2021–22 Slovak First Football League

The 2021–22 Slovak First Football League was the 29th season of the first-tier football league in Slovakia since its establishment in 1993.

Fortuna Liga

Season	2021–22
Dates	Regular season: 23 July 2021 – 21 May 2022 Europa Conference League play-offs: 24 – 27 May 2022
Champions	Slovan Bratislava
Champions League	Slovan Bratislava
Europa Conference League	Spartak Trnava Ružomberok DAC Dunajská Streda
Matches played	192
Goals scored	502 (2.61 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jakub Kadák (13 goals)
Biggest home win	Slovan Bratislava 5–0 Senica (12 February 2022)
Biggest away win	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš 1–4 Slovan Bratislava (24 July 2021) Pohronie 0–3 DAC Dunajská Streda (27 August 2021) Senica 0–3 Slovan Bratislava (25 September 2021) DAC Dunajská Streda 0–3 Spartak Trnava (26 September 2021) Spartak Trnava 0–3 (awd.) Slovan Bratislava (17 October 2021) Spartak Trnava 0–3 Ružomberok (28 November 2021) Zemplín Michalovce 0–3 Ružomberok (4 December 2021) Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš 0–3 Trenčín (2 April 2022) Senica 0–3 Trenčín (14 May 2022) Sereď 0–3 Slovan Bratislava (14 May 2022)
Highest scoring	Pohronie 3–4 Slovan Bratislava (19 February 2022) Trenčín 4–3 Zlaté Moravce (26 April 2022) Trenčín 5–2 Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš (30 April 2022)
Longest winning run	9 matches Slovan Bratislava
Longest unbeaten run	20 matches Slovan Bratislava
Longest winless run	17 matches Pohronie
Longest losing run	5 matches Pohronie Trenčín
Highest attendance	9,000 Spartak Trnava 0–3 (awd.) Slovan Bratislava (17 October 2021)[1]
Lowest attendance	0[A] All matches from 25 November 2021 to 12 February 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
← 2020–21 2022–23 → All statistics correct as of 27 May 2022.

Slovan Bratislava were the defending champions for the third successive year, after picking up the second consecutive domestic double in the previous season. Slovan successfully retained their league title, winning a record-breaking fourth title in a row and a record-extending 12th overall since the competition was established in 1993.

Teams

Twelve teams competed in the league – the top ten teams from the previous season, the relegation play-offs winner, and the one team promoted from the 2. Liga, Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš, who were promoted to the top flight for the first time. Nitra (relegated after four years in the top flight) had been relegated to 3. Liga.

Stadiums and locations

Trenčín

Senica

Dunajská Streda

Slovan

Trnava

Žilina

Zlaté Moravce

Ružomberok

Sereď

Liptovský Mikuláš

Michalovce

Pohronie

Location of teams in Fortuna liga 2021–22

FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda	FK Pohronie	MFK Ružomberok	FK Senica
MOL Aréna UEFA	Mestský futbalový štadión UEFA	Štadión pod Čebraťom	OMS Arena UEFA
Capacity: 12,700	Capacity: 2,309	Capacity: 4,817	Capacity: 5,070
ŠKF Sereď	ŠK Slovan Bratislava	FC Spartak Trnava	MFK Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš
ŠAM - City Arena UEFA	Tehelné pole UEFA	ŠAM - City Arena UEFA	NTC Poprad UEFA
Capacity: 19,200	Capacity: 22,500	Capacity: 19,200	Capacity: 5,700
AS Trenčín	MFK Zemplín Michalovce	FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce	MŠK Žilina
Štadión Sihoť UEFA	Mestský futbalový štadión UEFA	Štadión FC ViOn UEFA	Štadión pod Dubňom UEFA
Capacity: 4,200 (10,000 planned)	Capacity: 4,440	Capacity: 4,006	Capacity: 11,253

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
DAC Dunajská Streda	Oszkár Világi	João Janeiro	Zsolt Kalmár	Macron	Kukkonia
Pohronie	Igor Rozenberg	Peter Lérant	Patrik Blahút	Erreà	REMESLO
Ružomberok	Milan Fiľo	Peter Struhár	Ján Maslo	Adidas	TAURIS
Senica	Oldřich Duda	Libor Fašiang	Juraj Piroska	Adidas	KOMPLEXX GROUP SK
Sereď	Róbert Stareček	Juraj Jarábek	Ľubomír Michalík	Nike	ORION TIP
Slovan Bratislava	Ivan Kmotrík	Vladimír Weiss	Vasil Bozhikov	Adidas	Niké
Spartak Trnava	Peter Macho	Michal Gašparík	Martin Mikovič	Adidas	Tipsport
Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	Milan Mikušiak	Marek Petruš	Richard Bartoš	Sportika	VEREX
Trenčín	Jozef Liptovský	Juraj Ančic (interim)	Jakub Kadák	Macron	Tipsport
Zemplín Michalovce	Ján Sabol	Norbert Hrnčár	Igor Žofčák	Adidas	ISDB, St. Nicolaus
Zlaté Moravce	Karol Škula	Ján Kocian	Tomáš Ďubek	Erreà	ViOn
Žilina	Jozef Antošík	Ivan Belák (interim)	Jakub Paur	Nike	Preto

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Pohronie	Jan Kameník	End of contract	21 May 2021[2]	Pre-season	Gergely Geri	2 June 2021[3]
Ružomberok	Ján Haspra	End of contract	27 May 2021[4]		Peter Struhár	30 May 2021[5]
Sereď	Gergely Geri	Signed with Pohronie	2 June 2021		Juraj Jarábek	11 June 2021[6]
Trenčín	Juraj Ančic	End of interim spell	2 June 2021		Peter Hlinka	2 June 2021[7]
Senica	Karol Praženica	Released	2 June 2021		Pavel Šustr [cs]	2 June 2021[8]
Pohronie	Gergely Geri	Released	29 August 2021[9]	10	Štefan Zaťko (interim)	30 August 2021
Pohronie	Štefan Zaťko	End of interim spell	4 October 2021[10]	12	Pablo Villar	4 October 2021
Žilina	Pavol Staňo	Released	4 October 2021[11]	7	Peter Černák	4 October 2021
DAC Dunajská Streda	Antal Németh	Released	10 November 2021	5	João Janeiro	11 November 2021[12]
Trenčín	Peter Hlinka	Resigned	5 December 2021	7	Juraj Ančic	5 December 2021[13]
Pohronie	Pablo Villar	Released	21 December 2021[14]	12	Martin Bittengl	4 January 2022[15]
Zemplín Michalovce	Anton Šoltis	Released	15 March 2022	9	Norbert Hrnčár	15 March 2022 [16]
Senica	Pavel Šustr [cs]	Resigned	16 April 2022	8	Libor Fašiang	16 April 2022[17]
Pohronie	Martin Bittengl	Released	19 April 2021	12	Peter Lérant	19 April 2022[18]
Žilina	Peter Černák	Released	23 April 2022[19]	6	Ivan Belák (interim)	23 April 2022
Zlaté Moravce	Ľuboš Benkovský	Released	5 May 2022[20]	11	Ján Kocian	5 May 2022

Regular stage

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovan Bratislava	22	16	5	1	52	16	+36	53	Qualification for the championship group
2	Spartak Trnava	22	13	6	3	29	12	+17	45
3	Ružomberok	22	11	8	3	39	17	+22	41
4	DAC Dunajská Streda	22	10	6	6	28	23	+5	36
5	Sereď	22	9	5	8	28	28	0	32
6	Žilina	22	8	6	8	34	33	+1	30
7	Senica	22	7	6	9	21	32	−11	27	Qualification for the relegation group
8	Trenčín	22	6	7	9	32	33	−1	25
9	Zemplín Michalovce	22	7	2	13	20	31	−11	23
10	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	22	5	6	11	27	43	−16	21
11	Zlaté Moravce	22	4	7	11	22	36	−14	19
12	Pohronie	22	2	4	16	19	47	−28	10

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.

Results

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

Home \ Away	DAC	POH	RUŽ	SEN	SER	SLO	TRN	TLM	TRE	ZMI	ZLM	ŽIL
DAC Dunajská Streda		2–0	0–0	1–0	1–3	1–1	0–3	3–1	1–1	1–0	4–2	3–1
Pohronie	0–3		2–2	0–1	1–1	3–4	0–2	2–2	2–2	2–0	0–2	1–2
Ružomberok	1–2	1–0		0–0	3–1	1–0	0–0	4–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	5–1
Senica	1–1	1–0	0–2		1–2	0–3	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–2	2–2
Sereď	1–0	3–1	2–3	2–1		0–1	0–1	2–0	4–2	0–1	2–1	1–1
Slovan Bratislava	0–0	5–1	1–0	5–0	2–0		0–0	4–0	2–0	3–1	4–1	2–2
Spartak Trnava	1–1	2–0	0–3	2–1	2–0	0–3[a]		4–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–1
Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	1–0	5–1	3–2	1–2	1–1	1–4	0–2		2–1	0–1	0–0	2–1
Trenčín	0–1	3–0	1–1	3–3	0–0	2–3	0–1	2–2		4–2	4–0	1–3
Zemplín Michalovce	4–1	0–2	0–3	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–2	2–1	1–2		2–1	1–0
Zlaté Moravce	2–0	1–0	2–2	1–1	2–2	1–2	0–0	2–2	0–1	0–1		0–1
Žilina	0–2	3–1	0–2	3–0	3–0	1–1	0–1	2–2	1–3	2–1	4–1

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

1. The match was suspended after 15 minutes of play due to the riots of the spectators, who entered the pitch. Subsequently, the match was abandoned by the referee. On 20 October, Slovan were awarded a technical 3–0 victory by the Presidium of the Union of League Clubs, which is the governing organization for the Slovak top level football competition.

Championship group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SLO	RUŽ	TRN	DAC	SER	ŽIL
1	Slovan Bratislava (C)	32	22	8	2	71	25	+46	74	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round		—	1–1	1–0	3–1	5–1	2–2
2	Ružomberok	32	17	12	3	58	23	+35	63	Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round		0–0	—	0–0	4–1	3–1	3–0
3	Spartak Trnava	32	17	9	6	36	17	+19	60	Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round[a]		0–1	0–0	—	1–0	0–1	1–0
4	DAC Dunajská Streda (O)	32	12	10	10	39	37	+2	46	Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs		2–0	2–3	1–1	—	0–0	2–0
5	Sereď (R)	32	10	9	13	34	46	−12	39	Relegation[b]		0–3	1–3	0–2	0–0	—	1–1
6	Žilina	32	8	10	14	43	52	−9	34	Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs		2–3	0–2	1–2	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; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Spartak Trnava qualified for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round as the 2021–22 Slovak Cup winners.
2. Sereď did not obtain a license for the next season and were automatically relegated.^[21]

Relegation group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		TRE	TLM	ZMI	SEN	ZLM	POH
7	Trenčín	32	13	9	10	58	43	+15	48	Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs		—	5–2	2–2	4–1	4–3	2–0
8	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	32	11	7	14	42	57	−15	40			0–3	—	3–1	2–1	2–2	1–0
9	Zemplín Michalovce	32	12	4	16	32	42	−10	40			1–0	1–2	—	1–0	1–0	1–0
10	Senica (R)	32	9	7	16	29	51	−22	34	Relegation[a]		0–3	0–3	2–1	—	0–0	2–1
11	Zlaté Moravce	32	7	9	16	33	50	−17	30			0–2	0–1	1–1	3–2	—	1–3
12	Pohronie (R)	32	4	6	22	27	59	−32	18	Relegation to the 2. Liga		1–1	1–1	1–2	1–0	0–1	—

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.
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Senica did not obtain a license for the next season and were automatically relegated.

Europa Conference League play-offs

	Semi-finals					Final
	4	DAC Dunajská Streda	4
	8	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	2
						4	DAC Dunajská Streda	2
						7	Trenčín	1
	6	Žilina	0
	7	Trenčín	2

Semi-finals

24 May 2022

18:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)

Žilina	0–2	Trenčín
	Report	Kozlovský 44' Kupusović 49'

Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina

Attendance: 1,065

Referee: Michal Smolák

24 May 2022

19:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)

DAC Dunajská Streda	4–2	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš
Nebyla 8' Cigaņiks 27' Andzouana 58' Krstović 64'	Report	Káčerík 67' Flak 79'

MOL Aréna, Dunajská Streda

Attendance: 4,338

Referee: Peter Kráľovič

Final

27 May 2022

20:00 CEST (UTC+02:00)

DAC Dunajská Streda	2–1	Trenčín
Kružliak 26' Krstović 85'	Report	Azango 72'

MOL Aréna, Dunajská Streda

Attendance: 5,257

Referee: Ivan Kružliak

Season statistics

As of 27 May 2022

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[22]
1	Jakub Kadák	Trenčín	13
2	Philip Azango1	Trenčín	10
	Martin Regáli	Ružomberok
4	Ezekiel Henty	Slovan Bratislava	9
5	Milan Ristovski	Spartak Trnava	8
	Jaromír Zmrhal	Slovan Bratislava
	Miloš Lačný	Pohronie
8	Elvis Mashike Sukisa	Senica	7
	Vladimír Weiss	Slovan Bratislava
	Samuel Mráz	Slovan Bratislava
	Njegoš Kupusović1	Trenčín
	Martin Boďa	Ružomberok
	Nikola Krstović2	DAC Dunajská Streda
	Tomáš Ďubek	Zlaté Moravce
	Dragan Andrić	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš

¹ plus 1 play-off goal
² plus 2 play-off goals

Hat-tricks

Round	Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
6	Ezekiel Henty	Slovan Bratislava	Zlaté Moravce	4–1 (H)	29 August 2021	[23]
22	Nikola Krstović	DAC Dunajská Streda	Žilina	3–1 (H)	26 February 2022	[24]
8.R	Njegoš Kupusović	Trenčín	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	5–2 (H)	30 April 2022	[25]

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[26]
1	Dominik Takáč	Spartak Trnava	18
2	Ivan Krajčírik	Ružomberok	16
3	Martin Jedlička	DAC Dunajská Streda	8
	Adrián Chovan	Slovan Bratislava
5	Michal Kukučka	Trenčín	7
6	Henrich Ravas	Senica	6
7	Benjamín Száraz	Zemplín Michalovce	5
8	Michal Šulla	Slovan Bratislava	4
	Dejan Iliev	Sereď (3)/Trenčín (1)
	Matúš Kira	Zlaté Moravce
	Andriy Kozhukhar	Zemplín Michalovce
	Martin Chudý	Sereď
	Dániel Veszelinov	DAC Dunajská Streda
	Patrik Lukáč	Zlaté Moravce

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 10^[27]
  • Marin Ljubičić (Sereď)

• Most red cards: 2^[27]
  • Dominik Špiriak (Pohronie)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 71^[28]
  • Sereď

• Most red cards: 4^[29]
  • Senica
  • Pohronie
  • Sereď

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Goal of the Month		References
	Player	Club	Player	Club
July/August	Jakub Kadák	Trenčín	András Schäfer	DAC Dunajská Streda	[30][31]
September	Erik Jendrišek		Ľuboslav Laura	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	[32][33]
October	Ján Maslo	Ružomberok	Kyriakos Savvidis	Spartak Trnava	[34][35]
November	Martin Regáli		Egy Maulana Vikri	Senica	[36][37]
December	Lukáš Fabiš		Matej Trusa	Zemplín Michalovce	[38][39]
February	Roko Jureškin	Sereď	Roko Jureškin	Sereď	[40]
March	Vladimír Weiss Jr.	Slovan Bratislava	Brahim Moumou	DAC Dunajská Streda
April	Tomáš Ďubek	Zlaté Moravce	Andrejs Cigaņiks
May	Nikola Krstović	DAC Dunajská Streda	Nikola Krstović		[41]

Annual awards

Team of the Season

Takáč

Škrtel

Madleňák

Kashia

Fabiš

Kankava

Kadák

Weiss

Rabiu

Regáli

Azango

Team of the Season was:^[42]

• Goalkeeper: Dominik Takáč (Spartak Trnava)
• Defenders: Matej Madleňák (Ružomberok), Martin Škrtel (Spartak Trnava), Guram Kashia (Slovan Bratislava), Lukáš Fabiš (Ružomberok)
• Midfielders: Philip Azango (Trenčín), Ibrahim Rabiu (Slovan Bratislava), Jakub Kadák (Trenčín), Jaba Kankava (Slovan Bratislava), Vladimír Weiss Jr. (Slovan Bratislava)
• Forward: Martin Regáli (Ružomberok)

Under-21 Team of the Season

Source:^[42]

• Goalkeeper: Ivan Krajčírik (Ružomberok)
• Defenders: Alex Méndez (Zemplín Michalovce), Sebastian Kóša (Spartak Trnava), Roko Jureškin (Sereď)
• Midfielders: Alexandros Kyziridis (Zlaté Moravce), Filip Lichý (Slovan Bratislava/Ružomberok), Matúš Begala (Zemplín Michalovce), Samuel Lavrinčík (Trenčín), Jakub Kadák (Trenčín), Bamidele Yusuf (Spartak Trnava)
• Forward: Tomáš Bobček (Ružomberok)

Individual awards

Manager of the Season

Vladimír Weiss (Slovan Bratislava)

Player of the Season

Vladimír Weiss Jr. (Slovan Bratislava)

Young Player of the Season

Jakub Kadák (Trenčín)

See also

• 2021–22 Slovak Cup
• 2021–22 2. Liga (Slovakia)
• 2022–23 UEFA Champions League
• 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League
• List of Slovak football transfers summer 2021
• List of Slovak football transfers winter 2021–22
• List of foreign Slovak First League players

Notes

1. Matches were played behind closed doors without any spectators.