2025–26 Macedonian First Football League

Macedonian First League

Season	2025–26
Dates	8 August 2025 – 25 May 2026
Champions	Vardar 12th Macedonian title
Relegated	Brera Pelister Makedonija G.P. Rabotnički Shkupi
Champions League	Vardar
Conference League	Shkëndija Sileks
Matches	198
Goals	610 (3.08 per match)
Top goalscorer	Bassirou Compaoré (17 goals)
← 2024–25 2026–27 → All statistics correct as of 25 May 2026.

The 2025–26 Macedonian First League was the 34th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of North Macedonia. It began on 8 August 2025 and ended on 25 May 2026. Shkëndija were the defending champions, having won their fifth title in 2024–25.

Promotion and relegation

At the end of the 2024–25 season Promoted from 2024–25 Second League Makedonija G.P. (winners, promoted after one season absence) Arsimi (runners-up, promoted for the first time in their history) Bashkimi (Third placed; won play-off, promoted for the first time in their history) Relegated to 2025–26 Second League Besa (10th; lost play-off, relegated after a single season spell in top flight) Gostivar (11th, relegated after a 2 seasons spell in top flight)1 Voska Sport (12th, relegated after a 2 seasons spell in top flight)2

At the end of the 2025–26 season Promoted from 2025–26 Second League Bregalnica (winners, promoted after two season absence) Skopje (second place; won play-off, promoted after three season absence) Shkëndija 77 (Third place; won play-off, promoted for the first time in their history) Relegated to 2026–27 Second League Brera (8th; lost play-off, relegated after a nine seasons spell in the top flight) Pelister (9th; lost play-off, relegated after a two seasons spell in the top flight) Makedonija G.P. (10th, relegated after a single season spell in top flight) Rabotnički (11th, relegated after an 28 seasons spell in top flight) Shkupi (12th, relegated after an 11 seasons spell in top flight)

¹Gostivar withdrew from the First League after a leaving of pitch at the 29th round match against Rabotnički.
²Voska Sport withdrew from the First League after a leaving of pitch at the 28th round match against Vardar.

Participating teams

Arsimi / Student	AP Brera	Shkendija/ Iskra	Rabotnički	Sileks
City Stadium Gostivar	Blagoj Istatov Stadium UEFA	Tetovo Stadium	National Arena Toše Proeski UEFA	Sileks Stadium
Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 9,200	Capacity: 15,000	Capacity: 33,011	Capacity: 4,800
Pelister	Skopje Arsimi AP Brera Bashkimi Pelister Shkëndija Sileks Struga Tikvesh Skopje clubs: Makedonija Vardar Rabotnički Shkupi Location of teams in 2025–26 Macedonian First League			Makedonija G.P.
Petar Miloshevski Stadium				Gjorče Petrov Stadium
Capacity: 10,000				Capacity: 3,000
Bashkimi/ Sloga	Struga	Tikvesh	Vardar	Shkupi/ Scupi
Kumanovo Stadium	Gradska Plaža Stadium	Kavadarci City Stadium	National Arena Toše Proeski UEFA	Livadishta Stadium
Capacity: 3,500	Capacity: 4,000	Capacity: 9,000	Capacity: 33,011	Capacity: 7,500

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	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Arsimi	Vildan Saliu	Vulnet Islami	Sporttex	Ardival AG
Bashkimi	Muarem Muarem	Armend Alimi	Jako	Aristan holdings LTD
Brera	Martin Alagjozovski	Filip Antovski	Sportika SA	Mozzart
Makedonija G.P.	Boban Grnčarov	Jovan Popzlatanov	Joma	KX.BLR
Pelister	Dimitar Kapinkovski	Mirko Ivanovski	Joma
Rabotnichki	Alparslan Erdem	Besir Demiri	Joma
Shkëndija	Jeton Beqiri	Besart Ibraimi	Macron	Ecolog
Shkupi	Ümit Sahin	Suhejlj Muharem	Reaction
Sileks	Aleksandar Vasoski	Darko Angjeleski	Macron	Sileks
Struga	Bledi Shkëmbi	Bunjamin Shabani	Macron	Trim & Lum
Tikvesh	Gjorgji Mojsov	Aleksandar Varelovski	Joma	Sinalco
Vardar	Goce Sedloski	Goran Zakarić	Erima	Novomatic Macedonia

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Vardar (C)	33	26	5	2	80	21	+59	83	Qualification for the Champions League first qualifying round
2	Shkëndija	33	23	5	5	67	30	+37	74	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round
3	Struga	33	19	5	9	68	28	+40	62
4	Sileks	33	16	5	12	59	36	+23	53	Qualification for the Conference League first qualifying round
5	Tikvesh	33	14	6	13	59	47	+12	48
6	Arsimi	33	13	7	13	50	53	−3	46
7	Bashkimi	33	11	9	13	40	54	−14	42
8	Pelister (R)	33	10	10	13	40	42	−2	40	Qualification for the Macedonian First Football League play-off
9	Brera (R)	33	10	10	13	46	56	−10	40
10	Makedonija G.P. (R)	33	9	7	17	42	57	−15	34	Relegation to the Macedonian Second League
11	Rabotnički (R)	33	9	6	18	45	58	−13	33
12	Shkupi (R)	33	0	1	32	15	130	−115	1

Source: FFM.mk, MacedonianFootball.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored (only if two teams); 7) Head-to-head goals scored; 8) Draw; 9) Play-off. (Note: Criteria 2, 3 and 8 is only used if not deciding Champion, teams for UEFA competitions or relegation).
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

Results

Every team will play three times against each other team for a total of 33 matches. The first 22 matchdays will consist of a regular double round-robin schedule. The league standings at this point will then be used to determine the games for the last 11 matchdays.

Home \ Away	ARS	BAS	APB	MGP	PEL	RAB	SKE	SKU	SIL	STR	TIK	VAR
Arsimi	—	4–2	0–2	1–1	3–3	2–2	3–0	4–2	0–1	1–2	0–5	1–4
—	0–0	—	—	1–0	—	—	5–1	—	1–0	—	1–0
Bashkimi	1–1	—	0–2	2–0	1–0	2–1	1–3	4–1	2–1	0–5	3–1	0–0
—	—	0–0	3–3	—	1–2	—	—	—	0–4	2–2	0–2
Brera	2–1	1–1	—	1–1	1–2	3–4	2–3	1–0	3–3	0–0	0–4	0–2
2–1	—	—	1–1	0–1	0–0	—	6–0	—	—	—	—
Makedonija G.P.	4–1	1–1	2–0	—	2–1	3–1	1–3	3–0	1–2	0–2	0–1	1–2
0–1	—	—	—	—	2–1	0–1	—	4–2	—	0–0	—
Pelister	0–4	1–2	1–0	1–1	—	4–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–2
—	1–0	—	2–0	—	—	—	7–0	—	0–2	—	0–0
Rabotnički	1–0	0–2	3–4	0–0	3–0	—	0–1	3–0	0–3	1–3	0–2	0–3
2–0	—	—	—	3–3	—	0–3	—	2–0	—	1–3	—
Shkëndija	0–0	2–1	1–1	7–2	2–1	1–0	—	5–1	2–0	2–0	1–0	0–1
1–0	2–3	2–1	—	1–2	—	—	6–0	—	3–1	—	—
Shkupi	0–3	0–2	1–3	0–2	0–3	1–1	1–2	—	0–3	1–2	0–6	2–4
—	2–3	—	0–4	—	0–7	—	—	—	0–3	—	0–7
Sileks	1–3	0–0	5–0	3–0	3–1	3–1	1–2	5–1	—	1–3	1–0	0–1
0–1	1–0	4–0	—	0–0	—	1–1	6–0	—	—	—	—
Struga	4–0	6–0	2–4	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	5–0	2–3	—	3–0	1–1
—	—	0–1	3–0	—	1–2	—	—	2–0	—	1–2	0–1
Tikvesh	3–4	3–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–4	1–0	0–1	0–1	—	1–2
1–1	—	6–1	—	2–2	—	1–4	6–0	0–3	—	—	—
Vardar	5–1	1–0	2–2	1–0	4–1	3–1	0–1	6–1	2–1	2–2	3–1	—
—	—	1–0	5–1	—	1–0	3–0	—	2–1	—	7–0	—

Source: FFM.mk, MacedonianFootball.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Macedonian First Football League play-off

The eight-placed and ninth-placed club (Pelister and Brera) faced the second-placed and third-placed clubs from the 2025–26 Macedonian Second Football League (Skopje and Shkëndija 77) for the final two places in the following season's Macedonian First Football League.

31 May 2026

16:30 CEST

Pelister	1–1	Shkëndija 77
Petkovski 90+8'	Report	Nazifi 54'
Penalties
Petrović Spirovski Kerim Angelevski Ristevski Mrmachovski Boshkovski Petkovski	5–6	Sharkoski Livareka Rushiti Dimov Nuhija Zhoglev Adili Dervishi

Gradski Stadion, Kavadarci

Referee: Igor Stojchevski (Skopje)

---

31 May 2026

16:30 CEST

Brera	0–1	Skopje
	Report	Trajchevski 88'

Stadion Petar Miloshevski, Bitola

Referee: Fatmir Bafto (Ohrid)

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 25 May 2026.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Bassirou Compaoré	Struga	17
2	Hristijan Maleski	Struga	16
3	Azer Omeragić	Vardar	14
4	Emmanuel Avornyo	Bashkimi 1947	12
	Rogers Mato	Vardar
	Fahd Ndzengue	Brera Strumica & Shkëndija
	Fabrice Tamba	Shkëndija
8	Besart Ibraimi	Shkëndija	11
	Miguel Pires	Sileks
	Shefit Shefiti	Arsimi
	Goran Zakarić	Vardar

See also

• 2025–26 Macedonian Football Cup
• 2025–26 Macedonian Second Football League

External links

• Football Federation of Macedonia (in Macedonian)
• MacedonianFootball.com (in Macedonian and English)