Pirmas Lyga
 | |
| Founded | 1946 |
|---|---|
| First season | 1947 Wassilian Pirmas Lyga |
| Country |  Wassilia |
| Number of teams | 18 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Antroyi Lyga |
| Current champions | SK Sren (8th title) |
| Most championships | Olimpinis Bursinai (17 titles) |
| Most appearances | Artur Janukasikas (392) |
| Top goalscorer | Ezerinas Arder (279) |
| TV partners | Domestic ESEN STV3 |
Overview
The Wassilia Pirmas Lyga is the annual national association football championship tournament in Wassilia, and administered by the Wassilia Football Association. (WFA) It is the highest football league in Wassilia and is currently contested by 18 teams each year. Each season runs from April through October with games played on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Since the league's founding in 1947 the Primas Lyga has taken place every year with Olimpinis Bursinai being the most successful club winning the championship 17 times. That is four more than the next placed club Klubas Tyonek. Other successful clubs with multiple championships include Irkais Tyonek with ten titles, SK Sren with eight and SK Garibaldas and Utapadys Elis Futbolo each with six.
Structure
The structure of the Pirmas Lyga is that eighteen clubs compete annually for the Pirmas League championship each team playing all other teams twice once home and once away. Each win grants the victor 3 points towards the championship table while a draw is a single point and a loss no points. After all games are completed the team which has gained the most points claims the championship. In the event of a tie the team with the better goal difference (goals scored subtracted by goals allowed) places higher in the standings. At the bottom of the standings each year the bottom two clubs automatically relegate to the Antroyi Lyga (The second division) while the 16th placed team will move to a playoff with the 3rd place finisher in the Antroyi Lyga. The winner of that home-and-home playoff will secure its place in the Pirmas Lyga while the other will play in the Antroyi. The first and second place finishers of the Antroyi Lyga will automatically promote up.
Broadcasting
Television rights became an enormous source of revenue for the (WFA) as well as the individual clubs since the early 1990s when television viewing of league matches became so popular. Networks such as ESEN, AMC and STV3 have routinely competed with each other for broadcasting rights. Currently ESEN and STV3 have all domestic rights to the Pirmas Lyga matches throughout the season while international rights are negotiated separately. In recent years multiple nations have begun televising Pirmas Lyga matches especially in neighboring Thrismari nations.
History
The very first iteration of the Pirmas Lyga took place in 1947 with only ten clubs that year. It took until the 1950s for the majority of clubs to be able to attain professional status as the professional at the time was lacking the finances to pay players and facilities. It was in 1954 when business interests (i.e. sponsors) in the game allowed for much better salaries and stadium construction. Some of the companies included Vektras Automobilai, Miasto Liutas, R4 and Helios Energija to name a few. Once the late 1950s and 60s came around we started to the period of domination by Klubas Tyonek when they won 8 league championships in a 10 year period. However, for consecutive league championships from 1988 until 1992, Utapadus Elis has the Pirmas Lyga record at 5 titles. Overall the cities of Sren, Tyonek and Bursinai have dominated usually having multiple clubs not only in the top division but often competing with each other for the league championship.
List of Pirmas Lyga champions by year.