Niké liga
Organising bodySlovak Football Association
Founded2009
CountrySlovakia
ConfederationUEFA
Number of teams12
Level on pyramid1
Relegation to2. liga
Domestic cup(s)Slovak Cup
International cup(s)UEFA Champions League
UEFA Europa League
UEFA Europa Conference League
Current championsŠK Slovan Bratislava (13th title)
(2022–23)
Most championshipsSlovan Bratislava (13 titles)
TV partnersDomestic
Markíza
RTVS (highlights)
International
Eleven Sports
OneFootball
Websitenikeliga.sk
Current: 2023–24

The Slovak First Football League, shortly just 1st League (1. liga), currently Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league in the Slovak football league system.[1] It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is thirteen, held by Slovan Bratislava, who are the current title holders.

History

The current independent top football division in Slovakia was formed in 1993 as a result of the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The predecessors of the current top football division in Slovakia were Zväzové Majstrovstvá Slovenska (1925–1933) and Slovenská liga (1938–1944).

Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia (1918–1939 and 1945–1993) and the best Slovak clubs played in the joint Czechoslovak league. Three Slovak clubs managed to win it.[2]

Zväzové Majstrovstvá Slovenska (1925–1933)

Season Champions (number of titles) Runners-up Third place
1925–26 1. ČsŠK Bratislava
1926–27 1. ČsŠK Bratislava
1927–28 SK Žilina
1928–29 SK Žilina
1929–30 1. ČsŠK Bratislava
1930–31 Ligeti SC
1931–32 1. ČsŠK Bratislava
1932–33 SC Rusj Uzhorod

Slovenská liga (1938–1944)

Season Champions (number of titles) Runners-up Third place
1938–39 AC Sparta Považská Bystrica ŠK Bratislava MŠK Žilina
1939–40 ŠK Bratislava AC Sparta Považská Bystrica MŠK Žilina
1940–41 ŠK Bratislava FC Vrútky AC Sparta Považská Bystrica
1941–42 ŠK Bratislava FC Vrútky MŠK Žilina
1942–43 OAP Bratislava ŠK Bratislava AC Sparta Považská Bystrica
1943–44 ŠK Bratislava OAP Bratislava TSS Trnava
1944–45
abandoned in September 1944

Slovak winners of the Czechoslovak 1. League (1945–1993)

Club Winners Winning seasons
Slovan Bratislava
8
 1949, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1969–70, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1991–92
Spartak Trnava
5
 1967–68, 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73
Inter Bratislava
1
 1958–59

Competition format

Over the years, the number of teams competing in the top division has varied. The current number of 12 teams has been in effect since the 2006–07 season. However, there were also changes in the playing format afterwards. In the current format, which has been in effect since the 2017–18 season, teams play home-and-away against every other team in the regular stage, for a total of 22 matches each. The table is then divided into two halves of 6 teams each – the top 6 play in the championship group and the bottom 6 play in the relegation group. Within these groups, teams play home-and-away each other again, for a total of 10 matches each.

Period Number of teams
1993–1996 12
1996–2000 16
2000–2006 10
2006–present 12

Sponsorship

Period Sponsor Name
1993–1997 No sponsor 1. liga
1997–2002 Reemtsma Mars superliga
2002–2003 No sponsor 1. liga
2003–2014 Heineken Corgoň liga[3]
2014–2023 Fortuna Fortuna liga[4]
2023–present Niké Niké liga[5]

Clubs

Champions

Season Champions Runners-up Third place Top scorer Goals Team
1993–94 Slovan Bratislava (1) Inter Bratislava DAC Dunajská Streda Slovakia Pavol Diňa 19 DAC Dunajská Streda
1994–95 Slovan Bratislava (2) 1. FC Košice Inter Bratislava Slovakia Robert Semenik 18 Dukla Banská Bystrica
1995–96 Slovan Bratislava (3) 1. FC Košice Spartak Trnava Slovakia Robert Semenik 29 1. FC Košice
1996–97 1. FC Košice (1) Spartak Trnava Slovan Bratislava Slovakia Jozef Kožlej 22 1. FC Košice
1997–98 1. FC Košice (2) Spartak Trnava Inter Bratislava Slovakia Ľubomír Luhový 17 Spartak Trnava
1998–99 Slovan Bratislava (4) Inter Bratislava Spartak Trnava Slovakia Martin Fabuš 19 Trenčín
1999–00 Inter Bratislava (1) 1. FC Košice Slovan Bratislava Slovakia Szilárd Németh 16 Inter Bratislava
2000–01 Inter Bratislava (2) Slovan Bratislava Ružomberok Slovakia Szilárd Németh 23 Inter Bratislava
2001–02 Žilina (1) Púchov Inter Bratislava Slovakia Marek Mintál 21 Žilina
2002–03 Žilina (2) Petržalka Slovan Bratislava Slovakia Martin Fabuš
Slovakia Marek Mintál 		20 Trenčín, Žilina
Žilina
2003–04 Žilina (3) Dukla Banská Bystrica Ružomberok Slovakia Roland Števko 17 Ružomberok
2004–05 Petržalka (1) Žilina Dukla Banská Bystrica Slovakia Filip Šebo 22 Petržalka
2005–06 Ružomberok (1) Petržalka Spartak Trnava Slovakia Róbert Rák
Slovakia Erik Jendrišek 		21 Nitra
Ružomberok
2006–07 Žilina (4) Petržalka Slovan Bratislava Slovakia Tomáš Oravec 16 Petržalka
2007–08 Petržalka (2) Žilina Nitra Slovakia Ján Novák 17 Košice
2008–09 Slovan Bratislava (5) Žilina Spartak Trnava Slovakia Pavol Masaryk 15 Slovan Bratislava
2009–10 Žilina (5) Slovan Bratislava Dukla Banská Bystrica Slovakia Róbert Rák 18 Nitra
2010–11 Slovan Bratislava (6) Senica Žilina Slovakia Filip Šebo 22 Slovan Bratislava
2011–12 Žilina (6) Spartak Trnava Slovan Bratislava Slovakia Pavol Masaryk 18 Ružomberok
2012–13 Slovan Bratislava (7) Senica Trenčín Slovakia David Depetris 16 Trenčín
2013–14 Slovan Bratislava (8) Trenčín Spartak Trnava Slovakia Tomáš Malec 14 Trenčín
2014–15 Trenčín (1) Žilina Slovan Bratislava Croatia Matej Jelić
Czech Republic Jan Kalabiška 		19 Žilina
Senica
2015–16 Trenčín (2) Slovan Bratislava Spartak Myjava Curaçao Gino van Kessel 17 Trenčín
2016–17 Žilina (7) Slovan Bratislava Ružomberok Slovakia Filip Hlohovský
Guinea Seydouba Soumah 		20 Žilina
Slovan Bratislava
2017–18 Spartak Trnava (1) Slovan Bratislava DAC Dunajská Streda Slovakia Samuel Mráz 21 Žilina
2018–19 Slovan Bratislava (9) DAC Dunajská Streda Ružomberok Slovenia Andraž Šporar 29 Slovan Bratislava
2019–20 Slovan Bratislava (10) Žilina DAC Dunajská Streda Slovenia Andraž Šporar 12 Slovan Bratislava
2020–21 Slovan Bratislava (11) DAC Dunajská Streda Spartak Trnava Poland Dawid Kurminowski 19 Žilina
2021–22 Slovan Bratislava (12) Ružomberok Spartak Trnava Slovakia Jakub Kadák 13 Trenčín
2022–23 Slovan Bratislava (13) DAC Dunajská Streda Spartak Trnava Montenegro Nikola Krstović 18 DAC Dunajská Streda

Source for list of championship winners:[6]

Performance by club

Clubs in bold currently play in the top division

Club Winners Runners-up Championship seasons Runners-up seasons
Slovan Bratislava
13
5
 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, 2022–23 2000–01, 2009–10, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
Žilina
7
5
 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2016–17 2004–05, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2014–15, 2019–20
VSS Košice
2
3
 1996–97, 1997–98 1994–95, 1995–96, 1999–00
Petržalka
2
3
 2004–05, 2007–08 2002–03, 2005–06, 2006–07
Inter Bratislava
2
2
 1999–00, 2000–01 1993–94, 1998–99
Trenčín
2
1
 2014–15, 2015–16 2013–14
Spartak Trnava
1
3
 2017–18 1996–97, 1997–98, 2011–12
Ružomberok
1
1
 2005–06 2021–22
DAC Dunajská Streda
–
3
 – 2018–19, 2020–21, 2022–23
Senica
–
2
 – 2010–11, 2012–13
Púchov
–
1
 – 2001–02
Dukla Banská Bystrica
–
1
 – 2003–04

Titles by city

City Titles Winning clubs
Bratislava
17
 Slovan Bratislava (13), Inter Bratislava (2), Petržalka (2)
Žilina
7
 Žilina (7)
Košice
2
 VSS Košice (2)
Trenčín
2
 Trenčín (2)
Ružomberok
1
 Ružomberok (1)
Trnava
1
 Spartak Trnava (1)

2023–24 season

Twelve clubs compete in the 2023–24 season.[7]

Slovak First Football League is located in Slovakia
Trenčín
Dunajská Streda
Slovan
Trnava
Žilina
Zlaté Moravce
Ružomberok
Banská Bystrica
Košice
Michalovce
Podbrezová
Skalica
Location of clubs in Slovakia for the 2023–24 season
Team Location Stadium Capacity
DAC Dunajská Streda Dunajská Streda MOL Aréna 12,700
Dukla Banská Bystrica Banská Bystrica Štadión SNP 7,900
Košice Košice Košická futbalová aréna 5,836 (12,658 planned)
Podbrezová Podbrezová ZELPO Aréna 4,061
Ružomberok Ružomberok Štadión pod Čebraťom 4,817
Skalica Skalica Štadión MFK Skalica 3,000
Slovan Bratislava Bratislava Tehelné pole 22,500
Spartak Trnava Trnava Štadión Antona Malatinského 19,200
Trenčín Trenčín Štadión Sihoť 4,200 (10,000 planned)
Zemplín Michalovce Michalovce Mestský futbalový štadión 4,440
Zlaté Moravce Zlaté Moravce ViOn Aréna 4,006
Žilina Žilina Štadión pod Dubňom 11,253

All-time league table

The all-time league table is an overall record of all match results, points, and goals of every team that has played in Slovak I. liga since its inception in 1993. The table as of the end of 2022–23 season. Teams in bold are part of the 2023–24 Niké liga. There is no club that played all seasons in top-flight. The best clubs in that respect - Žilina and Spartak Trnava missed 1 season, Slovan Bratislava missed 2 seasons.

Pos Team S P W D L F A GD Pts
1 Slovan Bratislava 28 910 518 207 185 1635 884 751 1761
2 Žilina 29 974 468 216 290 1659 1080 579 1607
3 Spartak Trnava 29 964 439 221 302 1347 1056 291 1532
4 Ružomberok 26 880 339 248 293 1149 1061 88 1268
5 Trenčín 23 775 303 170 300 1128 1092 36 1082
6 VSS Košice 19 616 241 148 227 835 799 36 863
7 DAC Dunajská Streda 20 634 226 157 251 774 889 (-115) 829 *
8 Dukla Banská Bystrica 20 648 210 174 264 775 842 (-67) 795
9 Petržalka 14 463 204 114 145 676 561 115 726
10 Inter Bratislava 14 454 203 102 149 667 519 148 693
11 Nitra 18 572 177 128 299 607 875 (-268) 644
12 Tatran Prešov 16 515 148 143 224 529 734 (-205) 577
13 Senica 14 448 147 113 186 510 619 (-138) 556
14 Zlaté Moravce 16 513 137 129 249 532 793 (-261) 548
15 Dubnica 13 424 119 117 188 436 604 (-168) 473
16 Zemplín Michalovce 9 282 80 71 129 307 449 (-142) 311
17 Púchov 6 216 70 53 93 235 294 (-59) 263
18 Humenné 7 216 71 43 102 238 323 (-85) 246
19 Podbrezová 6 192 60 45 77 210 266 (-56) 230
20 Baník Prievidza 7 216 59 44 113 239 369 (-130) 212
21 Spartak Myjava 5 132 55 27 50 167 177 (-10) 192
22 Sereď 5 155 49 39 67 176 237 (-61) 186
23 Lokomotíva Košice 5 156 48 37 71 180 241 (-61) 174
24 Bardejov 5 154 45 24 85 159 232 (−73) 159
25 Rimavská Sobota 4 126 35 29 62 129 193 (−64) 134
26 Pohronie 4 123 26 42 55 128 179 (-51) 120
27 Senec 3 91 18 28 45 85 152 (−67) 82
28 Skalica 2 65 16 16 33 68 100 (-32) 64
29 Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš 2 63 14 16 34 66 116 (-50) 58
30 Košice 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

S = Number of seasons; P = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; F = Goals for; A = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points
aSpartak Myjava withdrew from the league on 21 December 2016, and their results from season 2016-17 were expunged.

League or status:

2023–24 Slovak First Football League
2023–24 2. Liga (Slovakia)
2023–24 3. Liga (Slovakia)
4. Liga (Slovakia)
Below 4th tier
Defunct

European competitions

Main article: Slovak football clubs in European competitions

UEFA coefficients

See also: UEFA coefficient

The following data indicates Slovak coefficient rankings between European football leagues.[8]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Players

The clubs sell their players to financially stronger clubs from western Europe. Examples of players that have succeeded in notable leagues are Marek Hamšík, who was captain of Italian club SSC Napoli, Peter Pekarík who captains Bundesliga side Hertha BSC or Martin Škrtel, a well-known former Liverpool centre-back currently playing for Fenerbahçe. Moreover, over the last few years more and more youngsters have been given chances to perform regularly in the league and as the result, many transfers were to be seen. For example Leon Bailey, Milan Škriniar, Stanislav Lobotka or Samuel Kalu could have been seen playing football at Slovak stadiums recently.

Top scorers

As of the end of the 2017–18 season.

Goals Name Clubs/goals for the club
125 Juraj Halenár Inter Bratislava 35, Petržalka 33, Slovan Bratislava 57
120 Róbert Semeník Dukla Banská Bystrica 72, 1. FC Košice 43, Nitra 5
86 Marek Ujlaky Spartak Trnava 79, Slovan Bratislava 2, Senec 3, Zlaté Moravce 2
86 Pavol Masaryk Spartak Trnava 10, Slovan Bratislava 45, Ružomberok 28, Senica 2, Skalica 1
85 Szilárd Németh Slovan Bratislava 25, 1. FC Košice 21, Inter Bratislava 39
83 Vladimír Kožuch Spartak Trnava 61, Tatran Prešov 22
81 Martin Fabuš ODu/AS Trenčín 59, Žilina 17, Dukla Banská Bystrica 5
78 Tomáš Oravec 1. FC Košice 4, Ružomberok 19, Petržalka 28, Žilina 24, Spartak Trnava 3
78 Róbert Rák Nitra 61, Ružomberok 17
76 Marek Mintál Žilina 76
73 Tomáš Medveď Petržalka 31, Inter Bratislava 13, Dukla Banská Bystrica 8, Humenné 8, Slovan Bratislava 8, Lokomotíva Košice 2, 1. FC Košice 1, Senec 2
71 Róbert Vittek Slovan Bratislava 71
63 Stanislav Šesták Tatran Prešov 8, Slovan Bratislava 6, Žilina 49

References

  1. ^ "Slovakia: National League". FIFA. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
  2. ^ "Slovakia - List of Champions". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  3. ^ "Dnes prvýkrát na futbalovú Corgoň ligu". sme.sk. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  4. ^ "Najvyššia futbalová súťaž mení názov, novým partnerom bude Fortuna". teraz.sk. 20 May 2014. Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  5. ^ "Najvyššia slovenská futbalová súťaž ponesie názov Niké liga".
  6. ^ Karel Stokkermans (10 June 2011). "Slovak Republic: I liga SR". Slovakia - List of Champions. RSSSF. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  7. ^ "Tímy". Niké liga. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
  8. ^ "UEFA European Cup Coefficients Database". Bert Kassies. Retrieved 23 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Country Coefficients". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  10. ^ "Club coefficients". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2021-02-02.
Categories