2016–17 Macedonian First Football League

The 2016–17 Macedonian First League was the 25th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. The fixtures were announced on 25 July 2016.[1] It began on 7 August 2016 and ended on 31 May 2017 with a winter break which began on 4 December 2016 and ended on 19 February 2017. From that season the format was changed which will each team be played the other sides four times on home-away basis, for a total of 36 matches each instead of play-off and play-out after 27th round.[2]

Macedonian First League

Season	2016–17
Dates	7 August 2016 – 31 May 2017
Champions	Vardar 10th Macedonian title 11th domestic title
Relegated	Bregalnica Makedonija GP
Champions League	Vardar
Europa League	Shkëndija Rabotnichki Pelister
Matches played	180
Goals scored	457 (2.54 per match)
Top goalscorer	Besart Ibraimi (20 goals)
Biggest home win	Vardar 6–0 Makedonija GP (7 May 2017)
Biggest away win	Makedonija GP 0–5 Vardar (18 March 2017)
Highest scoring	Renova 4–4 Shkëndija (28 May 2017) Makedonija GP 5–3 Bregalnica (28 May 2017) Bregalnica 6–2 Rabotnichki (31 May 2017)
Longest winning run	7 games Vardar
Longest unbeaten run	14 games Vardar
Longest winless run	17 games Bregalnica
Longest losing run	6 games Makedonija GP
← 2015–16 2017–18 →

The league will be contested by 10 teams. Vardar are the defending champions, having won their ninth title in 2015–16.

Promotion and relegation

At the start of the 2016–17 season Promoted from 2015–16 Second League Pobeda (Winners) Makedonija GP (Runners-up) Pelister (Third placed; won play-off) Relegated to 2016–17 Second League Horizont Turnovo (8th; lost play-off) Metalurg Skopje (9th) Mladost Carev Dvor (10th)^1

At the end of the 2016–17 season Promoted from 2016–17 Second League Akademija Pandev (Winners) Skopje (Runners-up) Relegated to 2017–18 Second League Bregalnica Shtip (9th) Makedonija GP (10th)

¹ Mladost Carev Dvor was declined their participation from the Second League due to financial problems.[2]

Participating teams

Skopje

Bregalnica

Pobeda

Pelister

Renova

Shkëndija

Sileks

Skopje clubs:

Makedonija
Rabotnichki
Shkupi
Vardar

Location of teams in the 2016–17 Macedonian First League

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity
Bregalnica	Shtip	Gradski stadion Shtip	4,000
Makedonija GP	Skopje	Stadion Gjorche Petrov	3,000
Pelister	Bitola	Stadion Tumbe Kafe	8,000
Pobeda	Prilep	Stadion Goce Delchev	15,000
Rabotnichki	Skopje	Philip II Arena	33,460
Renova	Djepchishte	City Stadium Tetovo	15,000
Shkëndija	Tetovo	City Stadium Tetovo	15,000
Shkupi	Skopje	Chair Stadium	6,000
Sileks	Kratovo	Stadion Sileks	1,800
Vardar	Skopje	Philip II Arena	33,460

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
Bregalnica	Nikola Kuzmanov	Goran Zdravkov	Sportika	Gogov Hotel
Makedonija GP	Bobi Stojkoski	Kristijan Stojkoski	Adidas	Livinn
Pobeda	Zoran Shterjovski	Blagoja Gesoski	Jako	Krali Marko/Vitaminka
Pelister	Naci Şensoy	Goran Pashovski	Givova	ZK Pelagonija
Rabotnichki	Viktor Trenevski	Dushko Trajchevski	Zeus
Renova	Qatip Osmani	Fisnik Nuhi	Jako	Renova
Shkëndija	Erhan Salimi (interim)	Ferhan Hasani	Macron	Ecolog
Shkupi	Ardijan Nuhiji	Suat Zendeli	Nike	S&P
Sileks	Zhikica Tasevski	Marjan Mickov	Legea
Vardar	Goce Sedloski	Boban Grncharov	Hummel	Zdravje

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Vardar (C)	36	25	8	3	75	24	+51	83	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round
2	Shkëndija	36	20	10	6	71	39	+32	70	Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round[lower-alpha 1]
3	Rabotnichki	36	14	12	10	49	41	+8	54
4	Pelister	36	14	10	12	44	35	+9	52
5	Renova	36	13	13	10	42	37	+5	52
6	Sileks	36	11	14	11	41	43	−2	47
7	Pobeda	36	10	11	15	34	50	−16	41
8	Shkupi (O)	36	8	13	15	27	39	−12	37	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
9	Bregalnica Shtip (R)	36	4	12	20	39	69	−30	24	Relegation to the Macedonian Second League
10	Makedonija GP (R)	36	4	11	21	35	80	−45	23

Source: MacedonianFootball.com, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Draw; 9) Play-off. (Note: Criteria 2, 3 and 8 is only used if not deciding Champion, teams for UEFA competitions or relegation).[3]
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

1. Pelister qualified for the Europa League first qualifying round by winning the 2016–17 Macedonian Football Cup.

Results

Each team plays home-and-away against every other team in the league twice, for a total of 36 matches each.

Matches 1–18 Home \ Away BRE MGP PEL POB RAB REN SKË SKU SIL VAR Bregalnica Shtip — 1–2 0–0 2–3 0–0 1–1 1–1 1–0 0–2 0–1 Makedonija GP 2–2 — 2–2 1–1 0–4 3–1 0–4 0–1 1–1 0–4 Pelister 3–0 1–0 — 2–0 3–0 1–0 1–2 2–0 0–0 0–1 Pobeda 0–0 0–0 0–2 — 2–1 0–2 1–2 2–1 1–1 0–1 Rabotnichki 1–1 2–1 0–1 3–1 — 1–0 1–3 3–1 3–1 3–0 Renova 1–0 1–0 2–0 1–1 1–1 — 1–2 1–0 2–2 0–0 Shkëndija 5–2 3–0 1–0 3–1 2–2 1–1 — 0–1 2–1 0–2 Shkupi 1–1 0–2 2–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 — 1–1 0–0 Sileks 1–0 1–1 0–0 2–1 2–1 0–0 1–3 1–0 — 1–3 Vardar 5–1 4–1 1–1 2–1 1–0 1–0 3–0 1–1 1–1 — Source: MacedonianFootball.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Matches 19–36 Home \ Away BRE MGP PEL POB RAB REN SKË SKU SIL VAR Bregalnica Shtip — 1–0 1–1 1–2 6–2 0–1 1–3 3–0 3–3 3–3 Makedonija GP 5–3 — 1–2 0–0 0–3 1–3 2–3 0–0 0–1 0–5 Pelister 2–1 3–1 — 1–0 0–1 3–0 0–1 1–0 0–0 2–3 Pobeda 0–0 4–2 2–2 — 0–0 0–3 1–0 1–1 1–0 2–1 Rabotnichki 3–1 1–1 1–1 0–3 — 0–0 1–0 0–1 2–0 2–2 Renova 4–0 2–2 2–1 1–0 1–1 — 4–4 2–1 1–0 0–1 Shkëndija 3–0 5–1 3–1 4–0 2–2 1–1 — 0–0 2–0 3–1 Shkupi 3–0 1–1 1–0 1–2 1–1 3–2 1–1 — 3–1 0–2 Sileks 3–2 4–2 3–3 2–0 0–2 3–0 1–1 1–0 — 0–1 Vardar 2–0 6–0 3–1 4–0 2–0 2–0 3–1 3–0 0–0 — Source: MacedonianFootball.com Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Relegation play-offs

First Leg

4 June 2017 (2017-06-04)

17:00 CEST

Shkupi	4–1	Novaci
Adem  12' Grozdanoski  16' (o.g.) Mbella  31' Arif  74'	Report	Naumoski  70'

Gradski stadion, Shtip

Attendance: 200

Referee: Aleksandar Stavrev (Skopje)

Second Leg

7 June 2017 (2017-06-07)

17:00 CEST

Novaci	1–3	Shkupi
Naumoski  63'	Report	Ismaili  28' Adem  50' Mamuti  78'

Gradski stadion, Shtip

Attendance: 20

Referee: Stojanche Stojanov (Štip)

Shkupi won 7–2 on aggregate.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 31 May 2017

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Besart Ibraimi	Shkëndija	20
2	Igor Nedeljković	Sileks	13
3	Ferhan Hasani	Shkëndija	12
	Alen Jasharoski	Makedonija GP
5	Dejan Blazhevski	Vardar	11
	Lucas Ferreira Cardoso	Pelister
	Stojancho Velinov	Bregalnica & Renova
	Goran Zdravkov	Bregalnica
9	Jonathan Boareto	Vardar	10
10	Damir Kojašević	Vardar	9
	Juan Felipe	Vardar

See also

• 2016–17 Macedonian Football Cup
• 2016–17 Macedonian Second Football League
• 2016–17 Macedonian Third Football League

References

1. "РАСПОРЕД на натпревари од Прва македонска фудбалска лига, сезона 2016-2017" (PDF). FFM.mk. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
2. "Draw for new season to take place on Monday". MacedonianFootball.com. 24 July 2016. Retrieved 24 July 2016.
3. "First League 2016/2017 - Season rules". Scoresway. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2017.

External links

• Football Federation of Macedonia (in Macedonian)
• MacedonianFootball.com (in Macedonian and English)