List of Bosnia and Herzegovina football champions

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[]

In 1923 it was organised the first edition of leagues in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia where, beside the top-level national Yugoslav Football Championship, regional championships were also played. The clubs of the Drina Banovina, part of Littoral Banovina and Vrbas Banovina, territorially similar to present day Bosnia and Herzegovina, played within the until 1939. The champions of Subassociation Leagues were granted a place in the qualifiers to the Yugoslav Championship, a 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), (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, with the creation of separate Serbian and Croato-Slovenian Leagues which will serve as qualifying leagues for the final phase of the Yugoslav Championship.^[1] The clubs from the Sarajevo Subassociation played their qualifications to the , however Slavija Sarajevo managed to participate, in 1939–40 (3rd place) and 1940–41 (9th place) and played their qualifications to the , however SAŠK managed to participate, and it did it in both occasions, in (5th place) and 1940–41 (5th place). That became the last season before the beginning of the Second World War.

Royal League[]

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 . 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)[]

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[]

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

Season	Champion

National Competitions[]

War in Bosnia and Herzegovina[]

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 parochial scale within the limits of West Herzegovina and few other enclaves. In the same year Bosnian Serbs also organized their own First League of the Republika Srpska, on a territory held by Republika Srpska regime at the time. Only football on a territory under the control of then Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions and 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 1995–96 season when the First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina was launched.^[4]

Bosnia and Herzegovina Champions[]

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	Kozara Gradiška Boksit Milići	16 Goals 16 Goals
1996–97	Rudar Ugljevik		Marić	Glasinac Sokolac	14 Goals 14 Goals
1997–98	Rudar Ugljevik	Borac Banja Luka		Rudar Ugljevik	31 Goals
1998–99	Radnik Bijeljina	Rudar Ugljevik			23 Goals
1999–00	Boksit Milići	Rudar Ugljevik		Sloboda Novi Grad	29 Goals
2000–01	Borac Banja Luka	Sloboda Novi Grad		Boksit Milići	26 Goals
2001–02	Leotar Trebinje	Kozara Gradiška	Pavle Delibašić	Leotar Trebinje Glasinac Sokolac	21 Goals 21 Goals

Champions of Bosnia and Herzegovina[]

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	Sarajevo	Stanko Bubalo (Široki Brijeg) Hadis Zubanović (Željezničar)	3
1998–99²	Three regional winners (Sarajevo, Posušje and Radnik)
1999–00³	Brotnjo	Budućnost	Z. 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[]

Since 2000/2001 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	Dž. 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 (1)	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 (2)	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 (3)	Zrinjski	Široki Brijeg	Sulejman Krpić (Željezničar)	16
2019–20	Sarajevo (4)	Željezničar	Zrinjski	Mersudin Ahmetović (Sarajevo)	13
2020–21	Borac (2)	Sarajevo	Velež	Nemanja Bilbija (Zrinjski)	17

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.

by titles[]

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
Željezničar	6	6	1	13
Zrinjski	6	3	1	10
Sarajevo	3	3	6	12
Široki Brijeg	2	5	3	10
Borac	1	0	3	4
Leotar	1	0	0	1
Modriča	1	0	0	1
Brotnjo	0	1	1	2
Slavija	0	1	1	2
Sloboda	0	1	1	2
Čelik	0	0	1	1

by cities[]

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 (6), Sarajevo (3)
Mostar	6	Zrinjski (6)
Široki Brijeg	2	Široki Brijeg (2)
Trebinje	1	Leotar (1)
Modriča	1	Modriča (1)
Banja Luka	1	Borac (1)

References[]

^ Sijić, pag. 117
^ Milorad Sijić: "Football in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia" Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, pag. 142 (in Serbian)
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Karel Stokkermans (29 October 2015). "Bosnia-Herzegovina - List of Champions". Retrieved 26 November 2015.
^ Jump up to: ^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

External links[]

Football Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Official Site (in Bosnian and English)
League at UEFA (in English)

[1] Sijić, pag. 117

[2] Milorad Sijić: "Football in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia" Archived 2012-05-12 at the Wayback Machine, pag. 142 (in Serbian)

[rsf-3] Jump up to: ^a ^b Karel Stokkermans (29 October 2015). "Bosnia-Herzegovina - List of Champions". Retrieved 26 November 2015.

[N-FSBiH_History-4] Jump up to: ^a ^b "N/FSBiH History". www.nfsbih.ba. N/FSBiH. Archived from the original on 30 November 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2016.

[5] Zlatne godine page 138

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