This year we have decided to do something new and interesting and as such we would be starting off with a series of articles that will introduce you to Fortuna Liga, the premier football league in Slovakia, and give you an exclusive overview of this year’s participants. We will introduce you to the teams, look closer at their squads, highlight the respective strengths and weaknesses and recommend tactics that might help you in the management of the squads. And we want to say a big and warm Thank You to Mr. Arun Abraham Varghese, who helped us with the copy editing of the English text.

First we will introduce you to the league itself. Let’s get started with the 26th Fortuna Liga Season 2018/19.

Basic information

• The Current Champions: FC Spartak Trnava
• The Newcomer: ŠKF iClinic Sereď
• UEFA League Coefficient Ranking Position: 31st position
• The most successful clubs of the last three decades (since the inception of the League in 1993): ŠK Slovan Bratislava (8 League Championships, 8 FA Cups); MŠK Žilina (7 League Championships, 1 FA Cup)
• Biggest Derby / Rivalry: ŠK Slovan Bratislava vs. FC Spartak Trnava (The ‘Traditional Derby’)

Clubs

Logo	Name	Stadium	Capacity
	FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda	MOL Aréna	10,527
	MŠK Žilina	Štadióna MŠK Žilina	11,258
	ŠK Slovan Bratislava	Štadión Pasienky (temporary)	11,907
	FC Spartak Trnava	Štadión Antona Malatinského	19,200
	AS Trenčín	Štadión Spartaka Myjava (temporary)	2,709
	MFK Ružomberok	Štadión MFK Ružomberok	4,876
	FC Nitra	Štadión pod Zoborom	7,480
	FO ŽP Šport Podbrezová	ZELPO Aréna	4,000
	FC ViOn Zlaté Moravce	Štadión FC ViOn	3,787
	FK Senica	Štadión FK Senica	4,500
	MFK Zemplín Michalovce	Mestský štadión Michalovce	4,440
	ŠKF iClinic Sereď	Štadión Spartaka Myjava (temporary) or Štadión pod Zoborom (temporary)	2,709 / 7,480

Structure of the league

The league consists of two distinct stages, comprising of a regular season of 22 matches, where the 12 teams play each other twice, followed by a playoff round where the top 6 teams of the first stage are drawn together into a Title or Championship Group, while the remaining 6 teams make up the Retention or Relegation Group. The team that finishes first in the Title Group are crowned champions, with they winning the Trophy, literally called “The Essence of the Game”. The team also qualifies for the UEFA Champions League Qualifying Phase of the coming season. The teams that finish second and third qualify for the UEFA Europa League Qualifying Phase of the coming season, where they are joined by the winners of the FA cup. In case the FA cup is won by one of the top three teams that have already qualified for Europe, then the third Europa League spot will go to the winner of a playoff between the fourth, fifth and sixth placed teams of the Title Group and the team that finishes first in the Retention Group.

The team that finishes last in the Retention Group will automatically be relegated while the team that finishes in the second last position would have to win a two-legged playoff against the team that finishes runners-up in the Slovak Second League, in order to retain their league status. The winners of the Slovak Second League will gain automatic promotion to the First League, where they would occupy the position of the relegated team.

TOP 10 league players

Club	Pic	Age	Name	Position
		23	Jaroslav Mihalik	AM RL
		25	Michal Skvarka	AM C
		24	Andraz Sporar	ST C
		27	Ibrahim Rabiu	DM/M/AM C
		24	Moha	AM L
		24	Aleksandar Cavric	AM R/ST C
		29	Erik Pačinda	AM RL
		19	Christian Herc	M/AM C
		22	Jiři Kulhánek	DM/M C
		22	Aschraf El Mahdioui	DM/M C

TOP 10 league players with highest potential

Club	Pic	Age	Name	Position
		20	Martin Šulek	D R
		21	Hamza Catakovic	AM C
		19	Erhan Masovic	D C/DM
		21	Dominik Kruzliak	D C
		19	Zinedin Mustedanagic	AM C
		20	Erik Jirka	AM R
		22	Miroslav Kacer	M RC
		21	Dominik Greif	GK
		19	Christian Herc	M/AM C
		20	Denis Baumgartner	M/AM C