2021–22 Czech First League

The 2021–22 Czech First League, known as the Fortuna Liga is the 29th season of the Czech Republic's top-tier football for professional clubs since its establishment, in 1993. SK Slavia Prague were the reigning champions. The season started on 24 July 2021. The first half of the season will had 19 rounds, finishing on 19 December 2021, and the other half commenced on 5 February 2022. The season ended on 14 May 2022 with two extra play-out fixtures on 19 and 22 May 2022.^[1]

Czech First League

Season	2021–22
Dates	24 July 2021 – 14 May 2022
Champions	Viktoria Plzeň
Relegated	Karviná
Champions League	Viktoria Plzeň
Europa League	Slovácko
Europa Conference League	Slavia Prague Sparta Prague
Matches played	276
Goals scored	763 (2.76 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jean-David Beauguel (19 goals)
Biggest home win	Plzeň 6–0 Bohemians 1905 27 November 2021
Biggest away win	Liberec 0–5 Sparta Prague 31 July 2021
Highest scoring	Mladá Boleslav 3–5 Slovácko 26 September 2021
Longest winning run	7 matches Slavia
Longest unbeaten run	12 matches Plzeň still ongoing as at 6 March 2022
Longest winless run	19 matches Karviná
Longest losing run	7 matches Teplice & Karviná
Highest attendance	19,370 Slavia 2–0 Sparta 6 March 2022
Lowest attendance	246 Hradec Králové 1–0 Karviná 28 November 2021
Total attendance	646,213
Average attendance	3,366
← 2020–21 2022–23 → All statistics correct as of 10 March 2021.

The season format was changed back to be played with 16 clubs, each team will play in the league format home and away matches. The lowest-ranked team will be relegated directly to the second league, the two teams positioned 14th and 15th will play a play-out with two teams from the second league positioned 2nd and 3rd in a home and away format. This will be the fourth season to use VAR, featuring it in all matches played. All matches will be played on weekdays, no Friday fixtures are expected.^[2]

Season summary

This was the fourth season sponsored by the betting agency Fortuna with a contract valid until 2024^[3] as well as TV broadcasting rights held by O2 TV, which showed all eight matches per week. This was the first season that national broadcaster ČT Sport did not possess any rights to broadcast any of the fixtures. Blesk held for the highlights from all matches.^[4][5] The 2021–22 season began on 24 July, thirteen days after the UEFA Euro 2020 final. With most of the national team players still released for vacations, Slavia Prague, Sparta Prague and Plzeň started with incomplete first-team squads.

After ten match-weeks the trio recorded one loss each, Viktoria in 6th round at Hradec Králové, Sparta in seventh round in Plzeň and Slavia in round 10 in the Prague Derby at Letná on 3 October 2021. Sparta Prague ended the longest non-winning streak of derby matches after five-and-a-half years at 14 matches. It was also an interruption of Slavia Prague's record unbeaten streak of 54 matches in the first league.^[6] Three weeks later, Slavia defeated Plzeň and Matchweek 15 whilst Slovácko defeated Sparta 4–0, which escalated them to second place behind Slavia. However, Slovácko did not confirm the point tally in the following matches and finished fourth during winter break.

Teams

Prague

České Budějovice

Jablonec

Karviná

Liberec

Mladá Boleslav

Olomouc

Hradec Králové

Baník Ostrava

Viktoria Plzeň

Slovácko

Teplice

Zlín

Pardubice

Prague teams:
Bohemians 1905
Slavia Prague
Sparta Prague

Locations of the 2021–22 Czech First League teams

Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

A total of sixteen teams contest the league, including fifteen sides from the 2020–21 season and the winner of last season's second league.

Team promoted to Czech First League

Due to a reduction from 18 to 16 teams, only the winner of the FNL advanced to the first league. On 8 May 2021 Hradec Králové defeated Dukla Prague 2–1 and secured the promotion with three matches remaining.^[7] Hradec Králové will participate in the top tier after four years of absence.

Teams relegated from Czech First League

The three lowest positioned teams from the last season were relegated to the Fortuna National League.

On 8 May 2021, Opava became the first team to be relegated to FNL after a 1–1 draw at Zlín with three games remaining, ending their three-year stay in the top flight.^[8]

On 16 May 2021, Zbrojovka became the second team to be relegated to FNL after a 1–1 draw at Slovan Liberec with two games remaining, ending their one-year stay in the top flight.^[9]

On 23 May 2021, Příbram's relegation was confirmed following a 0–1 defeat at home against Pardubice with one game remaining, ending their First League tenure after three years.^[10]

Locations and stadiums

Team Location Stadium Capacity Ref. Bohemians Praha 1905 Prague Ďolíček 5,000 [11] SK Dynamo České Budějovice České Budějovice Stadion Střelecký ostrov 6,681 [12] FC Hradec Králové Hradec Králové Lokotrans Aréna [a] 5,000 FK Jablonec Jablonec nad Nisou Stadion Střelnice 6,108 [13] MFK Karviná Karviná Městský stadion (Karviná) 4,833 [14] FC Slovan Liberec Liberec Stadion u Nisy 9,900 [15] FK Mladá Boleslav Mladá Boleslav Lokotrans Aréna 5,000 [16] SK Sigma Olomouc Olomouc Andrův stadion 12,483 [17] FC Baník Ostrava Ostrava Městský stadion (Ostrava) 15,123 [18] FC Viktoria Plzeň Plzeň Doosan Arena 11,700 [19] SK Slavia Prague Prague Sinobo Stadium 19,370 [20] 1. FC Slovácko Uherské Hradiště Městský fotbalový stadion Miroslava Valenty 8,000 [21] AC Sparta Prague Prague Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena 18,944 [22] FK Teplice Teplice Na Stínadlech 18,221 [23] FC Fastav Zlín Zlín Letná Stadion 5,783 [24] FK Pardubice Pardubice Ďolíček [b] 5,000 Hradec Králové played their home matches in Mladá Boleslav due to the rebuilding of their own Všesportovní stadion.[25] Pardubice continued to play their home matches in Prague's Bohemians due to the rebuilding of their own stadium Pod Vinicí.[26]

Region Number of teams Club(s)  Prague 3 Bohemians, Sparta, Slavia  Liberec 2 Jablonec, Liberec  Moravian-Silesian Ostrava, Karviná  Zlín Zlín, Slovácko  Central Bohemian 1 Mladá Boleslav  Hradec Králové Hradec Králové  Olomouc Olomouc  Pardubice Pardubice  Plzeň Plzeň  South Bohemian České Budějovice  Ústí nad Labem Teplice

Personnel and kits

Team	Head coach	Head coach appointed	Shirt manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Bohemians 1905	Jaroslav Veselý[27]	21 March 2022	Adidas	BALSHOP.cz
České Budějovice	David Horejš		Adidas	Budějovický Budvar
Hradec Králové	Miroslav Koubek[28]	21 May 2021	Jako	Město Hradec Králové
Jablonec	Petr Rada		Capelli Sport	MOL Gitschberg Jochtal
Karviná	Bohumil Páník	7 October 2021	Adidas	OKD
Liberec	Luboš Kozel[29]	29 August 2021	Nike	AAA Auto
Mladá Boleslav	Pavel Hoftych[30]	23 February 2022	Adidas	Škoda Auto
Olomouc	Václav Jílek[31]	31 May 2021	Adidas	Tipsport Sigma
Ostrava	Ondřej Smetana		Jako	MW-Dias Město Ostrava
Plzeň	Michal Bílek		Macron	Doosan
Slavia Prague	Jindřich Trpišovský[32]	22 December 2017	Puma	eToro
Slovácko	Martin Svědík		Puma	Z-Group
Sparta Prague	Pavel Vrba		Adidas	Tipsport (Local) T-Mobile (Europe)
Teplice	Jiří Jarošík[33]	28 September 2021	Puma	AGC Bílinská kyselka
Zlín	Jan Jelínek		Adidas	Climax Sunscreens
Pardubice	Jaroslav Novotný Jiří Krejčí		Lotto	ČPP Servis

Managerial changes

Ahead of the season:

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Contract valid until
Hradec Králové	Zdenko Frťala[34]	Resigned	9 May 2021	Miroslav Koubek[35]	21 May 2021	Undisclosed
Sigma	Radoslav Látal[36]	End of contract	3 May 2021	Václav Jílek[37]	31 May 2021	Summer 2023

During the season:

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Match-week	Position in table	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Contract valid until
Liberec	Pavel Hoftych[38]	Mutual consent	26 August 2021	5	16	Luboš Kozel[39]	29 August 2021	Undisclosed
Teplice	Radim Kučera[40]	Sacked	26 September 2021	9	15	Jiří Jarošík[41]	28 September 2021	Summer 2024
Karviná	Jozef Weber[42]	Sacked	6 October 2021	10	16	Bohumil Páník[43]	7 October 2021	Undisclosed
Mladá Boleslav	Karel Jarolím[44]	Sacked	23 February 2022	22	6	Pavel Hoftych	23 February 2022	Undisclosed
Bohemians	Luděk Klusáček[45]	Mutual consent	23 February 2022	26	13	Jaroslav Veselý	21 March 2022	End of season
Sparta Prague	Pavel Vrba[46]	Sacked	9 May 2022	34	3	Michal Horňák	9 May 2022	End of season

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Slavia Prague	30	23	4	3	71	19	+52	73	Qualification for the championship group
2	Viktoria Plzeň	30	22	6	2	53	19	+34	72
3	Sparta Prague	30	20	6	4	65	32	+33	66
4	Slovácko	30	18	5	7	50	30	+20	59
5	Baník Ostrava	30	14	9	7	54	39	+15	51
6	Hradec Králové	30	9	13	8	38	40	−2	40
7	Mladá Boleslav	30	11	5	14	45	48	−3	38	Qualification for the play-off
8	Slovan Liberec	30	10	7	13	29	38	−9	37
9	Sigma Olomouc	30	9	10	11	39	37	+2	37
10	České Budějovice	30	9	9	12	40	46	−6	36
11	Fastav Zlín	30	8	6	16	36	53	−17	30	Qualification for the relegation group
12	Teplice	30	8	3	19	29	49	−20	27
13	Jablonec	30	4	14	12	22	45	−23	26
14	Bohemians 1905	30	6	8	16	34	56	−22	26
15	Pardubice	30	5	9	16	35	67	−32	24
16	Karviná	30	3	8	19	30	52	−22	17

Source: Fortuna Liga
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Goals scored; 7) Fair-play ranking; 8) Draw.^[47]

Results

Home \ Away	BOH	CBU	HKR	JAB	KAR	LIB	MLA	OLO	OST	PCE	PLZ	SLA	SLO	SPA	TEP	ZLN
Bohemians 1905	—	3–1	1–1	1–2	3–0	0–0	2–2	2–0	0–2	1–2	1–2	1–5	1–2	1–1	4–2	1–0
České Budějovice	2–1	—	0–1	2–0	3–1	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–3	3–1	0–1	2–2	3–2	0–0	1–0	2–2
Hradec Králové	1–1	2–2	—	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–2	3–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–5	2–2	0–1	3–0	2–1
Jablonec	2–2	2–2	1–1	—	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–1
Karviná	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–1	—	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–2	3–2	0–1	3–3	2–2	1–2	1–1	2–3
Slovan Liberec	2–1	0–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	—	2–1	2–0	0–2	4–1	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–5	0–1	0–1
Mladá Boleslav	4–1	2–0	3–2	3–0	1–0	3–3	—	3–3	2–3	2–3	0–2	0–2	3–5	0–3	3–1	1–0
Sigma Olomouc	0–0	3–3	2–2	4–0	2–0	1–0	2–1	—	1–1	3–2	1–1	0–1	0–3	2–0	0–0	1–1
Baník Ostrava	4–1	4–1	0–0	1–0	1–3	1–1	1–0	1–0	—	3–1	2–2	3–3	1–2	2–2	2–4	5–1
Pardubice	3–0	3–3	0–0	1–1	2–2	2–2	1–1	1–5	0–3	—	0–1	0–5	0–0	2–4	2–0	0–0
Viktoria Plzeň	6–0	2–1	1–0	5–0	2–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	4–0	—	1–1	2–1	3–2	1–0	2–1
Slavia Prague	1–0	1–0	4–1	5–0	0–1	3–1	2–0	1–0	4–0	4–0	2–0	—	2–1	2–0	3–0	3–0
Slovácko	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	3–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–2	0–1	—	4–0	3–2	3–0
Sparta Prague	5–1	1–0	4–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–0	3–2	2–1	3–1	2–2	1–0	3–1	—	4–2	2–0
Teplice	1–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	0–0	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–3	0–1	0–3	—	4–1
Fastav Zlín	1–3	2–0	2–3	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–2	1–4	2–2	4–1	1–2	0–1	1–0	2–5	3–0	—

Source: Fortuna Liga
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Championship group

Points and goals were carried over in full from the regular season.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		PLZ	SLA	SPA	SLO	OST	HKR
1	Viktoria Plzeň (C)	35	26	7	2	63	21	+42	85	Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round		—	—	3–0	3–1	1–0	—
2	Slavia Prague	35	24	6	5	80	27	+53	78	Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round		1–1	—	1–2	3–0	—	—
3	Sparta Prague	35	22	7	6	72	40	+32	73			—	—	—	1–2	3–1	1–1
4	Slovácko	35	21	5	9	59	38	+21	68	Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round[a]		—	—	—	—	3–1	3–0
5	Baník Ostrava	35	15	10	10	60	48	+12	55			—	1–1	—	—	—	3–1
6	Hradec Králové	35	10	14	11	44	52	−8	44			0–2	4–3	—	—	—	—

Source: Fortuna Liga
Rules for classification: 1) Total points; 2) Points earned in regular season; 3) Head-to-head points (regular season); 4) Head-to-head goal difference (regular season); 5) Head-to-head goals scored (regular season); 5) Goal difference (all matches); 6) Goals scored (all matches); 7) Fair-play ranking; 8) Draw.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Slovácko qualified for the Europa League as Czech Cup winners.

Play-off

Because only four teams advance to the European Cups from the Czech First League due to a low national coefficient, the winner of the play-off will only receive a cash bonus and a better position in the 2022–23 Czech Cup.^[48]

	First round						Second round
	Sigma Olomouc	1	2	3
	Slovan Liberec	0	0	0
							Sigma Olomouc	1	2	3
							Mladá Boleslav	2	2	4
	České Budějovice	2	0	2
	Mladá Boleslav	3	1	4

Relegation group

Points and goals were carried over in full from the regular season.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation		PCE	ZLN	JAB	BOH	TEP	KAR
11	Pardubice	35	9	10	16	42	68	−26	37			—	1–1	—	—	—	2–0
12	Fastav Zlín	35	9	9	17	43	60	−17	36			—	—	1–1	1–4	3–0	—
13	Jablonec	35	6	16	13	27	48	−21	34			0–1	—	—	1–1	—	2–0
14	Bohemians 1905 (O)	35	8	10	17	45	61	−16	34	Qualification for the relegation play-offs		0–1	—	—	—	—	4–0
15	Teplice (O)	35	8	5	22	33	59	−26	29			0–2	—	0–1	2–2	—	—
16	Karviná (R)	35	3	10	22	33	63	−30	19	Relegation to the FNL		—	1–1	—	—	2–2	—

Source: Fortuna Liga
Rules for classification: 1) Total points; 2) Points earned in regular season; 3) Head-to-head points (regular season); 4) Head-to-head goal difference (regular season); 5) Head-to-head goals scored (regular season); 5) Goal difference (all matches); 6) Goals scored (all matches); 7) Fair-play ranking; 8) Draw.
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Relegation play-offs

Teams placed 14th and 15th in the relegation group faced the teams placed second and third in the Czech National Football League for two spots in the next season.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Opava	0–3	Bohemians 1905	0–1	0–2
Teplice	5–2	Vlašim	3–0	2–2

Season statistics

Top scorers

Updated at the end of the season.^[49]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Jean-David Beauguel	Plzeň	19
2	Václav Jurečka	Slovácko	17
3	Ladislav Almási	Ostrava	16
4	Ondřej Lingr	Slavia	14
5	Tomáš Čvančara	Jablonec / Sparta	12
6	Ewerton	Mladá Boleslav	11
	David Puškáč	Bohemians 1905
8	Ivan Schranz	Slavia	10
	David Douděra	Mladá Boleslav
10	Jan Kuchta	Slavia	9
	Fortune Bassey	České Budějovice
	Jakub Rada	Hradec Králové
	Adam Hložek	Sparta

Hat-tricks

Matchweek	Date	Player	For	Against	Result
2	30 July 2021	Ivan Schranz	Slavia	Teplice	3–1 (A)[50]
9	26 September 2021	Ewerton	Mladá Boleslav	Slovácko	3–5 (H)[51]
18	12 December 2021	Matěj Pulkrab	Sparta	Bohemians	5–1 (H)[52]
32	30 April 2022	Václav Jurečka	Slovácko	Ostrava	3–1 (H)[53]
35	15 May 2022	David Puškáč4	Bohemians 1905	Karviná	4–0 (H)[54]

Notes

⁴ Player scored 4 goals
(H) – Home team
(A) – Away team

Clean sheets

Updated at the end of the season.^[55]

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Jindřich Staněk	Plzeň	14
2	Aleš Mandous	Slavia	10
3	Matúš Macík	Olomouc	9
4	Jan Šeda	Mladá Boleslav	8
	Filip Nguyen	Slovácko
6	Jan Laštůvka	Ostrava	7
	Matej Rakovan	Zlín
	Jan Hanuš	Jablonec
9	Florin Niță	Sparta	6
	Vilém Fendrich	Hradec Králové
	Ondřej Kolář	Slavia
	Jakub Markovič	Pardubice

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Manager of the Month
	Player	Club	Manager	Club
August	Ivan Schranz	Slavia	Pavel Vrba	Sparta
September	Ladislav Almási	Ostrava	Michal Bílek	Plzeň
October	Ewerton	Mladá Boleslav	Martin Svědík	Slovácko
November	Fortune Bassey	České Budějovice	Jindřich Trpišovský	Slavia
December	Matěj Pulkrab	Sparta	Michal Bílek	Plzeň
February	Jan Fortelný	Teplice	Jiří Jarošík	Teplice
March	Ondřej Lingr	Slavia	Miroslav Koubek	Hradec Králové
April	David Douděra	Mladá Boleslav	Michal Bílek	Plzeň
May	Jean-David Beauguel	Plzeň	Michal Bílek	Plzeň

Annual awards

Source:^[56]

Award	Winner	Club
Player of the Season	Tomáš Holeš	Slavia Prague
Manager of the Season	Michal Bílek	Viktoria Plzeň
International of the Season	Jean-David Beauguel	Viktoria Plzeň
Fans' choice Player of the Season	Adam Hložek	Sparta Prague
Newcomer of the Season	David Jurásek	Mladá Boleslav / Slavia Prague
Figure of the Season	Marek Matějovský	Mladá Boleslav
Goalkeeper of the Season	Jindřich Staněk	Viktoria Plzeň
Defender of the Season	Alexander Bah	Slavia Prague
Midfield of the Season	Tomáš Holeš	Slavia Prague
Forward of the Season	Jean-David Beauguel	Viktoria Plzeň