1938–39 Yugoslav Football Championship

January 2024 16th State Championship 1938–39 7 August 1938 – 30 April 1939 BSK (5th title) August Lešnik (22) 132 443 1937–38 1939–40 The 1938–39 Yugoslav Football Championship, officially called State Championship (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: Državno prvenstvo; Државно првенство) was the 16th season of the main association football competition in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The championship was played in a round-robin league format, featuring 12 clubs which qualified either directly or through playoffs organized by various regional football associations. Five out of the previous six national champions took part in this season (with only Concordia Zagreb missing). The defending champions were HAŠK, who finished fifth. First place was won by BSK from Belgrade, who won their fifth Yugoslav title with 5 points ahead of runners-up Građanski Zagreb. This was BSK's fifth national title, having previously won four in the period from 1931 to 1936, and it proved to be their last before the outbreak of World War II. Top scorer was August Lešnik, then a 24-year-old seasoned forward for Građanski Zagreb, who scored 22 goals in 19 appearances, including five in a home game against Slavija Sarajevo in April 1939. Teams The national league was expanded from 10 to 12 clubs for the 1938–39 season. The previous season's last place finisher, HŠK Concordia, were relegated, while the other top nine clubs earned an automatic spot in this year's edition. The remaining three spots were filled with winners of three zonal qualifying playoffs. At the time, football in Yugoslavia was governed by 14 regional sub-federations, usually centered around a major city and named after it. Most of these organized a local championship, with winners entering the qualifying playoff. Zone I – Zagreb, Split, Ljubljana, and Banja Luka federations; won by Slavija Varaždin Zone II – Osijek, Subotica, Belgrade, Petrovgrad, and Novi Sad federations; won by Sparta Zemun Zone III – Skopje, Cetinje, Sarajevo, Niš, and Kragujevac federations; won by Građanski Skopje Yugoslavia (1939-41) right 350 Location of teams in the 1938–39 Yugoslav championship Yugoslavia (1939-41) 44.820556 20.462222 Belgrade right Yugoslavia (1939-41) 46.051389 14.505556 Ljubljana Yugoslavia (1939-41) 43.8476 18.3564 Sarajevo Yugoslavia (1939-41) 42.00 21.43 Skopje right Yugoslavia (1939-41) 43.519444 16.431667 Split Yugoslavia (1939-41) 46.2942 16.3472 Varaždin Yugoslavia (1939-41) 45.818858 16.018078 Zagreb Yugoslavia (1939-41) 44.85 20.4 Zemun left As of April 1939 and end of season Team City Managers GroundBASKBelgradeKingdom of Yugoslavia Milutin IvkovićBSKBeogradHUN 1920 István Mészáros István Mészáros (footballer, born 1899)GrađanskiZagrebHUN 1920 Márton BukoviStadion GrađanskogSK GragjanskiSkopjeKingdom of Yugoslavia Dušan Marković Dušan Marković (footballer, born 1906)HajdukSplitHUN 1920 Illés SpitzStari placHAŠKZagrebHUN 1920 Zoltán OpataStadion HAŠKSK JedinstvoBelgradeKingdom of Yugoslavia Branislav SekulićStadion JedinstvaSK JugoslavijaBelgradeHUN 1920 Gyula FeldmannStadion JugoslavijeSK LjubljanaLjubljanaKingdom of Yugoslavia Nedeljko Buljević yesStadion ob Tyrševi cestiSlavijaSarajevoSlavijaVaraždinAUT Karl Mütsch yesSK ZemunZemunKingdom of Yugoslavia Hans Šnajder yes Managerial changes during season BSK – Sándor Nemes replaced by István Mészáros Gragjanski – Vladimir Kujundžić replaced by Dušan Marković SK Zemun – Adolf Engel replaced by Hans Šnajder League main WDL Q y 2 BSK BSK GRZ Građanski Zagreb JUG SK Jugoslavija HAJ Hajduk Split HŠK HAŠK JED SK Jedinstvo SLA Slavija Sarajevo BASK BASK LJU SK Ljubljana GRS Građanski Skopje SPZ Sparta Zemun SLV Slavija Varaždin 17 3 2 67 14 C 14 4 4 53 17 12 4 6 37 24 11 5 6 51 30 10 5 7 41 27 8 4 10 35 40 7 5 10 34 43 6 7 9 27 36 7 4 11 23 41 7 2 13 31 57 5 3 14 21 60 4 2 16 23 54 complete rsssf.org Results main FBR grey BAS BSK GRS GRZ HAJ HŠK JED JUG LJU SLS SLV SPZ BSK 0–1 1–2 2–0 2–2 4–0 4–1 2–0 5–0 3–1 4–0 9–0 Građanski Zagreb 1–2 1–1 3–0 1–1 5–0 6–0 2–2 6–0 2–1 4–0 3–1 SK Jugoslavija 1–1 2–1 1–0 0–2 0–1 3–0 1–0 2–0 2–0 7–0 0–0 Hajduk Split 2–2 0–1 3–0 3–1 3–2 2–2 3–0 4–0 4–1 6–0 5–1 HAŠK 0–1 0–1 3–0 1–2 1–5 2–1 1–1 2–0 8–0 2–0 0–0 SK Jedinstvo 0–4 0–2 1–2 1–1 2–1 2–2 3–3 4–1 1–2 3–0 1–0 Slavija Sarajevo 1–2 2–1 2–4 1–2 1–2 3–1 3–0 2–0 3–2 3–1 3–1 BASK 0–5 2–1 3–2 3–1 0–0 1–4 1–1 1–1 6–2 0–1 3–1 SK Ljubljana 1–2 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–0 2–0 0–0 2–0 1–2 3–2 3–1 Građanski Skopje 1–2 1–4 2–0 2–5 3–5 1–1 4–1 1–0 2–1 1–1 2–1 Sparta Zemun 0–5 0–3 0–3 3–3 1–5 1–0 1–1 0–1 2–3 4–1 1–0 Slavija Varaždin 0–5 2–4 3–4 1–1 1–2 1–3 2–1 0–0 3–1 2–0 2–3 complete DataSoccer.it Winning squad Champions: BSK Beograd (manager: Sándor Nemes; then István Mészáros)http://www.exyufudbal.in.rs/statistika/prva-liga/24-prva-liga-kraljevina/328-1938-1939 https://web.archive.org/web/20180113210916/http://www.exyufudbal.in.rs/statistika/prva-liga/24-prva-liga-kraljevina/328-1938-1939 dead 13 January 2018 1938–39 Yugoslavia 11 January 2025 Ex-Yu Fudbal GK – Anton Puhar (15) GK – Srđan Mrkušić (7) DF – Ernest Dubac (19/2) DF – Đorđe Stojiljković (19/0) DF – Predrag Radovanović (3/0) DF – Jovan Beleslin (2/0) DF – Milorad Rančić (2/0) MF – Gustav Lechner (22/0) MF – Prvoslav Dragićević (15/0) MF – Bruno Knežević (7/0) MF – Ivan Stevović (5/0) FW – Svetislav Glišović (22/11) FW – Đorđe Vujadinović (21/12) FW – Petar Manola (16/0) FW – Svetislav Valjarević (15/10) FW – Vojin Božović (14/9) FW – Dobrivoje Zečević (13/9) FW – Ján Podhradský (12/9) FW – Milorad Nikolić (10/4) FW – Blagoje Marjanović (3/0) Top scorers Final goalscoring position, number of goals, player/players and club. 22 goals – August Lešnik (Građanski Zagreb) 19 goals – Frane Matošić (Hajduk Split) 15 goals – Aleksandar Petrović (Jugoslavija) 13 goals – Jozo Matošić (Hajduk Split), Ratko Kacian (HAŠK), Manojlo Živković (Jedinstvo) 12 goals – Đorđe Vujadinović (BSK) 11 goals – Svetislav Glišović (BSK), Milan Rajlić (Slavija Sarajevo), Slavko Pavletić (Slavija Varaždin) See also Yugoslav Cup Yugoslav League Championship Football Association of Yugoslavia References External links Yugoslavia Domestic Football Full Tables Category:Yugoslav Football Championship Yugo Category:1938–39 in Yugoslav football