Slovenian PrvaLiga


The Slovenian First Football League, currently named Prva liga Telekom Slovenije due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the main football league in Slovenia, and was formed in 1991 after Slovenia became an independent country. From 1920 until the end of the 1990–91 season, the Slovenian Republic League was a lower division of the Yugoslavian league football system. The league is currently governed by the Football Association of Slovenia. Between 2001 and 2012 the league was governed by the Association of 1. SNL. Celje and Maribor are the only two founding clubs that have never been relegated from the league since its foundation in 1991.

History

The league was established after the independence of Slovenia in 1991, originally containing 21 clubs. Before that, top Slovenian teams competed in Yugoslav football league system for the national title of Yugoslavia. Only Ilirija, ASK Primorje and after a forced merger of the two teams in 1936, SK Ljubljana reached the country's highest division, Yugoslav First League, before the World War II. Olimpija, Maribor and Nafta were the only Slovenian teams who participated in the top division between 1945 and the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. While being a part of the Yugoslav football system, most of the Slovenian clubs competed for the title of regional champions in the Slovenian Republic Football League. However, the republic league was officially the third tier of football most of the time and the competition was usually without the top Slovenian clubs, who played in the Yugoslav Second League or the country's top division.
won the PrvaLiga title as a footballer and manager.
Following the independence of Slovenia in 1991, the Football Association of Slovenia separated from the Football Association of Yugoslavia and created their own football competitions. For the first time in history, top Slovenian clubs competed in the newly-formed Slovenian football league for the title of Slovenian champion. As of the 2019–20 season, Celje and Maribor remains the only two founding clubs that have never been relegated from the league since the inaugural 1991–92 edition. The format and the number of clubs in the league has changed over time, ranging from 21 clubs in the first season to 10 clubs in its present form.
Olimpija won the first title. They had a long tradition of playing in the Yugoslav first league and their squad was still composed of players from that era. Olimpija dominated the league and won a further three championships before Gorica won their first in the 1995–96 season. Following Gorica's success, Maribor won their first championship in 1997. This started a record-breaking streak of seven successive league championships which came to an end when Gorica won their second title in the 2003–04 season. The club from Nova Gorica went on to win an additional two titles, becoming the third club to win three consecutive championships. During the 2006–07 season Domžale, a club that played in the Slovenian second division three seasons earlier, won their first title, a feat they repeated the next season. Following the 2008–09 season, Maribor became the major force in Slovenian football for the second time, having won eight out of eleven championships since then.
Maribor is the most successful club; they have won the championship 15 times. Seven of Maribor's titles came during the late 1990s and early 2000s when the club was led alternately by managers Bojan Prašnikar, Ivo Šušak and Matjaž Kek. Darko Milanič has led the club to four championships between 2009 and 2013. Olimpija has won four titles, all in successive years between 1992 and 1995. In addition, Olimpija is the only Slovenian football champion no longer in existence, having been dissolved by the end of the 2004–05 season when they filed for bankruptcy. Tied with four championships is Gorica who won their first title in 1996 and an additional three in successive years between 2004 and 2006. Domžale and Olimpija Ljubljana have won two titles each, followed by Koper, who won their only championship in 2010. Maribor has won the Slovenian version of the double the most; they have won the league and cup four times in the same season. The current champions are Maribor, who won the 2018–19 edition.

Names

Since 1991, the league has been named after sponsors on several occasions, giving it the following names:
PeriodSponsorName
1991–1999No sponsor1. SNL
1999–2004Si.mobilLiga Si.mobil
2004–2006Si.mobil VodafoneLiga Si.mobil Vodafone
2006–2009Telekom SlovenijePrva liga Telekom Slovenije
2009–2013No sponsorPrva liga
2013–presentTelekom SlovenijePrva liga Telekom Slovenije

Format

PrvaLiga is contested on a round robin basis. Each team plays each other four times, twice at home and twice away, for the total of 36 rounds. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points and if two teams are tied, head-to-head score is used as the first classification criteria. The top clubs at the end of the season are awarded a qualifying spot in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League, with the ninth placed team being qualified for relegation play-offs and the bottom one being relegated to the Slovenian Second League.
The current system is in use since 2005. Between 1993 and 1995, regular double round robin format with 16 clubs was used, before being replaced with the current ten-club system for three seasons until 1998. Triple round-robin with twelve clubs and two direct relegations was then used between 1998 and 2003, when division of league into championship and relegation group was introduced for two seasons.

Clubs

Champions

SeasonChampions
1991–92Olimpija
1992–93Olimpija
1993–94Olimpija
1994–95Olimpija
1995–96Gorica
1996–97Maribor
1997–98Maribor
1998–99Maribor
1999–2000Maribor
2000–01Maribor
2001–02Maribor
2002–03Maribor
2003–04Gorica
2004–05Gorica
2005–06Gorica
2006–07Domžale
2007–08Domžale
2008–09Maribor
2009–10Koper
2010–11Maribor
2011–12Maribor
2012–13Maribor
2013–14Maribor
2014–15Maribor
2015–16Olimpija Ljubljana
2016–17Maribor
2017–18Olimpija Ljubljana
2018–19Maribor
2019–20Celje

Performance by club

2019–20 season

Reigning champions, winners of the previous season
Runners-up of the previous season
Promoted from Slovenian Second League, 2. SNL

ClubPosition in 2018–19PrvaLiga debutPrvaLiga seasonsFirst season of
current spell		Last title
Aluminij2012–1342016–17
Bravo2. SNL, 1st 2019–2002019–20
Celje1991–92281991–92
Domžale1991–92212003–042007–08
Maribor 1991–92281991–922018–19
Mura2018–1912018–19
Olimpija Ljubljana 2009–10102009–102017–18
Rudar Velenje1991–92242008–09
Tabor Sežana2. SNL, 2nd 2000–0112019–20
Triglav Kranj1998–9982017–18

UEFA coefficient

Correct as of 9 May 2019. The table shows the position of the Slovenian PrvaLiga, based on their UEFA coefficient country ranking, and four foreign leagues which are closest to PrvaLiga's position.
Rank 2019Rank 2018Mvmt.League2014–152015–162016–172017–182018–19Coeff.
2920 –9Liga I5.1252.2503.3002.9002.37515.950
3032 +2Slovak Super Liga2.7503.7502.1251.8755.12515.625
3130 –1Slovenian PrvaLiga4.0001.0002.2504.6253.12515.000
3231 –1Liechtenstein2.5005.0002.5002.0001.50013.500
3336 +3Nemzeti Bajnokság I2.1251.6251.8751.6253.25010.500

Statistics

Top scorers

RankNameGoalsAppearancesAverage
1Marcos Tavares1503900.38
2Ĺ tefan Ĺ kaper1302260.58
3Kliton Bozgo1092070.53
4Ermin RakoviÄŤ1082690.40
5Milan Osterc1062760.38
6Damir PekiÄŤ1032660.39
7Marko Kmetec952710.35
8Dalibor Volaš922410.38
9Ismet Ekmečić901990.45
9Anton Žlogar903000.30

Awards

Trophy

The current trophy is being presented since the 2012–13 season and was designed by :sl:Mirko Bratuša|Mirko Bratuša, a sculptor from Negova. It depicts a ball with eleven star-shaped holes and inside there are eleven players holding together and looking at the sky. It is made of brass, bronze and gold and it weighs.

Player awards

First Player of the Season awards were presented by Slovenian newspaper Dnevnik in the early 1990s. Between 1996 and 1999 they were presented by Ekipa and since 2004, the awards are organised by the Union of Professional Football Players of Slovenia.
Player of the Season
Goalkeeper of the Season
Young player of the Season
Manager awards weren't presented between 2012 and 2019.
Manager of the Season
During the early years, the league was broadcast only by the national public broadcasting television, RTV Slovenija. From 2008 until 2012, they had joint broadcasts with Šport TV, and from 2013 until 2015 with :sl:Planet TV|Planet TV. In the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons, the league has been broadcast exclusively on Kanal A. In the 2017–18 season, the league was broadcast jointly by Kanal A and Šport TV. In the first round of the season, all five games were broadcast live for the first time in the league history. From the 2018–19 season onwards, the league is being broadcast jointly by Planet TV and RTV Slovenija. With the start of the 2019–20 season, one match per week is also broadcast on local Sport Klub channels in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.
CountryTV Channel
Slovenia:sl:Planet TV|Planet TV
SloveniaRTV Slovenija
Bosnia and HerzegovinaSport Klub
CroatiaSport Klub
MontenegroSport Klub
North MacedoniaSport Klub
SerbiaSport Klub