Quality not quantity in Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia's top flight will be reduced from 18 to 16 clubs from the 2003/2004 season as part of the Yugoslav Football Association's measures for a scaled-down, improved domestic elite.

Raise the standard
Rather than the usual four-up four-down, six clubs will be relegated from the first division at the end of the present season with just two clubs coming up from the second tier. This decision has been taken to raise the standard of Yugoslavia's domestic football and prepare the grounds for the forming of a Premier League featuring between 12 and 14 clubs. Yugoslavian football authorities are hoping to attract greater interest from sponsors in the process.

Second division
The FSJ have also decided to reduce the number of clubs in the second division, which will keep its four regional groups but will have 12 clubs instead of 18 in each group. In doing so they hope to strengthen the lower level of the national league and guarantee a higher standard of clubs being promoted to the top flight. The football authorities foresee a single second division of just 20 clubs in the future.

Need to regain confidence
"Our competition has become more regular in the past season, but we still did not reach the expected level. We all have to work to regain the confidence of football fans. It is sad that we have an average of 1,912 spectators per match," FSJ president Dragan Stojkovic said.

Financial uncertainty
Every club wanting to participate in the top flight will have to provide a deposit of €150,000 to ensure against insolvency during the course of the season. This deposit is viewed as security to ensure that all clubs can afford to see out their fixture commitments during a period of financial uncertainty in Yugoslavian football. In the case of a club failing to meet these requirements, they will be relegated from the first division.

Example of Zvezdara
Last season FK Zvezdara were saved at the last moment from relegation despite enormous financial problems. Aca Bulic, president of the association of first division clubs, said: "We have learned from last year's experience with Zvezdara which needed half that amount to pay for half of the season. Twice that sum should provide sufficient funds for one year's competition for any club in the elite."