The Football Superleague of Kosovo (Albanian: Superliga e Futbollit të Kosovës), also known as the ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo (Albanian: ALBI MALL Superliga e Kosovës) for sponsorship reasons with Albi Mall, is the top level of the Kosovar football league system. The Superleague is organized by the Football Federation of Kosovo and the division currently has a 10-team format. The clubs play each other four times during the season for a 36-match schedule. At the end of the season, the bottom two teams in the division are relegated to the second tier, First Football League of Kosovo.
The Superleague ran outside FIFA and UEFA until Kosovo was admitted to both organizations, on 3 May 2016.
Prior to World War II, within Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Kosovan clubs competed in the provincial leagues of the Belgrade Football Subassociation. During World War II, between 1941 and 1944, when most of the region became part of the Albanian Kingdom, numerous Kosovan clubs played in the Albanian league system. In 1945, Kosovo was reincorporated to Serbia, and subsequently, into the SFR Yugoslavia. The league has its origins in 1945 when it became one of the subdivisions of the 5th level in the Yugoslav football league system. It gathered the best clubs from the SAP Kosovo except for those clubs competing in higher levels. In 1991, an unrecognised parallel league gathering ethnic Albanian pro-independence clubs was set, and was run till 1999. In the meantime, the best clubs competed in the leagues of FR Yugoslavia. In 1999, after the Kosovo War, a separate Kosovar league system was formed. It included most clubs from Kosovo except those from Serbian-dominated North Kosovo which remained in the Serbian football league system. Since 2000, the competition has been running continuously, and by 2017, after Kosovo gained membership in FIFA and UEFA, began acting as the national league of Kosovo, providing clubs for international tournaments.
Name | Period | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
Albanian | English | ||
Liga e Provincës së Kosovës | Kosovo Province League | 1945–1991 | Part of the Yugoslav football league system. |
Liga e Pavarur e Kosovës | Independent League of Kosovo | 1991–1999 | Unrecognised competition parallel to Serbian league system. |
Superliga e Futbollit të Kosovës | Football Superleague of Kosovo | 1999–present | The official name, even though from 2008 for sponsorship reasons the name changes. |
Raiffeisen Superliga e Kosovës | Raiffeisen Superleague of Kosovo | 2008–2016 | Sponsored by Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo, a subsidiary of the Raiffeisen Bank International. |
Vala Superliga e Kosovës | Vala Superleague of Kosovo | 2016–2018 | Sponsored by Kosovo Telecom. |
IPKO Superliga e Kosovës | IPKO Superleague of Kosovo | 2018–2020 | Sponsored by IPKO. |
BKT Superliga e Kosovës | BKT Superleague of Kosovo | 2021–2022 | Sponsored by Banka Kombëtare Tregtare. |
ALBI MALL Superliga e Kosovës | ALBI MALL Superleague of Kosovo | 2022–present | Sponsored by Albi Mall, a subsidiary of the Albi Commerce. |