The 2017–18 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (known as BH Telecom Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the eighteenth season of the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the highest football league of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The season began on 22 July 2017 and concluded on 20 May 2018, with a winter break between early December 2017 and late February 2018.

Teams A total of 12 teams contested the league, including 10 sides from the 2016–17 season and two promoted from each of the second-level league.

Stadiums and locations Borac Čelik Gabela Krupa Banja Luka City Stadium Bilino Polje Perica-Pero Pavlović Krupa na Vrbasu Capacity: 10,030 Capacity: 13,812 Capacity: 3,000 Capacity: 3,500 Mladost Radnik Stadium Mladost Kakanj Gradski Stadium (Bijeljina) Capacity: 3,000 Capacity: 6,000 Sarajevo Sloboda Asim Ferhatović Hase Tušanj Capacity: 30,121 Capacity: 7,200 Široki Brijeg Vitez Zrinjski Željezničar Pecara Gradski Stadium (Vitez) HŠK Zrinjski Stadium Grbavica Capacity: 5,147 Capacity: 3,000 Capacity: 9,000 Capacity: 13,146

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorBorac Darko Vojvodić Mahir Karić Diadora Nova BankaČelik Edin Prljača Fenan Salčinović Givova WwinGOŠK Feđa Dudić - no.1 —Krupa Slobodan Starčević Aleksandar Vukotić NAAI BEMAMladost Doboj Kakanj Edis Mulalić Aladin Isaković Joma Kakanj CementRadnik Mladen Žižović Dino Beširević Joma NektarSarajevo Husref Musemić Krste Velkoski Nike Turkish AirlinesSloboda Slavko Petrović Amer Ordagić NAAI WwinŠiroki Brijeg Goran Sablić Jure Ivanković Legea MepasVitez Ivica Bonić Ivan Livaja Joma tioilZrinjski Blaž Slišković Pero Stojkić Macron PPDŽeljezničar Admir Adžem Vedran Kjosevski Diadora Ziraat Bank

Regular season

The season has a two-stage format. In the regular season, each of the 12 teams play home-and-away once, resulting in 22 games played each. The top six teams in the regular season qualify for the Championship round, the bottom six teams qualify for the Relegation round. Each team then plays home-and-away against the other teams within their own group, for an additional ten games played each, a season total of 32 games.

League table

Results

Championship round

Table

Results

Relegation round

Table

Results

Licensing issues All clubs in Bosnia and Herzegovina must have a license to compete in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the deadline this season being set May 7 for the First Degree commission. Five clubs did not get their licences for the first degree: Borac Banja Luka, Sloboda Tuzla, Čelik Zenica, Vitez and GOŠK Gabela. The Second Degree commission convened on May 24 and only approved Čelik before being abruptly cancelled and rescheduled for May 30. The commission approved all other clubs except for Borac, meaning that they would be relegated into the First League of the Republika Srpska. As Borac did not have the license but Čelik did, they were allowed to stay in the Premier League.

Borac attempted to solve the issues which caused the license removal, including removing the debt Borac owed to FK Džaja. Borac showed the evidence it showed regarding the payments to Džaja to UEFA, which will assist the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the decision of whether or not Borac Banja Luka or Čelik Zenica will compete in the 2018–19 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The debate over the licences also caused the draws for the next season to be rescheduled.

In a similar way, teams promoted from the First League of the Republika Srpska or First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina also need to get a license separated into First and Second Degree commissions, although their deadlines are moved to a later date. The winners of both leagues FK Sloga Simin Han (later known as Tuzla City) and FK Zvijezda 09 met with the First Degree commission on June 14, but only Sloga received their license. Zvijezda 09 will convene at a later date with the Second Degree commission.

Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Miloš FilipovićZrinjski162 Mersudin AhmetovićSarajevo143 Nemanja BilbijaZrinjski12 Petar KunićBorac Luka MenaloŠiroki Brijeg Krste VelkoskiSarajevo Goran ZakarićŽeljezničar8 Dražen BagarićŠiroki Brijeg7 Haris DilaverMladost Doboj Kakanj Nusmir FajićKrupa Haris HandžićZrinjski Nardin MulahusejnovićGOŠK Gabela Stevo NikolićČelik Vojo UbiparipŽeljezničar

Attendances

# Club Average 1 Željezničar 4,825 2 Sarajevo 3,156 3 Zrinjski 2,738 4 Borac 2,581 5 Čelik 2,369 6 Široki 1,526 7 Sloboda 1,450 8 Krupa 822 9 GOŠK 616 10 Mladost 575 11 Radnik 456 12 Vitez 406Source:

References

External links