Competitions

The story of Slovenian club football as an independent league competition at a national level begins in 1991/92 season, after Slovenia declared its independency from Yugoslavia in 1991. The first season of Slovenian First division saw a 21 club competition, which ended with Olimpija snatching away the first league title, seven points clear of Maribor challenge in the second position.

The following season saw the epic battles of Slovenian football between Olimpija and Maribor continued from the Yugoslav championships and while the league was just getting on its feet organization wise, it was already at its peak quality wise. Difficult political situation and war in the Balkan saw many quality players immigrate from Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia to find safe haven in Slovenia before stepping on the big stage. Influx of talented players, who could've gone to bigger clubs was their country not at war and were now running up and down Slovenian flanks, meant that the quality of the league has risen over night.

After four initial league championships by Olimpija, who carried their legacy from Yugoslav leagues and was thus no match for anybody but maybe Maribor, Hit Gorica came on the scene in 95/96 season. The team backed by a casino company threw Olimpija off the throne, but who could've known that they have started the era of NK Maribor. Olimpija was never to finish on top after 94/95 season again, while Maribor won seven consecutive league titles since 1996/97 season.

The latter years saw the Football Association of Slovenia implement the system of club licensing as recommended by UEFA. Some clubs were struck hard by the notion of transparency and consequently failed to adapt to a new system. As a consequence of some bad business decisions and outstanding debts, Olimpija couldn't get a license for playing in the first league, which meant that one of the two greats got abolished in 2004. Mura suffered a similar fate as Olimpija, and without these two clubs to challenge Maribor, the public's interest in Slovenian league competition dropped considerably. The era of Gorica and Domžale began, but (both multiple winners) the teams could rarely sell out their stadiums despite their success in the league.

In 2009/2010 season that just finished, former two time Slovenian cup winners Koper managed to win their first league title ahead of Maribor, with Gorica and Olimpija (an offshoot of the abolished Olimpija in 2004) in Europa League qualifiers position.

The licensing system helped in restoring order and financial discipline of the clubs, which in the long run, is the only possible way of building a strong foundation on which the league football will be able to build.

Slovenian First Division is currently managed by Union of First division clubs.