The Bosnia and Herzegovina football league system is a series of connected leagues for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

clubs in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. The system is hierarchical, with

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

between leagues at different levels. The top division is organized by the

Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Nogometni/Fudbalski Savez Bosne i Hercegovine (N/FSBiH); Ногометни/Фудбалски Савез Босне и Херцеговине (Н/ФСБиХ), (FSBiH); unified abbreviation N/FS ...

, the second and third levels by entity associations, and lower levels by cantonal or regional associations.

Structure

The

Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

is at the top of the structure. It is the top flight in Bosnian club football and has 12 teams. The League champion is also the champion of Bosnia and Herzegovina and has the right to play in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

qualifying rounds. The bottom two teams of the table are relegated to the second level of the competition. The second tier is divided into two leagues – the

First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Prva liga Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine, Прва лига Федерације Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the WWin First League of the ...

and the

First League of the Republika Srpska The First League of the Republika Srpska ( / ) is a Association football, football league in Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Together with the First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it forms the second level of footb ...

– containing, respectively, 16 and 18 clubs. Relegated teams from the Premier League are demoted to the second-level competition in the next season. Geographical location is the criterion for decided decision in which one of these two leagues the teams will play. The winner of each league is promoted to the Premier League, and the bottom teams are relegated. The number of relegated teams depends on how many teams enter from the Premier League and the Third Divisions. Third-level football is even more dispersed. Each league is associated with a different geographical area. In the

Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Serbo-Croatian: ''Federacija Bosne i Hercegovine'' / ''Федерација Босне и Херцеговине'') is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities composing Bo ...

, there are four second divisions, and in

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, ; also referred to as the Republic of Srpska or Serb Republic) is one of the two Political divisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other bein ...

two second divisions. The same principle of promotion and relegation is used, so the league winners are promoted to the appropriate second-level league, and clubs at the bottom of the table are relegated to the lower levels. There are cantonal football associations in nine of the ten cantons which make up the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They each organize clubs into one or more leagues, depending on the number of clubs they control. In Republika Srpska, which has no cantons, there are instead four football regions, each of which has a league. The first leagues in the Federation cantons and the regional leagues in Republika Srpska constitute the fourth level of club football. Further down, there are many different types of organization. Some cantons (with many clubs) have second leagues, and there are also municipality and inter-municipality leagues for clubs not associated with any cantonal or regional league.

System

Cup competition

The

Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kup Bosne i Hercegovine, Куп Босне и Херцеговине) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner ...

usually starts in spring with qualification matches. Those matches are played between lower league clubs on canton (

) or region (

) level. Best teams qualify to entity cups which are qualifying competitions for the national cup. In the first round of the national cup, 12

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

teams are joined by 12 teams from the First League of FBiH and 8 teams from the First League of RS.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bosnian Football League System