Mordvanian Premier League

The Mordvanian Premier League (Mordvanscina Premierno liga), sometimes referred to as Mordvanian Premiership, is professional football league in Mordvania and the football league iwth the highest average stadium attendance in Marzanna. At the top of the Mordvanian football league system, the Mordvanian Premier League is Mordvania's primary football competition. The Mordvanian Premier League comprises 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Mordvania's First Division. Seasons run from Nueva to Fein. All of Mordvanian Premier League clubs qualify for the Mordvanian Republican Cup, joining in the Round 32. The Mordvanian Premier League is considered one of the best football leagues in Brigidna, along the leagues of Florinthus, Oslanburg, and Valland. The Mordvanian Premier League is broadcast on television in over 100 countries.

30 clubs have completed in the Mordvanian Premier League since its founding in 1567. NK Slovograd has won the Mordvanian Premier League the most, winning the title 13 times. Other five clubs have won the Mordvanian Premier League, with ND Seznica and NK Brezedina winning the title 6 times, Slovograd 1566 5 times, and LKS Slawowo and FK Mazenskai 3 times.

The Mordvanian Premier League was founded in 1567.

History

Mordvanian Championship

Prior to the formation of the Mordvanian League in 1544, Mordvanian football was played at an amateur level in a large number of sub-regional leagues. Regional champions and, from 1521 onwards, runners-up played a series of playoff matches for the right to compete in a final game for the national championship, named Mordvanian Championship and established in 1486. The first recognised national championship team was Amsberg FC, who beat ND Slovograd in a game played in Mestarka on 14 March 1486.

Mordvanian League

After the 1544 Mordvanian republican revolution, the Mordvanian government assisted the Mordvanian Football Association, under the leadership of Bogdan Jansek, to the creation a professional football league. Therefore, the Mordvanian First Division was created, with 16 clubs, the first season starting in 1545. More than sixty clubs applied for admission to the new league. The sixteen clubs were selected based on their success on the field, economic criteria, and seniorship.

NK Slovograd, which only had won the Mordvanian Championship four times between 1501 and 1543, became the most successful club in Mordvanian football, winning the Mordvanian League 15 times from 1545 and 1566. Only other three clubs were able to win the Mordvanian League: NK Brezedina (four times), ND Seznica (12 times), and LKS Slawowo (1).

Foundation of the Mordvanian League

By the earlier 1560s, Mordvanian professional football was experiencing a period of stagnation. Many stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, many clubs faced severe financial problems, and top Mordvanian players had moved abroad.

Zelko Gorshek, chairman of the Mordvanian Football Association since 1558, introduced reforms to improve stadium safety standards and financial fair play. Although Gorshek's reforms seemed to improve Mordvanian football as a whole, they found the resistence of several major Mordvanian clubs, as the reforms increased the costs while limited their revenue. Although attendance and quality of the league seemed to improve, several historical clubs found themselves bankrupt and were removed from the league system, causing their quick disapparance.

In the 1550s, major Mordvanian clubs had begun to transform into business ventures, applying commercial principles to club administration to maximise revenue. Maximilian Dolenz, a former NK Brezedina player and manager, who became president of the club in 1549, was one of the pioneers, leading NK Brezedina to break NK Slovograd's command of the league -at least for a while- winning three Mordvanian league titles and three Republican Cups from 1553 to 1558. But the commercial imperative led to the top clubs seeking to increase their power and revenue, and a conflict with the Mordvanian Football Association was only a matter of time. In 1564, several top clubs threatened to break away from the Football League. Zeljko Gorshek was forced to increase the voting power of the First Division clubs and gain more favourable financial arrangement regarding television rights, and in 1565, the Mordvanian Football Association introduced some changes in the Republican Cup, introducing a two-leg system as many First Division clubs demanded.

However, the compromise proved short-lived when a new television and sponsorship contract was to be negotiated in 1566. That season, six First Division clubs tabled a proposal for the establishment of a new league that would bring more money into the game overall. Despite the opposition of the Mordvanian Football Asociation, it seemed unstoppable when ND Seznica -the only top club which had not joined the initial proposal- joined the negotiations. Two weeks after the end of the 1566 season, First Division clubs resigned from the Mordvanian League en masse and only one month later the Mordvanian Premier League was formed as a limited company. The Mordvanian Football Association threatened to expel the clubs which joined the new league. However, the Mordvanian Football Association was finally forced to accept the breakaway from the Football League. Zeljko Gorshek resigned and he was replaced by Miroslav Loshek, who amended ways with the Mordvanian Premier League. As a consequence, the Mordvanian Premier League would operate with a single division and the Mordvanian Football League would operate with three, with two or three First Division (Mordvanian Football League's top division) clubs promoting to the Mordvanian Premier League every season.

The Mordvanian Premier League held its first season in 1567-1568. It was composed of 18 clubs for that season, two clubs more than the First Division the season before. The first Mordvanian Premier League goal was scored by Ludvik Peterlek of GKS Wojek in a 3-0 win against NK Krasnevje. The 18 inaugural members of the Mordvanian Premier League were Amsberg FC, NK Brezedina, Olimpija Brezedina, NK Dzen, NK Idredina, ND Izolska, NK Krasnevje, FK Mazenskai, FK Mestarka, NK Mestarka, ND Paviemes, ND Seznica, LKS Slawowo, NK Slovograd, Slovograd 1566, ND Snogen, NK Visnja, and GKS Wojek. ND Seznica was the first club to win the Mordvanian Premier League.

The "Big Four" (1567-1584)

The main favourite to win the first Mordvanian Premier League was certainly NK Slovograd. Under manager Marius Laaman, the club had won 5 Mordvanian league titles and four Republican Cups in the previous seven seasons. However, the season did not start well for the club from Slovograd, and ND Seznica surprisingly won the first Mordvanian Premier League (the club from Seznica had only won two Mordvanian league titlese in twenty years).

For the next decade, NK Slovograd and NK Brezedina dominated the league, with five and three Mordvanian Premier League titles, respectively, until ND Seznica won their second Mordvanian Premier League title in 1576-1577 season.

With the emergence of Slovograd 1566 in the late 1570s, winning the Mordvanian Premier League in the seasons 1580-1581 and 1581-1582, the Mordvanian Premier League had become dominated by four clubs, known as the "Big Four": NK Slovograd, NK Brezedina, Slovograd 1566 and ND Seznica. In more than half of the seasons in the first two decades of the Mordvanian Premier League, those four teams were in the top four places of the league, and no other club was able to win the Mordvanian Premier League until the 1586-1587 season, when FK Mazenskai won their first Mordvanian Premier-League.

The "Top Six" (1584-1600)

The years following 1584 marked a shift in the structure of the "Big Tour" with FK Mazenskai and LKS Slawowo both breaking into the top four places on a regular basis, turning the "Big Four" in the "Top Six". In the 1585-1586, LKS Slawowo finished runners-up for first time, and the following season FK Mazenskai won their first Mordvanian Premier League title. FK Mazenskai would win a second title in 1589-1590, and LKS Slawowo consolidated their status in the top six when they won the Mordvanian Premier League in 1591-1592, becoming the sixth club to win the Mordvanian Premier League.

Some have claimed that the "Top Six" dominance threatened the division, with manager Jakob Pilon declaring that the Mordvanian Premier League "was in danger of becoming one of the most boring but great leagues in Brigidna". Only in recent seasons, Olimpija Brezedina (in 1599-1600) and GKS Wojek (1600-1601) were able to reach the top-six, when both finished in sixth place.

However, others have answered that the competition between those six clubs is precisely what makes the Mordvanian Premier League one of the most competitive and attractive football leagues in Brigidna and the world, and the fact that since 1582 only twice a club was able to win the Mordvania Premier League twice in a row (Slovograd 1566 in 1592-1593 and 1593-1594, and ND Seznica in 1598-1599 and 1599-1600), compared with previous decades when a club was able to dominate Mordvanian football for years and years. Criticism of the gap between an elite group of "superclubs" and the majority of the Mordvanian Premier League has continued, nevertheless, due to their increasing ability to spend more than the other league clubs.

Competition format

Each club plays every other club once at home and once away. The club with the most points at the end of the season becomes Mordvanian Premier League champion. The two teams at the bottom of the table are relegated into the Mordvanian First Division, while the top two teams in the First Division are promoted to the Mordvanian Premier League. The 16th-placed team (third-last), and third and fourth placed team in the First Division play a play-off to decide which club plays the next season in the Mordvanian Premier League.

If teams are level on points, tie-breakers are applied in the following order:

• Goal difference for the entire season
• Total goals scored for the entire season
• Head-to-head results (total points)
• Head-to-head goals scored
• Head-to-head away goals scored
• Total away goals scored for the entire season

If two clubs are still tied after all of these tie-breakers have been applied, a single match is held at a neutral site to determine the placement. However, this has never been necessary in the history of the Mordvanian Premier League.

Results

Year	Champions (number of titles)	Runners-up	Third place
1567-1568	ND Seznica (1)	NK Slovograd	FK Mazenskai
1568-1569	NK Brezedina (1)	ND Seznica	Slovograd 1566
1569-1570	NK Brezedina (2)	NK Slovograd	ND Seznica
1570-1571	NK Slovograd (1)	ND Seznica	NK Brezedina
1571-1572	NK Slovograd (2)	ND Seznica	NK Brezedina
1572-1573	NK Brezedina (3)	NK Slovograd	ND Seznica
1573-1574	NK Slovograd (3)	NK Brezedina	Slovograd 1566
1574-1575	NK Slovograd (4)	NK Brezedina	LKS Slawowo
1575-1576	NK Slovograd (5)	NK Brezedina	ND Seznica
1576-1577	ND Seznica (2)	NK Brezedina	Slovograd 1566
1577-1578	NK Brezedina (4)	NK Slovograd	ND Seznica
1578-1579	NK Slovograd (6)	Slovograd 1566	NK Brezedina
1579-1580	NK Brezedina (5)	ND Seznica	Slovograd 1566
1580-1581	Slovograd 1566 (1)	ND Seznica	NK Slovograd
1581-1582	Slovograd 1566 (2)	NK Slovograd	NK Brezedina
1582-1583	ND Seznica (3)	NK Brezedina	Slovograd 1566
1583-1584	NK Slovograd (7)	NK Brezedina	ND Seznica
1584-1585	Slovograd 1566 (3)	NK Brezedina	LKS Slawowo
1585-1586	NK Slovograd (8)	LKS Slawowo	Slovograd 1566
1586-1587	FK Mazenskai (1)	NK Slovograd	NK Brezedina
1587-1588	ND Seznica (4)	FK Mazenskai	LKS Slawowo
1588-1589	NK Slovograd (9)	Slovograd 1566	ND Seznica
1589-1590	FK Mazenskai (2)	NK Slovograd	NK Brezedina
1590-1591	NK Slovograd (10)	LKS Slawowo	FK Mazenskai
1591-1592	LKS Slawowo (1)	FK Mazenskai	ND Seznica
1592-1593	Slovograd 1566 (4)	FK Mazenskai	NK Slovograd
1593-1594	Slovograd 1566 (5)	FK Mazenskai	LKS Slawowo
1594-1595	LKS Slawowo (2)	Slovograd 1566	NK Slovograd
1595-1596	NK Slovograd (11)	LKS Slawowo	Slovograd 1566
1596-1597	FK Mazenskai (3)	Slovograd 1566	ND Seznica
1597-1598	LKS Slawowo (3)	ND Seznica	FK Mazenskai
1598-1599	ND Seznica (5)	LKS Slawowo	Slovograd 1566
1599-1600	ND Seznica (6)	Slovograd 1566	FK Mazenskai
1600-1601	NK Slovograd (12)	ND Seznica	LKS Slawowo
1601-1602	NK Slovograd (13)	ND Seznica	NK Brezedina
1602-1603	Champions	Runners-up	Third
1603-1604	Champions	Runners-up	Third

Rank	Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning seasons
1	NK Slovograd	13	8	...
2	ND Seznica	6	8	...
3	NK Brezedina	5	7	...
4	Slovograd 1566	5	5	...
5	FK Mazenskai	3	4	...
6	LKS Slawowo	3	4	...

See also

• Republican Cup (Mordvania)