Czech_National_Football_League

Czech National Football League

Czech National Football League

Football league

For the hockey league, see 2. národní hokejová liga.

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.

Quick Facts Founded, Country ...

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.

More information Club, Location ...

FNL champions

More information Season, Winners ...

Teams promoted to the First League since 1993

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]

More information Season, Top scorer ...

Notes

  1. [N 1]
    Due to dissolution of Czechoslovakia
  2. [N 2]
    Union Cheb was relegated due to bankruptcy
  3. [N 3]
    Drnovice were refused a Czech First League license so Plzeň were promoted to replace them[4]
  4. [N 4]
    Čáslav wasn't able to play 1st liga due to financial problems.[5]
  5. [N 5]
    Ústí wasn't able to play 1st liga due to problems with their stadium[6]

References

  1. [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. [2]
    "Czech Republic 1997/98". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  3. [3]
    "Bohemians přišli o licenci, ve 2. lize končí" (in Czech). iDNES.cz. 28 February 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
  4. [4]
    "Drnovice v první lize končí, na řadě je Plzeň" (in Czech). iDNES.cz. 14 June 2005. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  5. [5]
    "Slovácko se vrací do ligy, koupilo postup od Čáslavi". denik.cz (in Czech). 10 June 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  6. [6]
    Novák, Jaromír (6 June 2012). "Brno postupuje do první ligy, Ústí doplatilo na nevyhovující stadion" (in Czech). idnes.cz. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  7. [7]
    "FOTBAL.CZ – Historie Fotbalové národní ligy". nv.fotbal.cz. Football association of Czech Republic. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  8. [8]
    "Czech Republic 2003/04". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
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