The 2023–24 Slovak First Football League (known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons) is the 31st season of first-tier football league in Slovakia since its establishment in 1993.
The winners (Slovan Bratislava) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. The 2023–24 Slovak Cup winners (Ružomberok) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round. The second and third-placed teams (DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda and Spartak Trnava) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League second qualifying round. The eleventh-placed team (Zemplín Michalovce) qualified for the relegation play-offs. The bottom-placed team (Zlaté Moravce) were relegated to the 2024–25 2. Liga.
Teams The league consisted of twelve teams; the top eleven teams from the previous season, and one team promoted from the 2. Liga. Košice were promoted to the top flight (for the first time in their history) as champions of the 2022–23 2. Liga, replacing the 2022–23 Slovak First Football League bottom-placed team Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš (relegated after two seasons in the top flight). Slovan Bratislava entered the season as defending champions (for the fifth successive year).
Stadiums and locations After more than six years, all teams in the league are once again playing their home matches in their respective stadiums. The last time this occurred was during the autumn part of the 2016–17 season.
FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda FK Dukla Banská Bystrica FC Košice FK Železiarne Podbrezová MOL Aréna UEFA Štadión SNPUEFA Košická futbalová arénaUEFA ZELPO Aréna UEFA Capacity: 12,700 Capacity: 7,030 Capacity: 12,555 Capacity: 4,000 MFK Ružomberok MFK Skalica ŠK Slovan Bratislava FC Spartak Trnava Štadión pod Čebraťom Štadión MFK Skalica Tehelné pole UEFA Štadión Antona MalatinskéhoUEFA Capacity: 4,876 Capacity: 2,600 Capacity: 22,500 Capacity: 18,200 AS Trenčín MFK Zemplín Michalovce FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce MŠK Žilina Štadión SihoťUEFA Mestský futbalový štadión UEFA ViOn Aréna UEFA Štadión pod DubňomUEFA Capacity: 10,000 Capacity: 4,400 Capacity: 4,008 Capacity: 10,897
Personnel and kits Team President Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor DAC Dunajská Streda Oszkár Világi Xisco Muñoz TBA Macron Kukkonia Dukla Banská Bystrica Ivan Šabo Mario Auxt (interim) Róbert Polievka Adidas Veolia Košice Dušan Trnka Gergely Geri Erik Pačinda Adidas Niké Podbrezová Július Kriváň Roman Skuhravý Richard Ludha Adidas Niké Ružomberok Ľubomír Golis Ondřej Smetana Marek Zsigmund Adidas Niké Skalica Peter Bartoš Pavol Majerník Martin Nagy Puma Tipsport Slovan Bratislava Ivan Kmotrík Vladimír Weiss Vladimír Weiss Adidas Niké Spartak Trnava Peter Macho Michal Gašparík Roman Procházka Puma Tipsport Trenčín Róbert Rybníček Ilija Stolica Damián Bariš Macron Tipsport Zemplín Michalovce Ján Sabol František Straka Igor Žofčák Adidas Tipsport, St. Nicolaus Zlaté Moravce Karol Škula Dušan Uhrin Jr. Karol Mondek Erreà Tipsport Žilina Jozef Antošík Michal Ščasný Tomáš Nemčík Nike Preto
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Replaced by Date of appointmentTrenčín František Straka End of contract Pre-season Ilija Stolica Ružomberok Peter Struhár Peter Tomko Zlaté Moravce Ivan Galád https://twitter.com/FutZakulisie/status/1665782225487495169/photo/1 Vladimír Cifranič Zemplín Michalovce Vladimír Rusnák End of interim spell Marek Petruš Zemplín Michalovce Marek Petruš Sacked 12th Peter Struhár Košice Anton Šoltis 10th Ján Kozák jr Ružomberok Peter Tomko 8th Ondřej Smetana Banská Bystrica Michal Ščasný Signed with Athienou 5th Mario Auxt (interim) Zlaté Moravce Vladimír Cifranič Sacked 11th Michal Hipp https://sportnet.sme.sk/spravy/fc-vion-zlate-moravce-vladmir-cifranic-trener-koniec-nike-liga-2023-2024/}Dunajská Streda Adrián Guľa 6th Xisco Muñoz Zemplín Michalovce Peter Struhár 11th František Straka Zlaté Moravce Michal Hipp 12th Dušan Uhrin Jr. MŠK Žilina Jaroslav Hynek Released 4th Michal Ščasný Košice Ján Kozák jrReleased 11th Gergely Geri
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
Relegation play-offs The team which finished 11th faced the 2nd team from 2. Liga for one spot in the top flight in the next season.
1st leg
2nd leg
Season statistics Top goalscorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Róbert PolievkaBanská Bystrica13 Tigran BarseghyanSlovan3 Martin RymarenkoBanská Bystrica12 Matej TrusaD.Streda5 David StrelecSlovan116 Matúš MarcinMichalovce10 Nino MarcelliSlovan Michal ĎurišTrnava Njegoš KupusovićTrenčín10 Aleksandar ČavrićSlovan9 Žan MedvedKošice Dávid ĎurišŽilina Marko TolićSlovan
Hat-tricks Round Player For Against Result Date Ref1 Peter Kováčik Podbrezová Banská Bystrica 4–1 (A) 28 July 2023 7 P.O Matej Trusa Dunajská Streda Slovan 5–3 (H) 28 April 2024 10 P.O Matej Trusa Dunajská Streda Žilina 2–3 (A) 18 May 2024 Note 4 Player scored 4 goals
Clean sheets
RankPlayerClubCleansheets1 Dominik TakáčTrnava142 VozinhaTrenčín13 Aleksandar PopovićDunajská Streda4 Milan BorjanSlovan125 Ľubomír BelkoŽilina86 Žiga FrelihMichalovce77 Martin JunasSkalica6 Matúš HruškaBanská Bystrica Tomáš FrühwaldRužomberok10 Richard LudhaPodbrezová5
Discipline
Player Most yellow cards: 10
Boris Godál (B.Bystrica) René Paraj (Podbrezová)
Most red cards: 2 Mário Mrva (Podbrezová) Oleksandr Holikov (Košice) Andrej Stojchevski (Žilina)
Club Most yellow cards: 68 MFK Skalica
Most red cards: 5 Košice
Awards Annual awards
Team of the Season
Team of the Season was: Goalkeeper: Dominik Takáč (Spartak Trnava) Defenders: Matúš Kmeť (Trenčín), Guram Kashia (Slovan Bratislava), Kenan Bajrić (Slovan Bratislava), Yhoan Andzouana (DAC D.Streda) Midfielders: Peter Kováčik (Podbrezová), Juraj Kucka (Slovan Bratislava), Adrian Zeljković (Spartak Trnava), Tigran Barseghyan (Slovan Bratislava) Forwards: Róbert Polievka (Dukla Banská Bystrica), Michal Ďuriš (Spartak Trnava)
Individual awards
Manager of the Season
Vladimír Weiss (Slovan Bratislava)
Player of the Season
Juraj Kucka (Slovan Bratislava)
Young Player of the Season
Nino Marcelli (Slovan Bratislava)
Attendances
See also 2023–24 Slovak Cup 2023–24 2. Liga (Slovakia) List of Slovak football transfers summer 2023 List of Slovak football transfers winter 2023–24 List of foreign Slovak First League players
Notes
References
External links