The
1990–91 season was the last season held in its usual format, with clubs from all federative units participating in the championship. The
breakup of the country also broke up its top-flight league into several smaller ones. The UEFA recognised the
First League of FR Yugoslavia as its successor league.
Slovenia and Croatia depart In June 1991 Slovenia declared independence and Croatia followed suit in October of the same year. This meant that their football associations separated from the
Football Association of Yugoslavia so they both started their own football leagues. The
Slovenian PrvaLiga was launched in late 1991, while the Croatian
Prva HNL saw its first edition in 1992. Affected by the ongoing
war in Croatia, the season was held over the course of a single calendar year, from February to June 1992. Both leagues have been going on ever since.
1991–92 season The
1991–92 season was the last season held officially under the name of
SFR Yugoslavia, even though Slovenian and Croatian clubs have already abandoned the competition to play in their own leagues. Clubs from the remaining four federative units all took part in the competition, but since the
Bosnian War broke out towards the end of the season, Bosnian clubs never finished it, with
Željezničar of
Sarajevo only managed to play 17 out of 33 scheduled fixtures, while
Sloboda Tuzla and
Velež Mostar ended the season with a few games short of completing the season. Still, since most of the games were played as planned,
Crvena Zvezda of
Belgrade is credited with winning the last Yugoslav First League championship.
North Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia Macedonian clubs abandoned the competition after the 1991–92 season because the new
Macedonian First League was launched the following season. For the 1992–93 season Bosnian clubs were all on hiatus due to full blown fighting that developed there, with the sole exception of
Borac of
Banja Luka (the strongest
Bosnian Serb side at the time) which temporarily moved to Belgrade and joined the newly formed league featuring clubs from Serbia and Montenegro, this time restyled as the
First League of FR Yugoslavia. (Serbia and Montenegro, the only ones left after other four member republics declared independence, renamed their country
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.) The league lasted under that name until the 2002–03 season, when the country changed its name so the league was renamed First League of Serbia and Montenegro. Finally, in June 2006 Montenegro declared independence and peacefully departed the union, so from the
2006–07 season onwards Montenegro started operating separate top-flight football league supervised by its football association. On the other hand, as the legal successor of Serbia-Montenegro state union, Serbia also got the continuity of the country's league that was formed as Prva liga (First League) in 1992, and renamed and rebranded as Superliga in summer 2005.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed independence in late winter 1992, and already in April same year
N/FSBiH applied for membership with FIFA and UEFA. Meanwhile, due to the outbreak of
Bosnian War in April 1992 no games were played in the 1992–93 season. In late 1993 some parts of the country re-launched football competitions with reduced scope. But just as the country was divided along ethnic lines, so was football. In 1993
Bosnian Croats launched the
First League of Herzeg-Bosnia in which only Croatian clubs competed on parochial scale within the limits of
West Herzegovina and few other enclaves. In the same year
Bosnian Serbs also organized their own
First League of the Republika Srpska, on a territory held by Republika Srpska regime at the time. Only football on a territory under the control of then
Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions and auspices of N/FSBiH, at the time consequently with
Bosniak majority, apart from a brief competition for the season
1994–95 (won by
Čelik Zenica), came to a standstill. Competition under auspices of N/FSBiH did not resume until
1995–96 season when the
First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina was launched. • →
Macedonian First League (1992–present) • →
Montenegrin First League (2006–present; from 1992 to 2006 had a
joint league with Serbia) • →
Serbian SuperLiga (2006–present, from 1992 to 2006 had a
joint league with Montenegro) • →
Slovenian PrvaLiga (1991–present) UEFA recognised FR Yugoslavia and subsequently Serbia as the only official successor of Yugoslavia and consequently the clubs from FR Yugoslavia kept the ranking and ponctuation within UEFA. ==See also==