2018–19 Serbian First League

The Serbian First League (Serbian: Prva Liga Srbija) is the second-highest football league in Serbia. The league is operated by the Serbian FA. 16 teams compete in the league for the 2018–19 season.

Serbian First League

Season	2018–19
Champions	TSC Bačka Topola
Promoted	TSC Bačka Topola Javor-Matis Inđija
Relegated	Bečej 1918 Novi Pazar Teleoptik Sloboda
Matches played	296
Goals scored	705 (2.38 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ivan Marković (29)
Biggest home win	Metalac 7–0 Sloboda
Biggest away win	Novi Pazar 0–5 Radnički
Highest scoring	Javor-Matis 6–3 Novi Pazar
Longest winning run	TSC Bačka Topola 13 games
Longest unbeaten run	TSC Bačka Topola 31 games
Longest winless run	Novi Pazar 23 games
Longest losing run	Sloboda 8 games
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

Format 2018–19

As of the 2018-19 season, the league reverted to its previous playoff system, whereby the top 8 placed teams compete in the promoted round at the end of the season and the 8 lowest placed teams play in the relegation playoff round. The four bottom placed teams are relegated to the serbian league. The Fourteenth team from Super Liga is then sent to a playoff against the winner of the Prva Liga play off. At the end of the season, the top two teams and the winner of the play-offs are promoted to the Super Liga. The Prva liga play-offs is a knock-out competition for the teams finishing the season in third to sixth place with the winner being promoted to the Super Liga. In the play-offs, the third-placed team plays against the sixth-placed team and the fourth-placed team plays against the fifth-placed team. [1]

Team changes

The following teams have changed division since the 2017–18 season.

To First League

Promoted from Serbian League

• Žarkovo
• Trayal
• Bečej 1918
• Zlatibor

Relegated from Serbian SuperLiga

• Borac Čačak
• Javor

From First League

Relegated to Serbian League

• ČSK
• Jagodina
• Radnički Pirot
• Temnić 1924

Promoted to Serbian SuperLiga

• Dinamo Vranje
• Proleter Novi Sad

2018–19 teams

Belgrade

Bečej 1918

Borac

Inđija

Javor

Sloboda

Metalac

Novi Pazar

Radnički 1923

Trayal

TSC

Zlatibor

Belgrade clubs:

Bežanija
Budućnost
Sinđelić
Teleoptik
Žarkovo

Location of teams in the 2018–19 Serbian First League

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Kit manufacturer	Shirt Sponsor
Bečej 1918	Bečej	Gradski stadion kraj Tise	1,296	NAAI	Gebrüder Weiss
Bežanija	Belgrade	Stadion Bežanije	4,000	Macron	BIOeliksir
Borac	Čačak	Čačak Stadium	8,000	NAAI	Škoda Auto
Budućnost Dobanovci	Belgrade	Stadion FK Budućnost	1,000	Legea
Inđija	Inđija	Stadion FK Inđija	4,500	NAAI	ZUTI Market
Javor	Ivanjica	Ivanjica Stadium	4,000	Miteks	Matis doo
Metalac	Gornji Milanovac	Stadion FK Metalac	4,400	NAAI	Metalac
Novi Pazar	Novi Pazar	Gradski Stadion	13,000	Givova
Radnički 1923	Kragujevac	Čika Dača	15,100	NAAI	Grad Kragujevac
Sinđelić	Belgrade	Stadion FK Sinđelić	1,500	NAAI	AMS Osiguranje
Sloboda	Užice	Gradski Stadion	12,000	NAAI	UNITRAG
Teleoptik	Zemun	SC Partizan-Teleoptik	5,000	Nike
Trayal	Kruševac	Stadion FK Trayal	1,500	Hummel	Trayal
TSC	Bačka Topola	Gradski Stadion	5,000	Adidas	SAT-TRAKT Communications
Žarkovo	Belgrade	Stadion FK Žarkovo	610	NAAI	Rubikon Shipping Company
Zlatibor	Čajetina	Stadion Švajcarija	1,040	Ardu Sport	Galens Invest

Transfers

For the list of transfers involving First League clubs during 2018–19 season, please see: List of Serbian football transfers summer 2018 and List of Serbian football transfers winter 2018–19.

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	TSC Bačka Topola	30	20	8	2	64	19	+45	68	Qualification for the Championship round
2	Javor-Matis	30	19	6	5	61	27	+34	63
3	Inđija	30	17	6	7	48	21	+27	57
4	Zlatibor	30	16	2	12	41	30	+11	50
5	Radnički 1923	30	14	7	9	36	32	+4	49
6	Metalac G.M.	30	13	9	8	45	32	+13	48
7	Bežanija	30	14	3	13	40	38	+2	45
8	Sinđelić	30	11	11	8	28	24	+4	44
9	OFK Žarkovo	30	11	8	11	37	38	−1	41	Qualification for the Relegation round
10	Trayal	30	12	5	13	27	32	−5	41
11	Bečej 1918	30	10	6	14	33	37	−4	36
12	Budućnost Dobanovci	30	8	9	13	26	35	−9	33
13	Teleoptik	30	6	9	15	26	44	−18	27
14	Borac Čačak	30	6	7	17	23	44	−21	25
15	Sloboda Užice	30	5	6	19	16	56	−40	21
16	Novi Pazar	30	3	8	19	13	55	−42	17

Source: Prva Liga (in Serbian), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored (if two teams tied); 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored; 8) Fair play ranking; 9) Draw.

Results

Home \ Away	BEČ	BEŽ	BOR	BDO	INĐ	JAV	MET	NPZ	RDK	SIN	SLO	TLO	TRA	TSC	ŽAR	ZLA
Bečej 1918		1–2	0–0	5–1	1–0	1–3	1–1	3–0	1–2	0–1	3–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	1–5	0–2
Bežanija	1–0		1–2	2–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–0	0–1	3–0	4–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	3–2	1–3
Borac Čačak	1–1	0–3		1–2	0–4	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	3–0	0–1	0–3	3–1	2–0
Budućnost Dobanovci	0–1	3–0	1–1		0–1	0–0	2–1	3–0	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–3	1–1	1–0
Inđija	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–2		1–1	0–0	5–0	3–1	0–0	3–0	1–0	1–2	4–0	2–1	2–0
Javor-Matis	1–2	4–1	4–0	1–0	1–0		1–1	6–3	4–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–2	7–1	2–1
Metalac G.M.	2–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	4–1		2–1	1–2	1–0	7–0	1–1	3–1	2–5	0–0	2–0
Novi Pazar	0–4	2–2	0–0	1–2	0–1	0–3	2–0		0–5	0–1	0–0	0–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–0
Radnički 1923	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–1	1–1		1–1	2–0	2–2	3–1	2–2	1–1	0–2
Sinđelić Beograd	0–0	3–0	3–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0		3–2	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–3	1–0
Sloboda Užice	1–0	0–2	2–1	0–0	0–2	0–1	0–2	0–0	2–0	2–1		3–3	0–1	0–2	0–0	0–3
Teleoptik	3–0	0–1	3–1	2–0	1–4	0–4	1–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1		1–1	0–4	2–1	0–1
Trayal	1–1	1–2	2–1	0–2	3–0	1–3	1–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	0–1		0–0	1–0	1–1
TSC Bačka Topola	2–1	4–1	0–0	4–1	2–1	3–1	2–0	6–0	2–0	1–1	4–0	3–0	2–0		2–0	1–2
Žarkovo	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–2	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–1	0–0		2–2
Zlatibor	1–2	0–3	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–0	1–3	2–0	3–0	2–1	2–0	1–3	3–0

Source: Prva liga (in Serbian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Play-offs

Promotion round

The top eight teams advanced from the regular season. Points from the regular season were halved with half points rounded up. Teams played each other once.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	TSC Bačka Topola (C, P)	37	26	9	2	80	27	+53	53	Promotion to the Serbian SuperLiga
2	Javor-Matis (P)	37	23	8	6	78	37	+41	46
3	Inđija (P)	37	20	7	10	57	29	+28	39	Qualification for promotion play-off
4	Radnički 1923	37	16	11	10	42	36	+6	35
5	Metalac G.M.	37	15	12	10	51	35	+16	33
6	Zlatibor	37	18	3	16	48	42	+6	32
7	Bežanija[lower-alpha 1]</ref> (R)	37	15	5	17	48	50	−2	28	Relegation to Serbian League
8	Sinđelić	37	11	13	13	35	43	−8	24

Source: Prva Liga (in Serbian), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points in regular season; 3) Head-to-head points in regular season; 4) Head-to-head goal difference in regular season; 5) Head-to-head goals scored in regular season; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored in regular season (if two teams tied); 7) Goal difference; 8) Goals scored; 9) Fair play ranking; 10) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

1. [note 1]

Results

Home \ Away	BEŽ	INĐ	JAV	MET	RDK	SIN	TSC	ZLA
Bežanija		3–1				2–2	2–3
Inđija				1–0	0–0	3–1		3–0
Javor-Matis	3–1	3–1			1–1			4–1
Metalac G.M.	2–0		1–1			3–0
Radnički 1923	0–0			0–0				2–0
Sinđelić Beograd			1–3		1–2		2–2
TSC Bačka Topola		1–0	4–2	1–0	2–1
Zlatibor	1–0			0–0		4–0	1–3

Source: Prva liga (in Serbian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Relegation round

The bottom eight teams from the regular season play in the relegation round. Points from the regular season are halved with half points rounded up. Teams play each other once.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
9	Trayal	37	15	7	15	38	40	−2	32
10	Budućnost Dobanovci	37	13	9	15	35	41	−6	32
11	OFK Žarkovo	37	14	9	14	42	44	−2	31
12	Borac Čačak[lower-alpha 1] (R)	37	10	9	18	34	49	−15	27	Relegation to Serbian League
13	Bečej 1918 (R)	37	12	8	17	39	44	−5	26
14	Novi Pazar[lower-alpha 1]	37	7	8	22	28	63	−35	21
15	Teleoptik (R)	37	7	10	20	31	58	−27	18	Relegation to Serbian League
16	Sloboda Užice (R)	37	6	8	23	22	70	−48	16

Source: Prva Liga (in Serbian), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points in regular season; 3) Head-to-head points in regular season; 4) Head-to-head goal difference in regular season; 5) Head-to-head goals scored in regular season; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored in regular season (if two teams tied); 7) Goal difference; 8) Goals scored; 9) Fair play ranking; 10) Drawing of lots.
(R) Relegated.
Notes:

1. [note 1]

Results

Home \ Away	BEČ	BOR	BDO	NPZ	SLO	TLO	TRA	ŽAR
Bečej 1918		1–1	2–1	1–2		1–0
Borac Čačak				3–1	2–0			1–0
Budućnost Dobanovci		0–2		1–0	2–0		3–2
Novi Pazar						5–0	0–2	3–0
Sloboda Užice	1–1			1–4			2–1
Teleoptik		2–1	0–1		2–2
Trayal	1–0	1–1				3–1		1–1
Žarkovo	1–0		0–1		2–0	1–0

Source: Prva liga (in Serbian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Promotion Play-off

Promotions round final position
Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
3	Inđija	37	20	7	10	57	29	+28	39
4	Radnički 1923	37	16	11	10	42	36	+6	35
5	Metalac G.M.	37	15	12	10	51	35	+16	33
6	Zlatibor	37	18	3	16	48	42	+6	32

Semi-finals

11 May 2019

16:00

Inđija	2–1	Zlatibor
Dimitrov  28' Dimitrijević  53'	Report	Miličić  35' (pen.)

Inđija Stadium, Inđija

Attendance: 1,000

Referee: Srđan Jovanović

11 May 2019

16:00

Radnički 1923	2–2	Metalac G.M.
Vujasin  46' Zdravković  50'	Report	Ješić  46' Kecap  88'
Penalties
	4–1

Čika Dača Stadium, Kragujevac

Attendance: 7,000

Referee: Igor Stojiljković

Final

19 May 2019

16:00

Inđija	1–1	Radnički 1923
Dimitrov  41'	Report	Lukić  23'
Penalties
	3–0

Inđija Stadium, Inđija

Referee: Novak Simović

Individual statistics

Top goalscorers

As of matches played on 5 May 2019.[2]

Top goalscorers
Pos	Scorer	Teams	Goals
1	Ivan Marković	Javor-Matis	29
2	Nenad Lukić	Inđija / TSC Bačka Topola	22
	Nikola Petković	Javor-Matis
4	Vladimir Silađi	TSC Bačka Topola	19
5	Lazar Milošev	Budućnost Dobanovci	15

Hat-tricks

Hat-tricks
Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Ivan Marković	Javor-Matis	Teleoptik	4–0	8 September 2018
Marko Rajić	OFK Žarkovo	OFK Bečej 1918	5–1	9 September 2018
Nikola Tripković	Borac Čačak	OFK Žarkovo	3–1	8 October 2018
Mladen Kovačević	OFK Bečej 1918	Sloboda Užice	3–0	13 October 2018
Mladen Kovačević	OFK Bečej 1918	Budućnost Dobanovci	5–1	9 November 2018
Ivan Marković	Javor-Matis	OFK Žarkovo	7–1	18 November 2018
Nikola Petković	Javor-Matis	Novi Pazar	6–3	6 March 2019
Ivan Marković	Javor-Matis	Zlatibor	4–1	14 April 2019

References

1. PRVA LIGA SRBIJE: ŠTA DONOSI NOVI SISTEM TAKMIČENJA at prvaliga.rs (in Serbian) 20-7-2018.
2. "Prva liga - Lista strelaca". www.prvaliga.rs. Archived from the original on 2019-03-31.

1. Bežanija and Borac were relegated due to financial issues. Their places was taken by Kolubara who was promoted from Serbian League Belgrade and Novi Pazar who avoided relegation.<ref>Prva liga Srbije: Nakon Bežanije i čačanski Borac istupio iz takmičenja

External links

• Official website
• srbijasport.net