2021–22 Slovenian First League (men's handball)

The 2021–22 Slovenian First League (known as the Liga NLB for sponsorship reasons) was the 31st season of the Slovenian First League, the top men's handball league in Slovenia. A total of fourteen teams contested this season's league, which began on 10 September 2021 and concluded on 27 May 2022.^[1]

Slovenian First League

Season	2021–22
Dates	10 September 2021 – 27 May 2022
Champion	Celje 25th title
Relegated	Ljubljana Šmartno
Champions League	Celje
European League	Trimo Trebnje
European Cup	Gorenje Riko Ribnica Slovenj Gradec
Top goalscorer	Aleksa Tufegdžić (162 goals)
← 2020–21 2022–23 →

Celje won their twenty-fifth title.^[2]

Teams

Celje

Dobova

Gorenje

Koper

Loka

Maribor

Ljubljana

Ormož

Ribnica

Slovan

Sl. Gradec

Šmartno

SVIŠ

Trimo

Locations of the 2021–22 Slovenian First League teams

Krka and Izola were relegated in the previous season. Šmartno and SVIŠ were promoted from the second division.

Arenas and locations

The following 14 clubs competed in the Slovenian First League during the 2021–22 season:

Team	Location	Arena	Capacity
Celje	Celje	Zlatorog Arena	5,191
Dobova	Dobova	Dobova Sports Hall	500[3]
Gorenje	Velenje	Red Hall	2,500
Jeruzalem Ormož	Ormož	Hardek Hall	700[4]
Koper	Koper	Arena Bonifika	3,000
Ljubljana	Ljubljana	Krim Sports Hall	400[5]
Maribor Branik	Maribor	Tabor Hall / Lukna Sports Hall	3,261 / 2,100[6]
Riko Ribnica	Ribnica	Ribnica Sports Centre	600[7]
Slovan	Ljubljana	Kodeljevo Hall	1,540
Slovenj Gradec	Slovenj Gradec	Slovenj Gradec Sports Hall	1,200[8]
Šmartno	Šmartno pri Litiji	Pungrt Hall	700[4]
SVIŠ	Ivančna Gorica	OŠ Stična Hall	500[9]
Trimo Trebnje	Trebnje	OŠ Trebnje Hall	800[10]
Urbanscape Loka	Škofja Loka	Poden Sports Hall	800[4]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Celje (C)	26	24	1	1	871	674	+197	49	Qualification for Champions League group phase
2	Trimo Trebnje	26	21	3	2	784	677	+107	45	Qualification for European League first qualifying round
3	Gorenje	26	18	2	6	830	667	+163	38	Qualification for European Cup second qualifying round
4	Riko Ribnica	26	14	3	9	767	740	+27	31
5	Slovenj Gradec	26	14	1	11	743	730	+13	29	Qualification for European Cup first qualifying round
6	Koper	26	13	2	11	731	703	+28	28
7	Urbanscape Loka	26	14	0	12	711	682	+29	28
8	Maribor Branik	26	11	2	13	683	721	−38	24
9	Slovan	26	9	3	14	683	724	−41	21
10	Jeruzalem Ormož	26	9	3	14	713	777	−64	21
11	Dobova	26	9	2	15	691	755	−64	20
12	SVIŠ	26	6	0	20	658	741	−83	12
13	Ljubljana (R)	26	3	3	20	747	856	−109	9	Relegated to 1. B Liga
14	Šmartno (R)	26	3	3	20	667	832	−165	9

Source: Handball Federation of Slovenia (in Slovene), Flashscore
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) head-to-head points; 5) head-to-head goal difference; 6) head-to-head number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[11]
1	Aleksa Tufegdžić	Slovan	162
2	Uroš Miličevič	Riko Ribnica	143
3	Kenan Pajt	Gorenje	133
4	Uroš Štumpfl	Slovenj Gradec	129
5	Tine Poklar	Koper	127
6	Jure Lukman	Ljubljana	126
7	Matic Verdinek	Gorenje	123
	Nik Rantah	Dobova
9	Rudolf Zvonimir Šafranko	Dobova	121
10	Rok Cvetko	Slovenj Gradec	120