2017–18 Montenegrin First League

The 2017–18 Montenegrin First League was the 12th season of the top-tier football in Montenegro. The season began on 5 August 2017 and ended on 26 May 2018.^[1] Budućnost Podgorica are the defending champions.^[2]

Montenegrin First League

Season	2017–18
Dates	5 August 2017 – 26 May 2018
Champions	Sutjeska 3rd title
Relegated	Dečić Kom
Champions League	Sutjeska
Europa League	Budućnost Mladost Rudar
Matches played	180
Goals scored	371 (2.06 per match)
Top goalscorer	Igor Ivanović (14 goals)
Biggest home win	Mladost 5–0 Petrovac (2 December 2017)
Biggest away win	Dečić 1–4 Zeta (5 August 2017) Dečić 1–4 Mladost (14 April 2018) Rudar 0–3 Sutjeska (25 November 2017) Dečić 0–3 Iskra (26 May 2018)
Highest scoring	Dečić 3–3 Grbalj (16 August 2017) Mladost 3–3 Budućnost (22 October 2017)
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

The league champions earned a place in the 2018–19 Champions League first qualifying round, and the second and third placed clubs earned a place in the 2018–19 Europa League first qualifying round.^[3] Since the third-placed Mladost Podgorica won the 2017–18 Montenegrin Cup which earned them the same spot in the Europa League, the spot was taken by the fourth-placed team.

There was one new club this season, Kom, who earned promotion from the Montenegrin Second League.^[1] Bokelj, Lovćen and Jedinstvo Bijelo Polje were relegated after the 2016–17 season, as the league's contestants amount was reduced from 12 clubs to 10.^[2]

Teams

Budućnost

Dečić

Grbalj

Iskra

Kom

Mladost

Petrovac

Rudar

Sutjeska

Zeta

Locations of the teams for the 2017–18 season

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Coach
Budućnost	Podgorica	Stadion pod Goricom	15,230 [4]	Dragoje Miloradović [5]
Dečić	Tuzi	Stadion Tuško Polje	5,000[6]	Mirko Marić [7]
Grbalj	Radanovići	Stadion Donja Sutvara	1,500 [8]	Dragan Radojičić[9]
Iskra	Danilovgrad	Stadion Braće Velašević	2,000[10]	Jovan Stanković[11]
Kom	Podgorica	Stadion Zlatica	3,000 [12]	Veselin Stešević [13]
Mladost	Podgorica	Camp FSCG	2,000[14]	Dejan Vukićević[15]
Petrovac	Petrovac	Stadion pod Malim brdom	1,630 [16]	Rudolf Marčić [17]
Rudar	Pljevlja	Stadion pod Golubinjom	10,000 [18]	Radislav Dragićević[19]
Sutjeska	Nikšić	Stadion kraj Bistrice	6,180 [20]	Nikola Rakojević[21]
Zeta	Golubovci	Stadion Trešnjica	5,000 [22]	Dejan Roganović [23]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sutjeska (C)	36	24	7	5	55	23	+32	79	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Budućnost	36	14	15	7	44	30	+14	57	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
3	Mladost	36	12	15	9	42	33	+9	51
4	Grbalj	36	12	14	10	39	39	0	50
5	Rudar	36	13	10	13	32	28	+4	49[b]	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]
6	Zeta	36	12	13	11	40	35	+5	49[b]
7	Iskra	36	12	9	15	33	34	−1	45
8	Kom (R)	36	11	10	15	36	45	−9	43	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
9	Petrovac (O)	36	9	11	16	25	40	−15	38
10	Dečić (R)	36	3	12	21	25	64	−39	21	Relegation to the Second League

Source: Football Association of Montenegro (in Montenegrin), UEFA, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 3) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Draw.^[25]
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Since the winners of the 2017–18 Montenegrin Cup, Mladost, qualified for European competition based on league position, the spot awarded to the cup winners (Europa League first qualifying round) was passed to the fourth-placed team. However, since Grbalj failed to obtain a UEFA license, their Europa league spot was passed to the fifth-placed team.^[24]
2. Rudar finished ahead of Zeta on head-to-head points: Rudar 6 points, Zeta 3 points.

Results

The ten clubs played each other four times for a total of 36 matches each.^[26]

Home \ Away	BUD	DEČ	GRB	ISK	KOM	MLA	PET	RUD	SUT	ZET	BUD	DEČ	GRB	ISK	KOM	MLA	PET	RUD	SUT	ZET
Budućnost	—	4–1	4–1	3–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	3–1	2–1	—	3–1	0–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–3	1–1
Dečić	0–0	—	3–3	3–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–4	0–1	—	0–0	0–3	1–3	1–4	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–2
Grbalj	1–2	1–1	—	0–1	3–2	0–2	0–2	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	—	0–2	2–2	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–3	2–0
Iskra	0–0	4–1	0–0	—	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–3	—	3–0	1–1	2–3	0–0	0–1	2–1
Kom	0–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	—	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–3	1–2	1–3	0–0	—	0–1	2–0	0–2	0–1	0–1
Mladost	3–3	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–2	—	5–0	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	—	1–1	2–0	2–1	2–3
Petrovac	0–0	1–0	2–3	0–1	0–1	1–0	—	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	3–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	—	2–0	1–0	0–0
Rudar	2–0	4–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	4–1	—	0–3	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–2	1–1	2–0	3–1	—	2–1	0–0
Sutjeska	1–0	3–0	1–0	2–1	4–0	1–1	3–0	3–0	—	1–0	3–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	—	1–1
Zeta	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–2	4–2	3–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	—	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–2	0–0	3–1	1–3	0–1	—

Source: Football Association of Montenegro (in Montenegrin)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Relegation play-offs

The 10th-placed team (against the 3rd-placed team of the Second League) and the 11th-placed team (against the runners-up of the Second League) will both compete in two-legged relegation play-offs after the end of the season.

Summary

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kom	1–2	Lovćen	0–0	1–2
Mladost Lješkopolje	2–5	Petrovac	0–3	2–2

Matches

30 May 2018

17:30 CEST

Kom	0–0	Lovćen
	Report

Stadion Zlatica, Podgorica

Attendance: 1,000^{[citation needed]}

Referee: Miloš Novović

3 June 2018

17:30 CEST

Lovćen	2–1	Kom
Marković 23' Đurović 56' (pen.)	Report	Đukić 42'

Stadion Trešnjica, Golubovci

Attendance: 800

Referee: Mileta Šćepanović

Lovćen won 2–1 on aggregate.

---

30 May 2018

17:30 CEST

Mladost Lješkopolje	0–3	Petrovac
	Report	Krivokapić 10' (o.g.) Muharemović 38' Boričić 87'

Stari Ribnjak Stadium, Podgorica

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Nikola Dabanović

3 June 2018

17:30 CEST

Petrovac	2–2	Mladost Lješkopolje
Kalezić 42' Đorđević 90+3'	Report	Muhović 53', 56'

Stadion pod Malim brdom, Petrovac

Attendance: 250

Referee: Nikola Vođević

Petrovac won 5–2 on aggregate.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Igor Ivanović	Sutjeska	14
2	Nikola Krstović	Zeta	13
	Alen Melunović	Budućnost
4	Ivan Vuković	Grbalj	11
5	Darko Nikać	Budućnost	9
6	Marko Ćetković	Mladost	8
	Luka Merdović	Sutjeska
8	Stefan Đorđević	Petrovac	7
	Benjamin Kacić	Petrovac
	Božo Marković	Sutjeska
	Bogdan Milić	Iskra
	Miljan Vlaisavljević	Budućnost

See also

• Montenegrin First League
• 2017–18 Montenegrin Second League