The logo of the First League

1.MFL season 2018/19 draw made

The draw for the official calendar of the new season in the Macedonian top flight eventually took place today. Right in the first round we will have the Shkendija – Vardar derby.

The new season in the first league will begin on 12 August and will end on 26 May next year. The format will be the same as last season meaning that the 10 teams will play each other four times, twice at home and twice away. The bottom two will get relegated with the third from behind entering a pay-out match against the winner of the play-off between the runners-up of the two second league groups.

Important dates:

season start: 12.08.2018
first half-season end: 02.12.2018
second half-season start: 17.02.2019
season end: 26.05.2019

The league winner will enter the Champions League first qualifying round next summer. The runner-up and third-placed teams will enter the first qualifying round of the Europa League together with the winner of the Macedonian Cup. If the later is among the top three, in that case the fourth-placed team will be awarded the final Europa League spot.

On Sunday, the 12th of August, the new season will be begin with the following Round 1 matches among which is the derby between the best teams from the past several season, current holders Shkendija and 10 times winners Vardar.

Rabotnichki vs. Renova
Sileks vs. Shkupi
Pobeda vs. Belasica
Akademija Pandev vs. Makedonija GjP
Shkendija vs. Vardar

Here is a look on the other important derbies this season:

Title derby:
Round 1 12.08.2018: Shkendija vs. Vardar
Round 10 21.10.2018: Vardar vs. Shkendija
Round 19 17.02.2019: Shkendija vs. Vardar
Round 28 14.04.2019: Vardar vs. Shkendija

Old Derby of Skopje:
Round 6 23.09.2018: Rabotnichki vs. Vardar
Round 15 22.11.2018: Vardar vs. Rabotnichki
Round 24 28.03.2019: Rabotnichki vs. Vardar
Round 33 08.05.2019: Vardar vs. Rabotnichki

Ethnic derby of Skopje:
Round 5 16.09.2018: Vardar vs. Shkupi
Round 14 10.11.2018: Shkupi vs. Vardar
Round 23 16.03.2019: Vardar vs. Shkupi
Round 32 05.05.2019: Shkupi vs. Vardar

Derby of Strumica*:
Round 2 19.08.2018: Belasica vs. Akademija Pandev
Round 11 28.10.2018: Akademija Pandev vs. Belasica
Round 20 24.02.2019: Belasica vs. Akademija Pandev
Round 29 21.04.2019: Akademija Pandev vs. Belasica

*keep in mind that historically this isn’t a real derby, but since it is the first time the city of Strumica to have two teams in the top flight, we decided to include it.

You can view the complete calendar in Macedonian language by clicking here. The complete schedule on our web site will be available in the following days, so far we have put only the first few rounds.

4 Comments

  1. Reply Post By Daniel

    Hello
    Shkendija will play in UEFA Champions League Qualifiers on Tuesday 14th August.
    How likely is it, that the derby opener against Vardar will be moved?
    Thanks for your help,
    Daniel

    1. Reply Post By Filip Zdraveski

      It is very likely for the match to be moved for Saturday. it is still not official, but it will 99% on Saturday.

  2. Reply Post By Klaus

    When will the fixtures of the games of the first round of the Cup be out ?

    1. Reply Post By Filip Zdraveski

      FFM still hasnt released an info

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *