2022–23 Slovak First Football League Explained

The 2022–23 Slovak First Football League (known as Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 30th season of top-tier football league in Slovakia since its establishment in 1993.

The winter break began earlier than usual this season due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, with the last full round scheduled for 11–13 November 2022. Four postponed matches then took place on 24 and 27 November. The first round after the winter break was scheduled for 10–12 February 2023.

Slovan Bratislava successfully defended their title, securing a record-extending fifth consecutive championship.

Teams

Team changes

Twelve teams competed in the league – nine teams from the previous season and three teams promoted from the 2. Liga.

Podbrezová (promoted to the top flight for the second time) earned an automatic promotion thanks to the victory of the 2. Liga, replacing Pohronie (relegated after three years in the top flight), who finished last in the 2021–22 Slovak First Football League.

Dukla Banská Bystrica^[1] (promoted after seven years of absence) and Skalica^[2] (promoted to the top flight for the second time) were also promoted, and they will replace Senica^[3] and Sereď^[4] – two teams that did not obtain a licence for the 2022–23 season.

Stadiums and locations

FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda	MFK Dukla Banská Bystrica	FK Železiarne Podbrezová	MFK Ružomberok
MOL Aréna UEFA	Štadión SNP UEFA	ZELPO Aréna UEFA	Štadión pod Čebraťom
Capacity: 12,700	Capacity: 7,900	Capacity: 4,061	Capacity: 4,817
MFK Skalica	ŠK Slovan Bratislava	FC Spartak Trnava	MFK Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš
Štadión MFK Skalica	Tehelné pole UEFA	Štadión Antona Malatinského UEFA	NTC Poprad UEFA
Capacity: 1,500	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	Adrián Guľa	Zsolt Kalmár	Macron	Kukkonia
Dukla Banská Bystrica	Ivan Šabo	Michal Ščasný	Róbert Polievka	Adidas	Veolia
Podbrezová	Július Kriváň	Roman Skuhravý	Richard Ludha	Adidas	Niké
Ružomberok	Milan Fiľo	Peter Struhár	Marek Zsigmund	Adidas	Niké
Skalica	Peter Bartoš	Pavol Majerník	Martin Nagy	Puma	Tipsport
Slovan Bratislava	Ivan Kmotrík	Vladimír Weiss	Vladimír Weiss Jr.	Adidas	Niké
Spartak Trnava	Peter Macho	Michal Gašparík	Martin Mikovič	Adidas	Tipsport
Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	Milan Mikušiak	Ondrej Desiatnik	Richard Bartoš	Kappa	VEREX, Tipsport
Trenčín	Róbert Rybníček	František Straka	Filip Bainović	Macron	Tipsport
Zemplín Michalovce	Ján Sabol	Vladimír Rusnák	Igor Žofčák	Adidas	Tipsport, St. Nicolaus
Zlaté Moravce	Karol Škula	Ivan Galád	Anton Sloboda	Erreà	Tipsport
Žilina	Jozef Antošík	Jaroslav Hynek	Tomáš Nemčík	Nike	Preto

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment
		Signed with Tatran Prešov	[5]	Pre-season		[6] [7]
DAC Dunajská Streda	João Janeiro	End of contract	[8]		Adrián Guľa	[9]
Žilina	Ivan Belák	End of interim spell			Jaroslav Hynek	[10]
		Signed with Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš				[11]
		End of contract	[12]
Dukla Banská Bystrica	Stanislav Varga	End of contract	1 July 2022[13] [14]		Michal Ščasný	[15]
		Released	[16]	12
		End by own request	[17]	11
		Released	[18]	12		[19]
		Released	[20]	11	Pavol Majerník	[21]
		Released	[22]	12		[23]
		Released		10		[24]
		Released	[25]	10	Vladimír Rusnák (interim)

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

The winner of the 2022–23 Slovak Cup, Spartak Trnava, finished in the top 3 in the league, which already secured them a spot in the 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League. As a result, a playoff was held for the final spot in the Europa Conference League, which involved the teams ranked in 4th–7th place at the conclusion of the regular season. The play-offs were one-off matches with extra time and penalties used to determine the winner if necessary, with the higher-ranked teams given home advantage against the lower-ranked teams (i.e. 3rd v. 7th and 5th v. 6th) in the semi-finals. The higher-ranked of the two semi-final winners also gained home advantage in the final. Žilina won the play-offs and earned a place in the Europa Conference League first qualifying round.

Final

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 leg2nd legZlaté Moravce won 3–1 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[26]
1	Nikola Krstović	DAC Dunajská Streda	18
2	Aleksandar Čavrić	Slovan Bratislava	15
	Róbert Polievka	Dukla Banská Bystrica
4	Abdulrahman Taiwo	Spartak Trnava	14
5	Andrej Fábry	Skalica	11
6	David Depetris1	Dukla Banská Bystrica	9
	Vladimír Weiss Jr.	Slovan Bratislava
	Moses Cobnan	Podbrezová
	Adrián Kaprálik1	Žilina
10	Zsolt Kalmár	DAC Dunajská Streda	8
	Timotej Jambor	Žilina
	Štefan Gerec1	Ružomberok
	Dávid Ďuriš	Žilina

¹ plus 1 play-off goal

Hat-tricks

Round	Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
17	Adrián Kaprálik4	MŠK Žilina	Slovan Bratislava	4–1 (H)	6 November 2022	[27]
1.CH		DAC Dunajská Streda	Dukla Banská Bystrica	2–3 (A)	12 March 2023	[28]
10.CH		Spartak Trnava	MŠK Žilina	4–2 (H)	20 May 2023	[29]

Note⁴ Player scored 4 goals

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists[30]
1	Lucas Lovat	Slovan Bratislava	8
2	Samuel Štefánik	Spartak Trnava	6
	Alex Pinto	DAC Dunajská Streda
	Adrián Kaprálik	Žilina
	Brian Peña	Zemplín Michalovce
6	Vladimír Kukoľ	Podbrezová	5
	Ammar Ramadan	DAC Dunajská Streda
	Andrej Fábry	Skalica
	Wisdom Kanu	Zemplín Michalovce
	Matúš Rusnák	Žilina
	Karol Mondek	Zlaté Moravce

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[31]
1	Samuel Petráš	DAC Dunajská Streda	10
2	Martin Junas	Skalica	9
3	Patrik Lukáč	Zlaté Moravce	8
	Richard Ludha	Podbrezová
	Benjamín Száraz	Zemplín Michalovce
6	Ľubomír Belko	Žilina	7
	Dominik Takáč	Spartak Trnava
8	Matúš Hruška	Dukla Banská Bystrica	6
	Adrián Chovan	Slovan Bratislava
10	Michal Kukučka	Trenčín	5
	Ivan Krajčírik	Ružomberok
	Martin Trnovský	Slovan Bratislava

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 10^[32]
  • Lazar Stojsavljević (Trenčín)

• Most red cards: 2
  • Chinonso Emeka (Trenčín)
  • Erik Grendel (Podbrezová)
  • Kelvin Pires (Trenčín)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 82^[33]
  • Zlaté Moravce
• Most red cards: 8^[34]
  • Trenčín
• Fewest yellow cards: 46^[33]
  • Slovan Bratislava
• Fewest red cards: 0^[34]
  • Zlaté Moravce

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Goal of the Month		References
	Player	Club	Player	Club
July	Nikola Krstović	DAC Dunajská Streda	Nikola Krstović	DAC Dunajská Streda	[35] [36]
August		Dukla Banská Bystrica	Adam Kopas	Žilina	[37] [38]
September	Dávid Ďuriš	Žilina	Dávid Ďuriš	Žilina	[39] [40]
October	Nikola Krstović	DAC Dunajská Streda	Rastislav Václavík	Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš	[41] [42]
November	Aleksandar Čavrić	Slovan Bratislava	Azeez Oseni	Spartak Trnava	[43] [44]
February	Róbert Polievka	Dukla Banská Bystrica	Róbert Polievka	Dukla Banská Bystrica	[45] [46]
March	Nikola Krstović	DAC Dunajská Streda	Regő Szánthó	DAC Dunajská Streda	[47] [48]
April	Aleksandar Čavrić	Slovan Bratislava	Vladimír Weiss Jr.	Slovan Bratislava	[49]
May			Adam Kopas	Žilina

Annual awards

Team of the Season

Team of the Season was:^[50]

• Goalkeeper: Ľubomír Belko (Žilina)
• Defenders: Jurij Medveděv (Slovan Bratislava), Guram Kashia (Slovan Bratislava), Marek Bartoš (Podbrezová), Lucas Lovat (Slovan Bratislava)
• Midfielders: Aleksandar Čavrić (Slovan Bratislava), Juraj Kucka (Slovan Bratislava), Miroslav Káčer (DAC Dunajská Streda), Vladimír Weiss Jr. (Slovan Bratislava)
• Forwards: Róbert Polievka (Dukla Banská Bystrica), Nikola Krstović (DAC Dunajská Streda)

Individual awards

Manager of the Season

Vladimír Weiss (Slovan Bratislava)

Player of the Season

Vladimír Weiss Jr. (Slovan Bratislava)

Young Player of the Season

Artur Gajdoš (Trenčín)

See also

• 2022–23 Slovak Cup
• 2022–23 2. Liga (Slovakia)
• 2023–24 UEFA Champions League
• 2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League
• List of Slovak football transfers summer 2022
• List of Slovak football transfers winter 2022–23
• List of foreign Slovak First League players

Notes and References

1. Web site: ÚLK potvrdila dvojicu nováčikov. Môže však k ním pribudnúť aj tretí . 2022-06-28 . sportnet.sme.sk . sk.
2. Web site: Fortuna liga je kompletná, náhrada za Senicu splnila všetky podmienky . 2022-06-28 . sportnet.sme.sk . sk.
3. Web site: Postúpi Skalica do Fortuna ligy? Senica nedostala licenciu pre nasledujúcu sezónu . 2022-06-28 . sportnet.sme.sk . sk.
4. Web site: Sereď sa neodvolala, licenciu na Fortuna ligu nedostane . 2022-06-28 . sportnet.sme.sk . sk.
5. Web site: a.s . Petit Press . Marek Petruš bude novým trénerom FC Tatran Prešov . 2022-07-01 . vychod.sme.sk . sk.
6. Web site: JOZEF KOSTELNÍK NOVÝM TRÉNEROM MFK TATRAN NA SEZÓNU 2022/23 . 2023-01-01 . www.mfktatran.sk.
7. Web site: Do Tatrana prichádza nový tréner: Jozef Kostelník .
8. Web site: Joao Janeiro skončil na lavičke Dunajskej Stredy. Klub si neuplatnil opciu na predĺženie zmluvy | TVNOVINY.sk . 31 May 2022 .
9. Web site: VIDEO Veľký návrat do Fortuna ligy: Adrián Guľa sa stal trénerom Dunajskej Stredy! . 15 June 2022 .
10. Web site: Žilina lovila v zahraničí, prekvapila menom nového trénera .
11. Web site: Kostelník skončil v MFK Skalica, kormidlo preberá Juraj Jarábek . 29 May 2022 .
12. Web site: A-tím | Ančic a Galád končia v AS Trenčín .
13. Web site: ljstudiocreatives . Stanislav Varga končí v MFK Dukla . 2022-07-01 . mfkdukla.sk . sk.
14. Web site: s.r.o . SPORT SK, s r o & Ringier Slovakia Media . Šok 2 týždne pred štartom sezóny! V Banskej Bystrici skončil tréner Stanislav Varga . 2022-07-01 . Šport.sk . July 2022 . sk.
15. Web site: Nováčik spod Urpína predstavil nástupcu trénera Vargu: Hovoria zaňho výsledky v Senici a Trnave! . 2 July 2022 .
16. Web site: A-tím | AS Trenčín a tréner Hyballa sa dohodli na rozviazaní zmluvy .
17. Web site: Zlaté Moravce potvrdili meno nového trénera FC ViOn | TVNOVINY.sk . 5 October 2022 .
18. Web site: Tréner Kostelník ukončil pôsobenie na lavičke Liptovského Mikuláša .
19. Web site: FL: Novým trénerom Liptovského Mikuláša bude Fabuľa . 21 November 2022 .
20. Web site: Juraj Jarábek končí na lavičke Skalice .
21. Web site: V minulosti bol kapitánom tímu. Majerník je nový tréner Skalice .
22. Web site: Fabuľa skončil na lavičke Liptovského Mikuláša už po troch zápasoch . 27 February 2023 .
23. Web site: Má priniesť impulz. Liptáci vstúpia do nadstavby s novým trénerom .
24. Web site: AS Trenčín mení trénera: Na lavičku prichádza známy kouč, ktorý viedol aj Slovan . 26 March 2023 .
25. Web site: Hrnčár nečakane skončil. Michalovce pred zápasom sezóny vyhodili trénera .
26. Web site: FORTUNA LIGA - Najlepší kanonieri. 1 August 2022. sk.
27. Web site: MŠK-Slovan.
28. Web site: DAC-Bystrica.
29. Web site: Spartak-Zilina.
30. Web site: Hráči - Štatistiky. Fortuna liga. 1 August 2022.
31. Web site: Brankári - Štatistiky. Fortuna liga. 17 August 2020.
32. Web site: Hráči | Štatistiky. Fortuna liga.
33. Web site: Tímy - Štatistiky. Fortuna liga. 30 August 2021.
34. Web site: Tímy - Štatistiky. Fortuna liga. 30 August 2021.
35. Web site: Nikola Krstovič Hráčom mesiaca júl 2022 . 2022-11-08 . Fortuna liga.
36. Web site: Nožničky Nikolu Krstoviča Gólom mesiaca júl 2022 . 2022-11-08 . Fortuna liga.
37. Web site: Róbert Polievka hráčom mesiaca august 2022 . 2022-11-08 . Fortuna liga.
38. Web site: Adam Kopas víťazom ankety Gól mesiaca august . 2022-11-08 . Fortuna liga.
39. Web site: Dávid Ďuriš vyhral anketu Hráč mesiaca september 2022 . 2022-11-08 . Fortuna liga.
40. Web site: Hlavičkový lob Dávida Ďuriša víťazom ankety Gól mesiaca september . 2022-11-08 . Fortuna liga.
41. Web site: Nikola Krstovič vyhral druhýkrát v sezóne anketu Voyo Hráč mesiaca . 2022-11-17 . Fortuna liga.
42. Web site: Toto je najkrajší gól októbra. Jeho autorom je Rastislav Václavik . 2022-11-17 . Fortuna liga.
43. Web site: Aleksandar Čavrič Voyo hráčom mesiaca november . 2023-02-12 . Fortuna liga.
44. Web site: Azeez Oseni víťazom ankety Gól mesiaca november 2022 . 2023-02-12 . Fortuna liga.
45. Web site: Róbert Polievka Voyo Hráčom mesiaca február . 2023-03-25 . Fortuna liga.
46. Web site: Róbert Polievka dal vo februári najkrajší gól Fortuna ligy . 2023-03-25 . Fortuna liga.
47. Web site: Hetrik Nikolu Krstoviča. Po tretíkrát Voyo Hráčom mesiaca . 2023-04-15 . Fortuna liga.
48. Web site: Regö Szánthó zvíťazil v ankete Gól mesiaca marec 2023 . 2023-04-13 . Fortuna liga.
49. Web site: Sólo Vladimíra Weissa Gólom mesiaca apríl . 2023-05-19 . Fortuna liga.
50. Web site: Jedenastka sezony.... Fortuna liga. 21 May 2023.