2020–21 Slovak First Football League Explained

The 2020–21 Slovak First Football League (known as the Slovak Fortuna liga^[5] for sponsorship reasons) was the 28th season of first-tier football league in Slovakia since its establishment in 1993.

Slovan Bratislava were the defending champions for the second successive year, after picking up the domestic double in the previous season. Slovan successfully defended their title, winning their third consecutive title and record-extending 11th Slovak title overall.

In this season, teams were allowed to make five substitutions during matches in a maximum of three stoppages in play for one team.^[6]

Teams

Twelve teams competed in the league – all sides from the previous season.

Stadiums and locations

AS Trenčín	FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda	FK Pohronie	MFK Zemplín Michalovce
Štadión Sihoť UEFA		MOL Aréna UEFA	Mestský štadión UEFA	Mestský futbalový štadión UEFA
Capacity: 4,200 (10,000 planned)	Capacity: 12,700	Capacity: 2,309	Capacity: 4,440
FK Senica	MFK Ružomberok	MŠK Žilina	ŠK Slovan Bratislava
OMS Arena UEFA	Štadión pod Čebraťom	Štadión pod Dubňom UEFA	Tehelné pole UEFA
Capacity: 5,070	Capacity: 4,817	Capacity: 11,253	Capacity: 22,500
FC Spartak Trnava	ŠKF Sereď		FC Nitra
ŠAM - City Arena UEFA	Štadión FC ViOn UEFA	Štadión FC ViOn UEFA	Štadión pod Zoborom UEFA
Capacity: 19,200	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 7,480

Personnel and kits

Team	President	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
DAC Dunajská Streda	Oszkár Világi	Antal Németh (carateker)	Zsolt Kalmár	macron	Kukkonia
Nitra	Ladislav Palaky	Michal Ščasný	Erik Jendrišek	Adidas
Pohronie	Jozef Urblík	Jan Kameník	Petr Pavlík	Erreà	REMESLO
Ružomberok	Milan Fiľo	Ján Haspra	Ján Maslo	Adidas	MAESTRO
Senica	Oldřich Duda[7]	Karol Praženica	Juraj Piroska	hummel	KOMPLEXX GROUP SK
Sereď	Róbert Stareček	Gergely Geri	Ľubomír Michalík	Nike
Slovan Bratislava	Ivan Kmotrík	Vladimír Weiss	Vasil Bozhikov	Adidas	Niké
Spartak Trnava	Milan Cuninka	Michal Gašparík	Dobrivoj Rusov	Adidas
Trenčín	Jozef Liptovský	Juraj Ančic (carateker)	Aschraf El Mahdioui	macron	ORION Tip
Zemplín Michalovce	Ján Sabol	Anton Šoltis	Igor Žofčák	Adidas	ISDB, St. Nicolaus
Zlaté Moravce	Karol Škula	Ľuboš Benkovský	Tomáš Ďubek	Erreà	ViOn
Žilina	Jozef Antošík	Pavol Staňo	Jakub Paur	Nike	Preto

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
	Patrik Durkáč	End of a contract		Pre-season		[8]
	Juraj Ančic	End of interim spell				[9]
	Ján Kozák	Released	[10]	3	Darko Milanič	[11]
	Marián Šarmír	Released		6	Norbert Hrnčár	[12]
	Mikuláš Radványi	Released	[13]	12	Jan Kameník	[14]
		Own request		7	Ivan Galád (interim)	[15]
		End of a contract[16]		7		[17]
	Norbert Hrnčár	Released		5	Michal Gašparík	[18]
		End of interim spell		8	Michal Ščasný	[19]
		Released	[20]	8	Peter Lérant	[21]
		Released	[22]	12	Karol Praženica
		Health and family reasons		9	Ján Blaháč (interim)	[23]
		Interim	[24]	10
		Released	[25]	11		[26]
		Released		11		[27]
		Released		2	Antal Németh (interim)	[28]
	Stijn Vreven	Released		6	Juraj Ančic (interim)	[29]
	Darko Milanič	Released		1	Vladimír Weiss	[30]

Regular stage

League table

Results

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

Championship group

Relegation group

Europa Conference League play-offs

Should one of the top 3 teams win the 2020–21 Slovak Cup, Europa Conference 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 19 May 2021, 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 Conference League qualification spot. Europa Conference 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 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League.

Final

Relegation play-offs

The team which finished 11th faced the 2nd team from 2. Liga 2020–21 for one spot in the top flight the next season.

All times are CEST (UTC+2).

Second leg

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.

	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
	Qualification for the Europa Conference League
	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
	Relegation to the 2. liga

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	28	29	30	31	32
	2	1	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
	4	3	2	3	5	6	5	3	5	5	4	6	5	4	6	5	5	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3
	3	4	4	4	3	4	4	6	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4
	7	8	5	6	7	7	10	7	8	8	6	5	4	5	4	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
	6	7	10	9	11	10	8	8	11	9	12	10	11	12	10	10	10	10	8	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6
	12	5	6	7	4	3	3	4	6	7	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	7	9	8	8	10	7	9	7	7	7	8	8	7	8	7
	5	10	11	10	9	11	7	9	7	6	5	7	7	7	5	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	11	8	9	9	8	7	7	8	7	8
	8	9	9	5	6	8	9	10	12	10	11	12	12	11	12	12	12	9	7	10	11	12	10	7	8	8	9	9	9	9	9	9
	9	11	12	12	12	12	12	11	10	12	10	9	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	12	9	9	12	11	11	12	12	11	11	11	10
	10	12	7	11	10	9	11	12	9	11	9	11	9	9	9	9	9	12	12	12	10	11	12	10	12	12	10	10	10	10	10	11
	11	6	8	8	8	5	6	5	3	4	7	4	6	6	7	7	8	8	10	9	9	8	8	11	10	10	11	11	12	12	12	12

Source: Fortunaliga.sk

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[31]
1	Dawid Kurminowski1	Žilina	19
2	Eric Ramirez	DAC Dunajská Streda	16
3	Filip Balaj2	Zlaté Moravce	14
	Rafael Ratão	Slovan Bratislava
5	Zsolt Kalmár	DAC Dunajská Streda	13
6	Hamza Čataković	Trenčín	12
7	Marko Divković	DAC Dunajská Streda	11
	Martin Regáli	Ružomberok
9	Dávid Holman	Slovan Bratislava	10
10	Vahan Bichakhchyan1	Žilina	9
	David Strelec	Slovan Bratislava
	Bamidele Yusuf	Trnava

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

Top assists

+	Rank	Player	Club	Assists[32]
1	align=left	David Hrnčár	align=left	Zlaté Moravce	12
2	Igor Žofčák	Zemplín Michalovce	8
	align=left	Eric Davis		align=left	DAC Dunajská Streda
4	align=left	Aleksandar Čavrić	align=left	Slovan Bratislava	7
	Nono	Slovan Bratislava
	Saymon Cabral	Spartak Trnava
	align=left	Eric Ramírez	align=left	DAC Dunajská Streda
8	align=left	Tihomir Kostadinov	align=left	Ružomberok	6
9	align=left	Andrej Fábry	align=left	Sereď	5
	align=left	Branislav Sluka	align=left	Žilina
	Vahan Bichakhchyan	Žilina
	align=left	Ján Bernát	align=left	Žilina
	align=left	Alieu Fadera	align=left	Pohronie
	align=left	David Holman	align=left	Slovan Bratislava
	align=left	Vladimír Weiss	align=left	Slovan Bratislava
	align=left	César Blackman	align=left	DAC Dunajská Streda
	Zsolt Kalmár	DAC Dunajská Streda
	Andrija Balić	DAC Dunajská Streda

Hat-tricks

Round	Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
7		Ružomberok	Zemplín Michalovce	4–0 (H)	19 September 2020	[33]
10		Zlaté Moravce	Nitra	3–1 (H)	17 October 2020	[34]
13		Zlaté Moravce	Trenčín	5–0 (H)	7 November 2020	[35]
18		Ružomberok	Zemplín Michalovce	3–4 (A)	16 December 2020	[36]
CH.10		Žilina	Zlaté Moravce	5–1 (H)	22 May 2021	[37]

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[38]
1	Dominik Greif	Slovan Bratislava	12
2	Mathew Yakubu	Sereď	10
	Martin Jedlička	DAC Dunajská Streda
4	Adrián Chovan	Zlaté Moravce	8
5	Dobrivoj Rusov	Spartak Trnava	7
	Libor Hrdlička	Pohronie
7	Matej Marković	Zemplín Michalovce	6
	Dávid Šípoš	Nitra
9	Matúš Macík	Ružomberok	5
10	Tomáš Fryšták	Senica	4
	Olivier Vliegen	Senica
	Samuel Petráš	Žilina
	Ivan Krajčírik	MFK Ružomberok
	Dominik Takáč	Trnava

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 10^[39]
  • Joeri de Kamps (Slovan Bratislava)
  • Martin Mikovič (Spartak Trnava)

• Most red cards: 2
  • Tomáš Hučko (Sereď)
  • Abdul Zubairu (Trenčín)
  • Aschraf El Mahdioui (Trenčín)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 84^[40]
  • Sereď

• Most red cards: 6^[41]
  • Spartak Trnava

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Goal of the Month		References
	Player	Club	Player	Club
August	Zsolt Kalmár	DAC Dunajská Streda	Eric Ramírez	DAC Dunajská Streda	[42] [43]
September	Ladislav Almási	Ružomberok			[44] [45]
October	Filip Balaj	Zlaté Moravce	Andrija Balić		[46] [47]
November	David Hrnčár 1		Kyriakos Savvidis	Spartak Trnava	[48]
December			Erik Daniel	Slovan Bratislava	[49]
February/March	Eric Ramírez	DAC Dunajská Streda	Zsolt Kalmár	DAC Dunajská Streda	[50] [51]
April	not announced		Andrija Balić	DAC Dunajska Streda	[52]
May			Alex Iván	Sereď

¹ Vote of the player of the month was united for November and December.

Team of the Season

Team of the Season was:^[53]

• Goalkeeper: Dominik Greif (Slovan Bratislava)
• Defence: Vernon De Marco (Slovan Bratislava), Jakub Piotr Kiwior (Žilina), Vasil Bozhikov (Slovan Bratislava), César Blackman (DAC Dunajská Streda)
• Midfield: David Hrnčár (Zlaté Moravce), Joeri de Kamps (Slovan Bratislava), Zsolt Kalmár (DAC Dunajská Streda), Rafael Ratão (Slovan Bratislava)
• Attack: David Strelec (Slovan Bratislava), Eric Ramírez (DAC Dunajská Streda)

Top Eleven U-21

Source:^[53]

• Goalkeeper: Samuel Petráš (Žilina)
• Defence: César Blackman (DAC Dunajská Streda), Jakub Piotr Kiwior (Žilina), Branislav Sluka (Žilina)
• Midfield: David Strelec (Slovan Bratislava), Saymon Cabral (Spartak Trnava), András Schäfer (DAC Dunajská Streda), Dávid Ďuriš (Žilina), Marko Divković (DAC Dunajská Streda)
• Attack: Dawid Kurminowski (Žilina), Eric Ramírez (DAC Dunajská Streda)

Individual awards

Manager of the season

Pavol Staňo (Žilina)

Player of the Year

Zsolt Kalmár (DAC Dunajská Streda)

Young player of the Year

David Hrnčár (Zlaté Moravce)

See also

• 2020–21 Slovak Cup
• 2020–21 2. Liga (Slovakia)
• List of Slovak football transfers summer 2020
• List of Slovak football transfers winter 2020–21
• List of foreign Slovak First League players

Notes and References

1. Web site: Nová sezóna Fortuna ligy začne 8. augusta. Fortuna liga.
2. Web site: Vyžrebovanie novej sezóny známe. Schválených 5 striedaní. Fortuna liga.
3. Web site: Najgólovejšia sezóna v histórii. Fortuna liga 2020/21 rečou čísel.
4. Web site: FK DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda - FC Spartak Trnava | 2 - 1. webdesign and software: bart sk s r o. sportnet.sme.sk.
5. News: Najvyššia súťaž zmení názov, Fortuna nahradí Corgoň. 16 May 2014. 16 May 2014. Profutbal.sk. sk. https://web.archive.org/web/20140517140459/http://www.profutbal.sk/ligy/svk1/?id=175560. 17 May 2014. dead.
6. Web site: SFZ – Výkonný výbor schválil päť striedaní aj pre ďalšiu sezónu. webdesign and software: bart sk s r o. sportnet.sme.sk.
7. Web site: Senica prešla výraznými zmenami, so staronovým kapitánom zabojuje o prvú šestku | spravy.sk. futbal.spravy.sk. 2020-08-08. 2020-10-01. https://web.archive.org/web/20201001125920/https://futbal.spravy.sk/clanok/3093628-senica-presla-vyraznymi-zmenami-so-staronovym-kapitanom-zabojuje-o-prvu-sestku/. dead.
8. Web site: Novým trénerom FK Senica sa stal Anton Šoltis. SPORT SK, s r o & Ringier Axel Springer Slovakia. Šport.sk.
9. Web site: AS Trenčín oficiálne predstavil meno nového trénera | spravy.sk. futbal.spravy.sk. 2020-07-17. 2020-07-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20200717201000/https://futbal.spravy.sk/clanok/3092348-as-trencin-oficialne-predstavil-meno-noveho-trenera/. dead.
10. Web site: Kmotrík potvrdil odvolanie Kozáka: Mužstvo stagnovalo, potrebuje nový impulz | spravy.sk. futbal.spravy.sk.
11. Web site: Slovan už našiel náhradu za Kozáka, získal úspešného slovinského trénera | spravy.sk. futbal.spravy.sk.
12. Web site: FC Spartak Trnava zmenil trénera, prichádza známe meno. SPORT SK, s r o & Ringier Axel Springer Slovakia. Šport.sk.
13. https://futbal.spravy.sk/clanok/3097707-zmeny-v-pohroni-pokracuju-skoncil-aj-trener-radvanyi/{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
14. Web site: Pohronie už našlo nového trénera, do klubu vstúpi zahraničný investor . 2020-10-12 . 2020-10-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201013001806/https://futbal.spravy.sk/clanok/3097904-pohronie-uz-naslo-noveho-trenera-do-klubu-vstupi-zahranicny-investor/ . dead .
15. https://futbal.spravy.sk/clanok/3101094-geri-v-nitre-skoncil-na-vlastnu-ziadost-tim-povedie-galad/{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
16. https://futbal.spravy.sk/clanok/3101888-sered-bude-mat-noveho-trenera-lerant-skoncil/{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
17. https://futbal.spravy.sk/clanok/3102505-sturma-sa-vracia-na-slovensko-v-seredi-bude-mat-dvojnasobne-kompetencie/{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
18. Web site: Spartak Trnava má nového trénera, Gašparík ml. Má do tímu priniesť emócie a chémiu. 2 January 2021.
19. Web site: Gálad končí na lavičke futbalovej Nitry: Novým kormidelníkom sa stáva český kouč. 4 January 2021.
20. Web site: Ščasný skončil v Nitre po 17 dňoch! Nahradiť ho má známe meno z Fortuna ligy.
21. Web site: Lérant je novým trénerom fortunaligového FC Nitra. 22 January 2021.
22. Web site: Doma prehrali s Trenčínom. V Senici končia tréner aj jeho asistent. sportnet.sme.sk.
23. Web site: Zmena na trénerskom poste v ŠKF Sereď po prvom jarnom kole.
24. Web site: Fortunaligista so zmenou na trénerskom poste: ŠKF Sereď našiel náhradu za Jána Blaháča. 8 March 2021.
25. Web site: Vydržal iba dva mesiace. Tréner Lérant v Nitre skončil.
26. Web site: Mimo kormidla bol len dva mesiace a sedem dní: Na lavičku FC Nitra sa vracia Michal Ščasný. 28 March 2021.
27. Web site: V Michalovciach spravili dôležitý krok v boji o záchranu, vracia sa trénerská ikona.
28. Web site: Storck už nepovedie Dunajskú Stredu.
29. Web site: Vreven sa čertil, v nadstavbe prehral všetko. V Trenčíne skončil. sportnet.sme.sk.
30. Web site: Slovan po blamáži v Trnave vyhodil trénera: Na lavičku sa vracia Vladimír Weiss!. 4 May 2021.
31. Web site: FORTUNA LIGA - Najlepší kanonieri. 17 August 2020. sk.
32. Web site: Hráči - Štatistiky. Fortuna liga. 17 August 2020.
33. Web site: MFK Ružomberok - MFK Zemplín Michalovce | 4 - 0. webdesign and software: bart sk s r o. sportnet.sme.sk.
34. Web site: FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce - Vráble - FC Nitra | Fortuna liga 10. Kolo.
35. Web site: FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce - Vráble - AS Trenčín | Fortuna liga 13. Kolo.
36. Web site: MFK Zemplín Michalovce - MFK Ružomberok | Detail zápasu. Fortuna liga.
37. Web site: MŠK Žilina - FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce - Vráble | Detail zápasu. Fortuna liga.
38. Web site: Brankári - Štatistiky. Fortuna liga. 17 August 2020.
39. Web site: Hráči | Štatistiky. Fortuna liga.
40. Web site: Tímy - Štatistiky. Fortuna liga. 17 August 2020.
41. Web site: Tímy - Štatistiky. Fortuna liga. 17 August 2020.
42. Web site: Fortuna Liga - Hráč mesiaca. hracmesiaca.zoznam.sk.
43. Web site: Gól mesiaca.
44. Web site: Ladislav Almási hráčom mesiaca september. fortunaliga.sk.
45. Web site: Gól mesiaca.
46. Web site: Hetrikový Filip Balaj hráčom mesiaca október.
47. Web site: Gól mesiaca.
48. Web site: Gól mesiaca. 2021-01-12. Fortuna liga.
49. Web site: Gól mesiaca. 2021-01-12. Fortuna liga.
50. Web site: Eric Ramirez hráčom mesiacov február/marec. Fortuna liga.
51. Web site: Gól mesiaca. 2021-04-14. Fortuna liga.
52. Web site: Andrija Balič víťazom ankety Gól mesiaca. www.fortunaliga.sk.
53. Web site: Zsolt Kalmar najlepsim hracom.... Fortuna liga. 23 May 2021.