October 5, 2020
History
The Czech Championship was first competed for in 1993/94 following "velvet divorce" between the Czechs and Slovaks.
Sparta Prague have been the dominant club over the history of the league, winning 12 titles ( including 7 of the first 8 ) and being runner-up 9 times. Slavia Prague have been the next successful with 6 titles ( including 3 of the last 4 ) and being runner-up 10 times. Viktoria Plzen have won the league 5 times, Slovan Liberec three times and Banik Ostrava once.
The Fortuna liga is currently ranked 15th by UEFA, below Denmark and Scotland but above Cyprus, Switzerland and Greece.
The National Side
Following to the recent Nations League matches the national side were 45th in the FIFA world rankings, making them 26th best in Europe. However, at various points between 1999 and 2006 they were ranked the second best side in the World.
The Czech Republic have qualified for every finals of the European Championships they have competed in, and the Czechoslavakia team famously won the competition in 1976 thanks to Panenka’s penalty. They reached the final of Euro 1996 at Wembley, losing 2-1 to Germany to a golden goal from Oliver Bierhoff, and they reached the semi-finals of Euro 2004 but lost 0-1 to Greece via a silver goal. Qualification for Euro 2012 saw a quarter final elimination by Portugal, and in 2000 and 2016 the Czech’s failed to progress from their group. Despite losing their opening fixture 0-5 to England ( the Czech’s worst ever result ) they recovered to beat England 2-1 in Prague and finished second in the group, ahead of Kosovo, Bulgaria and Montenegro, to qualify for the Euro 2020 finals.
Surprisingly for a country with such a good record in the Euro competitions, the Czech have only qualified once for the World Cup Final, in 2006. Inspired by Josef Masopust, Czechoslavakia reached the World Cup Final in 1962, but lost 1-3 to Brazil
The squad for the recent Nations League match against Scotland made the headlines as following the 3-1 victory in Slovakia, an outbreak of Covid-19 forced the entire squad and backroom staff into isolation, and in order to meet their obligation to play Scotland a new squad of players from clubs in the Czech league ( apart from Sparta Prague and Viktoria Plzen who refused to release any senior players ) was selected. Only two of the new selection had previously been capped, one of which was 36 year old Roman Hubnik who came out of international retirement just for this game. Despite this huge handicap, the Czech side was extremely unlucky to go down 1-2 to Scotland.
The squad selected for the match against Slovakia included Vladimir Darida ( Hertha Berlin ), Tomas Soucek ( West Ham ), Vladimir Coufal ( Slavia, now West Ham ), Matej Vydra ( Burnley ), Patrik Schik ( RB Leipzig ), Michael Krmencik ( Brugge ), Jakub Jankto ( Sampdoria ), Tomas Vaclik ( Sevilla ) & Jiri Pavlenka ( Werder Bremen ). Slavia were represented by 5 players in addition to Coutal and there were two players from Sparta and one from Viktoria.
However, none of the current players can be considered at the same level as those of the calibre of Pavel Nedved, Petr Czech, Patrik Berger, Karel Podborsky, Tomas Rosicky, Jan Koller, Milan Baros, Vladimir Smicer, Tomas Galasek, Jiri Nemec & Tomas Ujfalusi although Soucek and Coutal may yet come to rival Tomas “Red-Card” Repka in the affections of West Ham United supporters !
League Structure
For 2020/21 there will be 18 sides in the Fortuna liga, an increase of two from 2019/20 as the relegation group and play-offs were abandoned due further outbreaks of Covid-19 amongst players from Karvina and Opava. It was decided that no team could be relegated but Pardubice, the champions of the second level ( First National League ) should be promoted, and to avoid having an odd number of teams, the second placed side in the FNL ( Brno ) would also be promoted.
In recent seasons, the 16 team league was split after 30 matches into three groups – a Championship group ( sides 1 to 6 ), a Play-Off group ( sides 7 to 10 ), and a Relegation group ( sides 11-16 ) for 35 game season. The bottom side was automatically relegated with 14th and 15th facing play-offs with the 2nd and 3rd placed sides in the FNL. However, with the increase in numbers for 2020/21 the league will be a straight 34 game season, with the bottom three sides being relegated. With only the FNL champions to be promoted, the Fortuna liga will revert back to 16 sides for 2021/22.
Last Season
The 2019/20 Champions group was completed, with Slavia retaining their title, finishing nine points ahead of Viktoria. Sparta finished the season strongly to finish third, albeit a further 16 points behind Vikoria, and beating Slovan Liberec to take the Czech Cup. Jablonec finished fourth and Slovan, who finished 5th beat Mlada Boleslav in the play-off for the final Europa League place.
When the relegation group was abandoned, Pribram were in the automatic relegation position, with Karvina and Opava in the place-off places. However, the sides were separated by only 2 points with two matches still to be played.
Attendances
Average attendances for the 2019/20 are skewed by several rounds of matches being played with restrictions varying between 100 to 1,000 or a percentage of capacity. Slavia were the best supported team with an average of 10,851 and with the best attendance of 19,370 for the derby with Sparta. Next best were Sparta with 8,634, then Banik Ostrava with 8,019 followed by Viktoria on 7,261.
In 2018/19 the overall average for the league was 5,539 with Slavia again being the best supported with an average of 13,511. Sparta were next best with 11,072 then came Banik with 10,435. The highest attendance was again the 19,370 sell-out for Slavia vs Sparta.
All Fortuna liga matches are streamed live on Bet365.
Highlights of all matches are posted on the Fortuna liga website ( www.fortunaliga.cz ). Very occasionally a match will be blocked and not viewable outside of the Czech Republic for no obvious reason eg Pardubice vs Teplice ( week 2 ) Ceske Budejovice vs Slovan Liberec ( week 3 ), Brno vs Sigma Olomouc ( week 4 ) and Opava vs Teplice this week ! However, the goals from the matches can still be individually viewed.
The Season So Far
The season would normally have started on July 11th but was postponed due to the delays in finishing the previous season from the mid-season suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the issues in trying to complete the relegation group. The season finally commenced on August 21st.
The pundits’ favourites for the title were either Slavia, Sparta or Plzen and after 5 rounds of matches these were the top three. Sparta held a 100% record, whilst Slavia only dropped points came from being held to a 1-1 draw by newly promoted Pardubice, whose stadium was not deemed to be suitable to host top flight football so are playing this season in Prague at Bohemians Dolicek stadium. Viktoria were hammered 1-4 by Slovan Liberec in round 2, but Slovan haven’t been able to reproduce that form in the league and have lost at Sigma Olomouc ( 0-1 ) and Pardubice ( 0-3 ) to be in sixth place.
The surprise team in fourth place in the early stages were Sigma Olomouc, who under the management of local hero and ex-Schalke and Czech International Radislav Latal, achieved four wins out of five, although a 0-3 defeat at Sparta might put their aspirations into some perspective.
Jablonec lay in fifth place, and although expected to be contenders for a European slot, have benefited from a relatively easy start to the season but still managed to be the only side to lose to Mlada Bolesav.
The biggest surprise of the season has been the good start by FNL champions Pardubice, who despite having to play all they games this season away from Pardubice, have chalked up wins over Teplice & Slovan and drawn with Slavia. They did lose at Banik, which was their only victory in a disappointing start to the season, and at Jablonec
At the bottom, Brno, Pribram, Opava and Ceske Budejovice were yet to register a victory
VAR is in operation for between 6 to 8 games in the first half of the season, but it is hoped that all matches will covered after the winter break, which is currently scheduled to resume on January 29th, the earliest ever restart.
Attendances are currently limited to a maximum of 2,000 but with reported cases of the virus on the increase in the country there is every possibility that matches might be soon be played behind closed doors……….
European Competitions
Champions Slavia were exempt until the Champions League play-off round where they were controversially eliminated by FC Midtjylland from Denmark thanks to an astonishing VAR decision. Slavia had to thank keeper Ondrej Kolar for the 0-0 draw in the home leg, but in the return Nigerian striker Peter Olayinka gave Slavia an early lead. After Sory Kaba’s towering header levelled the match midway through the second half the tie was evenly poised with just over 10 minutes to play. Then, the Slovenian referee awarded a penalty for handball, but Kaba’s low spot kick was palmed away by Kolar diving to his left. However, Slavia’s joy was soon dashed when VAR adjudged Kolar was off his line when the penalty was struck. The TV pictures show this to be marginal, and if this interpretation were applied in every game just about every penalty save would be over-turned.
Viktoria Plzen joined the Champion League in the 2nd Qualifying Round and suffered from VAR for a different reason – it wasn’t in operation ! Leading 1-0 at AZ Alkmaar, the Portuguese referee awarded a penalty in the 94th minute when Druif fell to the floor as the keeper dived close to his feet although there was no contact and it was a clear dive. Losing 1-2 in the second period of extra time there was a clear handball in the AZ penalty area but the referee didn’t see it. In both instances VAR would have been in favour of Viktoria.
AZ went on to win 3-1 to send Viktoria to the Europa League qualifiers, where they won 3-0 at home over Danish side Sonderjyske before being eliminated 0-1 in Israel by Hapoel Be’er Sheva. Again they were on the end of a terrible penalty decision, awarded when a forward, a Plzen defender and keeper Hruska all challenged innocuously for a cross, and if anything fouls are normally awarded in favour of the goal-keeper in these circumstances. However, Plzen were flattered by the final score line and only some good saves from Hruska and the woodwork on two occasions kept Plzen in the match.
Sparta are yet to play in Europa League this season, qualifying directly to the group stages, where they have been drawn with Milan, Celtic and Lille.
In contrast, Slovan Liberec have already won three ties to get to the group stages, with victories over Ritteriai in Estonia ( 5-1 ), Steaua Bucharest in Romania ( 2-0 ) and APOEL Nicosia at home ( 1-0, thanks to a 94th minute penalty awarded after a needless handball ). They have been drawn with Gent, Hoffenheim and Red Star Belgrade.
Jablonec were unable to join Slavia, Sparta and Slovan in the Europa League stages, being eliminated in the 2nd Qualifying round 3-5 after extra time by Dunajska Streda in Slovakia.
Round 6
Friday 2nd October
FC Slovacko 0-1 FK Pardubice ( att : 1,980 )
Pardubice continued their good start to the season with a fortunate win at Slovacko, who play in Uherske Hradiste in central Moravia, and were previously known as SK Stare Mesto and FC Synot. In a game of few chances, Pardubice looked to have set their stall out for a point, and man of the match keeper Marek Bohac kept the scores level with some fine saves. The game turned with just over 20 minutes to play with the VAR sending off of Slovacko’s Kalabiska, which looked no worse than a yellow. With the match destined for 0-0, in added on time Pardubice created their first chance and Surzyn smashed the ball in the roof of the net from 15 yards.
Slezsky FC Opava 2-1 FK Teplice ( att : 1,616 )
Opava claimed their first win over the season, coming from behind to defeat Teplice, whose disappointing start to the season continued after their fourth loss in six matches. Mares opened the scoring for the visitors in the 9th minute with a flicked header but Opava equalised on the stroke of half-time from the penalty spot, Zidek being the scorer. Mondek put Opava ahead on 55 minutes, picking up a loose ball and sending a left footed curling effort from just outside the area. Opava thought they had scored again late in the game, but VAR disallowed the goal for offside.
Brno already look to be making a quick return to the second division after taking just one point from their first six matches. After their reprieve from the relegation play-offs, Karvina have made a promising start to the season with just one loss in their first six matches.
After playing against a strong wind in the first half, Karvina took the lead in the 58 minute following a gift from Brno. Keeper Sustr opted not to clear a back pass and instead tried to dummy Papadopulos. Unfortunately for him, he lost control and brought down the Karvina forward. Albanian international Qose converted the penalty Panenka style. Karvina doubled their lead 10 minutes later when the outstanding Ostrak, on loan from Koln, broke, stepped inside the covering defender and coolly finished. Brno’s frustrations were summed up near the end when Rusek committed an unnecessary foul for a second yellow card.
FK Mlada Boleslav 2-2 FK Dynamo Ceske Budejovice ( att : 1,232 )
In a match between two sides at the wrong end of the table, winless Ceske Budejovice fought back from 0-2 to take a point. Mlada Boleslav are sponsored by Skoda, whose factory is in the town, and are normally expected to be at the other end of the table. Zahustel gave the home side an early lead, latching onto a loose ball after the Dynamo keeper fumbled a shot, and the appropriate named Skoda slid in at the back post to send an inviting cross into the other corner for 2-0 after 32 minutes. Colic pulled a goal back just before half-time, and inspired by this they pressed to level the match, but they had to wait until the 90th minute when Janosik was left unmarked to head home from 6 yards for a deserved point. This was the only match of the weekend where VAR was not in operation.
Sparta maintained their 100% record but in the end were made to work hard for the three points by Jablonec. In a one sided first half, Sparta could have been much further ahead than the two well worked goals by Julis and Hlozek, the two top scorers in the Fortuna liga so far. However, the three substitutions made by Jablonec midway through the second half changed the pattern of the match, and Jablonec dominated the last 20 minutes. In the 76th minute Cvancara fired into the roof of the net after Hruby’s shot came back off the post. Stepanek then headed agonisingly narrowly wide and Sparta keeper Heca didn’t know anything about Zeleny’s shot which smacked into his face in the last minute as Sparta held on for the three points.
FC Slovan Liberec 3-0 1FK Pribram ( att : 2,000 )
Pribram remained rooted with just one point after a 15 minute second half hat-trick from substitute Michael Rabusic, including two penalties, gave Slovan a routine victory to take them upto 5th in the table. In a quiet first half, the best piece of action belonged to Pribram but unfortunately for them Vavra’s shot hit the post and went wide. Slovan’s second half substitutes seemed to give them more energy and they dominated the last 30 minutes of the game. However, it needed a careless foul to give away a penalty for them to take the lead and shortly after Rabusic’s good finish from 12 yards ended the game as a contest. The second penalty three minutes later was both a handball and a foul by the keeper, but regardless of which offence was given, Rabusic made no mistake from the spot.
Bohemians Praha 1905 2-0 FC Fastav Zlin ( att : 1,905 )
A goal in each half was enough to give Bohemians the points in a match between two likely mid-table sides, although it was an important result for Bohemians to take them away from the bottom end of the early season table. Bohemians were by far the better side in the first half and should have led by more than Hronek’s tap in after Puskac had mis-kicked from 3 yards. They had a goal disallowed by VAR for handball in the build-up and Zlin keeper Dostal made two smart saves. The second half was more even, with chances at both ends, but the hosts clinched the win 6 minutes from time when a rebound off the post gave Keita an open goal.
SK Sigma Olomouc 2-2 FC Vikoria Plzen ( att : 2,000 )
Surprise packet Sigma demonstrated their credentials by holding Viktoria, and perhaps deserved more. Sigma took an early lead when full-back Hala headed home a corner at the near post. Ondrasek equalised shortly after but Sigma then took control of the game forcing Plzen keeper Hruska to make a number of saves, and seeing two good penalty shouts denied by VAR. Plzen made the most of their good fortune, and in the 63rd minute won a penalty for a foul which VAR confirmed. Cermak gave Plzen the lead against the run of play, and the visitors should have put the game to bed immediately after but Ondrasek somehow headed wide from inside the 6 yard box in the middle of the goal. Spurred on by this escape, Sigma pressed and 5 minutes after their let-off, Falta’s superb left footed shot from just inside the angle of the penalty area brought them level. Perhaps tired after their trip to Israel on Thursday, Plzen then seemed content to settle for a point.
FC Banik Ostava 0-1 SK Slavia Praha ( att : 2,000 )
Despite the loss of Czech International Vladimir Coufal to West Ham before the match Slavia kept on the tails of Sparta, albeit with a very fortunate victory. Banik’s poor start to the season continued but they could easily have won this match by 5 or 6, being guilty of several glaring misses, but they were also a victim of the woodwork and some good goalkeeping. Although Slavia did hit the post early in the second half, they won the three points from the penalty spot. Tecl showed his experience when put clear by waiting for the keeper to dive at his feet and then fell over the keeper. He was already in mid-air when contact was made, and sure enough the penalty was awarded. Stanciu sent Lastuvka the wrong way from the spot.
Next Fixtures :
With a break this week for Nations League International matches against Israel and Scotland, the Fortuna liga will resume on the weekend of October 17/18, with the highlight being Viktoria Plzen vs Sparta Prague on Sunday 18th October ( kick-off 18.00 local/17.00 UK time ).
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