Hungarian National Championship I

Infobox sports league
current_season=Hungarian National Championship I 2008-09
logo=
pixels=100px
sport=Football
founded=1901
teams=16
country=HUN
champion=MTK BudapestThe "Nemzeti Bajnokság I.", the "National Championship", or short the NBI, currently known as the Soproni Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of professional football in Hungary since its inception in 1901. UEFA currently ranks the league 34th in Europe. [ [http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method3/crank2009.html UEFA Country Ranking 2006] ]

Sixteen teams compete in the league, playing each other twice, once at home and once away. At the end of the season, the top team enters the qualification for the UEFA Champions League , while the runner-up, together with the winner of the Hungarian Cup enters the UEFA Cup qualification round. The bottom two clubs are relegated to NB2, the second-level league, to be replaced by the winners of "NB2-Nyugati csoport" (West) and "NB2-Keleti csoport" (East).

Names

The league went through various name changes depending on the sponsor for the given season(s):
* NB1 (the "classic" name - NB stands for "Nemzeti Bajnokság" - National Championship)
* Raab-Karcher NB1
* PNB (1998/1999, 1999/2000, which stands for "Professzionális Nemzeti Bajnokság" - Professional National Championship)
* Borsodi Liga (2001, 2001/2002, 2002/2003, sponsored by "Borsodi Sörgyár" (Interbrew))
* Arany Ászok Liga (2003/2004, 2004/2005, sponsored by "Dreher Sörgyár" (SABMiller))
* Borsodi Liga (2005-2007, sponsored by " Borsodi Sörgyár")
* Soproni Liga (2007-present)

Hungarian National Championship I members 2008–09

Previous winners

Performance by club

Number of Championships

*Ferencváros: 28
**1903, 1905, 1907, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1932, 1934, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1949, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1976, 1981, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2004
*MTK Budapest: 23
**1904, 1908, 1914, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929, 1936, 1937, 1951, 1953, 1958, 1987, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2008
*Újpest FC: 20
**1929-30, 1930-31, 1932-33, 1934-35, 1938-39, 1945 Spring, 1945-46, 1946-47, 1959-60, 1969, 1970 Spring, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1972-73, 1973-74, 1974-75, 1977-78, 1978-79, 1989-90, 1997-98
*Budapest Honvéd: 13
**1949/50, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991 1993
*Vasas SC: 6
**1957, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1977
*Csepel SC: 4
**1942, 1943, 1948, 1959
*Debreceni VSC: 3
**2005, 2006, 2007
*Gyõr F.C.: 3
**1963, 1982, 1983
*Budapest TC: 2
**1901, 1902
*Vác F.C.: 1
**1993/94
*Dunaferr FC: 1
**1999/2000
*Nagyváradi A.C.: 1
**1943/44
*Zalaegerszegi TE: 1
**2001/02

References