The 2018–19 Slovak First Football League (known as the Fortuna Liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 26th season of first-tier football league in Slovakia since its establishment in 1993.
Spartak Trnava were the defending champions after winning their first Slovak title in the previous season. Slovan Bratislava won their first title since 2014 and their record-extending ninth Slovak league title overall.
Teams 12 teams competed in the league – the top 11 sides from the 2017–18 season and one promoted team from the 2. liga. The promoted team was Sereď. They replaced Tatran Prešov.
FC Spartak Trnava ŠK Slovan Bratislava FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda MŠK Žilina AS Trenčín MFK Ružomberok FC Nitra MFK Zemplín Michalovce ŽP Šport Podbrezová FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce FK Senica ŠKF iClinic Sereď
Stadiums and locations
Team Home city Stadium Capacity 2017–18 season AS Trenčín Trenčín Stadium Myjava 5th in Fortuna Liga DAC Dunajská Streda Dunajská Streda MOL Aréna 3rd in Fortuna Liga FK Železiarne Podbrezová Podbrezová ZELPO Aréna 9th in Fortuna Liga FK Senica Senica OMS Arena 11th in Fortuna Liga Michalovce Michalovce Mestský futbalový štadión 8th in Fortuna Liga MFK Ružomberok Ružomberok Štadión pod Čebraťom 6th in Fortuna Liga FC Nitra Nitra Štadión pod Zoborom 7th in Fortuna Liga ŠKF Sereď Sereď Štadión pod Zoborom 2. Liga Champion MŠK Žilina Žilina Štadión pod Dubňom 4th in Fortuna Liga Slovan Bratislava Bratislava Tehelné pole 2nd in Fortuna Liga Spartak Trnava Trnava Anton Malatinský Stadium ViOn Zlaté Moravce Zlaté Moravce FC ViOn Stadium 10th in Fortuna Liga
AS Trenčín Dunajská Streda Podbrezová Michalovce Stadium Myjava MOL Aréna UEFA ZELPO Aréna Mestský futbalový štadión Capacity: 2,709 Capacity: 12,700 Capacity: 4,061 Capacity: 4,440 FK Senica MFK Ružomberok MŠK Žilina Slovan Bratislava OMS ArenaUEFA Štadión pod Čebraťom Štadión pod DubňomUEFA Tehelné poleUEFA Capacity: 4,500 Capacity: 4,817 Capacity: 11,258 Capacity: 22,500 Spartak Trnava ŠKF Sereď ViOn Zlaté Moravce FC Nitra Anton Malatinský StadiumUEFA Štadión pod ZoboromUEFA Štadión FC ViOn Štadión pod ZoboromUEFA Capacity: 19,200 Capacity: 7,480 Capacity: 4,000 Capacity: 7,480
Personnel and kits Team President Manager Captain Kitmaker Shirt sponsorAS Trenčín Jozef Liptovský Ivan Galád Peter Kleščík Adidas ORION TipDAC Dunajská Streda Oszkár Világi Peter Hyballa Tomáš Huk macron KukkoniaFK Železiarne Podbrezová Július Kriváň Vladimír Veselý Miroslav Viazanko Adidas Železiarne PodbrezováFK Senica Vladimír Levársky Ricardo Chéu Erik Otrísal hummel -MFK Ružomberok Milan Fiľo David Holoubek Dominik Kružliak Adidas MAESTROMŠK Žilina Jozef Antošík Jaroslav Kentoš Michal Škvarka Nike PretoSlovan Bratislava Ivan Kmotrík Martin Ševela Vasil Bozhikov Adidas grafobalFC Nitra Jozef Petráni Michal Kuruc Miloš Šimončič Jako -Spartak Trnava Dušan Keketi Michal Ščasný Erik Grendel Adidas PN InvestViOn Zlaté Moravce Karol Škula Karol Praženica Martin Chren Erreà ViOnMFK Michalovce Ján Sabol Anton Šoltis Igor Žofčák Adidas ISDB, St. NicolausŠKF Sereď Róbert Stareček Karel Stromšík Martin Mečiar NikeiClinic
Managerial changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointmentSpartak Trnava Nestor El Maestro End of contract Pre-season Radoslav Látal MŠK Žilina Adrián Guľa Signed with Slovakia U21 Jaroslav Kentoš MFK Ružomberok Norbert Hrnčár End of contract David Holoubek AS Trenčín Vladimír Cifranič Become assistant Ricardo Moniz Dunajská Streda Marco Rossi Signed with Hungary Peter Hyballa FK Senica Ton Caanen Become general manager 10 Frederico Ricardo ŠKF Sereď Michal Gašparík Sacked 8 Karel Stromšík AS Trenčín Ricardo Moniz Resigned 6 Vladimír Cifranič (carateker) FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce Juraj Jarábek Resigned 12 Branislav Mráz (carateker) FK Železiarne Podbrezová Marek Fabuľa Sacked 11 Gergely Geri (carateker) FC Spartak Trnava Radoslav Látal Resigned 8 Michal Ščasný FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce Branislav Mráz End of interim spell 12 Karol Praženica FK Železiarne Podbrezová Gergely Geri End of interim spell 10 Vladimír Veselý FK Senica Frederico Ricardo Released 11 Ricardo Chéu FC Nitra Ivan Galád Released 8 Michal Kuruc AS Trenčín Vladimír Cifranič End by own request 9 Matthias Kohler AS Trenčín Matthias Kohler Released 11 Ivan Galád
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 Should one of the top 3 teams have won the 2018–19 Slovak Cup, Europa League qualification playoffs would have been held among the 4th, 5th, 6th team in the championship group and the top team of the relegation round. The 4th team played the top team of the relegation group and the 5th played the 6th in the semifinals. Winners of the semifinals would play the final to determine the Europa League qualification spot. Europa League qualification playoff games would be one-leg and played at the home pitch of the higher-ranked team. The winners would qualify for the first qualifying round of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League. On 1 May 2019, Spartak Trnava, who didn't qualify for the championship group, won the cup, thus eliminating the need of playoffs.
Relegation play-offs Team placed 11th in the relegation match faced 2nd team from 2. Liga 2018–19 for one spot in the next season.
All times are CEST (UTC+2).
First leg
Second leg
4–3 on aggregate.
Season statistics
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Andraž ŠporarŠK Slovan292 Róbert BoženíkŽilina 133 MohaSlovan12 Hamza ČatakovićAS Trenčín5 Kristopher VidaDAC D.Streda116 Vakoun Issouf BayoDAC D.Streda10 Tomáš VestenickýNitra8 Izzy TandirRužomberok9 Michal ŠkvarkaŽilina Kubilay YilmazTrnava Tomáš ĎubekZ.Moravce Kristi QoseRužomberok Joey Sleegers aTrenčín a Included 1 play-off goal
Hat-tricks
Round Player For Against Result Date Ref 7 Tomáš Vestenický FC Nitra ViOn Zlaté Moravce 4–1 1 September 2018 18 Andrej Fábry FC Nitra ViOn Zlaté Moravce 0–3 8 December 2018 8.CH Andraž Šporar Slovan Žilina 6–2 11 May 2019
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Matúš MacíkRužomberok132 Martin JedličkaD.Streda123 Dominik HolecŽilina9 Dominik GreifSlovan5 Matúš KiraMichalovce86 Federico TabordaSenica77 Igor ŠemrinecTrenčín58 Lukáš HroššoNitra4 Pavol PenksaSereď Dobrivoj RusovTrnava Martin VantrubaPodbrezová Adrián ChovanZ.Moravce
Discipline
Player
Most yellow cards: 13
Ľubomír Michalík (Sereď)
Most red cards: 2 Macdonald Ngwa Niba (Nitra) Yani Urdinov (Ruzomberok) Ivan Diaz (Žilina) Erik Grendel (Trnava)
Club
Most yellow cards: 87 ŠKF Sereď
Most red cards: 5 AS Trenčín
Awards
Player of the Month
Month Player Club Ref July/August Erik Pačinda Dunajská Streda September Tomáš Vestenický FC Nitra October Róbert Boženík MŠK Žilina November/December Andraž Šporar Slovan Bratislava February/March Matúš Kira Michalovce April Martin Jedlička Dunajská Streda May Andraž Šporar Slovan Bratislava
Top Eleven Source: Goalkeeper: Dominik Greif (ŠK Slovan) Defence: Erick Davis (DAC D.Streda), Kristián Koštrna (DAC D.Streda), Dominik Kružliak (Ružomberok), Vasil Bozhikov (ŠK Slovan) Midfield: Miroslav Káčer (Žilina), Marin Ljubičić (DAC D.Streda/Slovan), Zsolt Kalmár (DAC D.Streda), Aleksandar Čavrić (ŠK Slovan), Moha (ŠK Slovan) Attack: Andraž Šporar (ŠK Slovan)
Top Eleven U-21 Source: Goalkeeper: Dominik Greif (ŠK Slovan) Defence: Lazarus Rota (Michalovce), Dominik Kružliak (Ružomberok), Matej Oravec (Trnava/Podbrezová), Branislav Sluka (MŠK Žilina) Midfield: Tihomir Kostadinov (Ružomberok), Miroslav Káčer (MŠK Žilina), Máté Vida (DAC D.Streda), Christián Herc (DAC D.Streda) Attack: Tomáš Vestenický (Nitra), Róbert Boženík (MŠK Žilina)
Individual awards
Manager of the season
Martin Ševela (ŠK Slovan)
Player of the Year
Andraž Šporar (ŠK Slovan)
Young player of the Year
Róbert Boženík (MŠK Žilina)
Attendances
# Club Average 1 DAC 8,445 2 Slovan 5,643 3 Trnava 3,476 4 Žilina 2,303 5 Nitra 1,654 6 ViOn 1,453 7 Ružomberok 1,431 8 Zemplín 1,370 9 Železiarne 990 10 Senica 757 11 Sereď 720 12 Trenčín 561
Source:
See also 2018–19 Slovak Cup 2018–19 2. Liga (Slovakia) List of transfers summer 2018 List of transfers winter 2018-19 List of foreign players
References
External links