Czech National Football League

Czech National Football League
Founded	1993
Country	Czech Republic
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Czech First League
Relegation to	ČFL; MSFL
Domestic cup(s)	Czech Cup
Current champions	MFK Karviná (3rd title) ; (2022–23)
Most championships	MFK Karviná,; SK Dynamo České Budějovice,; FC Hradec Králové (3 titles)
Website	www.fnliga.cz
	Current: 2023–24 Czech National Football League

The Czech National Football League (Czech: Fotbalová národní liga, FNL), currently known as Fortuna národní liga due to sponsorship reasons, is the second level professional association football league in the Czech Republic. Before 2013 it was known as 2. liga or Druhá liga. The top two teams each season are eligible for promotion to the Czech First League.

The league replaced the I.ČNL (I. Česká národní liga; First Czech National League), which had been established following the end of the nationwide Czechoslovak Second League in 1977. The league became known as simply II. liga (Second League) in 1993 following the establishment of the Czech Republic as an independent state.[1]

Structure

There are 16 clubs in the FNL. During the season, which runs from August to May or June, with a winter break between November and February or March, each club plays each of the other clubs twice (once at home, once away) and is awarded three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the top-ranked team is promoted to the Czech First League, providing they obtain a license and meet league requirements, and is replaced by the team that finished 16th in that league. The two teams positioned 2nd and 3rd play a play-out with two teams from the first league positioned 14th and 15th in a home and away format. The two teams that finished at the bottom of the FNL are relegated to either the Bohemian Football League or the Moravian-Silesian Football League, based on geographical criteria. In turn, the champions of each of these regional divisions are promoted to the FNL.

In the 1993–94 season the league was played with 16 teams, before expanding to 18 teams in the 1994–95 season. Since 1995, the league is usually played with 16 teams, but on two occasions a team did not fulfil its fixtures and the full 30 rounds were not completed. Firstly in the 1997–98 Czech 2. Liga as Ústí nad Labem did not fulfil their fixtures and their results were cancelled,[2] and secondly in the 2004–05 Czech 2. Liga as Bohemians' results were expunged after playing only the first half of the season.[3] In the 2020–21 season, only 14 teams competed because of the suspension of the first league in the previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participating teams

The following 16 clubs are competing in the 2023–24 Czech National Football League.

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity	2022–23 position
FC Zbrojovka Brno	Brno	Městský fotbalový stadion Srbská	10,200	16th in First League
MFK Vyškov	Vyškov	Sportovní areál Drnovice	4,500	2nd
FK Příbram	Příbram	Na Litavce	9,100	3rd
FK Dukla Prague	Prague	Stadion Juliska	8,150	4th
SK Líšeň	Brno	Stadion SK Líšeň	2,100	5th
FK Varnsdorf	Varnsdorf	Městský stadion v Kotlině	5,000	6th
FC Silon Táborsko	Tábor	Stadion v Kvapilově ulici	2,000	7th
MFK Chrudim	Chrudim	Za Vodojemem	1,500	8th
SK Sigma Olomouc B	Olomouc	Andrův stadion	12,483	9th
AC Sparta Prague B	Prague	FK Viktoria Stadion	5,037	10th
FC Sellier & Bellot Vlašim	Vlašim	Stadion Kollárova ulice	3,000	11th
1. SK Prostějov	Prostějov	Stadion FK Holice	2,900	12th
SFC Opava	Opava	Stadion v Městských sadech	7,524	13th
FC Vysočina Jihlava	Jihlava	Stadion v Jiráskově ulici	4,500	14th
FK Viktoria Žižkov	Prague	eFotbal Arena	5,037	1st in ČFL
SK Hanácká Slavia Kroměříž	Kroměříž	Stadion SK Hanácká Slavia Kroměříž	1,529	1st in MSFL

FNL champions

Season	Winners	Runners-up
1993–94	Sklobižu Jablonec nad Nisou	FK Švarc Benešov
1994–95	Uherské Hradiště	Ostroj Opava
1995–96	FC Karviná	FK Teplice
1996–97	FC Dukla Prague	AFK Atlantic Lázně Bohdaneč
1997–98	FK Chmel Blšany	FC Karviná
1998–99	Bohemians Prague	SK České Budějovice
1999–2000	Synot Staré Město	FC Viktoria Plzeň
2000–01	FC Hradec Králové	SFC Opava
2001–02	SK Dynamo České Budějovice	FK Zlín
2002–03	FC Viktoria Plzeň	SFC Opava
2003–04	FK Mladá Boleslav	FK Drnovice
2004–05	FK SIAD Most	FC Vysočina Jihlava
2005–06	SK Kladno	SK Dynamo České Budějovice
2006–07	FK Viktoria Žižkov	Bohemians 1905
2007–08	Bohemians Prague	FK Marila Příbram
2008–09	Bohemians 1905	FC Zenit Čáslav
2009–10	FC Hradec Králové	FK Ústí nad Labem
2010–11	FK Dukla Prague	FK Viktoria Žižkov
2011–12	FK Ústí nad Labem	FC Vysočina Jihlava
2012–13	1. SC Znojmo	Bohemians 1905
2013–14	SK Dynamo České Budějovice	FC Hradec Králové
2014–15	SK Sigma Olomouc	FK Varnsdorf
2015–16	MFK Karviná	FC Hradec Králové
2016–17	SK Sigma Olomouc	FC Baník Ostrava
2017–18	SFC Opava	1.FK Příbram
2018–19	SK Dynamo České Budějovice	FC Vysočina Jihlava
2019–20	FK Pardubice	FC Zbrojovka Brno
2020–21	FC Hradec Králové	SK Líšeň
2021–22	FC Zbrojovka Brno	FC Sellier & Bellot Vlašim
2022–23	MFK Karviná	MFK Vyškov

Teams promoted to the First League since 1993

1993: Viktoria Žižkov, Petra Drnovice, Viktoria Plzeň, Union Cheb, Slovan Liberec, Svit Zlín [nb 1]
1994: Sklobižu Jablonec nad Nisou, Švarc Benešov
1995: Uherské Hradiště, Ostroj Opava
1996: FC Karviná, FK Teplice, Bohemians Prague [nb 2]
1997: FC Dukla Příbram, AFK Atlantic Lázně Bohdaneč
1998: FK Chmel Blšany, FC Karviná
1999: Bohemians Prague, SK České Budějovice
2000: Synot Staré Město, FC Viktoria Plzeň
2001: FC Hradec Králové, SFC Opava
2002: SK Dynamo České Budějovice, FC Tescoma Zlín
2003: FC Viktoria Plzeň, SFC Opava
2004: FK Mladá Boleslav, FK Drnovice
2005: FK SIAD Most, FC Vysočina Jihlava, FC Viktoria Plzeň [nb 3]
2006: SK Kladno, SK Dynamo České Budějovice
2007: Viktoria Žižkov, Bohemians 1905
2008: Bohemians (Střížkov) Prague, FK Marila Příbram
2009: Bohemians 1905, 1. FC Slovácko [nb 4]
2010: FC Hradec Králové, FK Ústí nad Labem
2011: FK Dukla Prague, FK Viktoria Žižkov
2012: FC Vysočina Jihlava, FC Zbrojovka Brno [nb 5]
2013: 1. SC Znojmo, Bohemians 1905
2014: SK Dynamo České Budějovice, FC Hradec Králové
2015: SK Sigma Olomouc, FC Fastav Zlín
2016: MFK Karviná, FC Hradec Králové
2017: SK Sigma Olomouc, FC Baník Ostrava
2018: SFC Opava, 1.FK Příbram
2019: SK Dynamo České Budějovice
2020: FK Pardubice, FC Zbrojovka Brno
2021: FC Hradec Králové
2022: FC Zbrojovka Brno
2023: MFK Karviná

Top scorers

All information in this table can be found at[7] except for the 2003–04 season, which is sourced from the following link.[8]

Season	Top scorer	Club	Goals
1993–94	Tibor Mičinec	Benešov	18
1994–95	Bedřich Hamsa	LeRK Brno	22
1995–96	Patrik Holomek	Poštorná	16
1996–97	Václav Koloušek	Dukla Prague	18
1997–98	Vítězslav Tuma	Karviná	19
1998–99	Patrik Holomek	Staré Město	18
1999–00	Vladimír Malár	Staré Město	24
2000–01	Pavel Černý	Hradec Králové	17
2001–02	Radek Drulák	HFK Olomouc	16
2002–03	Petr Švancara	Opava	20
2003–04	Tomáš Kaplan	Jihlava	10
	Roman Bednář	Mladá Boleslav
	Vojtěch Schulmeister	Sigma Olomouc B
2004–05	Horst Siegl	Most	16
2005–06	Petr Faldyna	České Budějovice	19
2006–07	Petr Faldyna	Jihlava	15
2007–08	Petr Faldyna	Jihlava	13
2008–09	Martin Jirouš	Sokolov	18
2009–10	Pavel Černý	Hradec Králové	14
	Dani Chigou	Dukla Prague
	Karel Kroupa	Zlín
2010–11	Dani Chigou	Dukla Prague	19
2011–12	Jiří Mlika	Sokolov	19
2012–13	Lukáš Železník	Zlín	13
2013–14	David Vaněček	Hradec Králové	17
2014–15	Václav Vašíček	Sigma Olomouc	13
2015–16	Jan Pázler	Hradec Králové	17
2016–17	Jakub Plšek	Sigma Olomouc	18
2017–18	Jan Pázler	Hradec Králové	21
2018–19	David Ledecký	České Budějovice	18
2019–20	Stanislav Klobása	Jihlava	17
2020–21	Jaroslav Málek	Líšeň	13
2021–22	Jakub Řezníček	Zbrojovka Brno	18
2022–23	Tomáš Wágner	Viagem Příbram	17

Notes

Due to dissolution of Czechoslovakia
Union Cheb was relegated due to bankruptcy
Drnovice were refused a Czech First League license so Plzeň were promoted to replace them[4]
Čáslav wasn't able to play 1st liga due to financial problems.[5]
Ústí wasn't able to play 1st liga due to problems with their stadium[6]

References

Jeřábek, Luboš (2007). Ceský a ceskoslovenský fotbal – lexikon osobností a klubu (in Czech). Prague: Grada Publishing. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-80-247-1656-5.
"Czech Republic 1997/98". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
"Bohemians přišli o licenci, ve 2. lize končí" (in Czech). iDNES.cz. 28 February 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
"Drnovice v první lize končí, na řadě je Plzeň" (in Czech). iDNES.cz. 14 June 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
"Slovácko se vrací do ligy, koupilo postup od Čáslavi". denik.cz (in Czech). 10 June 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
Novák, Jaromír (6 June 2012). "Brno postupuje do první ligy, Ústí doplatilo na nevyhovující stadion" (in Czech). idnes.cz. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
"FOTBAL.CZ – Historie Fotbalové národní ligy". nv.fotbal.cz. Football association of Czech Republic. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
"Czech Republic 2003/04". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 6 April 2018.

External links

Official website
Information on ČMFS website
League321.com – Czech Republic football league tables, records & statistics database. (in English)

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[4] Due to dissolution of Czechoslovakia

[5] Union Cheb was relegated due to bankruptcy

[7] Drnovice were refused a Czech First League license so Plzeň were promoted to replace them[4]

[9] Čáslav wasn't able to play 1st liga due to financial problems.[5]

[11] Ústí wasn't able to play 1st liga due to problems with their stadium[6]

[jerabek-1] Jeřábek, Luboš (2007). Ceský a ceskoslovenský fotbal – lexikon osobností a klubu (in Czech). Prague: Grada Publishing. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-80-247-1656-5.

[2] "Czech Republic 1997/98". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 January 2013.

[3] "Bohemians přišli o licenci, ve 2. lize končí" (in Czech). iDNES.cz. 28 February 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2011.

[6] "Drnovice v první lize končí, na řadě je Plzeň" (in Czech). iDNES.cz. 14 June 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2013.

[8] "Slovácko se vrací do ligy, koupilo postup od Čáslavi". denik.cz (in Czech). 10 June 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2014.

[10] Novák, Jaromír (6 June 2012). "Brno postupuje do první ligy, Ústí doplatilo na nevyhovující stadion" (in Czech). idnes.cz. Retrieved 25 August 2014.

[12] "FOTBAL.CZ – Historie Fotbalové národní ligy". nv.fotbal.cz. Football association of Czech Republic. Retrieved 6 April 2018.

[13] "Czech Republic 2003/04". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 6 April 2018.

Czech National Football League (2nd tier)
2023–24 teams	FC Zbrojovka Brno MFK Chrudim FC Vysočina Jihlava SK Hanácká Slavia Kroměříž SK Líšeň SK Sigma Olomouc B SFC Opava FK Dukla Prague FK Příbram 1. SK Prostějov AC Sparta Prague B FC Silon Táborsko FK Varnsdorf FC Sellier & Bellot Vlašim MFK Vyškov FK Viktoria Žižkov
Seasons	1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24