Champions 1988

Another jewel in the Crvena zvezda trophy treasury. Crvena zvezda became the Champion of Yugoslavia in 1987/1988 for the 16th time.. No club had ever accomplished such success. The competing goals set were reached, Crvena zvezda had most victories in the Championship (17) and least defeats (6). They had most victories away (5) and were the most efficient team with 66 goals scored. This won them the daily newspaper Politika’s Trophy.

Dragan Stojković Piksi, Crvena zvezda’s fifth star, was the best player of the Championship. He scored 15 goals and was the main game setter for the red and white team. Stojković played for the World team once as well, under FIFA patronage. Robert Prosinečki was nominated “the golden ball”, in other words he was declared the best player of the 1987 Junior World Championship in Chile, where the Yugoslavian team triumphed.

Reaching the Championship throne wasn’t easy. The final verdict came in the very last game, as a confirmation that it’s never over till it’s over. The 2:2 draw was enough against Sutjeska in Nikšić to confirm the title, ahead of Partizan, whose team was down by only one point. The title race was full of problems that needed resolving along the way. Crvena zvezda didn’t have too many valuable players on the team, and injuries, suspensions due to red cards, individual lashes out of team work and spirit, variable criteria and sometimes inflexibilities of the coach Velibor Vasović – forced the changes of players on the team. That explains how come only Žarko Đurović played all 34 games.

The season ending was crucial, since the game against Vardar (30th round), when the red and white team evened out the number of points with the leading team at the moment, Velež from Mostar. Crvena zvezda took the first position in the next round, after defeating Željezničar and kept it to the end. The neighbors, Rad, were defeated in Banjica (2:0) and the goalkeeper Branko Davidović was goal-proof in that match.

At the spring fair-well to the Belgrade fans, our players prepared a real show. The red and white team outclassed Osijek (6:1). It was a game where the players showed what they were really worth, just to prove the firmness of their beliefs in the last game in Nikšić. The players who excelled on the winning team, besides Stojković, who was the leader in the field, were Dragiša Binić, Borislav Cvetković, Robert Prosinečki...Velibor Vasović, the first Crvena zvezda player to ever raise the European Cup (he won it on the Ajax team), most definitely proved to be a good coach.

In the end, the final Crvena zvezda statistics: 34 17 11 6 66:39 45

Roster:
Dragiša Binić 27-13, Branko Davidović 11-12 received goals, Žarko Đurović 34-5, Slavoljub Janković 2, Dejan Joksimović 17-3, Goran Jurić 23, Dragić Komadina 17-1, Miodrag Krivokapić 30, Zlatko Krdžević 17, Vladan lukić 2-1, Slobodan Marović 30-1, Goran Milojević 33-3, Mitar Mrkela 5, Husref Musemić 15-4, Jovica Nikolić 10, Robert Prosinečki 24-4, Dragan Punišić 11-1, Slavko Radovanović 25-5, Stevan Stojanović 23-27 received goals, Dragan Stojković 28-15, Borislav Cvetković 31-9, Refik Šabanadžović 11.

Coach:
Velibor Vasović

Champions 1984 Champions 1990