By Stan Chetin
The structure of Czech football consists of 10 leagues. The first two leagues are considered professional and other leagues are amateur. Following is the brief introduction of all leagues and how teams can move from one league to another.
1. The first league is Fortuna League, named after the sponsor of the league. It is the highest league in the Czech Republic. There are 16 clubs in the 1st league. All of them play each other 2 times per year. From this year, the structure of the tournament was changed a bit. Previously the team with the most points after 30 games was announced as the champion. However, this year after 30 games all clubs will be divided in 3 groups. The first six teams will fight for the championship and place in the UEFA Champions league. The second group consists of 4 teams, who play for the chance to represent Czech Republic in the UEFA Europa League. The other 6 teams are trying to preserve their place in the highest league.
2. The second league is also named after Fortuna. 16 teams play in this league. During season teams play against each other twice and two teams with the most points are promoted to the 1st league. The two worst teams go back to the Czech Football league or to the Moravian Football league.
3. The third league is divided into two divisions according to territorial principle: Czech Football League (CFL) and Moravian Football League (MFL). There are 18 teams in the CFL and 16 teams in the MFL. Only champions of both leagues can advance to the 2nd league. The worst teams are relegated to their previous division. However, this system is a bit complicated, because the number of teams, which downgrade from both CFL and MFL depends on teams, which downgrade from the 2nd league. If both teams, which come from the 2nd league are “Czech”, then the 4 worst teams downgrade from CFL and just one from the MFL. If both worst teams of the 2nd are “Moravian”, then 2 teams downgrade from the CFL to their respective regional divisions and 3 last teams from the MFL. If 1 team is from the CFL and one from MFL, then 3 worst CFL teams go back to the 4th league and 2 teams from MFL.
4. The fourth league consists of 5 divisions. There are three divisions under the umbrella of Czech Football league (A, B and C) and 2 divisions under the Moravian Football League (D and E). There is a regional principle behind this division system. All divisions have 16 teams. Best teams from each division are promoted to the 3rd league. Usually 2 worst teams go to the lower division, but it can change because of lack of interest from the teams from lower league, which do not want to be promoted.
5. The 5th league consists of teams from different Czech regions. There are 8 regions included into the CFL umbrella and 5 regions under the MFL. All divisions have 16 teams. The best team are promoted to the Division A, B, C, E or D, depending on its territorial background. Worst two teams from each regional divisions are relegated to the relevant groups of the 1st A category.
As there are many regions, I will focus further on only on the division and groups, which play in the Prague region.
6. Prague 1st A-tier group with other regional 1st A-tier groups form the 6th league. The 1st A-tier group has 2 subgroups A and B. 16 teams play in each Prague groups. The best teams can move to the higher league and the worst relegated to the 1st B group.
7. Prague 1st B-tier group as well has two sub groups (A and B) and they form the 7th league. The best teams from each subgroup are promoted to the either A or B subgroups of the 1st A-tier group. The worst two teams are relegated to the 8th league.
8. Prague 2nd tier group together with other Regional 2nd tier groups form the 8th league. There are 3 subgroups in the Prague 2nd tier group. 12 teams play in each subgroup. Winners of each subgroup are promoted to the 1st B-tier group. The worst teams downgrade to the 3rd tier group.
9. Prague 3rd tier group and other 3rd tier groups form the 9th Czech football league. There are two subgroups in this group: A and B. 13 teams, including Prague Raptors, play in the A group. And 14 teams play in the B league. Only the winner of each subgroups are promoted to the higher division.
There is no 4th tier group in the Prague territorial division. However, other Czech regions have these 4th tier group as there are different number of teams there, but the upgrading system is the same.