Czech First League

For Czechoslovak top tier association football competition 1925–1993, see Czechoslovak First League. For the second tier Czech ice hockey league, see 1st Czech Republic Hockey League.

The Czech First League, also known as the Chance Liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Czech Republic and the highest level of the Czech Republic football league system. Seasons typically run from August to May, most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays with few games played on Fridays. All Chance Liga clubs qualify for the Czech Cup.

Chance Liga

Founded	1993; 32 years ago (1993)
Country	Czech Republic
Confederation	UEFA
Number of clubs	16
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Czech National Football League
Domestic cup(s)	Czech Cup
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League UEFA Conference League
Current champions	Sparta Prague (14th title) (2023–24)
Most championships	Sparta Prague (14 titles)
Top goalscorer	David Lafata (198 goals)
TV partners	OneFootball (Outside of Czech Republic)
Website	en.fortunaliga.cz
Current: 2024–25 Czech First League

The history of the Czech football league began with its reorganization for the 1993–94 season following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and therefore the league became the successor of the Czechoslovak League. Thirty-five clubs have competed in the Czech First League since its founding. Sparta Prague has won the title 14 times, the most among Czech clubs and are the reigning champions. Other clubs that were crowned as champions are Slavia Prague, Slovan Liberec, Baník Ostrava and Viktoria Plzeň.

Based on performances in European competitions over the past five years, the league is ranked 10th in the UEFA league rankings for the 2024–25 season.

A Czech First League match (SK Slavia Prague vs MFK Karviná)

Competition format

In the inaugural season, two points were awarded for a win, before switching to three points for a win in 1994.^[1] Teams are ranked by total points, in the case of two or more teams finishing with equal points, the head-to-head record between the teams is used for ranking, counting points in relevant games, then goal difference and then goals scored.

1993–2018

There were 16 clubs in the league. During the course of a season, which lasted from August to May, each club played the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 30 games.

New format

The 2018–19 season was the first season played with the new competition format. After the regular season, which lasts from July to April and involves each team playing every other team home and away, the teams are divided into three groups. The top six teams enter the championship group, with the first-placed team being named champions. The teams play against each other only once, playing total of five additional matches. Points earned are added to the points from the regular season.

The teams 7th–10th position after 30 games take part in the Europa League play-offs. The best of them play against the fourth-placed or fifth-placed (it depends on the result of the Czech Cup and on the Czech coefficient rankings between European football leagues) of the championship group to determine who will participate in the Europa League.

The teams from 11th to 16th position play in the same format as the championship group. The team finishing in 16th position is relegated directly to the Czech National Football League, while teams in 15th and 14th places play relegation play-offs against teams finishing 2nd and 3rd in the Czech National Football League.

Changes in 2020–21

Due to positive tests for Covid-19 in the 2019–20 season the relegation group was abandoned.^[2] The league announced that due to time pressure the relegation group would remain unfinished and as a consequence, no team could be relegated. As the winner of the second league should be promoted, and to avoid playing the 2020–21 season with an odd number of teams, automatic promotion was granted to the second placed team as well. There were 18 clubs in the league, each club played the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 34 games. The three lowest placed teams were relegated to the second tier (Czech National Football League). From the 2021–22 season, the system returned to its previous format.

Champions

Main article: List of Czech football champions

Year by year

	Season	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Top goalscorer(s) (goals)	Club(s)
	1993–94	Sparta Prague (1)	Slavia Prague	Baník Ostrava	Horst Siegl (20)	Sparta Prague
	1994–95	Sparta Prague (2)	Slavia Prague	Boby Brno	Radek Drulák (15)	Drnovice
	1995–96	Slavia Prague (1)	Sigma Olomouc	Jablonec	Radek Drulák (22)	Drnovice
	1996–97	Sparta Prague (3)	Slavia Prague	Jablonec	Horst Siegl (19)	Sparta Prague
	1997–98	Sparta Prague (4)	Slavia Prague	Sigma Olomouc	Horst Siegl (13)	Sparta Prague
	1998–99	Sparta Prague (5)	Teplice	Slavia Prague	Horst Siegl (18)	Sparta Prague
	1999–00	Sparta Prague (6)	Slavia Prague	Drnovice	Vratislav Lokvenc (22)	Sparta Prague
	2000–01	Sparta Prague (7)	Slavia Prague	Sigma Olomouc	Vítězslav Tuma (15)	Drnovice
	2001–02	Slovan Liberec (1)	Sparta Prague	Viktoria Žižkov	Jiří Štajner (15)	Slovan Liberec
	2002–03	Sparta Prague (8)	Slavia Prague	Viktoria Žižkov	Jiří Kowalík (16)	1. FC Synot
	2003–04	Baník Ostrava (1)	Sparta Prague	Sigma Olomouc	Marek Heinz (19)	Baník Ostrava
	2004–05	Sparta Prague (9)	Slavia Prague	Teplice	Tomáš Jun (14)	Sparta Prague
	2005–06	Slovan Liberec (2)	Mladá Boleslav	Slavia Prague	Milan Ivana (11)	Slovácko
	2006–07	Sparta Prague (10)	Slavia Prague	Mladá Boleslav	Luboš Pecka (16)	Mladá Boleslav
	2007–08	Slavia Prague (2)	Sparta Prague	Baník Ostrava	Václav Svěrkoš (15)	Baník Ostrava
	2008–09	Slavia Prague (3)	Sparta Prague	Slovan Liberec	Andrej Kerić (15)	Slovan Liberec
	2009–10	Sparta Prague (11)	Jablonec	Baník Ostrava	Michal Ordoš (12)	Sigma Olomouc
	2010–11	Viktoria Plzeň (1)	Sparta Prague	Jablonec	David Lafata (19)	Jablonec
	2011–12	Slovan Liberec (3)	Sparta Prague	Viktoria Plzeň	David Lafata (25)	Jablonec
	2012–13	Viktoria Plzeň (2)	Sparta Prague	Slovan Liberec	David Lafata (20)	Jablonec / Sparta Prague
	2013–14	Sparta Prague (12)	Viktoria Plzeň	Mladá Boleslav	Josef Hušbauer (18)	Sparta Prague
	2014–15	Viktoria Plzeň (3)	Sparta Prague	Jablonec	David Lafata (20)	Sparta Prague
	2015–16	Viktoria Plzeň (4)	Sparta Prague	Slovan Liberec	David Lafata (20)	Sparta Prague
	2016–17	Slavia Prague (4)	Viktoria Plzeň	Sparta Prague	Milan Škoda / David Lafata (15)	Slavia Prague / Sparta Prague
	2017–18	Viktoria Plzeň (5)	Slavia Prague	Jablonec	Michael Krmenčík (16)	Viktoria Plzeň
	2018–19	Slavia Prague (5)	Viktoria Plzeň	Sparta Prague	Nikolay Komlichenko (29)	Mladá Boleslav
	2019–20	Slavia Prague (6)	Viktoria Plzeň	Sparta Prague	Libor Kozák / Petar Musa (14)	Sparta Prague / Slavia Prague
	2020–21	Slavia Prague (7)	Sparta Prague	Jablonec	Jan Kuchta / Adam Hložek (15)	Slavia Prague / Sparta Prague
	2021–22	Viktoria Plzeň (6)	Slavia Prague	Sparta Prague	Jean-David Beauguel (19)	Viktoria Plzeň
	2022–23	Sparta Prague (13)	Slavia Prague	Viktoria Plzeň	Václav Jurečka (20)	Slavia Prague
	2023–24	Sparta Prague (14)	Slavia Prague	Viktoria Plzeň	Václav Jurečka (19)	Slavia Prague

Performance by club

Percentage of titles won by club

1. Sparta Prague – 14 (41.38%)
2. Slavia Prague – 7 (24.13%)
3. Viktoria Plzeň – 6 (20.69%)
4. Slovan Liberec – 3 (10.35%)
5. Baník Ostrava – 1 (3.45%)

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years
Sparta Prague	14	10	1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2022–23, 2023–24
Slavia Prague	7	13	1995–96, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21
Viktoria Plzeň	6	4	2010–11, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2021–22
Slovan Liberec	3	0	2001–02, 2005–06, 2011–12
Baník Ostrava	1	0	2003–04
Sigma Olomouc	0	1
Teplice	0	1
Mladá Boleslav	0	1
Jablonec	0	1

Participating teams in 2024–25

Czech First League trophy (2013)

Map

Prague

České Budějovice

Jablonec

Karviná

Liberec

Mladá Boleslav

Olomouc

Hradec Králové

Baník Ostrava

Viktoria Plzeň

Slovácko

Teplice

Pardubice

Prague teams:
Bohemians 1905
Dukla Prague
Slavia Prague
Sparta Prague

Locations of the 2024–25 Czech First League teams

2024–25 season

The following 16 clubs are competing in the 2024–25 Czech First League.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Ref.
Bohemians 1905	Prague	Ďolíček	6,300	[3]
SK Dynamo České Budějovice	České Budějovice	Stadion Střelecký ostrov	6,681	[4]
FK Dukla Prague	Prague	Stadion Juliska	8,150	[5]
FC Hradec Králové	Hradec Králové	Malšovická aréna	9,300	[6]
FK Jablonec	Jablonec nad Nisou	Stadion Střelnice	6,108	[7]
MFK Karviná	Karviná	Městský stadion (Karviná)	4,833	[8]
FC Slovan Liberec	Liberec	Stadion u Nisy	9,900	[9]
FK Mladá Boleslav	Mladá Boleslav	Lokotrans Aréna	5,000	[10]
SK Sigma Olomouc	Olomouc	Andrův stadion	12,474	[11]
FC Baník Ostrava	Ostrava	Městský stadion (Ostrava)	15,123	[12]
FK Pardubice	Pardubice	CFIG Arena	4,620	[13]
FC Viktoria Plzeň	Plzeň	Doosan Arena	11,700	[14]
SK Slavia Prague	Prague	Fortuna Arena	19,370	[15]
1. FC Slovácko	Uherské Hradiště	Městský fotbalový stadion Miroslava Valenty	8,000	[16]
AC Sparta Prague	Prague	epet ARENA	18,944	[17]
FK Teplice	Teplice	Na Stínadlech	17,078	[18]

Managers

As of 9 April 2025.

Club	Coach	Appointed
Sparta Prague	Lars Friis[19]	12 June 2024
Slavia Prague	Jindřich Trpišovský[20]	22 December 2017
Viktoria Plzeň	Miroslav Koubek[21]	5 June 2023
Baník Ostrava	Pavel Hapal[22]	12 October 2022
Mladá Boleslav	Josef Jinoch Pavel Malura Jakub Harant[23]	28 April 2024
Slovácko	Tomáš Palinek[24]	31 March 2025
Hradec Králové	David Horejš[25]	28 February 2024
Teplice	Zdenko Frťala[26]	6 March 2023
Slovan Liberec	Radoslav Kováč[27]	26 May 2024
Sigma Olomouc	Tomáš Janotka[28]	29 May 2024
Jablonec	Luboš Kozel[29]	17 June 2024
Pardubice	David Střihavka[30]	29 October 2024
Bohemians 1905	Jaroslav Veselý[31]	21 March 2022
Karviná	Martin Hyský[32]	11 June 2024
Dynamo České Budějovice	Jiří Lerch[33]	12 January 2025
Dukla Prague	Petr Rada[34]	8 June 2022

Sponsorship

FORTUNA:LIGA (2016–2024)

In 1997 the league started a sponsorship deal with Pilsner Urquell Brewery and became known as the Gambrinus liga (after the company's Gambrinus beer).^[35] In 2008, the sponsorship was extended until the end of the 2013–14 season.^[36]

In May 2014, the league announced a four-year sponsorship deal with betting firm Synot, becoming the Synot liga.^[37] However, in January 2016 the company announced that their deal would conclude at the end of the 2015–16 season.^[38]

In July 2016 a new two-year sponsorship deal was announced, with the league partnering ePojisteni.cz, an online insurance company. The league subsequently became known as the ePojisteni.cz liga. Due to a government subsidy scandal and the arrest of FAČR chairman Miroslav Pelta [cs], ePojisteni.cz terminated the contract prematurely in May 2017.^[39] The league was then renamed HET liga for the 2017–18 season, after paint manufacturer HET.^[40]

In October 2016, FAČR, League Football Association and Czech betting company Fortuna signed a 6-year partnership deal. In accordance with this deal, the Czech First League will be called Fortuna liga from the 2018–19 season.^[41]

In April 2024, a new partnership deal was announced with the betting company Chance. In accordance with this deal, the Czech First League will be called Chance Liga from the 2024–25 season.^[42]

Media coverage

Country	Broadcaster
Austria	Sportdigital, DAZN, Sport1 Extra
Germany
Switzerland
Czech Republic	O2 TV, Tipsport, Chance, Fortuna
Russia	Telesport
Belarus	Belarus 5
Russia
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Ukraine
Poland	Polsat Sport, Ipla
Romania	Telekom Sport
Slovakia	VOYO
Slovenia	TV 3
Albania	Arena Sport
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Croatia
Montenegro
North Macedonia
Serbia
Egypt	Time Sports
Rest of the World	OneFootball

All time table

After the 2023–24 season.

The table counts all the seasons since the Czech First League was founded in 1993. Highlighted teams will be competing in the 2024–25 Czech First League.^[43]

Pos	Team	S	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Current level
1	AC Sparta Prague	31	959	602	201	156	1830	803	1027	1989	1st tier
2	SK Slavia Prague	31	959	529	243	187	1681	859	822	1814	1st tier
3	FC Slovan Liberec	31	953	404	262	287	1278	1057	221	1463	1st tier
4	FC Viktoria Plzeň	27	839	413	197	229	1300	915	385	1424	1st tier
5	FK Jablonec	30	929	357	267	305	1248	1113	135	1338	1st tier
6	SK Sigma Olomouc	29	890	335	251	304	1138	1048	90	1242	1st tier
7	FC Baník Ostrava	30	930	323	269	338	1231	1188	43	1224	1st tier
8	FK Teplice	28	863	304	246	313	1059	1096	−37	1158	1st tier
9	FC Zbrojovka Brno	26	789	255	206	328	914	1069	−155	961	2nd tier
10	FK Mladá Boleslav	20	626	251	163	212	934	835	99	916	1st tier
11	1. FC Slovácko	22	686	238	179	269	807	863	−56	893	1st tier
12	SK Dynamo České Budějovice	23	705	200	190	315	752	1074	−322	779	1st tier
13	Bohemians 1905	22	688	195	197	296	715	958	−243	774	1st tier
14	FK Příbram	22	672	191	172	309	697	986	−289	745	3rd tier
15	FC Zlín	19	596	162	164	270	594	859	−265	640	2nd tier
16	FC Hradec Králové	17	524	141	143	240	499	742	−243	557	1st tier
17	FK Viktoria Žižkov	14	420	144	106	170	478	539	−61	526	2nd tier
18	FK Drnovice	10	300	114	67	119	392	398	−6	396	Dissolved in 2006
19	SFC Opava	11	342	83	89	170	347	532	−185	338	2nd tier
20	FK Dukla Prague	9	275	77	76	122	325	420	−95	306	1st tier
21	FK Chmel Blšany	8	240	67	63	110	255	350	−95	264	Dissolved in 2016
22	FC Vysočina Jihlava	7	210	55	61	94	221	315	−94	226	2nd tier
23	MFK Karviná	7	232	50	63	119	246	367	−121	213	1st tier
24	FK Pardubice	4	139	46	28	65	160	220	−60	166	1st tier
25	SK Kladno	4	120	28	30	62	99	173	−74	114	4th tier
26	FC Union Cheb	3	90	29	26	35	95	121	−26	100	4th tier
27	FK SIAD Most	3	90	19	30	41	96	140	−44	87	Dissolved in 2016
28	FK Bohemians Prague	2	60	14	8	38	60	111	−51	50	Dissolved in 2016
29	FC Karviná	2	60	12	12	36	53	105	−52	48	Merged with MFK Karviná in 2008
30	1. SC Znojmo FK	1	30	6	9	15	32	49	−17	27	3rd tier
31	FK Ústí nad Labem	1	30	4	7	19	22	67	−45	19	3rd tier
32	Slovácká Slavia Uherské Hradiště	1	30	3	8	19	19	65	−46	17	Merged with Slovácko in 2000
33	MFK Vítkovice	1	30	3	7	20	22	64	−42	13	4th tier
34	FK Švarc Benešov	1	30	3	3	24	23	78	−55	12	4th tier
35	AFK Atlantic Lázně Bohdaneč	1	30	2	5	23	18	61	−43	11	Dissolved in 2000

• Point deductions are not counted in this historical table (2004–05: 1. FC Slovácko −12, SFC Opava −6, Slovan Liberec −6; 2009–10: Bohemians Praha (Střížkov) −15; 2011–12: Sigma Olomouc −9).
• A win was awarded with 2 points in the 1993–94 season.

Statistics

UEFA coefficients

See also: UEFA coefficient

The following data indicates Czech coefficient rankings between European football leagues.^[44]

UEFA Country ranking As of 29 May 2024.[45] 8th  (8) Belgian Pro League (48.600) 9th  (12) Süper Lig (38.600) 10th  (15) Czech First League (36.050) 11th  (9) Scottish Premiership (36.050) 12th  (13) Swiss Super League (32.975)

UEFA Club ranking As of 29 May 2024.[46] 035th Slavia Prague (53.000) 064th Viktoria Plzeň (28.000) 077th Sparta Prague (22.500) 178th Jablonec (8.000)

Attendance

^[47]

Season	Total	Average	Highest	Home Av.	Club
1993–94	1,116,885	4,663	23,111	9,501	Brno
1994–95	1,380,060	5,750	34,770	20,523	Brno
1995–96	1,225,755	5,129	26,872	12,283	Brno
1996–97	1,710,045	7,155	44,120	21,659	Brno
1997–98	1,477,515	6,156	31,730	15,365	Brno
1998–99	1,447,875	6,033	24,400	13,207	Brno
1999–00	1,433,355	5,972	23,800	11,280	Opava
2000–01	1,091,882	4,549	16,350	7,718	Olomouc
2001–02	1,113,325	4,722	16,300	7,490	Ostrava
2002–03	935,927	3,899	18,228	6,175	Sparta Prague
2003–04	1,158,523	4,827	20,032	15,376	Ostrava
2004–05	921,658	3,840	15,419	8,028	Ostrava
2005–06	980,633	4,085	20,318	7,211	Sparta Prague
2006–07	1,173,869	4,891	20,565	11,848	Sparta Prague
2007–08	1,237,660	5,156	20,698	11,022	Ostrava
2008–09	1,119,410	4,664	20,500	11,971	Slavia Prague
2009–10	1,177,014	4,924	19,370	10,766	Sparta Prague
2010–11	1,073,690	4,473	18,873	8,665	Sparta Prague
2011–12	1,130,540	4,710	18,299	10,322	Sparta Prague
2012–13	1,151,464	4,797	19,410	10,046	Plzeň
2013–14	1,216,389	5,068	19,089	11,340	Sparta Prague
2014–15	1,137,131	4,738	18,665	10,868	Plzeň
2015–16	1,219,366	5,080	18,684	10,618	Plzeň
2016–17	1,172,619	4,886	19,084	11,625	Slavia Prague
2017–18	1,331,016	5,546	19,084	12,431	Slavia Prague
2018–19	1,533,390	5,536	19,370	13,456	Slavia Prague
2019–20	1,153,357	4,470	19,370	10,851	Slavia Prague
2020–21	165,502	600	9,285	3,709	Slavia Prague
2021–22	1,055,806	3,825	19,370	10,989	Slavia Prague
2022–23	1,535,500	5,563	19,370	14,729	Slavia Prague
2023–24	1,782,387	6,435	19,370	17,688	Slavia Prague

Records

Main article: Czech First League records and statistics

As of 15 December 2024.^[48][49]

Following statistics count only seasons of Czech First League since its inception in 1993. Highlighted players currently plays in the Czech First League.

Most appearances Rank Player Matches 1 Milan Petržela 519 2 Václav Procházka 447 3 Josef Jindřišek 445 4 Marek Matějovský 439 5 Stanislav Vlček 436 6 Martin Vaniak 432 Rudolf Otepka 8 Pavel Horváth 426 9 David Lafata 418 10 Libor Došek 407

Top scorers Rank Player Goals Matches 1 David Lafata 198 418 2 Horst Siegl 134 310 3 Libor Došek 125 407 4 Milan Škoda 104 344 5 Jan Chramosta 99 357 6 Jakub Řezníček 98 344 7 Stanislav Vlček 94 436 8 Luděk Zelenka 92 342 9 Marek Kulič 88 389 10 Martin Doležal 87 305

Most clean sheets

Rank	Player	Clean sheets	Matches
1	Jaromír Blažek	157	401
2	Martin Vaniak	153	432
3	Tomáš Grigar	117	376
4	Matúš Kozáčik	111	242
5	Tomáš Poštulka	110	309
6	Michal Špit	101	300
7	Radek Černý	90	212
	Ondřej Kolář		185
9	Jan Laštůvka	89	275
10	Petr Drobisz	88	289
	Aleš Hruška		308

Matches

^[50]

Record	Match	Score	Season
Most goals total	Zlín–Mladá Boleslav	5–9	2023–24
Home team's highest win	Slavia–Slovácká Slavia Uherské Hradiště	9–1	1995–96
Away team's highest win	Teplice–Mladá Boleslav	0–8	2018–19
Highest draw	Jablonec–Znojmo	5–5	2013–14