials and opponents. Some club officials were keeping track of the bribery expenses in their black book, which was later confiscated by the authorities. As a result of the decision, 13th placed Jedinstvo Bihać was allowed to stay in the league. Šmartno, the winner of Slovenian league in the third tier, withdrew from promotion as a result of financial difficulties and corruption allegations that resulted in Maribor's expulsion. The clubs from second to fourth place also did the same which led to 14th placed GOŠK-Jug remain at the second level.

League table

East Division

Teams

A total of sixteen teams contested the league, including twelve sides from the 1978–79 season and four sides promoted from the Inter-Republic Leagues played in the 1979–80 season. The league was contested in a

format, with each club playing every other club twice, for a total of 30 rounds. Two points were awarded for wins and one point for draws. There were no teams relegated from the 1979–80 Yugoslav First League and the four clubs promoted to the second level were

Lovćen Lovćen ( cnr-Cyrl, Ловћен, ) is a mountain and national park in southwestern Montenegro. It is the inspiration behind the names ''Montenegro'' and ''Crna Gora'', both of which mean 'Black Mountain' and refer to the appearance of Mount ...

, Rabotnički, Sloboda Titovo Užice and Vlaznimi Đakovica. Due to disturbances in the territory of

Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo The Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, sh-Latn-Cyrl, Socijalistička Autonomna Pokrajina Kosovo, Социјалистичка Аутономна Покрајина Косово, separator=" / "; ; . Also abbreviated as SAP Kosovo. referre ...

, in the second part of the season

Prishtina Pristina or Prishtina ( , ), . is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district. In antiquity, the area of Pristina was part of the Dardanian Kingdom. The heritage of th ...

, Trepča and Vlaznimi Đakovica played their matches outside of the region. This resulted in a great number of postponed games at the end of the season. In the final round, Galenika Zemun played away against Teteks in a match that would have brought them promotion in case of victory due to better goal difference. The game ended as a goalless draw and Teteks won the promotion.

League table

References

;General * {{DEFAULTSORT:1980-81 Yugoslav Second League Yugoslav Second 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 ...

West Division

Teams

League table

East Division

Teams

League table

See also

References