List_of_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina_football_champions Knowpia

The Bosnia and Herzegovina football champions (Bosnian: Bosna i Hercegovina fudbalski prvaci, Championship: Prvenstvo, single: "Prvaci", plural: Prvaci) are the annual winners of Premier League, Bosnia and Herzegovina's premier annual football league competition. The title has been contested since 1923 in varying forms of competition.

History edit

In 1923, the first edition of leagues was organised in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia where regional championships were also played, besides the top-level national Yugoslav Football Championship. The clubs of the Drina Banovina, part of Littoral Banovina and Vrbas Banovina, territorially similar to present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, played within the Sarajevo Football Subassociation League until 1939. The champions of the Subassociation Leagues were granted a place in the qualifiers for the Yugoslav Championship, at the top national level. SAŠK (1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930/31), Slavija (1929, 1930, 1932/33, 1934/35, 1935/36, 1936/37, 1937/38, 1938/39, 1939/40), FK Krajišnik Banja Luka (1935/36) were the clubs to manage to participate in the national league, first in 1923 when the championship was played in a cup system. In 1939, the Yugoslav league system was changed by creating separate Serbian and Croato-Slovenian Leagues, which would serve as qualifying leagues for the final phase of the Yugoslav Championship.^[1] The clubs from the Sarajevo Subassociation played their qualifications to the Serbian League. However, Slavija Sarajevo participated in 1939–40 (3rd place) and 1940–41 (9th place) and played their qualifications to the Croatian-Slovenian League. However, SAŠK managed to participate and did it on both occasions, in 1939–40 (5th place) and 1940–41 (5th place). That became the last season before the beginning of the Second World War.

Royal League edit

The clubs from the territory of Drina Banovina, part of Littoral Banovina and Vrbas Banovina (belonging to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) had a league organised by the Sarajevo Football Subassociation. The winner had direct access to the Yugoslav Championship.^[2]

Season	Champion
1921	Hajduk Sarajevo
1922	SAŠK Sarajevo
1923	SAŠK Sarajevo
1924	SAŠK Sarajevo
1925	SAŠK Sarajevo
1926	SAŠK Sarajevo
1927	SAŠK Sarajevo
1928	SAŠK Sarajevo
1929	Slavija Sarajevo
1930	Slavija Sarajevo
1931	SAŠK Sarajevo
1932	Not Finished
1933	SAŠK Sarajevo
1934	Not Finished
1935	Slavija Sarajevo, SAŠK Sarajevo
1936	Slavija Sarajevo
1937	SAŠK Sarajevo
1938	SAŠK Sarajevo
1939	SAŠK Sarajevo
1940	Hajduk Sarajevo (Slavija and SAŠK, played in the Serbian and Croatian leagues respectively)
1941	Hajduk Sarajevo (Slavija and SAŠK, played in the Serbian and Croatian leagues respectively)

As part of Croatia (WWII) edit

Source:^[3]

Season	Champion
1941	Not Finished - SAŠK Sarajevo (9th place)
1942	SAŠK Sarajevo (Group D)
1943	SAŠK Sarajevo (Sarajevo championship) HŠK Hrvoje Banja Luka (Banja Luka championship)
1944	SAŠK Sarajevo (Sarajevo championship) HBŠK Banja Luka (Banja Luka championship)

Regional League edit

During this period Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of SFR Yugoslavia and its leading clubs (including FK Sarajevo (43 seasons, title: 1966/67, 1984/85), FK Željezničar (34 seasons, title: 1971/72), FK Velež Mostar (38 seasons), FK Sloboda Tuzla (25 seasons), NK Čelik Zenica (17 seasons) and FK Borac Banja Luka (14 seasons), FK Slavija (11 seasons)) played in the Yugoslav leagues.^[3]

Season	Champion
1944–45
1945–46
1946–47
1947–48
1948–49
1949–50
1950–51
1951–52
1952–53
1953–54
1954–55
1955–56
1956–57
1957–58
1958–59
1959–60
1960–61
1961–62
1962–63
1963–64
1964–65
1965–66
1966–67
1967–68
1968–69

Season	Champion
1969–70
1970–71
1971–72
1972–73
1973–74
1974–75
1975–76
1976–77
1977–78
1978–79
1979–80
1980–81
1981–82
1982–83
1983–84
1984–85
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88
1988–89
1989–90
1990–91
1991–92

National Competitions edit

War in Bosnia and Herzegovina edit

After a breakup of Yugoslavia Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed independence in late winter 1992, and already in April same year N/FSBiH applied for membership with FIFA and UEFA.^[4] Meanwhile, due to the outbreak of Bosnian War in April 1992 no games were played in the 1992–93 season. In late 1993 some parts of the country re-launched football competitions with reduced scope. But just as the country was divided along ethnic lines, so was football.

In 1993, Bosnian Croats launched the Football Federation of Herzeg Bosnia and its First League of Herzeg-Bosnia, in which only Croatian clubs competed on a parochial scale within the limits of West Herzegovina and few other enclaves. In the same year, Bosnian Serbs organized their own First League of the Republika Srpska on a territory held by the Republika Srpska regime. Only football on territory under the control of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions and the auspices of N/FSBiH, at the time consequently with Bosniak majority, apart from a brief competition for the season 1994–95 (won by Čelik Zenica), came to a standstill. Competition under auspices of N/FSBiH did not resume until the 1995–96 season when the First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina was launched.^[4]

Bosnia and Herzegovina Champions edit

Champions of First League 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 Bosnia and Herzegovina"
1998–99 - FK Sarajevo - "Champion of BiH"
1999–00 - Jedinstvo Bihać - "Champion of First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina"

Champions of First League of Herzeg-Bosnia

1993–94 - Široki Brijeg^[5] – 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 edit

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 Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia (without clubs from First League of the Republika Srpska).

Season	Winner of play-off	Runners-up of play-off	Top scorer(s) of play-off
Season	Winner of play-off	Runners-up of play-off	Player(s) (Club)	Goals
1997–98¹	Željezničar (1)	Sarajevo	Stanko Bubalo (Široki Brijeg) Hadis Zubanović (Željezničar)	3
1998–99²	Sarajevo (1)		—	—
1999–00³	Brotnjo (1)	Budućnost	Zikret Kuljaninović (Budućnost) Alen Škoro (Sarajevo) Halim Stupac (Jedinstvo)	5

¹ A play-off between the best placed teams of First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia was played; without clubs from First League of 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, therefore no club got the right to play in European competition.
³ A play-off between the best placed teams of First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia was played without clubs from First League of Republika Srpska. Three clubs got the right to play in European competition.

Premier League Champions edit

Since the 2000–01 season, the first tier of Bosnia and Herzegovina football competition became Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Season	Champions (Premier League titles)	Runners-up	Third place	Top scorer(s)
Season	Champions (Premier League titles)	Runners-up	Third place	Player(s) (Club)	Goals
2000–01²	Željezničar (2)	Brotnjo	Sarajevo	Dželaludin Muharemović (Željezničar)	31
2001–02³	Željezničar (3)	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 (2)	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 (4)	Široki Brijeg	Borac	Feđa Dudić (Travnik)	16
2010–11	Borac (1)	Sarajevo	Željezničar	Ivan Lendrić (Zrinjski)	16
2011–12	Željezničar (5)	Široki Brijeg	Borac	Eldin Adilović (Željezničar)	19
2012–13	Željezničar (6)	Sarajevo	Borac	Emir Hadžić (Sarajevo)	20
2013–14	Zrinjski (3)	Široki Brijeg	Sarajevo	Wagner Lago (Široki Brijeg)	18
2014–15	Sarajevo (3)	Željezničar	Zrinjski	Riad Bajić (Željezničar)	15
2015–16	Zrinjski (4)	Sloboda Tuzla	Široki Brijeg	Leon Benko (Sarajevo)	17
2016–17	Zrinjski (5)	Željezničar	Sarajevo	Ivan Lendrić (Željezničar)	19
2017–18	Zrinjski (6)	Željezničar	Sarajevo	Miloš Filipović (Zrinjski)	16
2018–19	Sarajevo (4)	Zrinjski	Široki Brijeg	Sulejman Krpić (Željezničar)	16
2019–20^{[nb 1]}	Sarajevo (5)	Željezničar	Zrinjski	Mersudin Ahmetović (Sarajevo)	13
2020–21	Borac (2)	Sarajevo	Velež	Nemanja Bilbija (Zrinjski)	17
2021–22	Zrinjski (7)	Tuzla City	Borac	Nemanja Bilbija (Zrinjski)	33
2022–23	Zrinjski (8)	Borac

0League champions also won the Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup, i.e. the domestic Double.0

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

Times finished in first three edit

Counting since when the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina is played and recognized by UEFA, season 2000–01

Club	Winners	Runner-up	Third place	Times finished in first three
Sarajevo	4	4	6	14
Zrinjski	8	2	3	13
Željezničar	5	7	1	13
Široki Brijeg	2	5	3	10
Borac	2	1	4	7
Brotnjo	0	1	1	2
Slavija	0	1	1	2
Sloboda	0	1	1	2
Leotar	1	0	0	1
Modriča	1	0	0	1
Tuzla City	0	1	0	1
Čelik	0	0	1	1
Velež	0	0	1	1

Cities edit

The following table lists the champions by cities; Counting since when the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina is played and recognized by UEFA, season 2000–01

City	Titles	Winning clubs
Sarajevo	9	Željezničar (5), Sarajevo (4)
Mostar	8	Zrinjski (8)
Banja Luka	2	Borac (2)
Široki Brijeg	2	Široki Brijeg (2)
Trebinje	1	Leotar (1)
Modriča	1	Modriča (1)

Notes edit

^ 2019–20 Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Bosnia and Herzegovina; season curtailed and final standings (including Sarajevo as champions) declared by a points-per-game ratio on 1 June 2020.^[6]

References edit

^ Sijić, pag. 117
^ Milorad Sijić: "Football in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia" Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, pag. 142 (in Serbian)
^ ^a ^b Karel Stokkermans (29 October 2015). "Bosnia-Herzegovina - List of Champions". Retrieved 26 November 2015.
^ ^a ^b "N/FSBiH History". www.nfsbih.ba. N/FSBiH. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.
^ Zlatne godine page 138
^ F.Z. (1 June 2020). "Zvanično! Sarajevo prvak BiH drugu godinu zaredom, Čelik i Zvijezda ispadaju" (in Bosnian). Klix.ba. Retrieved 1 June 2020.