Macedonian First Football League Explained

Macedonian First Football League
Pixels:240px
First:1992–93
Confed:UEFA
Teams:12
Relegation:2. MFL
Levels:1
Domest Cup:Macedonian Football Cup
Confed Cup:UEFA Champions League
UEFA Europa Conference League
Champions:Struga (2nd title)
Season:2023–24
Most Champs:Vardar (11 titles)
Top Goalscorer:Besart Ibraimi
(189 goals)
Tv:MRT
Arena Sport[1]
Sport Klub
Current:2024–25

The Macedonian First Football League (Macedonian: Прва македонска фудбалска лига), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competition in North Macedonia. It is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the North Macedonian football league system and has been operating since the 1992–93 season. It is organized by the Football Federation of North Macedonia.

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:

 
  • 18 clubs = 1992–1993
  • 16 clubs = 1993–1995
  • 15 clubs = 1995–1996
  • 14 clubs = 1996–2001
  • 12 clubs = 2001–2014
  • 10 clubs = 2014–2020
  • 12 clubs = 2020–present

The league has 12 teams, and each team plays the other sides three times, for a total of 33 matches each.[2]

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 alongside the winner of the Macedonian Football Cup. At the end of the season, the bottom 2 teams are relegated to the Macedonian Second League 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 Macedonian Second League.

UEFA rankings

UEFA country ranking for league participation in 2021–22 European football season (Previous year rank in italics)[3] [4]

Current teams (2024–25)

Club[5]
Position
in 2023–24[6]
7th
1st in 2. MFL
6th
2nd in 2. MFL
8th
Sileks5th
2nd
3rd
1st
4th
10th
9th

History

In 1923, the first national Yugoslav Football Championship was held, and regional championships were also played. The clubs of the Vardar Banovina, territorially similar to present day Macedonia, played within the Belgrade Football Subassociation league until 1927,[7] when a separate Skoplje Football Subassociation league was formed.[8] The champions of the subassociation leagues were granted a place in the qualifiers to the Yugoslav Championship. Gragjanski Skopje became the only Macedonian club to participate in the national league, first in 1935–36 when the championship was played in a cup format,[9] and then in 1938–39, when it was played in a normal league system with Gragjanski finishing 10th out of 12 teams.[10] 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.[11] The clubs from the Skopje Subassociation aimed to qualify to the Serbian League, however only Gragjanski managed to participate, in 1939–40 (5th place)[12] and 1940–41 (8th place).[13]

List of seasons

See main article: article and List of Macedonian football champions.

Most titles

The titles won by clubs since independence are shown in the following table:[14] [15]

ClubTitlesRunners-upWinning years
Vardar Skopje1121992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2019–20
Rabotnički Skopje432004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2013–14
Shkendija43
Sileks Kratovo351995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98
FK Sloga Jugomagnat341998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01
Pobeda Prilep222003–04, 2006–07
Struga202022–23, 2023–24
Makedonija Gjorce Petrov112008–09
Renova Djepchishte102009–10
KF Shkupi102021–22
Metalurg Skopjestyle="text-align:center"-3
Milano Kumanovostyle="text-align:center"-2
Belasica Strumicastyle="text-align:center"-2

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Arena Sport buys 1.MFL TV rights, MRTV joins. MacedonianFootball.com. 16 July 2019. 5 August 2019. 5 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190805205627/http://macedonianfootball.com/arena-sport-buys-1-mfl-tv-rights-mrtv-joins/. live.
  2. Web site: First League. Soccerway. Global Sports Media. 19 July 2012. 12 February 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130212075231/http://int.soccerway.com/national/macedonia-fyr/first-league/2011-2012/regular-season/. live.
  3. Web site: UEFA Country Ranking 2015. Bert Kassies. 19 May 2012. 7 December 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191207211642/http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method4/crank2015.html. live.
  4. Web site: UEFA Country coefficients 2017/18. UEFA. 24 May 2012. 1 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160401010530/http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/index.html. live.
  5. Web site: First League: 2019/2020 . Perform . 21 April 2020 . 24 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200424031524/https://int.soccerway.com/national/macedonia-fyr/first-league/20192020/regular-season/r53864/ . live .
  6. Web site: First League 2023/2024. Soccerway. Perform. 28 May 2024. 25 May 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240525210453/https://int.soccerway.com/national/macedonia-fyr/first-league/20232024/regular-season/r76534/. live.
  7. Sijić, pag. 135
  8. http://www.ofkbeograd.net/index.php?id=199 Milorad Sijić: "Football in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia"
  9. Sijić, pag. 99–100
  10. Sijić, pag. 111–116
  11. Sijić, pag. 117
  12. Sijić, pag. 120–121
  13. Sijić, pag. 129
  14. Web site: Macedonia – List of Champions. Karel Stokkermans. 29 October 2015. 26 November 2015. 18 September 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220918132544/https://www.rsssf.org/tablesf/fyromchamp.html. live.
  15. Web site: Archive – First League – North Macedonia – Results, fixtures, tables and news – Soccerway. 20 February 2018. 9 July 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180709055821/https://int.soccerway.com/national/macedonia-fyr/first-league/c65/archive/?ICID=PL_3N_06. live.