Montenegrin First League

Before independence

While Montenegro was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, its top league was the Yugoslav First League. From the seasons 1946 to 1992, representatives of Montenegro in the First Yugoslav League were FK Budućnost and FK Sutjeska.

When SFR Yugloslavia dissolved, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was formed in 1992 and the Serbian and Montenegrin teams played in this league, although it was still named Yugoslav First League. In 2003, the FR Yugoslavia was renamed to Serbia and Montenegro and the football league followed suit. Montenegrin clubs played in the First League with Serbian clubs from 1992. to 2006. In that period, representatives of Montenegro in the Yugoslav/Serbia and Montenegro First League were FK Budućnost, FK Sutjeska, FK Rudar, FK Mogren, FK Zeta, FK Kom and FK Jedinstvo.

For 2004–05, restructuring of the Serbo-Montenegrin football league system saw the dissolution of the national second league, instead being replaced by two regional divisions for both republics of the union with promotion to the still-united First League.

After independence

In 2006, Montenegro split from Serbia. Following that, the First League of Montenegro became the top national competition, with teams Montenegrin teams from the Serbo-Montenegrin First League transferring over.

League consists on 12 clubs which are playing 33 matches during the seasons. From the season 2017-18, number of participants in the Montenegrin First League will be reduced to 10.

By now, 19 different clubs participated in the Montenegrin First League. Most successful was FK Budućnost with two national titles and six seasons as a second-placed club. Like Budućnost, two national titles won FK Rudar, FK Sutjeska and FK Mogren. Another winners were FK Zeta and FK Mladost with one title.

2006–16

The first champion of the top-tier CFL was Zeta, which won the trophy on championship's last weekend, after the hard struggle with neighbouring Budućnost. Third derby between Budućnost and Zeta in Podgorica watched 10,000 spectators, which is record-high attendance in the history of CFL.
Next season, title holder was Budućnost, with the same number of points as Zeta and Mogren. But, Budućnost had the best score against two opponents from the top of the table. Mogren was third team which won the trophy, on season 2008–09, and year later first championship title in the club history won Rudar.
FK Mogren became first team who won the second champion trophy in CFL. Team from Budva won the title on season 2010-11. FK Budućnost won the second trophy on season 2011-12, with few records as a highest number of points in CFL by single season (80) and highest number of scored goals by season (83).
Sutjeska became the first club which won two consecutive titles of CFL champion. Team from Nikšić won seasons 2012-13 and 2013-14.
At the end of season 2014-15, second title in the club's history won FK Rudar, and next season, at the 10th edition of CFL, the trophy surprisingly won Mladost from Podgorica.
In the period from 2006 to 2016, FK Budućnost, FK Sutjeska, FK Rudar and FK Mogren won two champion titles, and FK Zeta and FK Mladost one. Team which won most points in 2006-2016 period was FK Budućnost (674 pts). At same period, in CFL seasons played 19 different clubs.

Rivalries

Main rivalry in the Montenegrin First League is between Budućnost and Sutjeska, often called as Montenegrin Derby. First edition of derby in official competitions was played at 1932, and until today two clubs played derbies in the highest-tier competitions of SFR Yugoslavia, FR Yugoslavia and, at the new era, in Montenegrin First League.
Other traditional rivalry is between FK Budućnost and FK Lovćen Cetinje, because two clubs are playing important games since the 1920s.
During the first two seasons of Montenegrin First League, there was a strong rivalry between Budućnost and Zeta. Two clubs from the territory of the Capital Podgorica were main candidates for title at 2006-07 and 2007–08, and their match from the spring 2007 attended more than 10,000 spectators at Podgorica City Stadium. That is the highest attendance in the history of Montenegrin First League.
At seasons 2012-13 and 2013–14, there was a big local derby in Nikšić, between Sutjeska and Čelik. At that time, their matches were often attended by more than 7,000 supporters.
In the new period, there was a strong title races between Rudar and Budućnost or Sutjeska and Rudar.

Champions and Top scorers by seasons

By 2006–07 season, six different clubs won the title. Budućnost, Sutjeska, Rudar and Mogren won the trophy twice. The only club with two titles in a row is Sutjeska. Most successful participant in the history of Montenegrin First League is Budućnost, which finished two seasons as a champion, and six season as a runner up.
After the 2006, when Montenegro became an independent state, champions so far are:

All-time league scorers

Among the top-scorers, most goals in the history of Montenegrin First League scored Admir Adrović. From 2006 to 2016, he scored 76 goals on 189 matches. Below is a list of all-time top scorers. Players in bold are still active in the Montenegrin First League.

Montenegrin clubs in the First league (1946-)

Since 1946, Montenegrin clubs played in the First league of SFR Yugoslavia (1946-1992), FR Yugoslavia (1992-2001), Serbia and Montenegro (2001-2006) and in the Montenegrin First League. Below is the list of all matches and seasons by every single slub in the First league from 1946 until today.

Prva CFL (2006-)

Since the inaugural season 2006-07, 19 different clubs played in Montenegrin First League. Clubs which played all the seasons are Budućnost, Sutjeska, Rudar, Zeta, Petrovac and Grbalj.

As of the end of 2015–16 season. Teams in bold play in 2016–17 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; PPG = Points per game; HF = Highest finish

Records by seasons

Runs

Single game

Attendance

Attendance by season

M = Number of matches (only matches with spectators counted); H = Highest attendance on one match; CH = Club with highest average attendance; CL = Club with lowest average attendance

Current clubs (2016-17)

The 2016–17 Montenegrin First League is the eleventh season of top-tier football in Montenegro. Mladost Podgorica are defending champions title. The season begun on 6 August 2016 and will end in May 2017. At the end of season, three last-placed teams will directly be relegated, and 8th and 9th club from the table will participate in playoffs. After that, Montenegrin First League 2017-18 will have 10 members.
The following 12 clubs complete in First League 2016-17.

History

During the history, Montenegrin football clubs played in three different UEFA competitions for clubs - UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europe League (formerly UEFA Cup) and Intertoto Cup.
Champions of Montenegro never played in the group-phase of UEFA Champions League, and most successful in the qualifiers was FK Zeta Golubovci at season 2007-08.
Best performances in UEFA Europe League had FK Zeta who played in the playoffs, and FK Mladost Podgorica and FK Budućnost which played in Round 3. Most successful in Intertoto Cup was FK Budućnost Podgorica.
Below is a table with Montenegrin clubs' scores in UEFA competitions.

Except the official UEFA competitions, teams from Montenegro represented SFR Yugoslavia in the Balkans Cup, former regional football competition (1960-1994). Teams from Montenegro which played in Balkans Cup were FK Budućnost Podgorica and FK Sutjeska Nikšić. Biggest success made FK Budućnost, who played in the final 1991, after eliminated Galatasaray SK.

UEFA Rankings

UEFA Country Ranking for league participation in 2016–17 European football season (Previous year rank in italics)

Name of the competition

Since founding, main sponsor of Montenegrin First League is Montenegrin 'Telekom' which operates under the T-Com / T-Mobile brand.

Broadcasting rights

Since foundation of the competition, official broadcaster of First Montenegrin League matches is national television of Montenegro - RTCG. Matches of 1. CFL are directly broadcasting at RTCG channel 2, with most important matches on satellite programming.