Czech Football Season 2019/2020
After all Sparta is back from the dead since the break, they beat good opponents too.
Indeed, finally at the end of the season they are playing at the level of their capabilities. Lets see for how long it will last, for several previous seasons there were these promising periods of time followed by periods of really bad results.
SK Slavia Praha fan
A problem for the second division (FNL). A single player of FK Třinec was tested positively for coronavirus and the local authorities ordered now the whole squad to quarantine for 2 weeks. Several matches of FK Třinec are postponed and noone really knows whether the second division will be finished or not.
SK Slavia Praha fan
aaaand it is done! Slavia Praha is the new czech champion (provided all remaining matches of the title group will be played).
SK Slavia Praha fan
Title group round 2
June 23: Sparta Praha - Ostrava 3:2
June 24: Jablonec - Liberec 1:1
June 24: Slavia Praha - Plzeň 1:0
Relegation group round 2
June 23: Karviná - Opava 0:0
June 23: Zlín - Příbram 1:0
June 23: Olomouc - Teplice 0:0
Highlights of this round
- Slavia is again the czech champion, for the third time in last four years, meaning the club is experiencing its best period since World War 2. The match with Plzeň was pretty much even without a lot of good chances, Slavia was maybe a little better and scored in 69' by Petr Ševčík. Plzeň is sure to finish the season as N2.
- other matches in the title group were quite ugly, 12 yellow cards in both Sparta - Ostrava and Jablonec - Liberec matches. At least there were goals, most notably a brace by Adam Hložek (still only 17 y.o.) in his 50th start in the league. RB Leipzig is reportedly interested in signing him, however no negotiations appear to be happening now.
- Sparta is almost sure to finish N3 after another dissapointing season saved by seven wins in last seven matches. The fight for N4 and N5 is open and since the cup final is Liberec - Sparta, Ostrava is closest to missing the european cups spot.
- in the relegation group Zlín helped itself with a win over Příbram and the fight to avoid the last spot will probably be down to a direct match between Opava and Příbram.
- the status of the relegation playoff is in question now, due to the fact that Třinec in FNL is in quarantine and it seems possible that FNL remains unfinished. In this case there would be no relegation playoff, only N16 will be relegated and replaced by the team at N1 of FNL at the end of unfinished season of FNL. N14 and N15 of the top league would automatically remain in the league for next season.
Title group table after Round 2:
1. Slavia Praha 32 24 6 2 62:11 78
2. Plzeň 32 21 6 5 62:23 69
3. Sparta Praha 32 16 8 8 62:38 56
4. Jablonec 32 14 8 10 47:44 50
5. Liberec 32 14 6 12 52:43 48
6. Ostrava 32 12 9 11 45:40 45
Relegation group table after Round 2:
11. Olomouc 32 8 13 11 36:39 37
12. Teplice 32 8 11 13 33:50 35
13. Zlín 32 9 6 17 29:48 33
14. Karviná 32 5 12 15 24:43 27
15. Opava 32 5 9 18 17:50 24
16. Příbram 32 6 6 20 21:55 24
Champions League CHQ3 (possibly CHQ4), Champions League NCQ2, Europa League Q2, Europa playoff, Relegation playoff, Relegation
Top scorers
12 - Guélor Kanga (SPA), Libor Kozák (SPA)
11 - Lukáš Budínský (MLB), Petar Musa (LIB/SLA)
10 - Nikolay Komlichenko (MLB), Michael Krmenčík (PLZ), Martin Doležal (JAB), Pavel Bucha (MLB/PLZ), Roman Potočný (LIB/OST)
9 - Ivan Schranz (CEB), Jakub Řezníček (TEP)
8 - Tomáš Souček (SLA), Muris Mešanovič (MLB), Jan Sýkora (JAB), Tomáš Poznar (ZLN), Nemanja Kuzmanović (OST)
7 - Jakub Plšek (OLO), Tomáš Zajíc (SLO), Tomáš Malinský (LIB), Benjamin Tetteh (SPA), Jan Kopic (PLZ), Jakub Mareš (TEP), Michal Škoda (PRI)
6 - 10 players
Top assists
9 - Adriel Ba Loua (KAR), Nicolae Stanciu (SLA)
8 - Pavel Bucha (MLB/PLZ), Aleš Čermák (PLZ), Tomáš Malinský (LIB)
7 - Marek Matějovský (MLB), Vladimir Jovovič (JAB), Adam Hložek (SPA), Jiří Fleišman (OST), Petr Ševčík (SLA)
6 - Jan Sýkora (JAB), Benjamin Čolič (CEB)
5 - Lukáš Budínský (MLB), Martin Fillo (OST), Patrik Brandner (CEB), Guélor Kanga (SPA), Lukáš Kalvach (PLZ), Matej Mršič (CEB), Martin Frýdek (SPA), Ondřej Šašinka (OST), David Moberg Karlsson (SPA)
4 - 16 players
(players in italic are no longer in the league)
June 23: Sparta Praha - Ostrava 3:2
June 24: Jablonec - Liberec 1:1
June 24: Slavia Praha - Plzeň 1:0
Relegation group round 2
June 23: Karviná - Opava 0:0
June 23: Zlín - Příbram 1:0
June 23: Olomouc - Teplice 0:0
Highlights of this round
- Slavia is again the czech champion, for the third time in last four years, meaning the club is experiencing its best period since World War 2. The match with Plzeň was pretty much even without a lot of good chances, Slavia was maybe a little better and scored in 69' by Petr Ševčík. Plzeň is sure to finish the season as N2.
- other matches in the title group were quite ugly, 12 yellow cards in both Sparta - Ostrava and Jablonec - Liberec matches. At least there were goals, most notably a brace by Adam Hložek (still only 17 y.o.) in his 50th start in the league. RB Leipzig is reportedly interested in signing him, however no negotiations appear to be happening now.
- Sparta is almost sure to finish N3 after another dissapointing season saved by seven wins in last seven matches. The fight for N4 and N5 is open and since the cup final is Liberec - Sparta, Ostrava is closest to missing the european cups spot.
- in the relegation group Zlín helped itself with a win over Příbram and the fight to avoid the last spot will probably be down to a direct match between Opava and Příbram.
- the status of the relegation playoff is in question now, due to the fact that Třinec in FNL is in quarantine and it seems possible that FNL remains unfinished. In this case there would be no relegation playoff, only N16 will be relegated and replaced by the team at N1 of FNL at the end of unfinished season of FNL. N14 and N15 of the top league would automatically remain in the league for next season.
Title group table after Round 2:
1. Slavia Praha 32 24 6 2 62:11 78
2. Plzeň 32 21 6 5 62:23 69
3. Sparta Praha 32 16 8 8 62:38 56
4. Jablonec 32 14 8 10 47:44 50
5. Liberec 32 14 6 12 52:43 48
6. Ostrava 32 12 9 11 45:40 45
Relegation group table after Round 2:
11. Olomouc 32 8 13 11 36:39 37
12. Teplice 32 8 11 13 33:50 35
13. Zlín 32 9 6 17 29:48 33
14. Karviná 32 5 12 15 24:43 27
15. Opava 32 5 9 18 17:50 24
16. Příbram 32 6 6 20 21:55 24
Champions League CHQ3 (possibly CHQ4), Champions League NCQ2, Europa League Q2, Europa playoff, Relegation playoff, Relegation
Top scorers
12 - Guélor Kanga (SPA), Libor Kozák (SPA)
11 - Lukáš Budínský (MLB), Petar Musa (LIB/SLA)
10 - Nikolay Komlichenko (MLB), Michael Krmenčík (PLZ), Martin Doležal (JAB), Pavel Bucha (MLB/PLZ), Roman Potočný (LIB/OST)
9 - Ivan Schranz (CEB), Jakub Řezníček (TEP)
8 - Tomáš Souček (SLA), Muris Mešanovič (MLB), Jan Sýkora (JAB), Tomáš Poznar (ZLN), Nemanja Kuzmanović (OST)
7 - Jakub Plšek (OLO), Tomáš Zajíc (SLO), Tomáš Malinský (LIB), Benjamin Tetteh (SPA), Jan Kopic (PLZ), Jakub Mareš (TEP), Michal Škoda (PRI)
6 - 10 players
Top assists
9 - Adriel Ba Loua (KAR), Nicolae Stanciu (SLA)
8 - Pavel Bucha (MLB/PLZ), Aleš Čermák (PLZ), Tomáš Malinský (LIB)
7 - Marek Matějovský (MLB), Vladimir Jovovič (JAB), Adam Hložek (SPA), Jiří Fleišman (OST), Petr Ševčík (SLA)
6 - Jan Sýkora (JAB), Benjamin Čolič (CEB)
5 - Lukáš Budínský (MLB), Martin Fillo (OST), Patrik Brandner (CEB), Guélor Kanga (SPA), Lukáš Kalvach (PLZ), Matej Mršič (CEB), Martin Frýdek (SPA), Ondřej Šašinka (OST), David Moberg Karlsson (SPA)
4 - 16 players
(players in italic are no longer in the league)
SK Slavia Praha fan
With the fight for the top3 places almost decided, the focus over the weekend will be on the second legs of the Europa playoff semifinals, the relegation group and the match between Liberec and Ostrava
Title group round 3
June 27: Liberec - Ostrava
June 28: Plzeň - Sparta Praha
June 28: Slavia Praha - Jablonec
Europa playoff semifinal 2
June 27: Bohemians - Slovácko (first leg 2:1)
June 27: České Budějovice - Mladá Boleslav (first leg 1:2)
Relegation group round 3
June 28: Opava - Příbram
June 28: Olomouc - Karviná
June 28: Teplice - Zlín
What to watch for?
- in the title group, Liberec faces Ostrava in a direct match in the N4-N6 fight. Liberec will miss two of their key players Tomáš Malinský and Alexandru Baluta due to yellow cards. Ostrava need a win in order to have a fighting chance to move up from N6.
- both Europa playoff semifinals will be interesting, Bohemians are favourites to advance, the second match is quite open.
- Opava faces Příbram in the crucial match to avoid relegation while Karviná has the opportunity to collect some valuable points in Olomouc, which has nothing left to play for in the rest of the season.
Title group round 3
June 27: Liberec - Ostrava
June 28: Plzeň - Sparta Praha
June 28: Slavia Praha - Jablonec
Europa playoff semifinal 2
June 27: Bohemians - Slovácko (first leg 2:1)
June 27: České Budějovice - Mladá Boleslav (first leg 1:2)
Relegation group round 3
June 28: Opava - Příbram
June 28: Olomouc - Karviná
June 28: Teplice - Zlín
What to watch for?
- in the title group, Liberec faces Ostrava in a direct match in the N4-N6 fight. Liberec will miss two of their key players Tomáš Malinský and Alexandru Baluta due to yellow cards. Ostrava need a win in order to have a fighting chance to move up from N6.
- both Europa playoff semifinals will be interesting, Bohemians are favourites to advance, the second match is quite open.
- Opava faces Příbram in the crucial match to avoid relegation while Karviná has the opportunity to collect some valuable points in Olomouc, which has nothing left to play for in the rest of the season.
SK Slavia Praha fan
Interesting signing to czech league: Sparta Praha signed 19yo winger/forward Martin Minchev from Cherno More Varna. Minchev already has 3 starts for bulgarian NT. Transfer fee is rumoured to be 2M Euro.
SK Slavia Praha fan
WTF?
I hope he does good but he will probably struggle to get game time. Good on CM aswell. They got some monster money for our standards in 2020.
Well, this morning, the spokesman for Sparta stated on Twitter, that these rumours are false and Sparta payed something like half of the rumoured price. Then again, there can be additional bonuses based on performance of the player and results of the club...
SK Slavia Praha fan
Even cut in half it is still a massive ammount of money especially since Cherno More are not that big of a club.
Title group round 3
June 27: Liberec - Ostrava 2:1
June 28: Plzeň - Sparta Praha 2:1
June 28: Slavia Praha - Jablonec 4:0
Europa playoff semifinal 2
June 27: Bohemians - Slovácko 2:1 (4:2 agg.)
June 27: České Budějovice - Mladá Boleslav 0:2 (1:4 agg.)
Relegation group round 3
June 28: Opava - Příbram 0:0
June 28: Olomouc - Karviná 3:1
June 28: Teplice - Zlín 4:1
Highlights of this round
- In the title group, Liberec secured at worst N5 spot and since Liberec plays Sparta in the cup final, the worst case scenario for Liberec is the Europa playoff match against the winner of the Europa playoff final. Baník Ostrava will likely miss out Europe once again.
- Long time defender of Viktoria Plzeň Marián Čišovský died on Sunday morning of ALS at age 40, so the match between Plzeň and Sparta was overshadowed by remembering him. It is stunning that 9 years ago when Plzeň played the group stage of Champions League for the very first time, their defense consisted of František Rajtoral (commited suicide in 2017), David Bystroň (commited suicide in 2017), Marián Čišovský (died of ALS 2020) and David Limberský (still active player for Plzeň).
- Sparta rested a lot of players ahead of the cup final on Wednesday and lost after 7 wins in a row
- Slavia easily defeated Jablonec, which plays really awful last weeks and has huge injury problems in squad, and by doing that moved their players Petar Musa and Nicolae Stanciu to the lead in top scorers and top assists tables.
- Bohemians and Mladá Boleslav will face each other in the Europa playoff final, both clubs won both matches in the semifinal. In the case of Mladá Boleslav this is quite a surprise after weak performances in the end of regular season.
- Crucial relegation match between Opava and Příbram ended with a goalless draw and decided nothing, however Příbram needs to collect one point more than Opava to move out of a direct relegation spot. Zlín cannot be relegated and the fight now is just between the last three clubs.
Title group table after Round 3:
1. Slavia Praha 33 25 6 2 66:11 81
2. Plzeň 33 22 6 5 64:24 72
3. Sparta Praha 33 16 8 9 63:40 56
4. Liberec 33 15 6 12 54:44 51
5. Jablonec 33 14 8 11 47:48 50
6. Ostrava 33 12 9 12 46:42 45
Relegation group table after Round 3:
11. Olomouc 33 9 13 11 39:40 40
12. Teplice 33 9 11 13 37:51 38
13. Zlín 33 9 6 18 30:52 33
14. Karviná 33 5 12 16 25:46 27
15. Opava 33 5 10 18 17:50 25
16. Příbram 33 6 7 20 21:55 25
Champions League CHQ3 (possibly CHQ4), Champions League NCQ2, Europa League Q2, Europa playoff, Relegation playoff, Relegation
Top scorers
13 - Petar Musa (LIB/SLA)
12 - Guélor Kanga (SPA), Libor Kozák (SPA), Jakub Řezníček (TEP)
11 - Lukáš Budínský (MLB)
10 - Nikolay Komlichenko (MLB), Michael Krmenčík (PLZ), Martin Doležal (JAB), Pavel Bucha (MLB/PLZ), Roman Potočný (LIB/OST)
9 - Ivan Schranz (CEB), Tomáš Poznar (ZLN)
8 - Tomáš Souček (SLA), Muris Mešanovič (MLB), Jan Sýkora (JAB), Nemanja Kuzmanović (OST), Lukáš Juliš (OLO)
7 - Jakub Plšek (OLO), Tomáš Zajíc (SLO), Tomáš Malinský (LIB), Benjamin Tetteh (SPA), Jan Kopic (PLZ), Jakub Mareš (TEP), Michal Škoda (PRI), Ondřej Lingr (KAR)
6 - 14 players
Top assists
11 - Nicolae Stanciu (SLA)
10 - Adriel Ba Loua (KAR)
8 - Pavel Bucha (MLB/PLZ), Aleš Čermák (PLZ), Tomáš Malinský (LIB)
7 - Marek Matějovský (MLB), Vladimir Jovovič (JAB), Adam Hložek (SPA), Jiří Fleišman (OST), Petr Ševčík (SLA)
6 - Jan Sýkora (JAB), Benjamin Čolič (CEB)
5 - Lukáš Budínský (MLB), Martin Fillo (OST), Patrik Brandner (CEB), Guélor Kanga (SPA), Lukáš Kalvach (PLZ), Matej Mršič (CEB), Martin Frýdek (SPA), Ondřej Šašinka (OST), David Moberg Karlsson (SPA), Tomáš Hořava (PLZ)
4 - 18 players
(players in italic are no longer in the league)
June 27: Liberec - Ostrava 2:1
June 28: Plzeň - Sparta Praha 2:1
June 28: Slavia Praha - Jablonec 4:0
Europa playoff semifinal 2
June 27: Bohemians - Slovácko 2:1 (4:2 agg.)
June 27: České Budějovice - Mladá Boleslav 0:2 (1:4 agg.)
Relegation group round 3
June 28: Opava - Příbram 0:0
June 28: Olomouc - Karviná 3:1
June 28: Teplice - Zlín 4:1
Highlights of this round
- In the title group, Liberec secured at worst N5 spot and since Liberec plays Sparta in the cup final, the worst case scenario for Liberec is the Europa playoff match against the winner of the Europa playoff final. Baník Ostrava will likely miss out Europe once again.
- Long time defender of Viktoria Plzeň Marián Čišovský died on Sunday morning of ALS at age 40, so the match between Plzeň and Sparta was overshadowed by remembering him. It is stunning that 9 years ago when Plzeň played the group stage of Champions League for the very first time, their defense consisted of František Rajtoral (commited suicide in 2017), David Bystroň (commited suicide in 2017), Marián Čišovský (died of ALS 2020) and David Limberský (still active player for Plzeň).
- Sparta rested a lot of players ahead of the cup final on Wednesday and lost after 7 wins in a row
- Slavia easily defeated Jablonec, which plays really awful last weeks and has huge injury problems in squad, and by doing that moved their players Petar Musa and Nicolae Stanciu to the lead in top scorers and top assists tables.
- Bohemians and Mladá Boleslav will face each other in the Europa playoff final, both clubs won both matches in the semifinal. In the case of Mladá Boleslav this is quite a surprise after weak performances in the end of regular season.
- Crucial relegation match between Opava and Příbram ended with a goalless draw and decided nothing, however Příbram needs to collect one point more than Opava to move out of a direct relegation spot. Zlín cannot be relegated and the fight now is just between the last three clubs.
Title group table after Round 3:
1. Slavia Praha 33 25 6 2 66:11 81
2. Plzeň 33 22 6 5 64:24 72
3. Sparta Praha 33 16 8 9 63:40 56
4. Liberec 33 15 6 12 54:44 51
5. Jablonec 33 14 8 11 47:48 50
6. Ostrava 33 12 9 12 46:42 45
Relegation group table after Round 3:
11. Olomouc 33 9 13 11 39:40 40
12. Teplice 33 9 11 13 37:51 38
13. Zlín 33 9 6 18 30:52 33
14. Karviná 33 5 12 16 25:46 27
15. Opava 33 5 10 18 17:50 25
16. Příbram 33 6 7 20 21:55 25
Champions League CHQ3 (possibly CHQ4), Champions League NCQ2, Europa League Q2, Europa playoff, Relegation playoff, Relegation
Top scorers
13 - Petar Musa (LIB/SLA)
12 - Guélor Kanga (SPA), Libor Kozák (SPA), Jakub Řezníček (TEP)
11 - Lukáš Budínský (MLB)
10 - Nikolay Komlichenko (MLB), Michael Krmenčík (PLZ), Martin Doležal (JAB), Pavel Bucha (MLB/PLZ), Roman Potočný (LIB/OST)
9 - Ivan Schranz (CEB), Tomáš Poznar (ZLN)
8 - Tomáš Souček (SLA), Muris Mešanovič (MLB), Jan Sýkora (JAB), Nemanja Kuzmanović (OST), Lukáš Juliš (OLO)
7 - Jakub Plšek (OLO), Tomáš Zajíc (SLO), Tomáš Malinský (LIB), Benjamin Tetteh (SPA), Jan Kopic (PLZ), Jakub Mareš (TEP), Michal Škoda (PRI), Ondřej Lingr (KAR)
6 - 14 players
Top assists
11 - Nicolae Stanciu (SLA)
10 - Adriel Ba Loua (KAR)
8 - Pavel Bucha (MLB/PLZ), Aleš Čermák (PLZ), Tomáš Malinský (LIB)
7 - Marek Matějovský (MLB), Vladimir Jovovič (JAB), Adam Hložek (SPA), Jiří Fleišman (OST), Petr Ševčík (SLA)
6 - Jan Sýkora (JAB), Benjamin Čolič (CEB)
5 - Lukáš Budínský (MLB), Martin Fillo (OST), Patrik Brandner (CEB), Guélor Kanga (SPA), Lukáš Kalvach (PLZ), Matej Mršič (CEB), Martin Frýdek (SPA), Ondřej Šašinka (OST), David Moberg Karlsson (SPA), Tomáš Hořava (PLZ)
4 - 18 players
(players in italic are no longer in the league)
SK Slavia Praha fan
The rest of the season will still be interesting with regards to the coronavirus situation. There is a spike of number of cases in the silesian region. Třinec (second division) was allowed to play on Sunday by local authorities and the plan is to stretch the second division a little bit in order to catch up for the three postponed matches of Třinec. Relatedly, the relegation group of the first divison will play its final round on Sunday July 12, instead of Wednesday, July 8, as was originally planned.
However, the authorities just annonced that all events in the district of Karviná have to be limited to 100 persons for the forseeable future. This complicates organizing football matches, although the league should probably be ready for that as 100 person was the limit in May when the league decided to restart...
However, the authorities just annonced that all events in the district of Karviná have to be limited to 100 persons for the forseeable future. This complicates organizing football matches, although the league should probably be ready for that as 100 person was the limit in May when the league decided to restart...
SK Slavia Praha fan
Next big game in czech football is:
Cup Final
July 1: Liberec - Sparta Praha (played in Liberec)
Sparta is a favourite, having wide squad they rested most of their starting players on Sunday. Liberec on the other hand played in full strength on Saturday against Baník Ostrava, Liberec doesn't have such a wide squad and played already 11 matches since May 23. The winner will qualify to EL Q3 with some theoretical chance for direct promotion to the group stage if this season Europa League winner qualifies to EL GS through their league.
Cup Final
July 1: Liberec - Sparta Praha (played in Liberec)
Sparta is a favourite, having wide squad they rested most of their starting players on Sunday. Liberec on the other hand played in full strength on Saturday against Baník Ostrava, Liberec doesn't have such a wide squad and played already 11 matches since May 23. The winner will qualify to EL Q3 with some theoretical chance for direct promotion to the group stage if this season Europa League winner qualifies to EL GS through their league.
SK Slavia Praha fan