Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Country	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	2000
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	First League of FBiH First League of RS
Domestic cup(s)	Bosnian Cup
International cup(s)	Champions League Europa League
Current champions	Zrinjski (4) (2015–16)
TV partners	BHRT (BHT 1) Arena Sport Moja TV
Website	http://www.nfsbih.ba
2016–17 season

The BH Telecom Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnian: BH Telecom Premijer liga Bosne i Hercegovine / BH Telecom Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине) also known as Liga 12 is the top football league in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the country's most prestigious level of football competition currently contested by 12 clubs with last two teams relegated at the end of every season.

The League is, as of season 2012–13, represented by four clubs in European competition. The winner of the Premier League starts from the Champions League second qualifying round. The winner of the Football Cup of Bosnia and Herzegovina starts from the second qualifying round of Europa League, while the runner up and the third placed team start their journey from the first qualifying round of Europa League.

At the end of the season last two teams are relegated, and winners of First League of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Republika Srpska are promoted to Premier League.

The league is operated by the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1998 and 2000, the champion was decided after a play-off between Bosniak and Bosnian Croat clubs. In 2000, a national league started for the first time, with Serbian clubs refusing to take part in the first two league seasons, eventually joining in 2002.

On 31 July 2012, the Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina signed a two-year deal with BH Telecom regarding the sponsorship of the league, effectively renaming the league BH Telecom Premier League.^[1] The deal was extended once more before the start of 2014–15 season.

2016-17 Member Clubs

NK Čelik

FK Sloboda

FK Mladostj

FK Olimpic

FK Radnik

FK Sarajevo

NK Široki Brijeg

NK Vitez

HŠK Zrinjski

FK Željezničar

FK Krupa

NK Metalleghe-BSI

Location of the 2015–16 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina clubs

Rankings

Source: Bert Kassies' website (country rankings; team rankings)

Country UEFA Country Ranking as of mid-season of 2015–16 season. Mid-season Ranking Begin of Season Ranking Movement League Coefficient 35 36 Iceland 8.750 36 34 Georgia 8.125 37 35 Finland 7.400 38 37 Bosnia and Herzegovina 7.125 39 42 Albania 6.625 40 39 Macedonia 6.000 41 40 Ireland 5.450

Team As of 9 December 2015 Rank Team Points 221 Sarajevo 6.425 236 Željezničar 05.925 315 Široki Brijeg 03.675 335 Zrinjski 03.175 358 Borac 02.679 409 Olimpic 01.675

Bosnia and Herzegovina Champions

Champions of First League of Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina

• 1994–95 - Čelik - "Champion of BiH"
• 1995–96 - Čelik - "Champion of BiH"
• 1996–97 - Čelik - "Champion of BiH"
• 1997–98 - Bosna Visoko - "Champion of First League of Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina"
• 1998–99 - FK Sarajevo - "Champion of BiH"
• 1999–00 - Jedinstvo Bihać - "Champion of First League of Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina"

Champions of First League of Herzeg-Bosnia^[3]

• 1993–94 - Široki Brijeg – Mario Prskalo (10 goals, Široki Brijeg)
• 1994–95 - Široki Brijeg – Anđelko Marušić (15, Široki Brijeg)
• 1995–96 - Široki Brijeg – Mario Marušić (15, Grude), Dejan Džepina (15, Novi Travnik)
• 1996–97 - Široki Brijeg – Anđelko Marušić (21, Široki Brijeg)
• 1997–98 - Široki Brijeg – Stanko Bubalo (31, Široki Brijeg)
• 1998–99 - Posušje – Slađan Filipović (19, Široki Brijeg)
• 1999–00 - Posušje – Robert Ristovski (18, Kiseljak)

Champions of First League of the Republika Srpska

Season	Champion	Runners Up	Top Goalscorer	Club	Goals
1995–96	Boksit Milići	Rudar Prijedor	Siniša Đurić Zoran Majstorović	Kozara Gradiška Boksit Milići	16 Goals 16 Goals
1996–97	Rudar Ugljevik	Sloga Trn	Mladen Zgonjanin Marić	Sloga Trn Glasinac Sokolac	14 Goals 14 Goals
1997–98	Rudar Ugljevik	Borac Banja Luka	Nikola Bala	Rudar Ugljevik	31 Goals
1998–99	Radnik Bijeljina	Rudar Ugljevik	Mladen Zgonjanin	Sloga Trn	23 Goals
1999–00	Boksit Milići	Rudar Ugljevik	Nedo Zdjelar	Sloboda Novi Grad	29 Goals
2000–01	Borac Banja Luka	Sloboda Novi Grad	Milanko Đerić	Boksit Milići	26 Goals
2001–02	Leotar Trebinje	Kozara Gradiška	Pavle Delibašić Siniša Jovanović	Leotar Trebinje Glasinac Sokolac	21 Goals 21 Goals

Champions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Listing seasons (aside of 1998–99 season) before the creation of Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina where the champion was decided via a play-off played between best placed clubs who played in First League of Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia (without clubs from First League of the Republika Srpska).

¹ A play-off between the best placed teams of First League of Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia was played; without clubs from Republika Srpska. The best two clubs got the right to play in 1998–99 UEFA Cup.
² Play-off was scheduled but was later canceled because of stadium issues. Three different leagues played, no play-off contested, therefor no club got the right to play in European competition.
³ A play-off between the best placed teams of First League of Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia was played without clubs from Republika Srpska. Three clubs got the right to play in European competition.

Premier League Champions

Listing seasons from when the league was officially named Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Season	Champions (Premier League titles)	Runners-up	Third place	Top scorer(s)
				Player(s) (Club)	Goals
2000–011	Željezničar (1)	Brotnjo	Sarajevo	Dželaludin Muharemović (Željezničar)	31
2001–021	Željezničar (2)	Široki Brijeg	Brotnjo	Ivica Huljev (Željezničar)	15
2002–03	Leotar (1)	Željezničar	Sarajevo	Emir Obuća (Sarajevo)	24
2003–04	Široki Brijeg (1)	Željezničar	Sarajevo	Alen Škoro (Sarajevo)	20
2004–05	Zrinjski (1)	Željezničar	Široki Brijeg	Zoran Rajović (Zrinjski)	17
2005–06	Široki Brijeg (2)	Sarajevo	Zrinjski	Petar Jelić (Modriča)	19
2006–07	Sarajevo (1)	Zrinjski	Slavija	Stevo Nikolić (Modriča) Dragan Benić (Borac)	19
2007–08	Modriča (1)	Široki Brijeg	Čelik Zenica	Darko Spalević (Slavija)	18
2008–09	Zrinjski (2)	Slavija	Sloboda Tuzla	Darko Spalević (Slavija)	17
2009–10	Željezničar (3)	Široki Brijeg	Borac	Feđa Dudić (Travnik)	16
2010–11	Borac (1)	Sarajevo	Željezničar	Ivan Lendrić (Zrinjski)	16
2011–12	Željezničar (4)	Široki Brijeg	Borac	Eldin Adilović (Željezničar)	19
2012–13	Željezničar (5)	Sarajevo	Borac	Emir Hadžić (Sarajevo)	20
2013–14	Zrinjski (3)	Široki Brijeg	Sarajevo	Wagner Lago (Široki Brijeg)	18
2014–15	Sarajevo (2)	Željezničar	Zrinjski	Riad Bajić (Željezničar)	15
2015–16	Zrinjski (4)	Sloboda Tuzla	Široki Brijeg	Leon Benko (Sarajevo)	17

¹ Played without clubs from Republika Srpska entity of BiH which only joined the league since 2002.

Times finished in first three

Counting since when the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina is played on the whole territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, season 2002–03.

¹ Željezničar Sarajevo won further 3 titles prior season 2002–03, which was played without clubs from Republika Srpska entity of BiH.

Cities

The following table lists the champions by cities; Counting since when the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina is played on the whole territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, season 2002–03.

¹ Željezničar Sarajevo won further 3 titles prior season 2002–03, which was played without clubs from Republika Srpska entity of BiH.

Notable Performances in Europe

In the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League season 2002–03, Željezničar gained the greatest success in Bosnian post-war club-football so far, going all the way to the last qualifying round for the most important club competition in Europe. After big wins over ÍA Akraness and Lillestrøm, however they were held by Newcastle United. In the first match, held in Sarajevo, Newcastle won 0–1 with English team defeating Željezničar 4–0 in England.

The second time a Bosnian club moved into the last qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League was FK Sarajevo in 2007–08, when they lost to Dynamo Kyiv 0–4 on aggregate, after going over Maltese Marsaxlokk and Belgian side Genk.

Another remarkable season for Bosnian clubs in Europe was 2009–10. The most memorable performances were marked by FK Sarajevo and Slavija. While Slavija surprisingly beat Aalborg in the Second Qualifying round but couldn't overcome MFK Košice in the third round, FK Sarajevo was able to reach the Play-offs for the Group Stage of the newly formed UEFA Europa League after beating Spartak Trnava and Helsingborg. However, they lost there unhappily 3–2 on aggregate to CFR Cluj. FK Sarajevo made it again in 2014–15 UEFA Europa League playing all the way to the play-off round where they lost from Borussia Mönchengladbach.

All time table of Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Counting only since 2002–03 season, the season the league became a unified country-wide league.
As of the end of 2015–16 season.

Ssn = Number of seasons; Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference; Pts = Points;HF = Highest finish

¹ In the 2004–05 season, Borac Banja Luka was deducted 1 point (Slavija was awarded 3–0 vs Borac Banja Luka in week 11).
² In the 2006–07 season, Zrinjski was deducted 1 point (Orašje was awarded 3–0 vs Zrinjski).

See also

• Bosnian Cup

References

External links

Football in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina
National teams	Men: Bosnia and Herzegovina U-21 U-19 U-17 Women: Bosnia and Herzegovina U-19 U-17
League system	Men: Premier League First League FBiH RS Second League FBiH RS Women: Bosnia and Herzegovina women's football championship
Domestic cups	Men: National Cup Super Cup (discontinued) Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Cup Republika Srpska Cup Women: Bosnia and Herzegovina Women's Football Cup
List of clubs List of stadiums List of supporters' associations