Serbian SuperLiga

Serbian SuperLiga
Countries Serbia Serbia
Confederation UEFA
Founded 2006
Number of teams 16
Levels on pyramid 1
Relegation to Serbian First League
Domestic cup(s) Serbian Cup
International cup(s) Champions League
Europa League
Current champions Partizan
(2009–10)
Most championships Red Star (25)
TV partners RTS
Website www.superliga.rs
2010–11 season

Serbian SuperLiga (Serbian: Суперлига Србије, Superliga Srbije) is a Serbian professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Serbian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 16 clubs, operating a system of promotion and relegation with the Serbian First League (Prva liga Srbije, second Serbian football tier). The SuperLiga was formed during summer 2004 as the country's top football league competition in Serbia and Montenegro. Since summer 2006 after the secession of Montenegro from Serbia, the league only has Serbian clubs.

Serbian clubs used to compete in the Yugoslav First League. This competition was formed in 1923 and lasted until 2003. After the downfall of SFR Yugoslavia in 1991 a new Yugoslavia would be formed that would be named FR Yugoslavia with Montenegro and Serbia. They kept the name Yugoslavia until 2003 when the country changed its name to Serbia and Montenegro: this union lasted until 2006 when Montenegro gained independence and formed its own league, the Montenegrin First League.

The current SuperLiga champions are Partizan. UEFA currently ranks the league 25th in Europe.[1] The league was known as Meridian SuperLiga from Autumn 2004 until Summer 2008. The league's current official sponsor is beer maker Jelen pivo, thus resulting in the league's official name to be Jelen SuperLiga.

Contents

Format

The SuperLiga began as a league with a playoff system in an attempt to boost ratings and improve competition. After the first season however, the SuperLiga changed its format. The 2007-08 season was the first to be played in a more traditional format. The league no longer divided into a playoff and playout group midway through the campaign. Instead, the 12 teams began playing each other three times in a more conventional league format. After two seasons with that format the Football Association of Serbia decided to add 4 teams to the SuperLiga. The 2009-10 season will be the first with a 16 team league played in a conventional league format of one home and one away match rather than the previous 3 match encounters. This drops the match schedule from 33 rounds to 30.

The champion of the SuperLiga begins its UEFA Champions League campaign in the second round of qualifying as a seeded team. The second and third placed teams qualify for the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. The Serbian Cup winner qualifies for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. Since the UEFA Intertoto Cup is now abolished, the 4th placed team has a chance to qualify for the Europa League if both Cup finalists are already qualified for Europe through league position.

History

The SuperLiga was a part of the Yugoslav First League. In 1992 as the country fell apart Serbia and Montenegro remained united under the name Yugoslavia. In 2003, Yugoslavia was renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and the football league followed suit. Finally after Montenegrin independence from Serbia, in 2006, both nations now have two independent leagues.

Recent Seasons

Season Champions Runners up Third place Top scorer(s) Goals
2006–07 Red Star Partizan Vojvodina Srđan Baljak (Banat Zrenjanin) 18
2007–08 Partizan Red Star Vojvodina Nenad Jestrović (Red Star) 13
2008–09 Partizan (2) Vojvodina Red Star Lamine Diarra (Partizan) 19
2009–10 Partizan (3) Red Star OFK Beograd Dragan Mrđa (Vojvodina) 22

All-time table 2006-2011

Pos. Team S P W D L F A Pts
1 FK Partizan 5 128 91 22 15 236 83 295 3 1
2 FK Crvena Zvezda 5 128 84 27 17 232 98 279 1 2 1
3 FK Vojvodina 5 128 65 27 36 188 113 222 1 2
4 OFK Beograd 5 128 46 31 51 145 161 169 1
5 FK Borac Čačak 5 128 40 38 50 104 132 158
6 FK Hajduk Kula 5 128 38 37 53 105 135 151
7 FK Smederevo 4 95 30 23 42 89 114 113
8 FK Napredak Kruševac 3 96 28 24 44 83 114 108
9 FK Čukarički Stankom 4 96 28 23 45 86 117 107
10 FK Banat Zrenjanin 3 98 25 26 47 91 141 101
11 FK Javor Ivanjica 3 63 21 28 14 61 50 91
12 FK Jagodina 3 63 22 11 30 66 81 77
13 FK Rad 3 63 17 22 24 65 74 73
14 FK Bežanija 2 65 17 16 32 67 89 67
15 FK Spartak Zlatibor Voda 2 30 14 7 9 34 27 49
16 FK Mladost Apatin 1 32 11 8 13 25 33 41
17 FK Mladost Lučani 1 33 8 14 11 32 41 38
18 FK Voždovac 1 32 10 7 15 33 45 37
19 FK Metalac Gornji Milanovac 2 30 10 5 15 24 39 35
20 FK BSK Borča 2 30 9 6 15 27 37 33
21 FK Mladi Radnik 1 30 5 10 15 19 47 25
22 FK Zemun 1 32 1 4 27 22 64 7
23 FK Inđija 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
24 FK Sloboda Point Sevojno 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Top scorers

All-time top scorers in the SuperLiga
(SuperLiga goals only)
Rank Player Goals
1 Senegal Lamine Diarra 45
2 Serbia Dragan Mrđa 35
3 Serbia Nenad Milijaš 33
4 Serbia Andrija Kaluđerović 32
5 Serbia Dušan Tadić 29
6 Serbia Aleksandar Jevtić 26
7 Brazil Cléo 23
8 Serbia Nikola Simić 22
9 Serbia Ranko Despotović 21
10 Portugal Almami Moreira 19
As of 29 August 2010 (Bold denotes players still in SuperLiga).

(Italics denotes players still playing professional football).

Members for 2010–11

The following 16 clubs compete in the Jelen SuperLiga during the 2010–11 season.

Club
Finishing position
in 2009-10
First season in
top division
First season after
most recent promotion
Stadium
FK Borac Čačak 11th 1994/95 2002/03 Čačak Stadium
FK BSK Borča 12th 2009/10 2009/10 Borča Stadium
FK Čukarički Stankom 13th 1995/96 2007/08 Čukarički Stadium
FK Hajduk Kula 14th 1992/93 1996/97 Hajduk Stadium
FK Inđija 1st in Serbian First League 2010/11 Stadion FK Inđija
FK Jagodina 6th 2008/09 2008/09 FK Jagodina Stadium
FK Javor Ivanjica 7th 2002/03 2008/09 Ivanjica Stadium
FK Metalac Gornji Milanovac 9th 2009/10 2009/10 FK Metalac Stadium
FK Partizan 1st 1946/47 1946/47 Partizan Stadium
FK Rad 8th 1987/88 2008/09 King Peter I Stadium
FK Sloboda Point Sevojno 2nd in Serbian First League 2010/11 Stadion kraj Valjaonice
FK Smederevo 10th 1998/99 2009/10 Fortress Stadium
FK Spartak Zlatibor Voda 4th 1946/47 2009/10 Subotica City Stadium
FK Vojvodina 5th 1951 1987/88 Karađorđe Stadium
OFK Beograd 3rd 1927 1998/99 Omladinski Stadium
Red Star Belgrade 2nd 1946/47 1946/47 Red Star Stadium

Sponsorship

The SuperLiga currently has three major sponsors.

UEFA Ranking

UEFA Country Ranking for league participation in 2010–11 European football season (Previous year rank in italics)

Foreign players

See List of foreign football players in Serbia

See also

References

External links