2023–24 Montenegrin First League

Montenegrin First League
Season	2023–24
Dates	23 July 2023 – 25 May 2024
Champions	Dečić; 1st title
Relegated	Mladost DG; Rudar
Champions League	Dečić
Conference League	Budućnost; Mornar
Matches played	175
Goals scored	413 (2.36 per match)
Top goalscorer	Žarko Korać (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Dečić 4–1 Mladost DG; 21 October 2023
Biggest away win	Rudar 0–4 Budućnost; 5 August 2023; Dečić 0–4 Sutjeska; 17 September 2023
Highest scoring	Mornar 4–3 Jedinstvo; 26 August 2023; Jedinstvo 3–4 Mornar; 4 May 2024
	← 2022–23 2024–25 → All statistics correct as of 10 March 2024.

The 2023–24 Montenegrin First League (also known as 1.CFL) was the 18th season of the first tier association football in the country of Montenegro. The season began on 23 July 2023 and ended on 25 May 2024.^[1]

The winners (Dečić) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Champions League first qualifying round. The runners-up (Mornar) and 2023–24 Montenegrin Cup winners (Budućnost) qualified for the 2024–25 UEFA Conference League first qualifying round. The eighth and ninth-placed teams (Jedinstvo and Mladost DG) qualified for the Montenegrin First League play-off, with Jedinstvo winning and retaining their place in the league, and Mladost DG losing and being relegated to the 2024–25 Montenegrin Second League alongside the bottom-placed team (Rudar).

Teams

The league consisted of ten teams; the top nine teams from the previous season and one team promoted from the Montenegrin Second League. Mladost DG were promoted as champions of the 2022–23 Montenegrin Second League (replacing the bottom-placed 2022–23 Montenegrin First League team Iskra),^[2] marking their debut in the Montenegrin First League.^[3] Budućnost entered the season as defending champions, having won the league in the previous season.^[4]^[2]

2023–24 clubs

Stadiums and locations

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity
Arsenal	Tivat	Stadion u Parku	2,000
Budućnost	Podgorica	Stadion pod Goricom	15,230
Dečić	Tuzi	Stadion Tuško Polje	2,000
Jedinstvo	Bijelo Polje	Gradski stadion	5,000
Jezero	Plav	Stadion Pod Racinom	2,500
Mladost DG	Podgorica	DG Arena	4,300
Mornar	Bar	Stadion Topolica	2,500
Petrovac	Petrovac	Stadion Mitar Mićo Goliš	1,630
Rudar	Pljevlja	Stadion pod Golubinjom	5,140
Sutjeska	Nikšić	Stadion kraj Bistrice	5,214

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsenal	Zoran Tripković	Ćetko Manojlović	Lmp	Porto Montenegro
Budućnost	Mladen Milinković	Vasilije Terzić	Adidas	Savana
Dečić	Milorad Peković	Jonathan Dreshaj	Seven	Castellana
Jedinstvo	Vuko Bogavac	Momčilo Dulović	NAAI	Hotel Splendid
Jezero	Ivan Brnović	Edis Redžepagić	Macron	Samont
Mladost DG	Marko Šćepanović	Željko Krstović	Luanvi	Lob bet
Mornar	Zoran Đurašković	Aleksandar Vujačić	Seven	Municipality of Bar
Petrovac	Dušan Ivanović	Zoran Mikijelj	Macron	Municipality of Budva
Rudar	Nedeljko Vlahović	Aleksa Golubović	Adidas	Elektroprivreda Crne Gore
Sutjeska	Nenad Brnović	Vladan Giljen	Joma	Intersport

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dečić (C)	36	20	10	6	55	27	+28	70	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Mornar	36	17	13	6	45	32	+13	64	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round^[a]
3	Budućnost	36	17	10	9	66	43	+23	61
4	Sutjeska	36	13	14	9	46	36	+10	53
5	Jezero	36	14	9	13	41	38	+3	51
6	Petrovac	36	11	15	10	42	40	+2	48
7	Arsenal Tivat	36	9	15	12	43	58	−15	42
8	Jedinstvo (O)	36	8	11	17	43	56	−13	35	Qualification for the Montenegrin First League play-off
9	Mladost DG (R)	36	9	7	20	37	59	−22	34	Qualification for the Montenegrin First League play-off
10	Rudar (R)	36	7	6	23	25	54	−29	27	Relegation to the Montenegrin Second League

Source: Football Association of Montenegro (in Montenegrin)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Draw.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ Budućnost qualified for the Conference League first qualifying round by winning the 2023–24 Montenegrin Cup.

Results

Clubs were scheduled to play each other four times for a total of 36 matches each.

Home \ Away	ARS	BUD	DEČ	JED	JEZ	MDG	MOR	PET	RUD	SUT	ARS	BUD	DEČ	JED	JEZ	MDG	MOR	PET	RUD	SUT
Arsenal	—	1–1	0–1	2–2	2–2	0–2	2–2	2–2	2–0	1–1	—	0–4	0–2	1–1	3–1	3–1	1–2	1–1	4–2	1–0
Budućnost	2–0	—	1–1	3–2	1–1	2–2	4–3	2–1	2–0	1–0	6–0	—	2–2	2–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–0	3–1	2–2
Dečić	0–1	2–0	—	2–1	0–0	4–1	3–1	1–2	0–1	0–4	3–1	1–1	—	3–1	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	3–1	0–0
Jedinstvo	3–2	1–4	0–1	—	2–3	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	0–2	—	2–0	0–0	3–4	4–2	1–0	0–1
Jezero	1–1	1–3	0–0	1–0	—	2–0	0–1	2–0	4–1	0–1	4–0	3–1	1–1	0–3	—	0–1	3–1	0–2	2–1	0–0
Mladost DG	2–1	2–1	0–2	2–0	1–2	—	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–2	1–3	0–3	1–2	0–1	—	1–2	0–0	1–0	3–2
Mornar	0–1	0–0	0–1	4–3	2–1	2–1	—	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	5–1	—	1–0	3–0	1–0
Petrovac	1–1	2–2	2–3	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	—	2–0	1–1	2–2	3–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	3–2	0–0	—	1–1	1–2
Rudar	0–1	0–4	0–1	2–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	—	1–2	2–0	3–0	0–4	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–0	—	2–1
Sutjeska	2–2	1–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	3–3	0–1	3–2	1–0	—	1–1	1–1	0–1	3–1	2–1	2–1	2–0	0–1	2–1	—

Source: Football Association of Montenegro (in Montenegrin)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Montenegrin First League play-off

The eighth and ninth-placed teams (Jedinstvo and Mladost DG) each faced the third and second-placed teams from the 2023–24 Montenegrin Second League (Podgorica and Otrant-Olympic) in two-legged ties for the final two places in the 2024–25 Montenegrin First League.

Summary

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Otrant-Olympic	3–2	Mladost DG	1–0	2–2
Podgorica	1–3	Jedinstvo	1–3	0–0

Matches

31 May 2024

16:30 CEST

Otrant-Olympic	1–0	Mladost DG
Nishimura 74'	Report

Stadion Olympic, Ulcinj

Attendance: 1,200

Referee: Nikola Dabanović

4 June 2024

20:00 CEST

Mladost DG	2–2	Otrant-Olympic
Vuković 3' Pejović 77'	Report	Škrelja 21' Rexhoviq 59'

DG Arena, Podgorica

Attendance: 1,500

Referee: Miloš Savović

31 May 2024

18:00 CEST

Podgorica	1–3	Jedinstvo
Komiya 15'	Report	Kolić 18', 86' de Souza 74'

DG Arena, Podgorica

Attendance: 700

Referee: Miloš Savović

4 June 2024

19:00 CEST

Jedinstvo	0–0	Podgorica
	Report

Gradski stadion, Bijelo Polje

Attendance: 650

Referee: Nikola Dabanović

Statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 12 May 2024^[5]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Žarko Korać	Jedinstvo	16
2	Aleksa Maraš	Mladost DG	14
3	Oliver Sarkic	Dečić	11
3	Slobodan Babić	Petrovac	11
5	Boban Đorđević	Arsenal	10
6	Đorđe Despotović	Budućnost	9
	Bojan Matić	Dečić
	Naoaki Senaga	Jezero

References

^ "Utvrđen kalendar takmičenja za sezonu 2023/24" (in Montenegrin). Football Association of Montenegro. 8 June 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b "First League". soccerway.com. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
^ "Second League". soccerway.com. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
^ "Titula ide u Podgoricu" (in Montenegrin). Football Association of Montenegro. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
^ "Strijelci – 2023/2024" (in Montenegrin). FSCG. Retrieved 20 November 2023.

External links

UEFA
FSCG

[table_note_res_ECL1Q0.023025106183731-5] Budućnost qualified for the Conference League first qualifying round by winning the 2023–24 Montenegrin Cup.

[1] "Utvrđen kalendar takmičenja za sezonu 2023/24" (in Montenegrin). Football Association of Montenegro. 8 June 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2023.

[way-2] "First League". soccerway.com. Retrieved 3 June 2023.

[3] "Second League". soccerway.com. Retrieved 3 June 2023.

[4] "Titula ide u Podgoricu" (in Montenegrin). Football Association of Montenegro. 25 May 2023. Retrieved 4 June 2023.

[6] "Strijelci – 2023/2024" (in Montenegrin). FSCG. Retrieved 20 November 2023.

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