Slovenian First League (men's handball)
 | |
| Founded | 1991 |
|---|---|
| First season | 1991 |
| No. of teams | 14 |
| Country |  Slovenia |
| Confederation | EHF |
| Most recent champion(s) | Celje (2019–20) |
| Most titles | Celje (24 titles) |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Slovenian Second League |
| International cup(s) | Champions League EHF Cup |
| Official website | Official website |
 2019–20 season | |
The Slovenian Handball First League (Template:Lang-sl), currently named Liga NLB due to sponsorship reasons, is the top team handball league in Slovenia. It is organized by the Handball Federation of Slovenia (Rokometna Zveza Slovenije). The league comprises twelve teams.
History
The Handball Federation of Slovenia was formed on 11 December 1949 under the former Handball federation of Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia, the Slovenian clubs played in the Yugoslavian Handball Championship in I. and II. league, the interrepublic and the republic leagues. Slovan, Celje and Rudar Trbovlje were the only Slovenian teams that played in the Yugoslav First League. In the 1991–92 season, just after the Slovenian independence, the Handball Federarion of Slovenia was accepted to the European Handball Federation and the International Handball Federation and the first season in Europe for the Slovenian teams was played in the 1992–93 season.
Names
Since 1991, the league has been named after sponsors on several occasions, giving it the following names:
- 1. SRL (1991–2002)
- Liga Siol (2002–2004)
- Liga Telekom (2004–2006)
- MIK 1. Liga (2006–2010)
- 1. NLB Leasing liga (2011–2016)
- Liga NLB (2017–present)
Format
The league is conducted in two phases. In the first phase, 10 teams compete in a home-and-away round-robin series (18 games total) with the country's representative in the SEHA League, currently Celje and Gorenje, being exempt from this stage. All teams advance from the regular season to one of two postseason stages, depending on their league position. The top four teams from the regular season are joined by the SEHA League representatives in the second phase. These two teams start the second phase with the same number of points as the regular season winner. Each team plays a total of 10 games in this phase; as in the regular season, a home-and-away round-robin is used. The bottom six teams play a home-and-away round-robin series with one another; these teams' results from the regular season carry over to the second phase. At the end of the season, the bottom two finishers are automatically relegated to the second level of the Slovenian league system, the 1. B DRL.
Clubs
As of the 2020–21 season
- Celje
- Dobova
- Gorenje Velenje
- Izola
- Jeruzalem Ormož
- Koper 2013
- Krka
- Ljubljana
- Loka
- Maribor Branik
- Ribnica
- Slovan
- Slovenj Gradec 2011
- Trimo Trebnje
List of seasons
| Season | Champions | Runners-up | Third placed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–92 | Celje | Slovan | Jadran |
| 1992–93 | Celje | Jadran | Prevent |
| 1993–94 | Celje | Gorenje | Jadran |
| 1994–95 | Celje | Jadran | Gorenje |
| 1995–96 | Celje | Gorenje | Dobova |
| 1996–97 | Celje | Prevent | Prule 67 |
| 1997–98 | Celje | Prevent | Trimo Trebnje |
| 1998–99 | Celje | Prevent | Trimo Trebnje |
| 1999–2000 | Celje | Prule 67 | Trimo Trebnje |
| 2000–01 | Celje | Prule 67 | Prevent |
| 2001–02 | Prule 67 | Celje | Gorenje |
| 2002–03 | Celje | Prule 67 | Gorenje |
| 2003–04 | Celje | Gorenje | Prevent |
| 2004–05 | Celje | Gorenje | Ormož |
| 2005–06 | Celje | Gold Club | Gorenje |
| 2006–07 | Celje | Gorenje | Koper |
| 2007–08 | Celje | Koper | Gorenje |
| 2008–09 | Gorenje | Koper | Trimo Trebnje |
| 2009–10 | Celje | Gorenje | Koper |
| 2010–11 | Koper | Gorenje | Celje |
| 2011–12 | Gorenje | Celje | Koper |
| 2012–13 | Gorenje | Celje | Koper |
| 2013–14 | Celje | Gorenje | Maribor Branik |
| 2014–15 | Celje | Gorenje | Maribor Branik |
| 2015–16 | Celje | Gorenje | Ribnica |
| 2016–17 | Celje | Gorenje | Ribnica |
| 2017–18 | Celje | Ribnica | Gorenje |
| 2018–19 | Celje | Gorenje | Ribnica |
| 2019–20 | Celje | Ribnica | Trimo Trebnje |
| Club | Titles | Years Won |
|---|---|---|
| Celje | 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 | |
| Gorenje | 2009, 2012, 2013 | |
| Koper | 2011 | |
| Prule 67 | 2002 |
EHF coefficient
The table shows the position of Slovenian League, based on its EHF coefficient ranking.
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
- Country ranking
EHF league ranking for the 2019–20 season[1]
- 10.
(8) 
Croatian Handball Premier League (32.00) - 11.
(11) 
Liga Națională (30.44) - 12. (10)
Liga NLB (29.33) - 13.
(14) 
Ukrainian Men's Handball Super League (26.11) - 14. (15)
Handbollsligan (25.56)
References
- ^ "2019/20 season ranking" (PDF). European Handball Federation. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
External links
- Handball Federation of Slovenia (in Slovene)