The 2017–18 Slovak First Football League (known as the Slovak

Fortuna Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, h ...

for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season of first-tier football league in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), 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 ...

, 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 Superliga. Since the league inception in 1993, the club has won 7 titles and comes second in All-time table that makes them one of the mos ...

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 a 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 lo ...

was confirmed on 21 December 2016. The withdrawn team was meant to be replaced initially by FC VSS Košice, 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 Slav") is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953. Slovan is the m ...

MFK Ružomberok MFK Ružomberok () is a Slovak 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, the sponsor ...

* AS Trenčín * FK Železiarne Podbrezová *

FC Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a Slovak professional football club based in Trnava. Historically, it is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won the Czechoslovak First League five times and the Czechoslovak Cup on four occasions, and ...

FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda FC DAC 1904 is a Slovakia, Slovak association football, football team, based in Dunajská Streda. In the 2007 to 2008 season, the team were the west group champions of the Slovak Third League. In the 2008 to 2009 season, after merging with FC Sen ...

FK Senica FK Senica () is a Slovak 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 period World War II. World wa ...

FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce – Vráble is a Slovak 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 in various regional competitio ...

MFK Zemplín Michalovce MFK Zemplín Michalovce () is a Slovak professional football team based in the town of Michalovce, that competes in the Fortuna Liga, the top tier in the Slovak football league system, from 2015–16. History Zemplín Michalovce was formed ...

1. FC Tatran Prešov 1. FC Tatran Prešov () is a Slovak football club based in the city of Prešov. Tatran Prešov is the oldest football club in Slovakia, founded on 25 May 1898. The club currently participates in the 2.liga. The "Green and Whites" played 32 sea ...

Stadiums and locations

¹Tatran played their home matches in this season at NTC Poprad in

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the te ...

while Tatran Stadium 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 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. This time is used in: As standard time (year-round) ''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...

''.

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

Top assists

Hat-tricks

Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

*Most yellow cards: 12 ** Yasin Pehlivan (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 on 28 April 2013, entering in as a su ...

(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 First Football League club Skalica. Honours Slovan Liberec * Czech Cup: 2014-15 Cracovia * Polish Cup: 2019–20 * Polish Sup ...

(FC Nitra) *Defence:

Erick Davis Eric Javier Davis Grajales (born 31 March 1991) is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Major League Soccer club D.C. United and the Panama national team. Club career Árabe Unido In 2009, he signed for Liga Pa ...

(DAC D.Streda),

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

(DAC D.Streda),

Boris Godál Boris Godál (born 27 May 1987) is a Slovak professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Dukla Banská Bystrica. Club career In February 2013, Godál joined Polish club Zagłębie Lubin on a two-and-a-half-year contract. He was tra ...

(Spartak Trnava),

Boris Sekulić Boris Sekulić ( sr-Cyrl, Борис Секулић; born 21 October 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for Polish club Górnik Zabrze. Born in Serbia, he represents the Slovakia national team. Club career Born in Zemu ...

(ŠK Slovan) *Midfield:

Erik Pačinda Erik Pačinda (born 9 May 1989) is a Slovak international football player who currently plays for FC Košice as a forward or a winger. Club career Pačinda previously played for DAC Dunajská Streda, Košice or Viktoria Plzeň. International ...

(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 FC, Al Taawoun. He previously played for ADO Den Haag, Jong Ajax and AS Trenčín. Besides the Netherlands, he has p ...

(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 on loan from Slovak club Slovan Bratislava. Club career Serbia, Belgium and Danmark Čavrić made his se ...

(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 Cypriot First Division club Anorthosis, on loan from club Spezia. He also represents the Slovakia national team. Club career Senica Mráz started ...

(MŠK Žilina)

Top Eleven U-21

Source: *Goalkeeper:

Martin Vantruba Martin Vantruba (born 7 February 1998) is a Slovak footballer who plays for Spartak Trnava as a goalkeeper. Club career Vantruba was promoted to Spartak Trnava first team in summer 2016. He made his league debut for Trnava on 28 July 2017 agai ...

(Spartak Trnava) *Defence:

Matúš Kuník Matúš Kuník (born 14 May 1997) is a Slovak footballer who plays for FC Petržalka FC Petržalka is a Slovak football club based in Bratislava. The club was founded in 1898 and it promoted twice to the top flight 1. liga in the Czecho ...

(FC Nitra), Dávid Hancko (MŠK Žilina),

Richard Križan Richard Križan (born 23 September 1997) is a Slovak footballer who plays for Czech First League club Dynamo České Budějovice as a defender. Club career FC Nitra Križan made his Fortuna Liga debut for Nitra against Žilina on 22 Jul ...

(FC Nitra), Andrej Kadlec (Spartak Trnava) *Midfield:

(AS Trenčín), Miroslav Káčer (MŠK Žilina), Erik Jirka (Spartak Trnava), Ewerton (Zl.Moravce), Hilary Gong (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

Top assists

Hat-tricks

Clean sheets

Discipline

Player

Club

Awards

Player of the Month

Top Eleven

Top Eleven U-21

Individual awards

See also

References