2019–20 Slovak First Football League

The 2019–20 Slovak First Football League (known as the Slovak Fortuna liga^[3] for sponsorship reasons) was the 27th season of first-tier football league in Slovakia since its establishment in 1993.

Fortuna liga

Season	2019–20
Dates	20 July 2019 – 11 July 2020
Champions	Slovan Bratislava
Champions League	Slovan Bratislava
Europa League	Žilina Dunajská Streda MFK Ružomberok
Matches played	156
Goals scored	398 (2.55 per match)
Top goalscorer	Andraž Šporar (12)
Biggest home win	Trenčín 8–1 Michalovce (15 February 2020)
Biggest away win	Sereď 0–4 Slovan (18 August 2019) Pohronie 0–4 Trenčín (24 August 2019)
Highest scoring	Trenčín 8–1 Michalovce (15 February 2020)
Highest attendance	14,933 (Slovan-Trnava)[1]
Lowest attendance	147 (Trenčín-Sereď)[2]
Average attendance	2,493
← 2018–19 2020–21 → All statistics correct as of 11 July 2020.

Slovan Bratislava were the defending champions and successfully defended their title, winning their record-extending 10th Slovak title.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Since March, the season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. On 7 March, the 22nd and last round of the regular stage took place. Both the championship group and the relegation group were subsequently supposed to have 10 rounds starting on 14 March. However, the season was interrupted until the end of May. On 22 May, the league committee approved the restart of the competition with a new 5-round model starting on 13 June.^[4] The committee also decided that no team would be directly relegated at the end of the season. The last team would face the winner of the 2. Liga in the relegation play-offs.

Decision

The decision was made on 22 May after meeting of the Slovak Presidium of the Union of League Clubs (ÚLK) with representatives of Fortuna League clubs.^[5] The continuation of the competition depended on the voting of the clubs. They chose between restarting the league in full format, short format or abandoning the season.

Clubs' votes

Full format	Short format	End competition
Slovan Bratislava	DAC Dunajská Streda	AS Trenčín
MŠK Žilina	MFK Ružomberok
Spartak Trnava	Zemplín Michalovce
	FK Senica
	FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce
	FK Pohronie
	FC Nitra
	ŠKF Sereď

Source:

Due to hygienic measures, the number of spectators at individual matches was limited. Until 30 June, a maximum of 500 spectators could be present at the stadiums, which, however, also included the teams' staff, the media or stewards. From 1 July, the number of spectators allowed to attend a match was increased to 50% of a stadium's capacity.

Revised schedule

Round	Original dates	Revised dates
23	14–15 March	13–14 June
24	21–22 March	20–21 June
25	4–5 April	27 June – 1 July
26	11–12 April	4 July
27	18–19 April	11 July
28	25–26 April	Cancelled
29	2–4 May
30	9 May
31	16 May
32	23 May

Teams

Twelve teams competed in the league – the top eleven sides from the previous season and one team promoted from the 2. liga. The promoted team was Pohronie. They replaced Železiarne Podbrezová.

Stadiums and locations

Trenčín

Senica

Sereď

Dunajská Streda

Ružomberok

Slovan

Trnava

Žilina

Zlaté Moravce

Nitra

Michalovce

Žiar nad Hronom

Location of teams in Fortuna liga 2019–20

AS Trenčín	Dunajská Streda	FK Pohronie	Michalovce
Štadión pod Dubňom UEFA	MOL Aréna UEFA	Mestský štadión UEFA	Mestský futbalový štadión UEFA
Capacity: 11,258	Capacity: 12,700	Capacity: 2,309	Capacity: 4,440
FK Senica	MFK Ružomberok	MŠK Žilina	Slovan Bratislava
OMS Arena UEFA	Štadión pod Čebraťom	Štadión pod Dubňom UEFA	Tehelné pole UEFA
Capacity: 5,070	Capacity: 4,817	Capacity: 11,258	Capacity: 22,500
Spartak Trnava	ŠKF Sereď	Zlaté Moravce	FC Nitra
ŠAM – City Arena UEFA	Stadium Myjava	Štadión FC ViOn UEFA	Štadión pod Zoborom UEFA
Capacity: 19,200	Capacity: 2,709	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 7,480

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Captain	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
AS Trenčín	Jozef Liptovský	Juraj Ančic (interim)	Martin Šulek	Adidas	ORION Tip
DAC Dunajská Streda	Oszkár Világi	Bernd Storck	Zsolt Kalmár	macron	Kukkonia
FK Pohronie	Jozef Urblík	Mikuláš Radványi	Petr Pavlík	Erreà	REMESLO
FK Senica	Ton Caanen	Patrik Durkáč	Joss Didiba	hummel	KOMPLEXX GROUP SK
MFK Ružomberok	Milan Fiľo	Ján Haspra	Ján Maslo	Adidas	MAESTRO
MŠK Žilina	Jozef Antošík	Pavol Staňo	Jakub Paur	Nike	Preto
Slovan Bratislava	Ivan Kmotrík	Ján Kozák jr.	Vasil Bozhikov	Adidas	grafobal
FC Nitra	Andriy Kolesnyk	Ivan Galád	Oliver Podhorín	Adidas	–
Spartak Trnava	Milan Cuninka	Marián Šarmír	Dobrivoj Rusov	Adidas	#DOBRÝ ANJEL
Zlaté Moravce	Karol Škula	Karol Praženica	Tomáš Ďubek	Erreà	ViOn
MFK Michalovce	Ján Sabol	Jozef Majoroš (carateker)	Igor Žofčák	Adidas	ISDB, St. Nicolaus
ŠKF Sereď	Róbert Stareček	Peter Lérant	Ľubomír Michalík	Nike	iClinic

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
MFK Ružomberok	David Holoubek	End of contract	28 May 2019[6]	Pre-season	Ján Haspra	28 May 2019
FK Senica	Ricardo Chéu	Signed by Trnava	7 June 2019		Michal Ščasný	8 July 2019[7]
FC Spartak Trnava	Michal Ščasný	End of contract	7 June 2019[8]		Ricardo Chéu	7 June 2019
FC Nitra	Michal Kuruc	End of contract	20 June 2019		Marián Süttö	20 June 2019[9]
AS Trenčín	Ivan Galád	End of contract	30 June 2019[10]		Matthias Kohler	18 June 2019[11]
ŠKF Sereď	Karel Stromšík	End of contract	28 June 2019		Slavche Vojneski	29 June 2019[12]
ŠK Slovan Bratislava	Martin Ševela	Released	18 July 2019[13]		Vladimir Radenković (interim)	19 July 2019
ŠK Slovan Bratislava	Vladimir Radenković	Released	26 July 2019	1	Ján Kozák jr.	26 July 2019[14]
FK Pohronie	Milan Nemec	Resigned	31 July 2019	11	Rastislav Urgela (interim)	31 July 2019[15]
FK Pohronie	Rastislav Urgela	End of interim spell	20 August 2019	9	Ján Rosinský	20 August 2019[16]
FK Pohronie	Ján Rosinský	Released	12 October 2019[17]	11	Mikuláš Radványi	14 October 2019[18]
AS Trenčín	Matthias Kohler	Released	22 October 2019	9	Norbert Hrnčár	22 October 2019[19]
FC Nitra	Marián Süttö	Released	27 October 2019	11	Gergely Geri	27 October 2019[20]
MFK Zemplín Michalovce	Anton Šoltis	Released	11 November 2019	10	Jozef Majoroš (caretaker)	11 November 2019 [21]
ŠKF Sereď	Slavche Vojneski	End by own request	7 December 2019[22]	10	Roland Praj	20 December 2019[23]
MŠK Žilina	Jaroslav Kentoš	Moved to Slovakia U21	21 December 2019[24]	2	Pavol Staňo	2 January 2020[25]
FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda	Peter Hyballa	Released	3 January 2020[26]	3	Hélder	5 January 2020[27]
FC Nitra	Gergely Geri	Released	6 January 2020	11	Anatoliy Demyanenko	6 January 2020[28]
ŠKF Sereď	Roland Praj	Become GK coach	9 February 2020[29]	10	Peter Lérant	9 February 2019
FK Senica	Michal Ščasný	Released	12 February 2020	9	Ján Bíreš	16 February 2019[30]
FC Nitra	Anatoliy Demyanenko	Unknown	11 April 2020	11	Miroslav Nemec	11 April 2020
FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda	Hélder	End of contract	31 May 2020	3	Bernd Storck	1 June 2020[31]
FC Spartak Trnava	Ricardo Chéu	Released	5 June 2019[32]	5	Marián Šarmír	5 June 2019
FC Nitra	Miroslav Nemec	End of Contract	30 June 2020	11	Ivan Galád	30 June 2020[33]
FK Senica	Ján Bíreš	End of contract	30 June 2020	10	Patrik Durkáč	30 June 2019[34]
AS Trenčín	Norbert Hrnčár	End of contract	30 June 2020	7	Juraj Ančic	30 June 2020[35]

Regular stage

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovan Bratislava	22	17	4	1	46	11	+35	55	Qualification for the championship group
2	Žilina	22	13	6	3	38	17	+21	45
3	DAC Dunajská Streda	22	11	5	6	31	25	+6	38
4	Spartak Trnava	22	9	3	10	25	26	−1	30
5	Zemplín Michalovce	22	8	6	8	28	32	−4	30
6	Ružomberok	22	6	10	6	25	27	−2	28
7	Trenčín	22	7	6	9	39	35	+4	27	Qualification for the relegation group
8	Zlaté Moravce	22	6	8	8	22	28	−6	26
9	Senica	22	6	6	10	24	33	−9	24
10	Sereď	22	5	7	10	23	34	−11	22
11	Nitra	22	5	4	13	17	31	−14	19
12	Pohronie	22	3	7	12	19	38	−19	16

Source: Fortuna Liga (in Slovak), Futbalnet
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head away goals scored; 5) Play-off.

Results

Each team plays home-and-away against every other team in the league, for a total of 22 matches each.

Home \ Away	DAC	NIT	POH	RUZ	SEN	SER	SLO	TRN	TRE	ZMI	ZIL	ZLM
DAC Dunajská Streda		1–0	5–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	5–2	0–1	3–1	1–1	1–0	2–1
Nitra	1–2		0–0	1–2	1–4	3–2	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–2	0–0	0–1
Pohronie	0–2	0–3		1–2	0–0	2–1	1–3	2–2	0–4	2–2	0–1	1–1
Ružomberok	0–0	1–0	0–1		2–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–2	1–1	2–3	0–0
Senica	0–1	0–3	1–0	2–2		0–1	0–3	2–0	3–1	4–0	1–2	1–3
Sereď	3–1	0–1	3–3	2–2	2–1		0–4	2–1	1–1	0–2	0–3	0–0
Slovan Bratislava	2–0	4–0	2–1	1–0	2–0	2–0		2–0	2–0	3–0	1–1	4–0
Spartak Trnava	1–2	2–0	3–2	2–0	0–0	2–0	0–0		1–2	2–1	0–1	2–1
Trenčín	2–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	2–3	2–1	2–4	1–0		8–1	3–0	2–2
Zemplín Michalovce	5–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	2–1		0–3	2–2
Žilina	2–2	3–0	2–1	1–2	5–0	1–0	0–0	4–2	2–1	1–1		3–0
Zlaté Moravce	1–2	1–0	0–0	4–2	0–0	1–3	0–1	1–3	2–0	1–0	0–0

Source: Fortuna Liga (in Slovak), soccerway.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SLO	ŽIL	DAC	TRN	RUŽ	ZMI
1	Slovan Bratislava (C)	27	21	5	1	57	14	+43	68	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round		—	—	—	0–0	1–0	4–0
2	Žilina	27	15	6	6	48	25	+23	51	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round		2–3	—	—	2–1	—	5–0
3	DAC Dunajská Streda	27	15	5	7	42	28	+14	50			1–3	2–0	—	—	—	5–0
4	Spartak Trnava	27	10	5	12	30	32	−2	35	Qualification for the Europa League play-offs		—	—	0–2	—	2–0	—
5	Ružomberok (O)	27	7	11	9	28	33	−5	32			—	2–1	0–1	—	—	—
6	Zemplín Michalovce	27	8	8	11	31	49	−18	32[a]			—	—	—	2–2	1–1	—

Source: Fortuna Liga (in Slovak)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head away goals scored; 5) Play-off.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Ružomberok 5, Zemplín Michalovce 2.

Relegation group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		TRE	ZLM	SER	SEN	POH	NIT
7	Trenčín	27	11	6	10	52	43	+9	39	Qualification for the Europa League play-offs		—	—	3–2	—	4–0	0–3
8	Zlaté Moravce	27	8	9	10	27	33	−6	33			2–3	—	1–0	—	—	2–1
9	Sereď	27	6	9	12	29	41	−12	27			—	—	—	—	2–2	1–0
10	Senica	27	6	8	13	26	40	−14	26			1–3	0–0	1–1	—	—	—
11	Pohronie	27	6	8	13	25	44	−19	26			—	1–0	—	1–0	—	—
12	Nitra	27	7	4	16	23	36	−13	25	Qualification for the relegation play-offs		—	—	—	2–0	0–2	—

Source: Fortuna Liga (in Slovak), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head away goals scored; 5) Play-off.

Europa League play-offs

Should one of the top 3 teams win the 2019–20 Slovak Cup, Europa 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 8 July 2020, 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 League qualification spot. Europa 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 2020–21 UEFA Europa League.

Semi-finals

14 July 2020 (2020-07-14)

18:00

MFK Ružomberok	1–0	Zemplín Michalovce
Twardzik 82' (pen.)	Report

Štadión pod Čebraťom, Ružomberok

Attendance: 1,045

Referee: Peter Kráľovič

14 July 2020 (2020-07-14)

20:00

Spartak Trnava	3–0	AS Trenčín
Vukojević 42' Cabral 83' Sobczyk 87'	Report

Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava

Attendance: 2,737

Referee: Ivan Kružliak

Final

17 July 2020 (2020-07-17)

18:00

Spartak Trnava	0–2	MFK Ružomberok
	Report	Maslo 81' (pen.) Takáč 90+3'

Štadión Antona Malatinského, Trnava

Attendance: 3,959

Referee: Erik Gemzický

Relegation play-offs

The team placed bottom of the relegation group faced the first-placed team from the 2. Liga 2019–20 for a place in the league for the next season.

All times are CEST (UTC+2).

First leg

14 July 2020 (2020-07-14)

17:00

FK Dubnica	0–0	FC Nitra
	Report

Mestský futbalový štadión, Dubnica nad Váhom

Attendance: 2,456^[a]

Referee: Michal Smolák

Second leg

17 July 2020 (2020-07-17)

20:00

FC Nitra	3–0	FK Dubnica
Kóša 7' Ristovski 20' (pen.) Hambálek 90'	Report

Štadión pod Zoborom, Nitra

Attendance: 3,057^[a]

Referee: Peter Kralovic

Notes

1. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a maximum of 50% of the stadium's capacity was available for sporting events.

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.

	Leader – Qualification for Champions League first qualifying round
	Qualification for Europa League first qualifying round
	Qualification for First Football League Relegation play-offs

Team \ Round	1	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
Slovan	2	3	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Žilina	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Dun. Streda	5	2	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Trnava	4	6	4	3	4	5	4	5	5	4	4	4	5	8	5	7	5	6	6	7	6	5	5	5	6	4	4
Ružomberok	6	4	7	7	8	8	9	10	9	7	7	5	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	6	6	6	4	5	5
Michalovce	12	12	12	11	10	9	10	8	7	8	8	10	10	9	10	10	8	5	8	5	7	4	4	4	5	6	6
Trenčín	9	9	10	8	5	4	6	6	6	6	6	9	8	7	8	6	7	8	5	6	5	7	7	7	7	7	7
Zlaté Moravce	7	7	6	6	6	6	5	4	4	5	5	6	4	5	6	5	6	7	7	9	9	8	8	8	8	8	8
Sereď	11	8	5	5	7	7	7	7	8	9	9	7	7	6	7	8	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	9	9	9
Senica	3	5	8	12	11	11	12	12	12	10	10	8	9	10	9	9	9	9	9	8	8	9	9	9	10	10	10
Pohronie	10	11	9	9	9	10	8	11	11	12	11	11	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	11	11
Nitra	8	10	11	10	12	12	11	9	10	11	12	12	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	12

Source: Fortunaliga.sk

Season statistics

As of 11 July 2020

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[36]
1	Andraž Šporar	Slovan	12
2	Milan Ristovskia	Nitra	11
3	Osman Bukari	Trenčín	10
4	Rafael Ratão	Slovan	9
	Ján Bernát	Žilina
	Zsolt Kalmár	DAC D.Streda
7	Frank Castañeda	Senica	8
	Issa Modibo Sidibé	Michalovce
	Tomáš Ďubek	Z.Moravce
	Ante Roguljić	Trenčín

^a plus 1 play-off goal

Hat-tricks

Round	Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
10	Dávid Holman	Slovan	FC Nitra	5–0 (H)	28 September 2019	[37]
19	Osman Bukari	Trenčín	Michalovce	8–1 (H)	15 February 2020	[38]
1.CH	Marko Divković	Dunajská Streda	Michalovce	5–0 (H)	13 June 2020	[39]

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[40]
1	Dominik Greif	Slovan	13
2	Dominik Holec	Žilina	11
3	Branislav Pindroch	Zl. Moravce	10
4	Martin Jedlička	D.Streda	9
5	Vojtěch Vorel	Senica	8
	Dávid Šípoš	Nitra
7	Dobrivoj Rusov	Trnava	7
	Matúš Kira	Michalovce
9	Tomáš Jenčo	Pohronie	6
10	Michal Šulla	Slovan	5

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 9^[41]
  • Martin Šulek (Trenčín)

• Most red cards: 2^[41]
  • Alexander Mojžiš (Ružomberok)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 67^[42]
  • FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce

• Most red cards: 4^[43]
  • FC Spartak Trnava
  • ŠKF Sereď

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Goal of the Month		Reference
	Player	Club	Player	Club
August	Ján Bernát	Žilina	Alex Sobczyk	Spartak Trnava	[44]
September	Dávid Strelec	Slovan Bratislava	Eric Davis	DAC Dunajská Streda	[45]
October	Dominik Holec	Žilina	Andraž Šporar	Slovan Bratislava	[46]
November	Andraž Šporar	Slovan Bratislava	Zsolt Kalmár	DAC Dunajská Streda	[47]
December
February	Dominik Greif	Slovan Bratislava	Lukáš Jánošík	Žilina	[48]
March
June	Not announced		César Blackman	DAC Dunajská Streda	[49]
July

Team of the Season

Greif

Abena

Medveděv

Bozhikov

Davis

Káčer

Kalmár

Moha

Holman

Šporar

Bukari

Team of the Season was:^[50]

• Goalkeeper: Dominik Greif (Slovan Bratislava)
• Defence: Jurij Medveděv (Slovan Bratislava), Myenty Abena (Slovan Bratislava), Vasil Bozhikov (Slovan Bratislava), Eric Davis (DAC Dunajská Streda)
• Midfield: Osman Bukari (Trenčín), Miroslav Káčer (Žilina), Dávid Holman (Slovan Bratislava), Zsolt Kalmár (DAC Dunajská Streda), Moha (Slovan Bratislava)
• Attack: Andraž Šporar (Slovan Bratislava)

Top Eleven U-21

Source:^[50]

• Goalkeeper: Martin Jedlička (DAC Dunajská Streda)
• Defence: César Blackman (DAC Dunajská Streda), Martin Šulek (Trenčín), Danylo Beskorovainyi (DAC Dunajská Streda), Alexander Mojžiš (Ružomberok)
• Midfield: Osman Bukari (Trenčín), Marián Chobot (Nitra), Abdul Zubairu (Trenčín), Ján Bernát (Žilina), Martin Kovaľ (Zlaté Moravce)
• Attack: Milan Ristovski (Nitra)

Individual awards

Manager of the season

Ján Kozák jr. (Slovan Bratislava)

Player of the Year

Dominik Greif (Slovan Bratislava)

Young player of the Year

Ján Bernát (Žilina)

See also

• 2019–20 Slovak Cup
• 2019–20 2. Liga (Slovakia)
• List of Slovak football transfers summer 2019
• List of Slovak football transfers winter 2019–20
• List of foreign Slovak First League players