The Montenegrin Women's Volley League ( Montenegrin: ''Prva crnogorska ženska odbojkaška liga''), is the highest professional women's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

league in

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. It is run by the Montenegrin Volleyball Federation.

History

Before independence

First volleyball competitions for women in Montenegro were organised at first half of 90's. At the time of

FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yug ...

, Montenegrin Republic Volleyball Federation organised Republic League, with first season at 1995.
Winners of Montenegrin Republic League (1995–2006) were: AOK Rudar Pljevlja (3), ŽOK Podgorica (3), ŽOK Budućnost Podgorica (2), ŽOK Ibar Rožaje (1), ŽOK Nikšić (1) and ŽOK Studentski centar Podgorica (1).
At the same time, than the only professional women's volleyball club from Montenegro – ŽOK Luka Bar participated in Yugoslav First League since 1994. and, after that, in European competitions. Biggest success in Yugoslav First League, Luka Bar achieved on season 2003-2004, when they finished season on the third place.
While Luka Bar played constantly in the First League, ŽOK Rudar played two seasons in Yugoslav Second League (2002-2003, 2003-2004) and ŽOK Podgorica one season (2003-2004).

After independence

In 2006, Montenegro split from Serbia. Following that, the First women's volley league of Montenegro was formed as a top national competition. Since founded, Montenegrin League had a various number of participants, from 8 to 10. Except the First League, women's volleyball competitions system in Montenegro including the Second league and

Montenegrin Cup The Montenegrin Cup (Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and Serbian language, Serbian: ''Kup Crne Gore'') is the national football cup played in Montenegro, established in 2006. The winner of the cup is awarded a spot in the second qualifying rou ...

. ŽOK Luka Bar, has been the most successful team, winning 12 national champions' titles. Since the 2016–17 season, the winner of the Montenegrin First League has played in the

CEV Women's Champions League The Women's CEV Champions League, formerly known as CEV Champions Cup (from 1960 to 2000), is the top official competition for women's volleyball clubs of Europe and takes place every year. It is organized by the Confédération Européenne de V ...

Competition format

Every season of First League have two parts. During the first, 'regular season', there is a round-robin system in which all clubs play two games against every single opponent. At the end of the first part, four best-placed teams are playing in the playoffs. Additionally, two worst-placed teams are playing in the playout series.
In the playoffs semifinals, the first-placed team is playing against fourth, and second against third. Placement in finals is gained by teams which won two matches. The final-series is played until one opponent gains three wins.

Number of participants

From the season 2006/07, Montenegrin First League had various number of participants on regular season, from 6 to 10. * 2006/07 – ''8 clubs'' * 2007/08 – ''8 clubs'' * 2008/09 – ''7 clubs'' * 2009/10 – ''7 clubs'' * 2010/11 – ''6 clubs'' * 2011/12 – ''9 clubs'' * 2012/13 – ''9 clubs'' * 2013/14 – ''8 clubs'' * 2014/15 – ''10 clubs'' * 2015/16 – ''10 clubs'' * 2016/17 – ''10 clubs'' * 2017/18 – ''8 clubs'' * 2018/19 – ''8 clubs'' * 2019/20 – ''10 clubs'' * 2020/21 – ''9 clubs'' * 2021/22 – ''10 clubs'' * 2022/23 – ''10 clubs'' * 2023/24 – ''10 clubs''

Champions

Since the inaugural season (2006/07), three clubs have been the champions of the Montenegrin women's volley league. ŽOK Luka Bar won 11 titles, ŽOK Galeb 2 titles and ŽOK Budućnost 1 title. Below is the list of top-placed teams by every single season.

Titles by seasons

Sources:

Titles by team

Performances by clubs

Final placements

Clubs which played every single season in Montenegrin Volley League are ŽOK Luka Bar and ŽOK Gimnazijalac. Below is the list of final placements of every club by single season. ''07 = season 2006/07''

All-time participants

Since its foundation, 20 clubs have participated. Below is a list of participants with the number of seasons in the First League and all-time score. Matches from the playoffs series are included. Note: 2 points for win, 1 for defeat

Current season

Season 2023–24 is 18th edition of Montenegrin women's volley league. League have ten participants. League started in October 2023 and will finish in May 2024.

Second League

Competition was founded at 2006, with first season 2006–07.
At the end of every season, a new member of the First League became a winner of Second Montenegrin League. If winner is the 'B' team (second team) of some club, promotion is gained to next best-placed participant of Second League.
So far, winners of the Montenegrin Second Women Volley League were: Season 2019-20 was interrupted due to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

. Montenegrin volleyball federation decided that the champions of the Second League were the winners of five groups from the preliminary phase of competition (''Ivangrad; Herceg Novi; Akademija; Galeb "B"; Gorštak'').

Montenegrin women's volleyball clubs in European competitions

Montenegrin women's volleyball clubs have been participating in the CEV competitions since the 1998–99 season.
The first team which competed in European cups was

ŽOK Luka Bar ŽOK Luka Bar is a Montenegrin women's volleyball club founded in 1992. Based in seaside town of Bar, named after Port of Bar (''Montenegrin: Luka Bar''), it's the most successful Montenegrin women's volleyball club, with the most titles in dome ...

. ŽOK Galeb and ŽOK Herceg Novi are the other teams to play in CEV competitions.
Montenegrin women's volleyball teams played in

Women's CEV Cup The Women's CEV Cup, formerly known as CEV Cup Winners' Cup (from 1972 to 2000) and CEV Top Teams Cup (from 2000 to 2007), is the second-top official competition for women's volleyball clubs of Europe and takes place every year. It is organized by ...

and

CEV Women's Challenge Cup The CEV Women's Challenge Cup, formerly (from 1980 to 2007) known as CEV Women's Cup is the third official competition for women's volleyball clubs of Europe and takes place every year. It is organized by the Confédération Européenne de Volley ...

, and from the season 2016–17 in the qualifiers for

.
During the overall history, three Montenegrin clubs have played in CEV competitions. ''As of the end of CEV competitions 2023–24 season.''

References

External links

Volleyball Federation of Montenegro

Montenegrin League. women.volleybox.net
{{Professional Women's Volleyball Leagues