The 2017–18 Slovak First Football League (known as the Slovak Fortuna Liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season of first-tier football league in

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, since its establishment in 1993.

MŠK Žilina MŠK Žilina () is a Slovak football club based in the town of Žilina, that is playing in the Slovak First Football League. Since the league inception in 1993, the club has won 7 titles and comes second in All-time table that makes them one o ...

were the defending champions, after winning their 7th Slovak championship.

Format changes

Starting from this season, the competition format was changed. The previous 33-match round robin structure was replaced by the current regular stage round of 22 games and a playoff round, where 12 teams are divided into two groups: championship group (top-6 teams after regular stage) and relegation group (bottom 6 teams). The playoff round uses a 10-game round robin structure. The top team in the championship group wins the league title and qualifies to next season's Champions League qualification; the runner-up and 3rd team obtain spots of next season's Europa League Qualification. The bottom team of the relegation group will be relegated to next season's 2. Liga and replaced by the 2. Liga winner. The second-bottom ranked team will play a two-leg relegation playoff with the runner-up of 2. Liga. Should one of the top 3 teams wins of the 2017-18 Slovak Cup, Europa League qualification playoffs will be held among the 4th, 5th, 6th team in the championship group and the top team of the relegation round. The 4th team plays the top team of the relegation group and the 5th plays the 6th in the semifinals. Winners of the semifinals will play the final to determine the Europa League qualification spot. Europa League qualification playoff games will be one-leg and played at the home pitch of the higher-ranked team.

Teams

A total of 12 teams competed in the league, including 11 sides from the 2016–17 season and one promoted from the 2. liga. Withdrawal of

Spartak Myjava Spartak Myjava () is a Slovak football team, based in the town of Myjava. The club was founded in 1920. History Spartak Myjava was founded on 8 August 1920 as Športový klub Myjava (ŠK Myjava). ŠK Myjava founder and first president of the loc ...

was confirmed on 21 December 2016. The withdrawn team was meant to be replaced initially by

FC VSS Košice FC VSS Košice, formerly 1. FC Košice, was a Slovakia, Slovak Football team, football club based in Košice which played in the 2. Liga (Slovakia), Slovak 2. Liga during the 2016–17 season. The club officially ceased operations on 27 July 2017 ...

, but that team was rejected a promotion and went into bankruptcy.

FC Nitra FC Nitra is a Slovak association football club, playing in the town of Nitra. Established in 1909, FC Nitra is one of the oldest football clubs in Slovakia. History Czechoslovak era Nitra were promoted and relegated 4 times from the Czechoslov ...

was promoted instead of Košice. 2017–18 Teams *

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slavs") is a professional association football, football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak First Football League. Founded as I. ČSŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name ...

MFK Ružomberok MFK Ružomberok () is a Slovak professional football club playing in the city of Ružomberok. History Established in 1906, the club's colours have been traditionally white, yellow and red, which are also featured on the town's flag. However, t ...

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its football department. The first team currently plays in the Slovak First Football League after winning the 2010–11 Slovak First League. The club plays its hom ...

FK Železiarne Podbrezová FK Železiarne Podbrezová () is a Slovak football team, based in the village of Podbrezová. History Podbrezová was formed in 1920 as RTJ Podbrezová. The club is also particularly famous for its youth program that has produced many Slovak ta ...

FC Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Trnava, Slovakia. The club competes in Slovak First Football League, the top flight in the Football in Slovakia#System, Slovak league system, hav ...

FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda FC DAC 1904 is a Slovak professional association football, football club based in Dunajská Streda which competes in the Slovak First Football League. In the 2007–08 season, they were the west group champions of the Slovak Third League. In the ...

FK Senica FK Senica () is a Slovakia, Slovak football (soccer), football team, based in the town of Senica. The club was founded in 1921. History FK Senica was founded in 1921. Newly created partition was rapidly progressed, but the boom dampened dark per ...

FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce – Vráble is a Slovakia, Slovak Association football, football team, based in the town of Zlaté Moravce. The club was founded on 22 January 1995. History From the club's establishment in 1995 until 2004, they played i ...

MFK Zemplín Michalovce MFK Zemplín Michalovce () is a Slovakia, Slovak professional football (soccer), football team based in the town of Michalovce, that competes in the Slovak First Football League, the top tier in the Football in Slovakia#System, Slovakian league ...

* 1. FC Tatran Prešov *

Stadiums and locations

¹Tatran played their home matches in this season at

NTC Poprad National Training Centre Poprad () is a football (soccer), football stadium in Poprad, Slovakia. It serves as home stadium for football club FK Poprad and Slovakia national under-21 football team, Slovak national football youth teams. NTC is also ...

Poprad Poprad (; ; ) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. The largest town of the Spiš region and the largest of all towns in the vic ...

while

Tatran Stadium Tatran Stadium (''Štadión Tatran Prešov'' in Slovak language, Slovak) is a multi-purpose stadium in Prešov, Slovakia. Currently, it is used for association football matches and it will be host the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in ...

went under renovation.

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Regular stage

League table

Results

Each team plays home-and-away against every other team in the league, for a total of 22 matches played each.

Championship group

Relegation group

Europa League play-offs

Teams placed between 4th and 7th position will take part in the Europa league play-offs. The best of them will play against the fourth-placed of the championship play-offs to determine the Europa League play-off winners. The winners will qualify for the

first qualifying round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League. ''All times are

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Por ...

''.

Semi-finals

Final

Relegation play-offs

Team placed 11th in the relegation match will face 2nd team from 2. Liga 2017–18 to for two spots in the next season. ''All times are

''.

First leg

Second leg

''2–2 on aggregate. FK Senica won on away goal.''

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

^a Included 2 play-off goals

Hat-tricks

Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

*Most yellow cards: 12 **

Yasin Pehlivan Yasin Pehlivan (born 5 January 1989) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is also part of the Austria national team. Since his debut in 2009, he was capped 17 times. Club career Pehlivan began his career 1998 wi ...

(Trnava) *Most red cards: 2 **

Ján Krivák Ján Krivák (born 10 November 1993) is a Slovak footballer who plays as centre-back for Košice of the Niké Liga. Career FO ŽP Šport Podbrezová Krivák made his professional debut for ŽP Šport Podbrezová against Senica on 27 February ...

(Podbrezová) **

Damián Bariš Damián Bariš (born 9 December 1994) is a Slovak footballer who plays as a midfielder for AS Trenčín. Club career AS Trenčín Bariš made his debut for FK AS Trenčín against ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava ...

(Zl.Moravce)

Club

*Most yellow cards: 75 **

*Most red cards: 7 **

Awards

Player of the Month

Top Eleven

Source: *Goalkeeper:

Lukáš Hroššo Lukáš Hroššo (born 19 April 1987) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Slovak second division club Banská Bystrica. Honours Slovan Liberec * Czech Cup: 2014-15 Cracovia * Polish Cup: 2019–20 * Polish Super ...

(FC Nitra) *Defence: Erick Davis (DAC D.Streda),

Ľubomír Šatka Ľubomír Šatka (; born 2 December 1995) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Süper Lig club Samsunspor and the Slovakia national team. Club career Early career Šatka was born in Ilava, Trenčín Region. A prod ...

(DAC D.Streda),

Boris Godál Boris Godál (born 27 May 1987) is a Slovak professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre-back for MFK Dukla Banská Bystrica, Dukla Banská Bystrica. Club career In February 20 ...

(Spartak Trnava),

Boris Sekulić Boris Sekulić ( sr-Cyrl, Борис Секулић; born 21 October 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Železničar Pančevo. Born in Serbia, he plays for the Slovakia national team. Club career Born in Zemun, S ...

(ŠK Slovan) *Midfield:

Erik Pačinda Erik Pačinda (born 9 May 1989) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for MFK Snina. Club career Pačinda previously played for DAC Dunajská Streda, Košice or Viktoria Plzeň. International career Pačinda was ...

(DAC D.Streda), Marin Ljubičić (DAC D.Streda),

Aschraf El Mahdioui Aschraf El Mahdioui (; born 24 May 1996) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Saudi side Al Taawoun, which he captains. He previously played for ADO Den Haag, Jong Ajax, Wisła Kraków and AS Trenčín. Besides ...

(AS Trenčín),

Aleksandar Čavrić Aleksandar Čavrić (; born 18 May 1994) is a Serbian-Slovak professional footballer who plays as a winger or forward for Kashima Antlers. Club career Serbia, Belgium and Danmark Čavrić made his senior and simultaneously professional debut ...

(Slovan Bratislava) *Attack:

Marvin Egho Marvin Egho (born 9 May 1994) is an Austrian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Danish 1st Division club AC Horsens. Club career Egho started his career at SV Donau Wien. Af ...

(Spartak Trnava),

Samuel Mráz Samuel Mráz (born 13 May 1997) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a forward for Polish club Motor Lublin and the Slovakia national team. Club career Senica Mráz started his football career at hometown club ŠK Malacky, before ...

(MŠK Žilina)

Top Eleven U-21

Source: *Goalkeeper: Martin Vantruba (Spartak Trnava) *Defence:

Matúš Kuník Matúš Kuník (born 14 May 1997) is a Slovak footballer who plays for FC Petržalka as a defender. Club career FC Nitra Kuník made his Fortuna Liga debut for Nitra against Žilina Žilina (; ; ; ; Names of European cities in differ ...

(FC Nitra),

Dávid Hancko Dávid Hancko (born 13 December 1997) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for Eredivisie club Feyenoord and the Slovakia national team. Club career MŠK Žilina Hancko made his Slovak Super Liga debut for ...

(MŠK Žilina),

Richard Križan Richard Križan (born 23 September 1997) is a Slovakia, Slovak Association football, footballer who plays for Czech First League club SK Dynamo České Budějovice, Dynamo České Budějovice as a Defender (association football), defender. Club ...

(FC Nitra),

Andrej Kadlec Andrej Kadlec (born 2 February 1996) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a right back for Slovak club Ružomberok, on loan from Mladá Boleslav. Club career He made his Fortuna Liga debut for Žilina on 26 April 2014 against Sparta ...

(Spartak Trnava) *Midfield:

(AS Trenčín),

Miroslav Káčer Miroslav Káčer (born 2 February 1996) is a Slovak professional footballer who currently plays for MŠK Žilina in the Niké Liga. Club career MŠK Žilina Káčer began his football career at his hometown club MŠK Žilina. Aged 16, Mirosla ...

(MŠK Žilina),

Erik Jirka Erik Jirka (born 19 September 1997) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a winger for Ekstraklasa club Piast Gliwice and the Slovakia national team. Club career A FC Spartak Trnava youth graduate, Jirka made his professional league ...

(Spartak Trnava), Ewerton (Zl.Moravce),

Hilary Gong Hilary Gong (born 10 October 1998) is a Nigerian professional Association football, footballer who plays as Winger (association football), winger for Polish club Widzew Łódź. Club career Gong made his professional debut for AS Trenčín agai ...

(AS Trenčín) *Attack:

(MŠK Žilina)

Individual awards

Manager of the season Nestor El Maestro (Spartak Trnava) Player of the Year

(Spartak Trnava) Young player of the Year

(MŠK Žilina)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slovak First Football League 2017-18 2017–18 in European association football leagues 2017-18 1

Format changes

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Regular stage

League table

Results

Championship group

Relegation group

Europa League play-offs

Semi-finals

Final

Relegation play-offs

First leg

Second leg

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Hat-tricks

Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

Club

Awards

Player of the Month

Top Eleven

Top Eleven U-21

Individual awards

See also

References