The Yugoslav First Football League was the first club competition on a national level for clubs from Kingdom of Yugoslavia (also known as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes until 1930). The league was started in 1923 and the first four seasons had a cup tournament format, while the first round robin league competition was held in 1927. In the period from 1927 to 1940 seventeen seasons were completed.
It was governed at first by the Croatian-named Nogometni Savez Jugoslavije (Football Association of Yugoslavia), founded in April 1919 in Zagreb, until it dissolved in late 1929 after disagreements between the Zagreb and Belgrade branches of the association. This resulted in the association being moved to Belgrade in May 1930 where it adopted the Serbian name Fudbalski Savez Jugoslavije and continued operating the league until it was suspended in 1940 due to the outbreak of World War II.
The football league continued after WWII under socialist Yugoslavia (1945-1991) and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1991-2003), before it was renamed Serbia and Montenegro. Montengrin clubs later formed their own league in 2006-07, leaving what was once the Yugoslavian League to Serbia alone.