1952 Yugoslav First League

The First Federal League of Yugoslavia's 1952 season (colloquially the Yugoslav First League) was shortened and sped-up. It was completed over a period of little more than three and a half months, beginning on 2 March 1952 and finishing on 22 June 1952. The reason for the changes was a desire to start the next season in the fall of 1952, thus implementing the fall-spring format that had become a norm all across Europe by this time.

The clubs were initially divided into two groups of six teams each, where everyone within a given group played each other twice (home and away).

Then, according to the placement in these preliminary groups, three new groups were formed:

First two teams in each of the two preliminary groups advanced to the 4-team group, the winner of which would become a champion.
Teams placed 3rd and 4th in each of the two preliminary groups got to move to a 4-team group that would decide final league standings from 5th to 8th place.
The bottom two teams in each of the two preliminary groups moved to a 4-team group that would decide final league standings at the bottom (places 9th through 12th) and thus determine who gets relegated to the Second League.