The Competition Committee at FFM has announced the schedule of matches in the first league for the 2026/2027 season.

photo by FFM

According to the calendar, the new season starts on 25 July 2026, and the opening half season ends with the Round 18 on 13 December 2026, followed by the regular winter break. The season continues with the second half season on 13 February 2027, and the final Round 36 is scheduled for 23 May 2027.

In the new season, the Macedonian top flight will have 10 clubs, two less than before. New first league members are Bregalnica, Skopje and Shkendija 77. The team from Arachinovo is the lone debutante. The season will have 36 rounds because it will be played in 4 parts, i.e. each team will play each other 4 times, twice at home and twice away.

The first big derby is early in the 2nd round when the tiotle favorites Vardar and Shkendija will meet in Skopje.

Round 1 matches:

Vardar – Bregalnica
Shkëndija – Skopje
Struga – Shkëndija 77
Sileks – Bashkimi
Tikvesh – Arsimi

The bottom two teams will be relegated with the 8th-placed entering a play-off against the third-placed team from the second league. The VAR system will be used in the new season as well.

Keep in mind that Shkëndija 77 from Arachinovo has yet to be transformed into a joint stock company (AD) in order to apply for a license to compete in the first league. Licensing is carried out by UEFA and all participating clubs must be ADs.

Additionally, at today’s briefing with journalists, the president of the FFM, Masar Omeragic, informed that there is an active legal procedure against Bashkimi due to last year’s fixed match with Kozhuf in the second league, for which there are confessions from players and other persons. However, he noted that the FFM can only act after receiving a final court verdict. “As long as there is no such verdict, we will not exclude any club,” the president emphasized.

Here is the schedule for the opening half-season (click on the image for a larger version):