The Macedonian First Football League ( mk, Прва македонска фудбалска лига, ''Prva Мakedonska Fudbalska Liga''), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

competition in North Macedonia. It is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Macedonian football league system and has been operating since the 1992–93 season. It is organized by the

Football Federation of North Macedonia The Football Federation of Macedonia (FFM; mk, Фудбалска Федерација на Македонија, ФФМ; sq, Federata e Futbollit të Maqedonisë) or Football Federation of North Macedonia is the governing body of football in No ...

Format

Throughout the 1. MFL history, the number of clubs competing at the top level has been gradually decreased until the 2020–21 season. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history:

The league has 12 teams, and each team plays the other sides three times, for a total of 33 matches each. Due to the UEFA ranking coefficients ranking (shown below), the winners of the league enter the 1st qualifying round of the Champions League, while the second and third placed teams enter the 1st qualifying round of the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

alongside the winner of the

Macedonian Football Cup The Cup of Macedonia ( mk, Куп на Македонија, ''Kup na Makedonija'') is the top knockout tournament and the second most important football competition in Macedonia after the Macedonian First League championship. The cup was establ ...

. At the end of the season, the bottom 2 teams are relegated to the

Macedonian Second League The Macedonian Second Football League ( mk, Втора македонска Фудбалска Лига, ''Vtora Makedonska Fudbalska Liga''; also called Macedonian Second League, 2. MFL and Vtora Liga) is the second-highest professional footbal ...

while the eighth placed team enter a play-off with the winner of the tie between second placed teams of the two groups in the

UEFA rankings

UEFA country ranking for league participation in 2021–22 European football season (Previous year rank in italics) * 52 (''52'') Besta-deild karla * 53 (''48'')

Macedonian First League The Macedonian First Football League ( mk, Прва македонска фудбалска лига, ''Prva Мakedonska Fudbalska Liga''), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competiti ...

* 54 (''53'')

Montenegrin First League The First League of Montenegro ( Montenegrin: ''Prva crnogorska fudbalska liga'' — ''Prva CFL'' — ''1. CFL''; ) is the top football league in Montenegro. Founded in 2006, competition is headed by the Football Association of Montenegro. 10 te ...

* 55 (''55'')

Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio (English translation: Sammarinese Football Championship) is an amateur league competition for football clubs located at the only level of the Sammarinese football league system (no relegation system exists) and ...

Current teams (2022–23)

History

In 1923 the first national

Yugoslav Football Championship The Yugoslav First Federal Football League ( Serbian: Прва савезна лига у фудбалу / ''Prva savezna liga u fudbalu'', hr, Prva savezna liga u nogometu, sl, Prva zvezna nogometna liga, mk, Прва сојузна лига, ...

was held, and regional championships were also played. The clubs of the

Vardar Banovina The Vardar Banovina, or Vardar Banate ( mk, Вардарска бановина, Vardarska banovina; sr, Вардарска бановина, translit=Vardarska Banovina; al, Banovina e Vardarit, italics=no), was a province (banate) of the King ...

, territorially similar to present day Macedonia, played within the

Belgrade Football Subassociation The Belgrade Football Subassociation, commonly known by its initials, BLP ( Serbo-Croato-Slovenian: ''Beogradski loptački podsavez'' / Београдски лоптачки подсавез - БЛП) was one of the regional football governing bodi ...

league until 1927, when a separate Skoplje Football Subassociation league was formed. The champions of the subassociation leagues were granted a place in the qualifiers to the Yugoslav Championship.

Gragjanski Skopje Gragjanski Skopje ( mk, Гpaѓaнcки Скопје, en, FC Citizens Skopje, sh, Građanski Skoplje) was a football club from Skoplje, Yugoslavia (now Skopje, North Macedonia). The club's major achievements were the two participations in the Ro ...

became the only Macedonian club to participate in the national league, first in 1935–36 when the championship was played in a cup format, and then in 1938–39, when it was played in a normal league system with Gragjanski finishing 10th out of 12 teams. In 1939 the Yugoslav league system was changed, with the creation of separate Serbian and Croato-Slovenian leagues which served as qualifying leagues for the final phase of the Yugoslav Championship. The clubs from the Skopje Subassociation aimed to qualify to the

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer of ...

, however only Gragjanski managed to participate, in 1939–40 (5th place) and 1940–41 (8th place).

Current Champion

The current champion of the Macedonian First League is Shkupi.

List of seasons

Most titles

The titles won by clubs since independence are shown in the following table:

References

External links

Macedonian First League current season standings and recent results at Uefa.comTables of the previous seasons
at MacedonianFootball.com
Football Federation of Macedonia

1.MFL on instagram
{{UEFA leagues Sports leagues established in 1992 1992 establishments in the Republic of Macedonia 1 Macedonia