2023–24 Slovak First Football League

The 2023–24 Slovak First Football League (known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons) is the 31st season of first-tier football league in Slovakia since its establishment in 1993.

Niké liga

Season	2023–24
Dates	Regular season: 28 July 2023 – 18 May 2024
Champions	Slovan Bratislava (22nd title)
Relegated	Zlaté Moravce
Champions League	Slovan Bratislava
Europa League	Ružomberok
Conference League	DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda Spartak Trnava
Matches played	126
Goals scored	356 (2.83 per match)
Top goalscorer	Róbert Polievka (13) Tigran Barseghyan (13)
Biggest home win	Podbrezová 5–0 MFK Ružomberok (21 October 2023)
Biggest away win	Podbrezová 0-6 Slovan (9 December 2023)
Highest scoring	MŠK Žilina 5–3 MFK Skalica (29 September 2023) Podbrezová 5–3 FC Košice (1 October 2023)
Highest attendance	12,528 Spartak Trnava 1-2 Slovan Bratislava (22 October 2023)
Lowest attendance	369 Skalica 3–0 Podbrezová (15 December 2023)
Average attendance	2,620[1]
← 2022–23 2024–25 →

The winners (Slovan Bratislava) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. The 2023–24 Slovak Cup winners (Ružomberok) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League first qualifying round. The second and third-placed teams (DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda and Spartak Trnava) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League second qualifying round. The eleventh-placed team (Zemplín Michalovce) qualified for the relegation play-offs. The bottom-placed team (Zlaté Moravce) were relegated to the 2024–25 2. Liga.

Teams

The league consisted of twelve teams; the top eleven teams from the previous season, and one team promoted from the 2. Liga. Košice were promoted to the top flight (for the first time in their history) as champions of the 2022–23 2. Liga, replacing the 2022–23 Slovak First Football League bottom-placed team Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš (relegated after two seasons in the top flight).^[2][3] Slovan Bratislava entered the season as defending champions (for the fifth successive year).

Stadiums and locations

After more than six years, all teams in the league are once again playing their home matches in their respective stadiums. The last time this occurred was during the autumn part of the 2016–17 season.^[4]

Trenčín

Dunajská Streda

Slovan

Trnava

Žilina

Zlaté Moravce

Ružomberok

Banská Bystrica

Košice

Michalovce

Podbrezová

Skalica

Location of teams in Niké liga 2023–24

FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda	FK Dukla Banská Bystrica	FC Košice	FK Železiarne Podbrezová
MOL Aréna UEFA	Štadión SNP UEFA	Košická futbalová aréna UEFA	ZELPO Aréna UEFA
Capacity: 12,700	Capacity: 7,030	Capacity: 12,555	Capacity: 4,000
MFK Ružomberok	MFK Skalica	ŠK Slovan Bratislava	FC Spartak Trnava
Štadión pod Čebraťom	Štadión MFK Skalica	Tehelné pole UEFA	Štadión Antona Malatinského UEFA
Capacity: 4,876	Capacity: 2,600	Capacity: 22,500	Capacity: 18,200
AS Trenčín	MFK Zemplín Michalovce	FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce	MŠK Žilina
Štadión Sihoť UEFA	Mestský futbalový štadión UEFA	ViOn Aréna UEFA	Štadión pod Dubňom UEFA
Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 4,400	Capacity: 4,008	Capacity: 10,897

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
DAC Dunajská Streda	Oszkár Világi	Xisco Muñoz	TBA	Macron	Kukkonia
Dukla Banská Bystrica	Ivan Šabo	Mario Auxt (interim)	Róbert Polievka	Adidas	Veolia
Košice	Dušan Trnka	Gergely Geri	Erik Pačinda	Adidas	Niké
Podbrezová	Július Kriváň	Roman Skuhravý	Richard Ludha	Adidas	Niké
Ružomberok	Ľubomír Golis	Ondřej Smetana	Marek Zsigmund	Adidas	Niké
Skalica	Peter Bartoš	Pavol Majerník	Martin Nagy	Puma	Tipsport
Slovan Bratislava	Ivan Kmotrík	Vladimír Weiss	Vladimír Weiss	Adidas	Niké
Spartak Trnava	Peter Macho	Michal Gašparík	Roman Procházka	Puma	Tipsport
Trenčín	Róbert Rybníček	Ilija Stolica	Damián Bariš	Macron	Tipsport
Zemplín Michalovce	Ján Sabol	František Straka	Igor Žofčák	Adidas	Tipsport, St. Nicolaus
Zlaté Moravce	Karol Škula	Dušan Uhrin Jr.	Karol Mondek	Erreà	Tipsport
Žilina	Jozef Antošík	Michal Ščasný	Tomáš Nemčík	Nike	Preto

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Trenčín	František Straka	End of contract	26 May 2023	Pre-season	Ilija Stolica	27 May 2023[5]
Ružomberok	Peter Struhár		29 May 2023[6]		Peter Tomko	5 June 2023[7]
Zlaté Moravce	Ivan Galád		5 June 2023[8]		Vladimír Cifranič	12 June 2023[9]
Zemplín Michalovce	Vladimír Rusnák	End of interim spell	20 June 2023		Marek Petruš	21 June 2023[10]
Zemplín Michalovce	Marek Petruš	Sacked	26 September 2023	12th	Peter Struhár	28 September 2023[11]
Košice	Anton Šoltis		23 October 2023[12]	10th	Ján Kozák jr	31 October 2023[13]
Ružomberok	Peter Tomko		24 October 2023	8th	Ondřej Smetana	24 October 2023[14]
Banská Bystrica	Michal Ščasný	Signed with Athienou	25 October 2023[15]	5th	Mario Auxt (interim)	25 October 2023
Zlaté Moravce	Vladimír Cifranič	Sacked	12 November 2023	11th	Michal Hipp	12 November 2023[16]
Dunajská Streda	Adrián Guľa		17 November 2023	6th	Xisco Muñoz	18 November 2023[17]
Zemplín Michalovce	Peter Struhár		20 February 2024	11th	František Straka	20 February 2024[18]
Zlaté Moravce	Michal Hipp		21 February 2024	12th	Dušan Uhrin Jr.	26 February 2024[19]
MŠK Žilina	Jaroslav Hynek	Released	11 April 2024	4th	Michal Ščasný	11 April 2023[20]
Košice	Ján Kozák jr	Released	13 May 2024[21]	11th	Gergely Geri	13 May 2023

Regular stage

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Slovan Bratislava	22	18	3	1	57	16	+41	57	Qualification for the championship group
2	Žilina	22	12	5	5	40	30	+10	41
3	Spartak Trnava	22	12	3	7	31	22	+9	39
4	DAC Dunajská Streda	22	10	7	5	31	21	+10	37
5	Podbrezová	22	10	4	8	40	34	+6	34[a]
6	Ružomberok	22	9	7	6	28	31	−3	34[a]
7	Trenčín	22	9	7	6	31	23	+8	34[a]	Qualification for the relegation group
8	Dukla Banská Bystrica	22	9	7	6	38	30	+8	34[a]
9	Skalica	22	6	5	11	19	25	−6	23
10	Košice	22	4	5	13	19	45	−26	17
11	Zemplín Michalovce	22	1	7	14	19	42	−23	10
12	Zlaté Moravce	22	0	4	18	14	48	−34	4

Source: Niké 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.
Notes:

1. Ranked on head-to-head points: Podbrezová 11, Ružomberok 9, Trenčín 8, Dukla Banská Bystrica 3.

Results

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

Home \ Away	DAC	DUK	KOŠ	POD	RUŽ	SKA	SLO	TRN	TRE	ZMI	ZLM	ŽIL
DAC Dunajská Streda		1–2	5–2	3–2	1–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	3–0	1–1
Dukla Banská Bystrica	0–0		1–1	1–4	1–1	2–1	1–4	1–2	1–1	3–1	1–1	3–1
Košice	0–3	2–4		0–0	2–2	2–1	0–0	0–2	0–3	2–1	1–0	0–3
Podbrezová	0–0	2–2	5–3		5–0	1–0	0–6	1–2	2–2	2–1	1–0	2–0
Ružomberok	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–1		2–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	0–2
Skalica	0–1	0–3	1–0	3–0	1–0		1–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–1
Slovan Bratislava	2–1	2–2	4–0	3–2	2–2	1–0		2–0	2–0	5–1	4–1	2–0
Spartak Trnava	1–2	2–0	3–0	2–0	2–2	2–0	1–2		1–2	1–0	1–0	0–2
Trenčín	1–0	1–0	4–1	1–2	4–1	0–0	0–2	2–3		2–0	4–1	0–0
Zemplín Michalovce	0–0	0–3	0–2	1–5	0–1	1–1	0–2	3–4	0–0		4–1	1–1
Zlaté Moravce	0–2	0–2	1–1	0–2	2–4	0–1	0–3	1–1	1–2	2–2		1–2
Žilina	5–1	1–4	1–0	2–1	3–1	5–3	0–4	1–0	5–2	1–1	3–2

Source: Niké liga (in Slovak)
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	DAC	TRN	ŽIL	RUŽ	POD
1	Slovan Bratislava (C)	32	23	4	5	76	31	+45	73	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round		—	0–0	0–2	2–3	5–1	2–1
2	DAC Dunajská Streda	32	16	10	6	49	32	+17	58	Qualification for the Conference League second qualifying round		5–3	—	1–0	2–1	0–0	3–1
3	Spartak Trnava	32	18	3	11	47	29	+18	57			1–2	3–0	—	1–0	1–0	5–0
4	Žilina	32	16	7	9	54	45	+9	55			0–3	2–3	2–0	—	0–0	3–2
5	Ružomberok	32	12	11	9	38	43	−5	47	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[a]		0–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	—	3–2
6	Podbrezová	32	11	4	17	49	60	−11	37			2–1	0–3	0–2	1–2	0–2	—

Source: Niké 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
Notes:

1. Ružomberok qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2023–24 Slovak Cup.

Relegation group

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		DUK	TRE	SKA	KOŠ	ZMI	ZLM
1	Dukla Banská Bystrica	32	14	9	9	50	41	+9	51			—	4–2	2–2	2–1	0–1	0–0
2	Trenčín	32	13	10	9	48	34	+14	49			2–0	—	1–3	1–2	1–0	4–0
3	Skalica	32	11	7	14	35	38	−3	40			1–2	0–4	—	1–0	0–0	4–1
4	Košice	32	7	6	19	27	56	−29	27[a]			0–1	0–0	1–2	—	2–0	0–2
5	Zemplín Michalovce (O)	32	6	9	17	29	48	−19	27[a]	Qualification for the relegation play-offs		2–0	0–0	1–3	1–0	—	3–0
6	Zlaté Moravce (R)	32	2	6	24	21	66	−45	12	Relegation to the 2. Liga		0–1	2–2	1–0	1–2	0–2	—

Source: Niké 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.
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Head-to-head points: Košice – 9, Zemplín Michalovce – 3.

Relegation play-offs

The team which finished 11th faced the 2nd team from 2. Liga for one spot in the top flight in the next season.

1st leg

21 May 2024

17:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)

Petržalka	2–1	Zemplín Michalovce
Begala 21' Gašparovič 45+2'	Report	Žofčák 40'

Tehelné pole, Bratislava

Attendance: 3,898

Referee: Erik Gemzický

2nd leg

25 May 2024

16:30 CEST (UTC+02:00)

Zemplín Michalovce	2–0	Petržalka
Halouska 9' (o.g.) Arevalo 32'	Report

Mestský futbalový štadión, Michalovce

Attendance: 2,986

Referee: Peter Kráľovič

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 18 May 2024^[22]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Róbert Polievka	Banská Bystrica	13
	Tigran Barseghyan	Slovan
3	Martin Rymarenko	Banská Bystrica	12
	Matej Trusa	D.Streda
5	David Strelec	Slovan	11
6	Matúš Marcin	Michalovce	10
	Nino Marcelli	Slovan
	Michal Ďuriš	Trnava
	Njegoš Kupusović	Trenčín
10	Aleksandar Čavrić	Slovan	9
	Žan Medved	Košice
	Dávid Ďuriš	Žilina
	Marko Tolić	Slovan

Hat-tricks

Round	Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
1	Peter Kováčik	Podbrezová	Banská Bystrica	4–1 (A)	28 July 2023	[23]
7 P.O	Matej Trusa	Dunajská Streda	Slovan	5–3 (H)	28 April 2024	[24]
10 P.O	Matej Trusa	Dunajská Streda	Žilina	2–3 (A)	18 May 2024	[25]

Note

⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Clean sheets

As of 18 May 2024^[26]

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Dominik Takáč	Trnava	14
2	Vozinha	Trenčín	13
	Aleksandar Popović	Dunajská Streda
4	Milan Borjan	Slovan	12
5	Ľubomír Belko	Žilina	8
6	Žiga Frelih	Michalovce	7
7	Martin Junas	Skalica	6
	Matúš Hruška	Banská Bystrica
	Tomáš Frühwald	Ružomberok
10	Richard Ludha	Podbrezová	5

Discipline

As of 18 May 2024

Player

• Most yellow cards: 10^[27]

• • Boris Godál (B.Bystrica)
  • René Paraj (Podbrezová)

• Most red cards: 2^[27]
  • Mário Mrva (Podbrezová)
  • Oleksandr Holikov (Košice)
  • Andrej Stojchevski (Žilina)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 68^[28]
  • MFK Skalica

• Most red cards: 5^[29]
  • Košice

Awards

Annual awards

Team of the Season

Takáč

Kashia

Kmeť

Bajrić

Andzouana

Kucka

Zeljković

Kováčik

Polievka

Ďuriš

Barseghyan

Team of the Season was:^[30]

• Goalkeeper: Dominik Takáč (Spartak Trnava)
• Defenders: Matúš Kmeť (Trenčín), Guram Kashia (Slovan Bratislava), Kenan Bajrić (Slovan Bratislava), Yhoan Andzouana (DAC D.Streda)
• Midfielders: Peter Kováčik (Podbrezová), Juraj Kucka (Slovan Bratislava), Adrian Zeljković (Spartak Trnava), Tigran Barseghyan (Slovan Bratislava)
• Forwards: Róbert Polievka (Dukla Banská Bystrica), Michal Ďuriš (Spartak Trnava)

Individual awards

Manager of the Season

Vladimír Weiss (Slovan Bratislava)

Player of the Season

Juraj Kucka (Slovan Bratislava)

Young Player of the Season

Nino Marcelli (Slovan Bratislava)

Attendances

#	Football club	Average attendance[31]
1	Slovan Bratislava	5,783
2	DAC Dunajská Streda	5,713
3	Spartak Trnava	4,537
4	FC Košice	3,436
5	MŠK Žilina	1,860
6	AS Trenčín	1,787
7	Dukla Banská Bystrica	1,586
8	Železiarne Podbrezová	1,489
9	FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce	1,430
10	MFK Ružomberok	1,385
11	Zemplín Michalovce	1,175
12	MFK Skalica	1,156

See also

• 2023–24 Slovak Cup
• 2023–24 2. Liga (Slovakia)
• List of Slovak football transfers summer 2023
• List of Slovak football transfers winter 2023–24
• List of foreign Slovak First League players

Notes