The 2020–21 Slovak First Football League (known as the Slovak Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 28th season of first-tier football league in Slovakia since its establishment in 1993.
Slovan Bratislava were the defending champions for the second successive year, after picking up the domestic double in the previous season. Slovan successfully defended their title, winning their third consecutive title and record-extending 11th Slovak title overall.
In this season, teams were allowed to make five substitutions during matches in a maximum of three stoppages in play for one team.
Teams Twelve teams competed in the league – all sides from the previous season.
Stadiums and locations
AS Trenčín FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda FK Pohronie MFK Zemplín Michalovce Štadión SihoťUEFA MOL Aréna UEFA Mestský štadión UEFA Mestský futbalový štadión UEFA Capacity: 4,200 (10,000 planned) Capacity: 12,700 Capacity: 2,309 Capacity: 4,440 FK Senica MFK Ružomberok MŠK Žilina ŠK Slovan Bratislava OMS ArenaUEFA Štadión pod Čebraťom Štadión pod DubňomUEFA Tehelné pole UEFA Capacity: 5,070 Capacity: 4,817 Capacity: 11,253 Capacity: 22,500 FC Spartak Trnava ŠKF Sereď FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce FC Nitra ŠAM - City ArenaUEFA Štadión FC ViOn UEFA Štadión FC ViOn UEFA Štadión pod Zoborom UEFA Capacity: 19,200 Capacity: 4,000 Capacity: 4,000 Capacity: 7,480
Personnel and kits Team President Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsorDAC Dunajská Streda Oszkár Világi Antal Németh (carateker) Zsolt Kalmár macron KukkoniaNitra Ladislav Palaky Michal Ščasný Erik Jendrišek AdidasPohronie Jozef Urblík Jan Kameník Petr Pavlík Erreà REMESLORužomberok Milan Fiľo Ján Haspra Ján Maslo Adidas MAESTROSenica Oldřich Duda Karol Praženica Juraj Piroska hummel KOMPLEXX GROUP SKSereď Róbert Stareček Gergely Geri Ľubomír Michalík NikeSlovan Bratislava Ivan Kmotrík Vladimír Weiss Vasil Bozhikov Adidas NikéSpartak Trnava Milan Cuninka Michal Gašparík Dobrivoj Rusov Adidas Trenčín Jozef Liptovský Juraj Ančic (carateker) Aschraf El Mahdioui macron ORION TipZemplín Michalovce Ján Sabol Anton Šoltis Igor Žofčák Adidas ISDB, St. NicolausZlaté Moravce Karol Škula Ľuboš Benkovský Tomáš Ďubek Erreà ViOnŽilina Jozef Antošík Pavol Staňo Jakub Paur Nike Preto
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointmentSenica Patrik Durkáč End of a contract Pre-season Anton Šoltis Trenčín Juraj Ančic End of interim spell Stijn Vreven Slovan Bratislava Ján Kozák Released 3 Darko MilaničSpartak Trnava Marián Šarmír Released 6 Norbert HrnčárPohronie Mikuláš Radványi Released 12 Jan KameníkNitra Gergely Geri Own request 7 Ivan Galád (interim)Sereď Peter Lérant End of a contract 7 František Šturma Spartak Trnava Norbert Hrnčár Released 5 Michal GašparíkNitra Ivan Galád End of interim spell 8 Michal ŠčasnýNitra Michal Ščasný Released 8 Peter LérantSenica Anton Šoltis Released 12 Karol PraženicaSereď František Šturma Health and family reasons 9 Ján Blaháč (interim) Sereď Ján Blaháč Interim 10 Gergely Geri Nitra Peter Lérant Released 11 Michal Ščasný Michalovce Jozef Majoroš Released 11 Anton Šoltis Dunajská Streda Bernd Storck Released 2 Antal Németh (interim) Trenčín Stijn Vreven Released 6 Juraj Ančic (interim) Slovan Bratislava Darko Milanič Released 1 Vladimír Weiss
Regular stage
League table
Results Each team plays home-and-away against every other team in the league, for a total of 22 matches each.
Championship group
Relegation group
Europa Conference League play-offs Should one of the top 3 teams win the 2020–21 Slovak Cup, Europa Conference League qualification playoffs will be held among the 4th, 5th, 6th team in the championship group and the top team of the relegation round. On 19 May 2021, Slovan Bratislava, who have won the league title, also won the cup, thus confirming the need of playoffs.
The 4th team play the top team of the relegation group and the 5th play the 6th in the semifinals. Winners of the semifinals play the final to determine the Europa Conference League qualification spot. Europa Conference League qualification playoff games are one-leg and played at the home pitch of the higher-ranked team. The winners qualify for the first qualifying round of the 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Semi-finals
Final
Relegation play-offs The team which finished 11th faced the 2nd team from 2. Liga 2020–21 for one spot in the top flight the next season.
All times are CEST (UTC+2).
First leg
Second leg
Position by round The table lists the positions of teams after each week of matches. In order to preserve chronological progress, any postponed matches are not included in the round at which they were originally scheduled but added to the full round they were played immediately afterwards. For example, if a match is scheduled for matchday 13, but then postponed and played between days 16 and 17, it will be added to the standings for day 16.
Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round Qualification for the Europa Conference League Qualification for the relegation play-offs Relegation to the 2. liga
Team \ Round1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 Slovan Bratislava 2 1 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1DAC Dunajská Streda 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2Spartak Trnava 4 3 2 3 5 6 5 3 5 5 4 6 5 4 6 5 5 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3Žilina 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 6 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4Zlaté Moravce 7 8 5 6 7 7 10 7 8 8 6 5 4 5 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5Trenčín 6 7 10 9 11 10 8 8 11 9 12 10 11 12 10 10 10 10 8 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6Sereď 12 5 6 7 4 3 3 4 6 7 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 9 8 8 10 7 9 7 7 7 8 8 7 8 7Ružomberok 5 10 11 10 9 11 7 9 7 6 5 7 7 7 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 11 8 9 9 8 7 7 8 7 8Pohronie 8 9 9 5 6 8 9 10 12 10 11 12 12 11 12 12 12 9 7 10 11 12 10 7 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9Zemplín Michalovce 9 11 12 12 12 12 12 11 10 12 10 9 10 10 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 9 9 12 11 11 12 12 11 11 11 10Senica 10 12 7 11 10 9 11 12 9 11 9 11 9 9 9 9 9 12 12 12 10 11 12 10 12 12 10 10 10 10 10 11Nitra 11 6 8 8 8 5 6 5 3 4 7 4 6 6 7 7 8 8 10 9 9 8 8 11 10 10 11 11 12 12 12 12 Source: Niké liga
Season statistics
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Dawid Kurminowski1Žilina192 Eric RamirezDAC Dunajská Streda163 Filip Balaj2Zlaté Moravce14 Rafael RatãoSlovan Bratislava5 Zsolt KalmárDAC Dunajská Streda136 Hamza ČatakovićTrenčín127 Marko DivkovićDAC Dunajská Streda11 Martin RegáliRužomberok9 Dávid HolmanSlovan Bratislava1010 Vahan Bichakhchyan1Žilina9 David StrelecSlovan Bratislava Bamidele YusufTrnava 1 plus 1 play-off goal 2 plus 2 play-off goals
Hat-tricks
Round Player For Against Result Date Ref7 Ladislav Almási Ružomberok Zemplín Michalovce 4–0 (H)19 September 2020 10 Filip Balaj Zlaté Moravce Nitra3–1 (H)17 October 2020 13 Filip Balaj Zlaté Moravce Trenčín 5–0 (H)7 November 2020 18 Martin Regáli Ružomberok Zemplín Michalovce 3–4 (A)16 December 2020 CH.10 Dawid Kurminowski Žilina Zlaté Moravce5–1 (H)22 May 2021
Clean sheets RankPlayerClubClean sheets1 Dominik GreifSlovan Bratislava122 Mathew YakubuSereď10 Martin JedličkaDAC Dunajská Streda4 Adrián ChovanZlaté Moravce85 Dobrivoj RusovSpartak Trnava7 Libor HrdličkaPohronie7 Matej MarkovićZemplín Michalovce 6 Dávid ŠípošNitra9 Matúš MacíkRužomberok510 Tomáš FryštákSenica4 Olivier VliegenSenica Samuel Petrᚎilina Ivan KrajčírikMFK Ružomberok Dominik TakáčTrnava
Discipline
Player Most yellow cards: 10 Joeri de Kamps (Slovan Bratislava) Martin Mikovič (Spartak Trnava)
Most red cards: 2 Tomáš Hučko (Sereď) Abdul Zubairu (Trenčín) Aschraf El Mahdioui (Trenčín)
Club Most yellow cards: 84 Sereď
Most red cards: 6 Spartak Trnava
Awards
Monthly awards
MonthPlayer of the MonthGoal of the MonthReferences Player ClubPlayerClubAugust Zsolt Kalmár DAC Dunajská Streda Eric Ramírez DAC Dunajská StredaSeptember Ladislav Almási RužomberokOctober Filip Balaj Zlaté Moravce Andrija BalićNovember David Hrnčár 1 Kyriakos Savvidis Spartak TrnavaDecember Erik Daniel Slovan BratislavaFebruary/March Eric RamírezDAC Dunajská Streda Zsolt Kalmár DAC Dunajská StredaAprilnot announced Andrija Balić DAC Dunajska StredaMay Alex IvánSereď 1 Vote of the player of the month was united for November and December.
Annual awards Team of the Season
Team of the Season was: Goalkeeper: Dominik Greif (Slovan Bratislava) Defence: Vernon De Marco (Slovan Bratislava), Jakub Piotr Kiwior (Žilina), Vasil Bozhikov (Slovan Bratislava), César Blackman (DAC Dunajská Streda) Midfield: David Hrnčár (Zlaté Moravce), Joeri de Kamps (Slovan Bratislava), Zsolt Kalmár (DAC Dunajská Streda), Rafael Ratão (Slovan Bratislava) Attack: David Strelec (Slovan Bratislava), Eric Ramírez (DAC Dunajská Streda)
Top Eleven U-21 Source: Goalkeeper: Samuel Petráš (Žilina) Defence: César Blackman (DAC Dunajská Streda), Jakub Piotr Kiwior (Žilina), Branislav Sluka (Žilina) Midfield: David Strelec (Slovan Bratislava), Saymon Cabral (Spartak Trnava), András Schäfer (DAC Dunajská Streda), Dávid Ďuriš (Žilina), Marko Divković (DAC Dunajská Streda) Attack: Dawid Kurminowski (Žilina), Eric Ramírez (DAC Dunajská Streda)
Individual awards
Manager of the season
Pavol Staňo (Žilina)
Player of the Year
Zsolt Kalmár (DAC Dunajská Streda)
Young player of the Year
David Hrnčár (Zlaté Moravce)
See also 2020–21 Slovak Cup 2020–21 2. Liga (Slovakia) List of Slovak football transfers summer 2020 List of Slovak football transfers winter 2020–21 List of foreign Slovak First League players
Notes
References
External links