Season
At the end of season 1951, Football Association of Yugoslavia disbanded Yugoslav Second League. So, Montenegrin teams from higher level (Budućnost and Bokelj) were moved to Montenegrin Republic League. In season 1952, Republic League was second-tier competition in Yugoslav Second League, which meant that the winner of competition will play qualifiers for Yugoslav First League.
Except Budućnost and Bokelj, members of 1952 Montenegrin Republic League were Sutjeska, Lovćen, Iskra, Bratstvo Bijelo Polje, Radnički Ivangrad and Arsenal.
Qualifiers
While seven members placed directly, Arsenal gained participation in 1952 season through qualifiers. Below are the results of qualifying rounds.
Round one: Mladost - Breznik 0-0, 0-4; Jedinstvo - Arsenal 0-0, 0-2.
Semifinals: Arsenal - Mornar 5-0, 3-3; Breznik - Gorštak 2-0, 7-1.
Qualifier finals: Breznik - Arsenal 1-0, 0-2.
First phase
For the first time in history, Montenegrin Republic League was divided into two regional groups during the First phase of competition. [2]
The Northern group teams wee: Budućnost, Bratstvo, Iskra and Radnički. The Southern group teams were: Sutjeska, Lovćen, Arsenal and Bokelj.
Northern group
As a former member of Yugoslav First League, Budućnost dominated in Northern group competition. During the third week, guest players attacked the referee on game Iskra - Radnički in Danilovgrad. That was the reason why Radnički was disqualified from the rest of competition. [3]
Budućnost finished group with five wins and one defeat. Most goals (9) was seen on the game Budućnost - Bratstvo (9-0).
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | BUD | ISK | BRA | RAD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Budućnost (F) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 6 | +15 | 10 | 2–1 | 9–0 | 3–0 | ||
| 2 | Iskra | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 8 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 4–0 | ||
| 3 | Bratstvo Bijelo Polje | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 22 | −14 | 4 | 1–0 | 3–4 | 1–6 | ||
| 4 | Radnički Ivangrad | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 23 | −16 | 2 | 3–4 | 0–3 | 0–3 |
Southern group
Until the last week, three teams had chances to win the first place in Southern group. At the end, the winner was Sutjeska, with one point more than Lovćen and Bokelj. [4]
Sutjeska finished group with four wins and two defeats. Most goals (7) was seen on the game Lovćen - Arsenal (7-0).
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | SUT | LOV | BOK | ARS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sutjeska (F) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 8 | +9 | 8 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 5–1 | ||
| 2 | Lovćen | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 7 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 7–0 | ||
| 3 | Bokelj | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 7 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | ||
| 4 | Arsenal | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 23 | −16 | 2 | 0–4 | 2–3 | 3–1 |
Championship finals
Finalists of 1952 Montenegrin Republic League were Budućnost and Sutjeska. Two Montenegrin Derby games decided about the title and about the team which participated in the qualifiers for 1953 Yugoslav First League.
Budućnost made significant result in the first final game (3-0) in Titograd. Second match finished with another win of Budućnost (2-1).
As a winner of Montenegrin Republic League, Budućnost participated in qualifiers for Yugoslav First League.
Qualifiers for Yugoslav First League
In the qualifiers, Budućnost played against champions of Republic Leagues of SR Serbia (Spartak Subotica and SR Macedonia (Pobeda Prilep. After four games, Budućnost and Spartak have equal points at the top of the table, but the team from Subotica had better goal difference. [5] So, Budućnost failed to make a comeback to Yugoslav First League.
| Team 1 | Team 2 | Home | Away |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budućnost Titograd | Pobeda Prilep | 5:2 | 1:6 |
| Spartak Subotica | Budućnost Titograd | 1:1 | 3:4 |
