Slovenian PrvaLiga

History

The Slovenian First League (1. SNL) was established after Slovenia's independence in 1991 and initially consisted of 21 clubs in the inaugural season. Prior to that, Slovenian teams competed in the Yugoslav football league system. Olimpija, Maribor, and Nafta were the only Slovenian teams to play in the Yugoslav top division between 1945 and the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. While they were part of the Yugoslav football system, most Slovenian clubs competed for the title of regional champions in the Slovenian Republic League, the third tier of Yugoslav football.

In 1991, the Football Association of Slovenia separated from the Football Association of Yugoslavia and established its own competitions, where Slovenian clubs competed for the title of Slovenian national champions. As of 2025, Celje and Maribor remain the only two founding clubs that have never been relegated from the league since the inaugural 1991–92 edition. The competition format and the number of clubs in the league have changed over time, ranging from 21 clubs in the first season to 10 clubs in its present form.

Olimpija won the first title. They had a long tradition of playing in the Yugoslav First League and their squad was still composed of players from that era. Olimpija dominated the league and won a further three championships before Gorica won their first in the 1995–96 season. Following Gorica's success, Maribor won their first championship in 1997. This started a record-breaking streak of seven successive league championships which came to an end when Gorica won their second title in the 2003–04 season. The club from Nova Gorica went on to win an additional two titles, becoming the third club to win three consecutive championships. During the 2006–07 season, Domžale won their first title, a feat they repeated the following season. Between 2008–09 and 2018–19, Maribor became a major force in Slovenian football for the second time, winning 8 out of 11 titles in that period, including five in a row from 2011 to 2015.

Maribor is the most successful club; they have won the championship 16 times. Seven of Maribor's titles came during the late 1990s and early 2000s when the club was led alternately by managers Bojan Prašnikar, Ivo Šušak and Matjaž Kek. Darko Milanič has led the club to four championships between 2009 and 2013. Olimpija have won four titles, all in successive years between 1992 and 1995. Tied with four championships are Gorica, which first won the title in 1996 and an additional three in consecutive years between 2004 and 2006, and Olimpija Ljubljana, a phoenix club of Olimpija, which won its first title in 2016. They are followed by Celje and Domžale with two titles each. Koper and Mura have won one title each, in 2010 and 2021, respectively. Maribor have won the most doubles, winning the league and the Slovenian Cup four times in the same season.

Names

Since 1991, the league has been named after sponsors on several occasions, giving it the following names:

Format

PrvaLiga is contested on a round-robin basis. Each team play against each other four times, twice at home and twice away, for a total of 36 rounds. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked according to the total sum of points and if two teams are tied, head-to-head score is used as the first classification criteria. At the end of the season, the top three clubs qualify for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Conference League qualifying rounds, with the ninth-placed team being qualified for the relegation play-offs and the bottom one being relegated to the Slovenian Second League.

The current system is in use since 2005. Between 1993 and 1995, a regular double round-robin format with 16 clubs was used, before being replaced with the current ten-club system for three seasons until 1998. Triple round-robin with twelve clubs and two direct relegations was then used between 1998 and 2003. In the next two seasons, in 2003–04 and 2004–05, the league was divided into the championship and relegation groups after the end of the regular season.

List of champions

|

|}

Performance by club

Clubs

2025–26 season

:Below is the list of clubs that are members of the 2025–26 Slovenian PrvaLiga season.

UEFA coefficient

Correct as of 6 June 2025. The table shows the position of the Slovenian PrvaLiga, based on its UEFA coefficient country ranking, and the four leagues closest to the PrvaLiga's position (two leagues with a higher coefficient and two with a lower coefficient).

Statistics

Main article: Slovenian PrvaLiga records and statistics

Top scorers

|- |2 |130 |226 | |- |3 |109 |207 | |- |4 |108 |269 | |- |276 | |- |335 | |- |7 |103 |266 | |- |8 |95 |271 | |- |9 |92 |241 | |- |199 | |- |300 | |- |}

Awards

Trophy

The current trophy is being presented since the 2012–13 season and was designed by Mirko Bratuša, a sculptor from Negova. It depicts a ball with eleven star-shaped holes and inside there are eleven players holding together and looking at the sky. It is made of brass, bronze and gold, and weighs 13 kg.

Player awards

The first Player of the Year awards were presented by Slovenian newspaper Dnevnik in the early 1990s. Between 1996 and 1999, they were presented by Ekipa, and since 2004, the awards have been organized by the Union of Professional Football Players of Slovenia (SPINS). Player of the Year

• 1991 Miloš Breznikar
• 1992 Vlado Miloševič
• 1993 Gregor Židan
• 1994 Džoni Novak
• 1995 Sandi Valentinčič
• 2004 Damir Pekič and Dražen Žeželj
• 2005 Saša Ranić
• 2006 Ermin Rakovič
• 2007–08 Amer Jukan
• 2008–09 Marcos Tavares
• 2009–10 Miran Pavlin
• 2010–11 Marcos Tavares
• 2011–12 Dare Vršič
• 2012–13 Agim Ibraimi
• 2013–14 Massimo Coda
• 2014–15 Benjamin Verbič
• 2015–16 Rok Kronaveter
• 2016–17 Dare Vršič
• 2017–18 Senijad Ibričić
• 2018–19 Rudi Požeg Vancaš
• 2019–20 Mitja Lotrič
• 2020–21 Senijad Ibričić
• 2021–22 Ognjen Mudrinski
• 2022–23 Žan Vipotnik
• 2023–24 Žan Karničnik
• 2024–25 Raul Florucz Young player of the Year
• 2011–12 Boban Jović
• 2012–13 Boban Jović
• 2013–14 Martin Milec
• 2014–15 Benjamin Verbič
• 2015–16 Miha Zajc
• 2016–17 Luka Zahović
• 2017–18 Luka Zahović
• 2018–19 Jan Mlakar
• 2019–20 Dario Vizinger
• 2020–21 Timi Max Elšnik
• 2021–22 Tomi Horvat
• 2022–23 Žan Vipotnik
• 2023–24 Yegor Prutsev
• 2024–25 Svit Sešlar

Manager awards

Manager awards weren't presented between 2012 and 2019.

Manager of the Year

• 2011–12 Darko Milanič
• 2018–19 Ante Šimundža
• 2019–20 Dušan Kosič
• 2020–21 Dejan Djuranović
• 2021–22 Zoran Zeljković
• 2022–23 Albert Riera
• 2023–24 Ante Šimundža
• 2024–25 Víctor Sánchez

Broadcast

During the early years, the league was broadcast only by the national public broadcasting television, RTV Slovenija. From 2008 until 2012, they had joint broadcasts with Šport TV, and from 2013 until 2015 with Planet TV. In the 2015–16 and 2016–17 seasons, the league was broadcast exclusively on Kanal A. In the 2017–18 season, the league was broadcast jointly by Kanal A and Šport TV. In the first round of the season, all five games were broadcast live for the first time in league's history.

Between 2018–19 and 2020–21, the league was broadcast jointly by Planet TV and RTV Slovenija. With the start of the 2019–20 season, one match per week is also broadcast on local Sportklub channels in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. From 2021–22 onwards, the league is being broadcast by Sportklub and Šport TV; all five matches per round are broadcast live, with Sportklub broadcasting four matches and Šport TV one. From the 2022–23 season, the league is also broadcast in Poland on Sportklub Polska.

References

References

1. Plestenjak, Rok. (23 May 2022). "Fenomen NK Maribor: Ima jih več kot preostala Slovenija skupaj!". [[Siol]].
2. "Zgodovina". Slovenian PrvaLiga.
3. "Zgodovina". [[Football Association of Slovenia]].
4. (21 August 2008). "Dobra igra ne šteje, pomemben je le izid". [[RTV Slovenija]].
5. Subotić, Dolores. (2 June 2019). "Sežanci vzeli Goričanom prvoligaški status". [[RTV Slovenija]].
6. "Zgodovina 1991–2000". [[NK Maribor]].
7. "Zgodovina 2001–2010". [[NK Maribor]].
8. STA, rk. (4 June 2013). "Milanič odhaja v Sturm Graz: "Po malem se je kuhalo že nekaj časa"". [[Dnevnik (Slovenia).
9. (16 April 2021). "Kako do 16. naslova? Rožman: »Ne bom trpel švercanja!«".
10. (23 June 1999). "Znani pari 1. kroga novega nogometnega prvenstva". [[Slovenian Press Agency]].
11. (23 February 2004). "Nogometna liga z novim imenom". [[Slovenian Press Agency]].
12. (5 June 2006). "Telekom Slovenije pokrovitelj slovenskih nogometašev".
13. (1 March 2013). "Nov sponzor Prve Lige: Telekom Slovenije".
14. (1 July 2021). "1. SNL nosi novo uradno "sponzorsko" ime, Mijatović trdi, da je slovenski klubski nogomet v vzponu". Nogomania.
15. "Country coefficients". [[UEFA]].
16. "Statistični pregled (vse sezone)". Slovenian PrvaLiga.
17. (24 May 2013). "Nov pokal za prvaka Prve lige Telekom Slovenije". [[Football Association of Slovenia]].
18. (7 December 1994). "Džoni Novak nogometaš leta". [[Slovenian Press Agency]].
19. (20 January 1996). "Bralci Dnevnika izbrali Valentinčiča". [[Slovenian Press Agency]].
20. "SPINS XI 2004".
21. "SPINS XI 2005".
22. "SPINS XI 2006".
23. "SPINS XI 2007–08".
24. "SPINS XI 2008–09".
25. "SPINS XI 2009–10".
26. "SPINS XI 2010–11".
27. "SPINS XI 2011–12".
28. "SPINS XI 2012–13".
29. "SPINS XI 2013–14".
30. "SPINS XI 2014–15".
31. "Najboljša nogometaša sezone sta Rok Kronaveter in Manja Rogan".
32. "Najboljši nogometaš sezone 2016/2017 je Dare Vršič".
33. (22 June 2018). "Senijad Ibričić igralec sezone v 1. SNL!". Nogomania.
34. Plestenjak, Rok. (20 May 2019). "Najboljši igralec 1. SNL se še ni srečal z Zlatkom Zahovićem #video". [[Siol]].
35. Kovačevič, Marko. (23 July 2020). "Najboljši nogometaši v sezoni: Vse zmage v Celje".
36. (22 May 2021). "Ibričić najboljši po Spinsovem izboru".
37. (20 May 2022). "Mudrinski najboljši igralec sezone, med mladimi izstopal Horvat". [[RTV Slovenija]].
38. (15 May 2023). "Riera potrdil, da zapušča Olimpijo; Delius bo spregovoril v ponedeljek". [[RTV Slovenija]].
39. (18 May 2024). "SPINS XI: Objavljamo imena najboljših nogometašev in trenerja sezone 2023/2024 v Sloveniji".
40. (29 May 2025). "Florucz najboljši igralec sezone, Sešlar naj mladi nogometaš". [[RTV Slovenija]].
41. (19 May 2019). "Rudi Požeg Vancaš naj igralec Prve Lige Telekom Slovenije".
42. (15 May 2023). "SPINS XI: NajboljšI nogometašI, nogometašica in trener sezone 2022/2023 so...".
43. (28 May 2025). "Sanchez najboljši trener, Sešlar pa mladi igralec". [[RTV Slovenija]].
44. (16 July 2015). "Prva liga na Kanalu A: Kdo lahko z vrha zrine Maribor?".
45. (13 July 2017). "Vseh pet tekem PLTS v TV prenosih, Ankarančani v Dravogradu". Slovenian PrvaLiga.
46. Planet TV. (14 June 2018). "Neposredni prenos žreba parov Prve lige Telekom Slovenije na Planet TV". [[Siol]].
47. R. K.. (19 June 2018). "Prva liga se vrača na Televizijo Slovenija". [[RTV Slovenija]].
48. PrvaLigaSi. (28 July 2019). "Z novo sezono je tekme #PLTS mogoče spremljati tudi na Hrvaškem, v Bosni in Hercegovini, Črni gori, Srbiji in Severni Makedoniji!". Twitter.
49. (2 July 2021). "Prva liga Telemach tudi na Šport TV". [[Football Association of Slovenia]].
50. (26 July 2022). "Słoweńska Prva Liga w Sportklubie".