The 1972–73 Yugoslav First League season was the 27th season of the First Federal League of Yugoslavia (Serbo-Croatian Latin: Prva savezna liga Jugoslavije), the top level association football competition of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946.
A total of 18 teams competed in the league, with the previous season's runners-up Red Star winning the title.
A total of eighteen teams contested the league, including sixteen sides from the 1971–72 season and two sides promoted from the 1971–72 Yugoslav Second League (YSL) as winners of the two second level divisions East and West.
The two clubs promoted to top level were Bor and Spartak Subotica.
Champions Red Star Belgrade Zoran Antonijević Jovan Aćimović Zoran Bingulac Vladislav Bogićević Kiro Dojčinovski Ratomir Dujković Milovan Đorić Slobodan Janković Živorad Jeftić Nikola Jovanović Stanislav Karasi Mihalj Keri Branko Klenkovski Petar Krivokuća Vojin Lazarević Dušan Nikolić Mile Novković Miroslav Pavlović Aleksandar Panajotović Vladimir Petrović Ognjan Petrović Sead Sušić Zoran Filipović Dragan Džajić [1]