Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed independence in late winter 1992, and already in April the same year N/FSBiH applied for membership with FIFA and UEFA.[1] Meanwhile, due to the outbreak of Bosnian War in April 1992 no games were played in the 1992–93 season. In late 1993 some parts of the country re-launched football competitions with reduced scope. But just as the country was divided along ethnic lines, so was football.

In 1993 Bosnian Croats launched the Football Federation of Herzeg Bosnia and its First League of Herzeg-Bosnia, in which only Croatian clubs competed on parochial scale within the limits of West Herzegovina and few other enclaves. In the same year Bosnian Serbs also organized their own First League of the Republika Srpska, on a territory held by Republika Srpska regime at the time. Only football on a territory under the control of then Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions and auspices of N/FSBiH, at the time consequently with Bosniak majority, apart from a brief competition for the season 1994–95 (won by Čelik Zenica), came to a standstill. Competition under auspices of N/FSBiH did not resume until 1995–96 season when the First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina was launched.[1]

These three separate football leagues were operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina until 1998, and 2000. Since FIFA and UEFA showed support only for the association operating under patronage of the official and internationally recognized state institutions, during the war and prior to Dayton Peace Agreement as well as after its signage, they endorsed unification of all three organizations as N/FSBiH. This also came as a consequence of FIFA decision to recognize N/FSBiH already in July 1996, while in the same year UEFA admitted N/FSBiH as an adjacent member until 1998 when they recognized its full membership. This meant that only N/FSBiH clubs and its national team could compete at the international and official level.[1]

Final unification has been preceded by several stages. At first was created a playoff where clubs were playing for the champion under N/FSBiH auspices. Idea was that playoff under unified N/FSBiH auspices should bring together clubs competing under three separate organizations for the first time but was rejected by Serb association, leaving clubs from Croat football association and N/FSBiH participating playoff for the seasons 1997–98 and 1999–00, while 1998–99 playoff was canceled due to Croat's association hesitation on the decision on which stadiums games should be played. Next season playoff was resumed for the last time prior to full and final agreement on unified N/FSBiH and its competition, Premier League BiH (Premijer Liga), in the fall 2000.

Full and final agreement on unified N/FSBiH and its competition, Premier League BiH (Premijer Liga), happened in the fall 2000. However, the first 2000–01 season seen clubs from Federation of BiH only, while clubs from Republic of Srpska entity continue to compete in their own separate league as their entity association still refused to join agreed unified N/FSBiH and its new competition. However, UEFA and FIFA never intended to recognize this separate organization nor its competition, which meant clubs couldn't compete outside territory of the entity and wouldn't see any international football. This situation forced clubs to insist that their organization also join N/FSBiH, and two years later they became part of the competition for the season 2002–03. Ever since the year 2000 Premier League is the top tier of Bosnia and Herzegovina football, with two entity-based leagues, First League of Republika Srpska and First League of the Federation of BiH, being pushed to the second tier of the football pyramid and serve as feeder leagues to Premier League.[1]

During the 2016–17 season and the 2017–18 season BH Telecom Premier League had changed its format entirely, reducing a number of clubs from 16 to 12, thus sometimes referred to as "Liga 12" (League 12), with the calendar also modified accordingly, and introducing playoffs (also known as the "title playoffs") and play out. Number of matches were played by each club during regular season after which, according to their position, they entered to play-offs or play out. Playoffs were contested by the top 6 clubs in the regular season, with each club playing each other twice for the title, which guarantees Champions League qualifications, second and third place, guaranteeing Europa League qualifications berths. Play out was contested by six clubs to avoid relegation with last two teams being relegated.

Since the 2018–19 season, the league is not played as the last two seasons before. Actually very simple, after all the 12 clubs have played each other two times, once home and once away, they will play each other three times, also playing home or away depending on how the schedule is made. With that, the league season has 33 full rounds instead of the 22 rounds and an additional 10 rounds in the relegation and championship games.[2]

Listing seasons (aside of 1998–99 season) before the creation of Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina where the champion was decided via a play-off played between best placed clubs who played in First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia (without clubs from First League of the Republika Srpska).

Season	Winner of play-off	Runners-up of play-off	Winning manager	Top scorer(s) of play-off
				Player(s) (Club)	Goals
1997–981	Željezničar (1)	Sarajevo	Enver Hadžiabdić (1)	Stanko Bubalo (Široki Brijeg) Hadis Zubanović (Željezničar)	3
1998–992	Sarajevo		Nermin Hadžiahmetović (3)	—	—
1999–20003	Brotnjo (1)	Budućnost	Ivo Ištuk (1)	Zikret Kuljaninović (Budućnost) Alen Škoro (Sarajevo) Halim Stupac (Jedinstvo)	5

¹ A play-off between the best placed teams of First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia was played; without clubs from First League of Republika Srpska. The best two clubs got the right to play in 1998–99 UEFA Cup.
² Play-off was scheduled but was later canceled because of stadium issues. Three different leagues played, no play-off contested, therefore no club got the right to play in European competition.
³ A play-off between the best placed teams of First League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and First League of Herzeg-Bosnia was played without clubs from First League of Republika Srpska. Three clubs got the right to play in European competition.

Since 2000–01 season the first tier of Bosnia and Herzegovina football competition became Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Season	Champions (Premier League titles)	Runners-up	Third place	Winning manager	Top scorer(s)
					Player(s) (Club)	Goals
2000–011	Željezničar (2)	Brotnjo	Sarajevo	Amar Osim (1)	Dželaludin Muharemović (Željezničar)	31
2001–021	Željezničar (3)	Široki Brijeg	Brotnjo	Amar Osim (2)	Ivica Huljev (Željezničar)	15
2002–03	Leotar (1)	Željezničar	Sarajevo	Milan Jovin (1)	Emir Obuća (Sarajevo)	24
2003–04	Široki Brijeg (1)	Željezničar	Sarajevo	Ivo Ištuk (1)	Alen Škoro (Sarajevo)	20
2004–05	Zrinjski (1)	Željezničar	Široki Brijeg	Franjo Džidić (1)	Zoran Rajović (Zrinjski)	17
2005–06	Široki Brijeg (2)	Sarajevo	Zrinjski	Ivica Barbarić (1)	Petar Jelić (Modriča)	19
2006–07	Sarajevo (2)	Zrinjski	Slavija	Husref Musemić (1)	Stevo Nikolić (Modriča) Dragan Benić (Borac)	19
2007–08	Modriča (1)	Široki Brijeg	Čelik Zenica	Slaviša Božičić (1)	Darko Spalević (Slavija)	18
2008–09	Zrinjski (2)	Slavija	Sloboda Tuzla	Dragan Jović (1)	Darko Spalević (Slavija)	17
2009–10	Željezničar (4)	Široki Brijeg	Borac	Amar Osim (3)	Feđa Dudić (Travnik)	16
2010–11	Borac (1)	Sarajevo	Željezničar	Vlado Jagodić (1)	Ivan Lendrić (Zrinjski)	16
2011–12	Željezničar (5)	Široki Brijeg	Borac	Amar Osim (4)	Eldin Adilović (Željezničar)	19
2012–13	Željezničar (6)	Sarajevo	Borac	Amar Osim (5)	Emir Hadžić (Sarajevo)	20
2013–14	Zrinjski (3)	Široki Brijeg	Sarajevo	Branko Karačić (1)	Wagner (Široki Brijeg)	18
2014–15	Sarajevo (3)	Željezničar	Zrinjski	Dženan Uščuplić (1)	Riad Bajić (Željezničar)	15
2015–16	Zrinjski (4)	Sloboda Tuzla	Široki Brijeg	Vinko Marinović (1)	Leon Benko (Sarajevo)	17
2016–17	Zrinjski (5)	Željezničar	Sarajevo	Blaž Slišković (1)	Ivan Lendrić (Željezničar)	19
2017–18	Zrinjski (6)	Željezničar	Sarajevo	Blaž Slišković (2)	Miloš Filipović (Zrinjski)	16
2018–19	Sarajevo (4)	Zrinjski	Široki Brijeg	Husref Musemić (2)	Sulejman Krpić (Željezničar)	16
2019–20[nb 1]	Sarajevo (5)	Željezničar	Zrinjski	Vinko Marinović (2)	Mersudin Ahmetović (Sarajevo)	16

¹ Played without clubs from Republika Srpska entity of BiH which only have part in the league since 2002.

Counting since when the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina is played and recognized by UEFA, season 2000–01

The following table lists the champions by cities; Counting since when the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina is played and recognized by UEFA, season 2000–01