State Champions 1959.

What happened to Dinamo Zagreb in the 1951 championship almost happened to Red Star during the 1958/59 season, which was characterized as a championship of great trials, sudden jumps, falls and reversals. Nevertheless, Red Star reached the sixth championship star. This story about the championship is very exciting, interwoven with unusual experiences, a brilliant autumn and a changeable spring ended with the celebration of the red and whites.

Zvezda's start was fantastic, with four matches and the same number of wins. Hajduk was crushed 7:0, and Dinamo 4:0. After such an extraordinary start, the first serious blow came, a 4:1 defeat to Radnički Niš. Then, in two derbies, Partizan and Vojvodina were defeated 2:0 each. The balance of the autumn part of the season was above expectations: 11 matches, nine wins and two losses (the second in Sarajevo against the club of the same name with 1:0), goal difference 32:9. Zvezda was first with 18 points, four more than Vojvodina, five than Dinamo, six than Rijeka, seven than Partizan...

The troubles began in the spring. Several players were constantly missing and it was impossible to assemble the best team. The team's form was variable. The team returned from Skopje without points, and from Split as well. However, Vojvodina lost to Partizan, drew with Sarajevo and therefore our club did not relinquish its leading position from the second round. Partizan was making its way from the middle to the top, while Red Star won only five points in the first seven spring rounds and the situation in the table became complicated, Crvena Zvezda had 23 points, Partizan 23 points, Vojvodina 22 points, Dinamo 20 points.

Those were critical days. Every point was important, every goal, and the matches were great temptations. Partizan and Vojvodina were dangerous threats, but Crvena Zvezda fiercely defended the throne.

It was a finish without respite, with an uncertainty that is not remembered in our championships. In the end, the Red Star team, as if it had risen at the beginning of the championship, was up to the task. In the last four rounds, Partizan and Vojvodina defeated all their rivals, but in the anthological finish of the season and Crvena Zvezda was relentless, led by the brilliant Bor Kostić, and in the end, deservedly won its sixth national championship title.

Table at the end of the 1958/59 season:

Crvena Zvezda - 31 points, goal difference 50:19

Partizan - 31 points, goal difference 39:29

Vojvodina - 30 points, goal difference 47:22

The top scorer of the championship with 25 goals was Bora Kostić.