1978–79 NK Rijeka season

Rijeka
1978–79 season
Chairman	Zvonko Poščić
Manager	Dragutin Spasojević
First League	10th
Cup	Winners
Cup Winners’ Cup	Round 2
Balkans Cup	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Damir Desnica (7); All: Nikica Cukrov (9)
Highest home attendance	20,000 vs Partizan ; (16 May 1979 - Yugoslav Cup)
Lowest home attendance	2,000 vs Željezničar ; (17 June 1979 - Yugoslav First League)
Average home league attendance	6,765
	← 1977–78 1979–80 →

The 1978–79 season was the 33rd season in Rijeka’s history and their 17th season in the Yugoslav First League. Their 5th place finish in the 1977–78 season meant it was their fifth successive season playing in the Yugoslav First League.

Competitions

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Yugoslav First League	12 August 1978	17 June 1979	Matchday 1	10th	34	10	11	13	35	34	+1	029.41
Yugoslav Cup	30 August 1978	24 May 1979	First round	Winner	6	4	2	0	7	1	+6	066.67
European Cup Winners' Cup	13 September 1978	25 October 1978	First round	Second round	4	1	2	1	3	4	−1	025.00
Total					44	15	15	14	45	39	+6	034.09

Yugoslav First League

Classification

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
8	Sloboda Tuzla	34	11	10	13	34	34	0	32
9	Željezničar	34	14	4	16	45	52	−7	32
10	Rijeka	34	10	11	13	35	34	+1	31	Qualification for Cup Winners' Cup first round
11	Borac Banja Luka	34	11	9	14	45	56	−11	31
12	Vojvodina	34	11	7	16	35	38	−3	29

Source: rsssf.org
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results summary


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
34	10	11	13	35	34	+1	41	9	7	1	25	10	+15	1	4	12	10	24	−14

Results by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H
Result	W	D	W	D	D	L	D	W	W	D	L	W	L	D	L	D	L	L	D	D	D	L	W	L	L	W	L	W	D	W	L	L	L	W
Position	5	4	3	2	3	8	9	4	4	3	6	3	7	7	8	8	8	10	10	9	10	10	10	10	11	9	10	9	9	9	9	10	11	10

Source: Competitive matches
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

First League

Round	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Attendance	Rijeka Scorers
1	12 Aug	H	Dinamo Zagreb	2 – 1	8,000	Radin, Desnica
2	20 Aug	A	Radnički Niš	1 – 1	15,000	Desnica
3	23 Aug	H	Borac Banja Luka	2 – 0	7,000	Ružić, Hrstić
4	27 Aug	A	Osijek	0 – 0	12,000
5	3 Sep	H	Velež	0 – 0	10,000
6	10 Sep	A	Vojvodina	0 – 2	10,000
7	17 Sep	H	OFK Beograd	0 – 0	5,000
8	24 Sep	H	Sarajevo	5 – 2	7,000	Desnica (2, 1p), Fegic, Šestan, Cukrov
9	8 Oct	A	Zagreb	2 – 0	5,000	Hrstić, Bursać
10	14 Oct	H	Sloboda	0 – 0	5,000
11	28 Oct	A	Partizan	0 – 1	15,000
12	5 Nov	H	Red Star	1 – 0	15,000	Juričić
13	12 Nov	A	Budućnost	0 – 1	10,000
14	19 Nov	H	Napredak Kruševac	1 – 1	3,000	Jerolimov
15	26 Nov	A	Olimpija	0 – 1	3,000
16	29 Nov	H	Hajduk Split	2 – 2	8,000	Fegic, Mijač
17	3 Dec	A	Željezničar	0 – 1	5,000
18	4 Mar	A	Dinamo Zagreb	0 – 1	40,000
19	11 Mar	H	Radnički Niš	0 – 0	6,000
20	18 Mar	A	Borac Banja Luka	2 – 2	4,000	Tomić, Šestan
21	25 Mar	H	Osijek	3 – 3	8,000	Radin (p), Cukrov, Ružić
22	8 Apr	A	Velež	1 – 3	6,000	Desnica
23	15 Apr	H	Vojvodina	3 – 0	5,000	Jerolimov, Bursać, Desnica
24	22 Apr	A	OFK Beograd	0 – 2	4,000
25	29 Apr	A	Sarajevo	2 – 3	8,000	Tomić, Cukrov
26	6 May	H	Zagreb	2 – 0	6,000	Ružić, Desnica (p)
27	9 May	A	Sloboda	0 – 1	4,000
28	13 May	H	Partizan	2 – 0	8,000	Tomić, Cukrov
29	20 May	A	Red Star	0 – 0	15,000
30	27 May	H	Budućnost	1 – 0	8,000	Radin
31	31 May	A	Napredak Kruševac	1 – 3	8,000	Cukrov
32	3 Jun	H	Olimpija	0 – 1	4,000
33	10 Jun	A	Hajduk Split	1 – 2	12,000	Machin
34	17 Jun	H	Željezničar	1 – 0	2,000	Hrstić

Source: rsssf.com

Yugoslav Cup

Round	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Attendance	Rijeka Scorers
R1	11 Oct	H	Borac Čačak	3 – 0	3,000	Cukrov (2), Mijač
R2	8 Nov	H	Istra	0 – 0 (4–3 p)	2,000
QF	25 Feb	A	Radnički Niš	1 – 0	?	Tomić
SF	4 Apr	A	Red Star	1 – 0	10,000	Ružić
F	16 May	H	Partizan	2 – 1	20,000	Cukrov, Bursać
F	24 May	A	Partizan	0 – 0	55,000

Source: rsssf.com

Cup Winners' Cup

Round	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Attendance	Rijeka Scorers
R1	13 Sep	H	Wrexham	3 – 0	9,000	Tomić, Durkalić, Cukrov
R1	27 Sep	A	Wrexham	0 – 2	10,469
R2	18 Oct	H	Beveren	0 – 0	8,000
R2	1 Nov	A	Beveren	0 – 2	15,000

Source: worldfootball.net

Squad statistics

Competitive matches only.

Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Name	League		Cup		Europe		Total
Radojko Avramović	32+0	0	6+0	0	4+0	0	42	0
Sergio Machin	34+0	1	4+0	0	4+0	0	40	1
Nikica Cukrov	28+0	5	6+0	3	4+0	1	38	9
Savo Filipović	6+4	0	2+1	0	0+0	0	13	0
Zvjezdan Radin	30+0	3	6+0	0	4+0	0	40	3
Miloš Hrstić	31+0	3	5+1	0	4+0	0	41	3
Milan Ružić	32+0	3	5+0	1	4+0	0	41	4
Srećko Juričić	28+1	1	6+0	0	4+0	0	39	1
Milan Radović	5+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	5	0
Damir Desnica	28+1	7	3+1	0	4+0	0	37	7
Dragoljub Bursać	21+8	2	5+0	1	2+2	0	38	3
Salih Durkalić	9+0	0	1+0	0	2+0	1	12	1
Ivica Car	3+3	0	2+0	0	0+1	0	9	0
Željko Mijač	6+1	1	2+0	1	1+0	0	10	2
Ive Jerolimov	18+1	2	1+2	0	1+1	0	24	2
Miroslav Šugar	4+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	4	0
Zoran Šestan	3+10	2	0+0	0	0+0	0	13	2
Adriano Fegic	20+6	2	2+0	0	3+0	0	31	2
Edmond Tomić	19+12	3	5+1	1	3+0	1	40	5
Milan Bačvarević	7+3	0	0+1	0	0+0	0	11	0
Mauro Ravnić	2+1	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	3	0
Željko Belić	0+3	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	3	0
Danko Peranić	7+2	0	2+2	0	0+0	0	13	0
Miroslav Uljan	0+1	0	1+1	0	0+0	0	3	0
Edin Jasprica	2+2	0	2+0	0	0+0	0	6	0

References

Almanah Jugoslavenskog Fudbala 1978–86 [Almanac of the Football Association of Yugoslavia 1978–86] (in Serbo-Croatian). Football Association of Yugoslavia.
Lazzarich, Marinko (2008). Kantrida bijelih snova (in Croatian). Rijeka: Adamić. ISBN 978-953-219-393-0.

External sources

1978–79 Yugoslav First League at rsssf.com
Prvenstvo 1978.-79. at nk-rijeka.hr