Premyer Liga

Premyer Liga

Founded	22 March 1985 (1985-03-22)
Country	Gregahou (16 teams)
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Toroy Liga
Current champions	AS Porte Nouvelle (1st title) (2018–19)
Most championships	CFC Stolitsemlağa (7 titles) KF Almata
Top goalscorer	Fontenay DuBois (67)
TV partners	Telerad (live matches) Gregahou Telekanal (highlights)
Website	premyerliga.go
2019–20 Premyer Liga

The Premyer Liga (Gregahouvian pronunciation: [prɛmʲjɛrʲ liɡʲa], Premier League) is a men's professional football league which represents the sport's highest level in Gregahou. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Toroy Liga. Seasons run from mid-October to late April, with each team playing 30 matches (playing all 15 other teams home and away). Most games are played on Friday and Saturday evenings.

Founded in 1985 by the interim government as a method of consolidating local football leagues, the Premyer Liga remains today as the most popular professional sports league nationwide, and its teams unanimously regarded as the most talented groups in the country. Broadcast to over 1.5 million homes yearly and with average attendance peaking at over 15,000 per game, the Premyer Liga is also the most televised and most watched form of entertainment in the nation. Live matches are broadcast on Telerad, the country's national news network, and can be viewed on the network's Premyersport channel, which also broadcasts men's national team matches. Highlights are broadcast online as well as through television network Gregahou Telekanal.

Almost 50 clubs have participated in the Premyer Liga at some point since its inception in 1985, and 12 clubs have won the title. The most recent champion is AS Porte Nouvelle, whose 2018-19 team took home the club's first Premyer Liga title since its founding, winning 22 matches and losing only three during the regular season. Historically, the most successful clubs are CFC Stolitsemlağa and KF Almata, with seven titles each, respectively. The most successful Porte Nouvelais club is Molina, with four titles. The record for most points in a Premyer Liga season is 79, set by CFC Stolitsemlağa in the 2008-09 season.

Competition format

Competition in the Premyer Liga is between 16 teams and follows a double round-robin system. During the course of a season, each club plays the other 15 teams twice, once at their home stadium and the other at the opponents', for a total of 30 games per club, per season. Clubs receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and receive zero points for a loss. Teams are first ranked by total cumulative points, then, if tied, by goal difference, and finally by goals scored as a tertiary measurement.

Saleh Gomaa intercepts a pass during a 2016 match between Almata and Beausejour

Promotion and relegation

A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Premyer Liga and the Toroy Liga, the country's second-division football league. At the end of each season, the three lowest placed clubs are relegated to the second division, whilst the top three Toroy Liga teams are promoted to the first division. The Premyer Liga originally featured 12 teams, with the 10th and 11th placing clubs facing relegation, but was expanded to the current 16 team, three-team relegation system in advance of the 1994-95 season.

Ranking of clubs on equal points

If points are equal between two or more clubs, the rules are:

• If all clubs involved have played each other twice:
  • If the tie is between two clubs, then the tie is broken using the goal difference for the two matches those clubs have played against each other (without away goals rule)
  • If the tie is between more than two clubs, then the tie is broken using the games the clubs have played against each other:
    • a) head-to-head points
    • b) head-to-head goal difference
    • c) head-to-head goals scored
• If two legged games between all clubs involved have not been played, or the tie is not broken by the rules above, it is broken using:
  • a) total goal difference
  • b) total goals scored
• If the tie is still not broken, the winner will be determined by Fair Play scales. These are:
  • yellow card, 1 point
  • doubled yellow card/ejection, 2 points
  • direct red card, 3 points
  • suspension or disqualification of coach, executive or other club personnel (outside referees' decisions), 5 points
  • misconduct of the supporters: mild 5 points, serious 6 points, very serious 7 points
  • stadium closure, 10 points
  • if the Competition Committee removes a penalty, the points are also removed
• If the tie is still not broken, it will be resolved with a tie-break match in a neutral stadium.

Clubs

A total of 16 teams compete in the Premyer Liga in its current season, comprised of 13 teams from the 2018-19 season, and three teams promoted from the Toroy Liga.

Current clubs and locations

Team	Location	2018-19 season	Titles won
Azğa	Azğa	5th	3
Severskiy	Stolitsemlağa	10th	0
Apex Cialtina	Cialtina	8th	1
Porte Nouvelle	Porte Nouvelle-sur-Mer	1st	1
Batel Ğoroda	Izmailovsk	13th	0
Bordelon	Jolieu	Toroy Liga, 3rd	0
Stolitsemlağa	Stolitsemlağa	4th	7
Equipe Militaire	Porte Nouvelle-sur-Mer	11th	0
Farneuil	Molina	Toroy Liga, 1st	0
Almata	Almata	3rd	7
Les Frères Molina	Molina	6th	4
Olimpyets	Solevatsk	7th	1
Beltsk	Beltsk	12th	2
Şkola	Stolitsemlağa	9th	0
La-Lumière	La-Lumière	Toroy Liga, 2nd	0
Verşina Onel	Onel	3rd	4