# 2022–23 Slovak First Football League

The 2022–23 Slovak First Football League (known as Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons) was the 30th season of the 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. The last full round was 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.
Four-time defending champion Slovan Bratislava successfully defended their title, securing a record-extending fifth consecutive and 13th overall 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 (promoted after seven years of absence) and Skalica (promoted to the top flight for the second time) were also promoted, and they will replace Senica and Sereď – two teams that did not obtain a licence for the 2022–23 season.
| Promoted from 2. Liga | Relegated from Fortuna liga |
| Podbrezová Dukla Banská Bystrica Skalica | Pohronie Sereď Senica |

### 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 |
| Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš | Marek Petruš | Signed with Tatran Prešov | 27 May 2022 | Pre-season | Jozef Kostelník | 27 May 2022 |
| DAC Dunajská Streda | João Janeiro | End of contract | 31 May 2022 | Pre-season | Adrián Guľa | 15 June 2022 |
| Žilina | Ivan Belák | End of interim spell | 31 May 2022 | Pre-season | Jaroslav Hynek | 31 May 2022 |
| Skalica | Jozef Kostelník | Signed with Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš | 1 June 2022 | Pre-season | Juraj Jarábek | 1 June 2022 |
| Trenčín | Juraj Ančic | End of contract | 7 June 2022 | Pre-season | Peter Hyballa | 12 June 2022 |
| Dukla Banská Bystrica | Stanislav Varga | End of contract | 1 July 2022 | Pre-season | Michal Ščasný | 3 July 2022 |
| Trenčín | Peter Hyballa | Released | 27 July 2022 | 12 | Marián Zimen | 27 July 2022 |
| Zlaté Moravce | Ján Kocian | End by own request | 4 October 2022 | 11 | Ivan Galád | 6 October 2022 |
| Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš | Jozef Kostelník | Released | 14 November 2022 | 12 | Marek Fabuľa | 22 November 2022 |
| Skalica | Juraj Jarábek | Released | 16 December 2022 | 11 | Pavol Majerník | 22 December 2022 |
| Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš | Marek Fabuľa | Released | 28 February 2023 | 12 | Ondrej Desiatnik | 10 March 2023 |
| Trenčín | Marián Zimen | Released | 27 March 2023 | 10 | František Straka | 27 March 2023 |
| Michalovce | Norbert Hrnčár | Released | 16 May 2023 | 10 | Vladimír Rusnák (interim) | 16 May 2023 |

## Regular stage
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | DAC Dunajská Streda | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 39 | 17 | +22 | 48 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 2 | Slovan Bratislava | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 47 | 23 | +24 | 47 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 3 | Spartak Trnava | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 39 | 26 | +13 | 40 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 4 | Podbrezová | 22 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 32 | 24 | +8 | 35 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 5 | Žilina | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 34 | 33 | +1 | 31 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 6 | Dukla Banská Bystrica | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 34 | 37 | −3 | 31 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 7 | Ružomberok | 22 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 24 | 22 | +2 | 30 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 8 | Zemplín Michalovce | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 22 | 34 | −12 | 23 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 9 | Zlaté Moravce | 22 | 4 | 11 | 7 | 28 | 35 | −7 | 23 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 10 | Trenčín | 22 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 20 | 33 | −13 | 22 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 11 | Skalica | 22 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 19 | 31 | −12 | 19 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 12 | Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš | 22 | 1 | 6 | 15 | 17 | 40 | −23 | 9 | Qualification for the relegation group |

### 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 | POD | RUŽ | SKA | SLO | TRN | TLM | TRE | ZMI | ZLM | ŽIL |
| DAC Dunajská Streda | | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 5–2 |
| Dukla Banská Bystrica | 1–3 | | 0–2 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 4–2 | 2–1 |
| Podbrezová | 0–0 | 3–1 | | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 |
| Ružomberok | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 |
| Skalica | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | | 1–4 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| Slovan Bratislava | 1–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | | 4–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 3–1 |
| Spartak Trnava | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 |
| Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–5 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–5 | 1–2 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 |
| Trenčín | 0–4 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Zemplín Michalovce | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 2–0 | | 0–0 | 3–2 |
| Zlaté Moravce | 2–2 | 4–4 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | | 4–0 |
| Žilina | 1–1 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | |

## Championship group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | SLO | DAC | TRN | POD | DUK | ŽIL |
| 1 | Slovan Bratislava (C) | 32 | 21 | 6 | 5 | 65 | 32 | +33 | 69 | Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 0–1 |
| 2 | DAC Dunajská Streda | 32 | 20 | 7 | 5 | 54 | 29 | +25 | 67 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League first qualifying round | 2–3 | — | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Spartak Trnava | 32 | 15 | 7 | 10 | 55 | 38 | +17 | 52 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round | 0–0 | 1–1 | — | 6–1 | 0–1 | 4–2 |
| 4 | Podbrezová | 32 | 13 | 8 | 11 | 44 | 44 | 0 | 47 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–3 | — | 1–2 | 3–2 |
| 5 | Dukla Banská Bystrica | 32 | 13 | 5 | 14 | 50 | 56 | −6 | 44 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 3–1 | — | 1–1 |
| 6 | Žilina (O) | 32 | 11 | 6 | 15 | 49 | 53 | −4 | 39 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs | 2–4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 6–4 | — |
* ↑ Spartak Trnava qualified for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round by winning the 2022–23 Slovak Cup.

## Relegation group

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | RUŽ | SKA | TRE | ZMI | ZLM | TLM |
| 1 | Ružomberok | 32 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 43 | 31 | +12 | 47 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League play-offs | — | 1–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| 2 | Skalica | 32 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 38 | 38 | 0 | 40 | | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 4–0 |
| 3 | Trenčín | 32 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 35 | 52 | −17 | 36 | | 0–3 | 1–3 | — | 3–3 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| 4 | Zemplín Michalovce | 32 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 39 | 50 | −11 | 36 | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–2 | — | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| 5 | Zlaté Moravce (O) | 32 | 6 | 13 | 13 | 35 | 49 | −14 | 31 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 2–5 | — | 0–1 |
| 6 | Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš (R) | 32 | 3 | 9 | 20 | 24 | 59 | −35 | 18 | Relegation to the 2. Liga | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | — |

## 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.
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 5 | Dukla Banská Bystrica | 1 | | | |
| 6 | Žilina | 3 | | | |
| 6 | Žilina | 3 | 6 | Žilina | 3 |
| | | | 7 | Ružomberok | 1 |
| 4 | Podbrezová | 0 | 7 | Ružomberok | 1 |
| 7 | Ružomberok | 3 | | | |

### 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 leg
2nd leg
Zlaté Moravce won 3–1 on aggregate.

## Season statistics
### Top goalscorers

    As of 20 May 2023
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Nikola Krstović | DAC Dunajská Streda | 18 |
| 2 | Aleksandar Čavrić | Slovan Bratislava | 15 |
| 2 | Róbert Polievka | Dukla Banská Bystrica | 15 |
| 4 | Abdulrahman Taiwo | Spartak Trnava | 14 |
| 5 | Andrej Fábry | Skalica | 11 |
| 6 | David Depetris$^1$ | Dukla Banská Bystrica | 9 |
| 6 | Vladimír Weiss Jr. | Slovan Bratislava | 9 |
| 6 | Moses Cobnan | Podbrezová | 9 |
| 6 | Adrián Kaprálik$^1$ | Žilina | 9 |
| 10 | Zsolt Kalmár | DAC Dunajská Streda | 8 |
| 10 | Timotej Jambor | Žilina | 8 |
| 10 | Štefan Gerec$^1$ | Ružomberok | 8 |
| 10 | Dávid Ďuriš | Žilina | 8 |
$^1$ plus 1 play-off goal

#### Hat-tricks

| Round | Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| 17 | Adrián Kaprálik$^4$ | MŠK Žilina | Slovan Bratislava | 4–1 (H) | 6 November 2022 |
| 1.CH | Nikola Krstović | DAC Dunajská Streda | Dukla Banská Bystrica | 2–3 (A) | 12 March 2023 |
| 10.CH | Abdulrahman Taiwo | Spartak Trnava | MŠK Žilina | 4–2 (H) | 20 May 2023 |

##### Note

$^4$ Player scored 4 goals

### Clean sheets

    As of 20 May 2023
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Samuel Petráš | DAC Dunajská Streda | 10 |
| 2 | Martin Junas | Skalica | 9 |
| 3 | Patrik Lukáč | Zlaté Moravce | 8 |
| 3 | Richard Ludha | Podbrezová | 8 |
| 3 | Benjamín Száraz | Zemplín Michalovce | 8 |
| 6 | Ľubomír Belko | Žilina | 7 |
| 6 | Dominik Takáč | Spartak Trnava | 7 |
| 8 | Matúš Hruška | Dukla Banská Bystrica | 6 |
| 8 | Adrián Chovan | Slovan Bratislava | 6 |
| 10 | Michal Kukučka | Trenčín | 5 |
| 10 | Ivan Krajčírik | Ružomberok | 5 |
| 10 | Martin Trnovský | Slovan Bratislava | 5 |

### Discipline

    As of 20 May 2023

#### Player

* Most yellow cards: 10
** Lazar Stojsavljević (Trenčín)
* Most red cards: 2
** Chinonso Emeka (Trenčín)
** Erik Grendel (Podbrezová)
** Kelvin Pires (Trenčín)

#### Club

* Most yellow cards: 82
** Zlaté Moravce
* Most red cards: 8
** Trenčín
* Fewest yellow cards: 46
** Slovan Bratislava
* Fewest red cards: 0
** Zlaté Moravce

## Awards
### Monthly awards

| Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month | Goal of the Month | Goal of the Month | References |
| Month | Player | Club | Player | Club | References |
| July | Nikola Krstović | DAC Dunajská Streda | Nikola Krstović | DAC Dunajská Streda | |
| August | Róbert Polievka | Dukla Banská Bystrica | Adam Kopas | Žilina | |
| September | Dávid Ďuriš | Žilina | Dávid Ďuriš | Žilina | |
| October | Nikola Krstović | DAC Dunajská Streda | Rastislav Václavík | Tatran Liptovský Mikuláš | |
| November | Aleksandar Čavrić | Slovan Bratislava | Azeez Oseni | Spartak Trnava | |
| February | Róbert Polievka | Dukla Banská Bystrica | Róbert Polievka | Dukla Banská Bystrica | |
| March | Nikola Krstović | DAC Dunajská Streda | Regő Szánthó | DAC Dunajská Streda | |
| April | Aleksandar Čavrić | Slovan Bratislava | Vladimír Weiss Jr. | Slovan Bratislava | |
| May | | | Adam Kopas | Žilina | |

### Annual awards
#### Team of the Season

Team of the Season was:
* 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)