January 2, 2022
The Slovakia Super Liga finished for its winter break on December
12th, with the resumption due to commence on February 12th,
2022. To date 19 rounds of matches have been played, with three more to be
completed before the league has its mid-season split.
History
The Slovakia Super Liga was first competed for in 1993/94
following velvet divorce between the Czechs and Slovaks, and for sponsorship
reasons is currently known as the Fortuna Liga.
Slovan Bratislava have been the dominant club over the history of
the league, winning 11 titles and are the current holders. Slovan also won the
Czechoslovak titles on 8 occasions. MSK Zilina have won 7 Slovak titles, with
Kosice, Inter Bratislava, Trencin and Petrzalka each with two successes .
The Fortuna Liga is currently ranked 30h by UEFA, below
Poland and Kazakhstan but above Slovenia and Belarus.
My experience of matches in Slovakia stems from three matches in
1999. First, we had tickets for the Euro 2020 qualifier at the Telhene Pole
Stadium in Bratislava between Slovakia and Romania. The 200 Slovak Crown ticket
was the equivalent of just under 7 Euros.
With Slovakia outsiders to qualify, needing to win their last two
group matches to reach Euro 2000, their hopes were crushed by an outstanding
display from Romania, who not only won 5-1, but thanks to an inspired
performance from Georghe Hagi, even the Slovak hooligans behind the goal memorably
gave the Romanians a standing ovation as they left the field.
Local business contacts then enabled us to get grandstand tickets
for the match between SS Koba Senec and Slovan Bratislava. Senec were in their
first ever season at the top level, and we got several surprised looks as we
took our seats in the tiny main stand which probably held no more than 300
seats, and the ground must have been close to 5,000 capacity. Our tickets for
the best seats in ground cost 40 KCS ( £1.30 ).
Despite a whole hearted display from the home side, the
experienced Slovan side, which included centre-back Stanislav Varga ( 52 caps ),
who went on to play for Sunderland, Celtic, West Bromwich Albion and Burnley and
was to be Slovan’s top scorer that season with 10 goals, went on to win the
match 1-0. The Slovan side also included Robert Tomaschek, who went on to play
for Hearts and win 52 caps.
My memory of the day is simply of how much time Varga had at the
back for Slovan despite no obvious sign of any pace, and how he looked so much
better than anyone else on the pitch. Senec no longer exist as a club, merging
with DAC Dunajska Streda in 2008.
A week later we were able to attend a match between Inter
Bratislava and MSK Zilina at the Pasienky Stadium, with fewer than 2,000 in
attendance, which Inter comfortably won 2-0. The Inter side that night included
Szilard Nemeth, who scored one of the goals, who went on to win 58 caps and
play for Middlesborough, centre-back Roman Kratochvil who scored the other goal
and went on to play for Denzlispor and win 36 caps, midfielder Marian Lilak,
who went on to play for Panionios and Aris Limassol, and Peter Nemeth, who went
on to win 22 caps and play for Eintracht Frankfurt.
For Zilina, Marek Mintal went on to be a legend at FC Nurnburg and
won 45 caps for Slovakia.
Inter won the league that season by 9 points from Kosice, but have
since suffered bankruptcy, and the fledgling new club are now in the process of
working their way up from the lower leagues.
The National Side
Following the recent Nations League matches the national side were 42nd
in the FIFA world rankings, making them 24th best in Europe, with their
highest ranking was 14th in August 2015.
19 Slovaks have appeared in the English Premier League, with the most
prominent being centre-back Martin Skrtel ( Liverpool ), centre-back Stanislav
Varga (ex-Sunderland, Celtic, West Bromwich Albion and Burnley), striker
Szilard Nemeth ( Middlesborough ), left back Vladimir Labant ( West Ham ), keeper Martin Dubravska ( Newcastle ), winger
Vladimir Weiss ( Manchester City ), keeper Marek Rodak ( Fulham ), midfielder
Lubomir Michalik ( Bolton, Leeds & Portsmouth ) & left back Marek Cech
( WBA ).
League Structure
The Slovakia Super Liga consists of 12 sides who play each other twice
for a 22 regular game season. At this point the top 6 split into the
Championship Group for 10 more matches, whilst the bottom 6 similarly form the
Relegation Group.
The Champions qualify for the Champions League First Qualifying Round,
whilst the runner-up enters the Europa Conference Second Qualifying League.
Slovakia’s two other entrants to the Europa Conference will be the winners of
the Slovak Cup and the winner of a play-off competition. If the side winning in
Slovak Cup finish in the top three, then the final place goes to the winner of
the play-off between 4,5 & 6 in the Championship plus the side topping the
relegation group
The bottom side are automatically relegated, whilst 11th
plays a two-legged play-off against the side finishing second in 2.liga.
Last Season
Slovan Bratisalva won their third consecutive title, finishing 6 points
clear of DAC Dunajska Streda. These two were by some distance the strongest
sides in the Super Liga, with Spartak Trnava finishing a further 10 points
behind in third place. Zilina were three further points behind, but 12 points
clear of fifth placed Zlate Moravce, so deservedly were winners of the Europa
League Conference play-offs to take the final place in Europa.
Slovan were also winners of the Slovak Cup, beating Zilina 2-1 after
extra time in the final, to achieve the double for the second year running.
Attendances
DAC Dunajska Streda currently have the best home average with
4,059 per game, with Slovan next with 2,287 then Spartak Trnava on 1,515. Sered
have the lowest with 145. Sered’s
attendances are not help by having to play their matches at Trnava, which is
around 15 kilometres from Sered.
These statistics are understated though, as from early November
matches have either been played in front of very limited attendances, or behind
closed doors. In 2019/20 the average at Dunajska Streda was 7,899, Slovan averaged
6,114 and Spartak 3,695.
The highest official attendance so far this season was 7,144 for
DAC vs Slovan in September although the attendance for the abandoned Spartak
Trnava vs Slovan would probably have been higher ( see below ).
How To Watch
Since late October, live streams of matches from the Slovakia
Super Liga are now shown on onefootball.com. Highlights of each match can be
viewed on the league website www.fortunaliga.sk. Nine of the Super Liga clubs also post match highlights on their YouTube channels, the exceptions being ViON Zlate Moravce,
The Season So Far
The table at the winter break after 19 games shows Slovan
Bratislava to be leading Spartak Trnava by four points, but the story has been
a lot more intriguing.
After 10 rounds of fixtures, Slovan and Spartak were level on
points, and the visit of Slovan to Spartak in round 11 generated huge interest
and expectations, with Spartak looking to be genuine candidates for a title they
have never won. Unfortunately, external events took over, and in front of a
near capacity attendance, crowd trouble started after 15 minutes during a break
in play for an injury when some flares were thrown onto the pitch from the
Slovan enclosure. In response some fans from the sector closest to the Slovan
fans, allegedly trouble makers from other clubs, spilled onto the pitch and
started throwing the flares back at the Slovan fans. Matters were not helped by
some fans from the Spartak end at the other end of the pitch streaming onto the
pitch but it all seemed relatively trival.
There been some criticism on the internet of the role played by
the Slovak Police, who failed to deal with the situation, commenting that had
this happened on the streets they would have ruthlessly dealt with the trouble
makers.
As it happened, Slovan apparently refused to continue to play and
the referee had little option other than to abandon the match.
No-one seems to be come out well from the whole situation, but to
the surprise of many the Slovak FA awarded the game to Slovan by a 3-0 default
margin. Although Spartak were perhaps guilty of not adequately controlling the
ground, the initial cause of the trouble was generated by the behaviour of the
Slovan supporters, so the decision has created a potentially dangerous
precedent in getting results awarded in your favour.
SK Slovan Bratislava begun the season with 5
straight wins before being held 1-1 at Dunajska Stedea and were then held 2-2
at home by Zilina, and then fell to a 0-1 loss at Ruzemberok thanks to a goal
in the last minute. Including the awarded victory over Spartak, Slovan then embarked
on a run of 9 consecutive victories, before being held to draws in their last
two matches before the interval, again being held by Dunajska Streda ( 0-0 at
home ) and Zilina ( 1-1 away ).
Ex-Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday winger Andre Green has
appeared 14 times this season for Slovan, scoring once. Czech International winger
Jaromir Zmrhal joined in the summer from Brescia and has scored 7 times,
although their top scorer is Nigerian striker Ezekiel Henty with 9 goals.
Argentine born left-back Vernon de Marco was the only Super Liga player selected
in the most recent Slovakia national squad.
Slovan have also taken steps to strengthen their squad for the
second half of the season, with the signing of experienced Armenian midfielder
Tigran Barseghyan from Kazakh side FC Astana.
FC Spartak Trnava slid to an unexpected defeat in their
second match, conceding two goals in the last two minutes to go down 1-2 at
Senica, and although they subsequently played out a 0-0 draw in Ruzemberok and
were held by Zilina 1-1 at home, they had pulled level with Slovan after round
8. They responded to the default loss with three more wins before surprisingly
being held to a scoreless draw at ViON Zlate Moravce before falling to a poor
0-3 home defeat to Ruzemberok. However, three wins in their final three matches
put them back in reach of Slovan.
Ex-Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel joined in the summer and North
Macedonian International Milan Ristovski striker has scored 7 times.
MFK Ruzemberok have had an impressive season to date, with
just two defeats in 19 games, at home to Dunajska Streda in September ( 1-2 )
and at Slovan in November ( 0-1 ). After a slow start, with 5 draws in their
first six games, after the loss to DAC they won eight and drew one of their
next 10 matches, but two draws in the final two matches prevented them from
getting closer to the top 2.
Apart from North Macedonian midfielder Tihomir Kostadinov, the
rest of the Ruzemberok squad were Slovak, but Kostadinov has since signed for
Polish side Piast Gliwice during the break. Midfielder Martin Regali topped
their scoring charts with 7 goals
After their strong performance last season, DAC Dunajska Streda
( which loosely translates as Danube Wednesday ! ) have been disappointing in
the first half of the season, with 5 losses on their card. Their form has been
inconsistent, starting with an opening day 1-4 loss at Zemplin Michalovce, a
0-1 defeat at Sered in round 3, with the other defeats coming at the hand of
newly promoted Liptovsky Mikulas ( 0-1 ) and again to Sered ( 1-3 at home ).
The other defeat came at home to Spartak ( 0-3 ). On the other hand, they have
drawn twice with Slovan, taken 4 points from Ruzemberok and won at Zilina. They
are currently on an unbeaten run of 5 matches.
Cameroon International striker Lamkel Ze joined on loan from
Antwerp and has scored twice in 7 games, ex Stoke and Bolton Belgian winger
Thibaut Verlinden has played in 6 matches, and Latvian International midfielder
Andrejs Ciganjiks has appeared in every game. DAC also have ex-Vitebsk Moldovan
goal-machine Ion Nicolaescu, who is yet to score this season in 8 appearances,
mostly from the bench. DAC are perhaps also the only European side with two Panama internationals, namely left back Eric Davis ( 66 caps ) and right-back Cesar Blackman ( 4 caps ).
MSK Zilina lie a further 5 points adrift of DAC, and
started the season with 4 wins from their first 5 games to lead the table, but
then went on a run of 7 games without a win. They have now lost just one match
in the final 6 before the break. The highlights of their season are probably
the two draws with Slovan ( despite an own goal of the season by Nemcik in the game at Slovan ) and a draw at Spartak. Armenian attacking midfielder
Vahan Bichakhchyan has scored 6 times.
Four sides are in close competition for the final place in the Championship Group, with just 4 points separating 4 sides with three game remaining.
After surviving last season via the relegation play-off, very few
people would have expected FK Senica to be sitting in a Championship
group place after 19 matches. Starting with a tricky looking start to the
season, they manage to beat Spartak and draw with Ruzemberok, Zlate Moravce and
Dunajska Streda in their first 4 matches, and after a heavy loss at Zilina,
rebounded to overcome Liptovsky Mikulas and Pohronie to be 5th after
7 games. A mini slump of one point from 7 games followed, but 10 points from
their last 4 matches saw them climb back up to 6th.
Congolese striker Elvis Mashike, ex Slovan Liberec and Viktoria
Zizkov scored 7 goals but has since signed for Zilina. Ex-Millwall Canadian
international winger Kris Twardek has also re-signed for Irish side Bohemians
in the winter break after playing for them in 2020.
After a poor start SKF Sered have steadily been improving
and progressing up the table. Despite upsetting Dunajska Streda with a 1-0 home
win in round 3, moderate form saw them down in 9th place after 13
games, but three wins and a draw in the final 6 games before the break saw them
climb to 7th, one point off the Championship Group, which could have
been better had they taken more than one point from the final two matches.
FK Zemplin Michalovce, located in eastern Slovakia and close to the border with Ukraine, have been slowly sliding down the
table after a peak of 4th place after round 10, losing 6 of their
last 8 matches although they did finish the year with a 1-0 with at Zlate
Moravce. Hopes must have been high after thumping Dunajska Streda, last
season’s runners-up, 4-1 on the opening day but the next three matches were
lost. Three wins on the trot in late September/early October saw them rise to 4th. Matej Trusa has scored 6 times.
AS Trencin are in free-fall having lost their last 5
matches, and 8 of their last 10. This came after a strong start where they lost
only one of their first 9 games, to Slovan, to be in third place. However, 21
year old midfielder and captain Jakub Kadak is the joint highest scorer in the
league with 9 goals
The bottom three are already mathematically assured of being in
the relegation group. Newly promoted FK Tatran Liptovsky Mikulas, who play in northern Slovakia, lost 6
of the opening 7 matches, with just a win over Zilina ( 2-1 ) to show for their
efforts. However, they have gradually stablised at this level, and further wins
came over Pohronie, Trencin and more impressively over Dunajska Streda. They
are now though 6 games without a win, although that does include 3 draws.
They have a respectable 4-1-4 home record, but their 0-3-7 away
form is holding them back. Captain Richard Bartos is their top scorer with 5
and right-back Adam Krcik has been ever present.
11th placed FC ViON Zlate Moravce took only one
point from their first 4 matches before recording their first win over
Pohronie. Another 8 games without a win
followed before a 2-1 win at Senica was achieved. Their third win came with
another victory over Pohronie, as they also finished the year with draws with
Ruzemberok and Spartak in their last 5 matches. However, they ended with a home
defeat to Zemplin Michalove ( 0-1 ). Right back Peter Cogley and Greek
midfielder Alexandros Kyziridias have appeared in every match.
FK Pohronie, from the town of Ziar nad Hronom, which is about 40km from Banska Bystrica, prop up the table. Former Manchester United
and Bolton midfielder James Weir was with the club last season but left in the summer to
join MTK Budapest. Pohronie have won only twice so far, with both being over
Zemplin Michalovce, although they also held Ruzemberok to a 2-2 home draw.
Their last 6 matches have yield only one point. Ex Dundee United and Neman
Grodno forward Milos Lacny has scored 6 goals.
Champions Slovan Bratislava
have had an extended campaign in Europe, although not as ultimately as
successful as they might have hoped.
After overcoming Shamrock Rovers 3-2 on aggregate they were eliminated
from the Champions Leagueafter a 2-3 defeat in Switzerland to Young Boys Berne.
Dropping down to the Europa League they overcame the huge banana skin of a tie
with Lincoln Red Imps with a 3-1 victory in Bratislava after a 1-1 draw in
Gibraltar, although Olympiakos were two strong in the next round, prevailing
2-5.
Dropping down to the Europa
Conference, Slovan again faced Lincoln Red Imps, but despite home and away
victories, two draws with PAOK Salonika, two losses to FC Copenhagen meant a third
place finish and elimination
Runners-up DAC Dunejska Streda
faced Partizan Belgrade in their Europa Conference tie and were eliminated 0-3
on aggregate
Third placed Spartak Trnava
enjoyed some success in Europe, narrowly over coming Mostar of Malta 4-3 on
aggregate, eliminating OSK Sepsi of Romanian after a penalty shoot-out after a
1-1 draw, before being edged out by Maccabi Tel Aviv 0-1 on aggregate.
After their disappointing elimination
from the 2020/21 Europa League by The New Saints, Zilina’s young squad
had a much more rewarding experience in 2021/22. Georgian’s Dila Gori were
eliminated 6-3, Cypriots Apollon Limassol 5-3 and Kazakhs Tobal 6-0 before an
emphatic exit at the hands of Czech side Jablonec 1-8 on aggregate.
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