Gambrinus liga

Gambrinus liga

Countries	Czech Republic
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1993
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Czech 2. Liga
Domestic cup(s)	Pohár ČMFS
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League
Current champions	FC Viktoria Plzeň
Most championships	AC Sparta Prague (11 titles)
TV partners	ČT, Nova, Sport 2
Website	Official
2011–12 Gambrinus liga

The Gambrinus liga is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 16 clubs, operating a system of promotion and relegation with the Czech 2. Liga. Seasons run from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each. It is sponsored by Plzeňský Prazdroj, a. s., and is therefore officially known as the 1. Gambrinus liga, the name of one of the best-selling beers in the Czech Republic. The league is currently ranked 18th in Europe in the UEFA league rankings. The history of the Czech football Liga began at the end of the 20th century. It was reorganized for the 1993/1994 season, after the dissolution of former Czechoslovakia and therefore of the Czechoslovak League. Having won more than half of league titles, Sparta Prague are the most successful team in Gambrinus liga history. Other clubs who have won the title are Slavia Prague, Slovan Liberec, Baník Ostrava and Viktoria Plzeň.

Competition format and sponsorship

Competition

There are 16 clubs in the 1. Liga. During the course of a season, which lasts from August to May, each club plays the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents, for a total of 30 games. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. 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. The two lowest placed teams are relegated to the Czech 2. Liga.

European qualification (as of 2011–12)

• 1st place: Second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League
• 2nd place: Second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
• 3rd place: Second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
• Czech Cup winner: Third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League, regardless of league position.
  • If the Cup winner qualifies for European competition through the league, the Cup winner's place in the Europa League goes to the defeated Cup finalist if it is not already qualified for European competition.
    • If both Cup finalists qualify for the European competition through the league, an extra Europa League berth is granted to the highest finisher in the Gambrinus liga not already qualified for Europe.
• An additional place in the Europa League may also be granted via the UEFA Fair Play mechanism. This rule was maintained from the UEFA Cup. The last (and, as of 2011, only) Gambrinus liga team to gain entry to the UEFA Cup via the fair play rule was Sigma Olomouc in 2002–03.

The number of Czech clubs which may participate in UEFA competitions is determined by UEFA coefficients, which take into account the results of a particular nation's clubs in UEFA competitions over the preceding five years.

Participating teams in 2011-12

The following 16 clubs are competing in the 2011–12 Gambrinus liga.

Club	Stadium	Capacity	2010-11 Position
1. FC Slovácko	Městský stadion	8,000	12th
1. FK Příbram	Na Litavce	9,100	13th
AC Sparta Prague	Generali Arena	20,854	2nd
Bohemians 1905	Synot Tip Arena[1]	21,000	6th
FC Baník Ostrava	Bazaly	17,372	14th
FC Hradec Králové	Všesportovní stadion	6,000	8th
FC Slovan Liberec	Stadion u Nisy	9,900	7th
FC Viktoria Plzeň	Stadion ve Štruncových sadech	12,500	1st
FK Dukla Prague	Stadion Juliska	18,000	2.L 1st
FK Jablonec 97	Stadion Střelnice	6,280	3rd
FK Mladá Boleslav	Městský stadion	5,000	5th
FK Teplice	Na Stínadlech	18,221	10th
FK Viktoria Žižkov	FK Viktoria Stadion	5,600	2.L 2nd
SK Sigma Olomouc	Andrův stadion	12,566	4th
SK Dynamo České Budějovice	E-On Stadion	6,681	11th
SK Slavia Prague	Synot Tip Arena	21,000	9th

Sponsorship

Since 1993, the 1. Liga has been sponsored. The sponsor has been able to determine the league's sponsorship name. The list below details who the sponsors have been and what they called the competition:

• 1993–present Plzeňský Prazdroj, a. s. (1. Gambrinus liga)

Champions

Year By Year

Season	Champions	Runner-up	Third Place	Top Goalscorer	Club
1993-94	Sparta Prague (1)	Slavia Prague	Baník Ostrava	Horst Siegl (20)	Sparta Prague
1994-95	Sparta Prague (2)	Slavia Prague	FC Brno	Radek Drulák (15)	Drnovice
1995-96	Slavia Prague (1)	Sigma Olomouc	Baumit Jablonec	Radek Drulák (22)	Drnovice
1996-97	Sparta Prague (3)	Slavia Prague	Baumit 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 (21)	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)	Synot Staré Město
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)	FC 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

Performance by Club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years
Sparta Prague	11	5	1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2009–10
Slavia Prague	3	9	1995–96, 2007–08, 2008–09
Slovan Liberec	2	0	2001–02, 2005–06
Baník Ostrava	1	0	2003–04
Viktoria Plzeň	1	0	2010–11
Sigma Olomouc	0	1
Teplice	0	1
Mladá Boleslav	0	1
Jablonec	0	1

Regions

The following table lists the Czech football champions by region.

Region	Titles	Winning Clubs
Prague	14	Sparta Prague (11), Slavia Prague (3)
Liberec Region	2	Slovan Liberec (2)
Moravian-Silesian Region	1	Baník Ostrava (1)
Plzeň Region	1	Viktoria Plzeň (1)

Managers

Name	Club	Appointed
Komňacký, FrantišekFrantišek Komňacký	Jablonec	02007-10-12 12 October 2007
Psotka, ZdeněkZdeněk Psotka	Sigma Olomouc	02008-07-01 1 July 2008
Chovanec, JozefJozef Chovanec	Sparta Prague	02008-10-07 7 October 2008
Vrba, PavelPavel Vrba	Viktoria Plzeň	02008-10-08 8 October 2008
Kotal, VáclavVáclav Kotal	Hradec Králové	02009-03-24 24 March 2009
Kozel, LubošLuboš Kozel	Dukla Prague	02009-12-14 14 December 2009
Soukup, MiroslavMiroslav Soukup	Slovácko	02010-04-18 18 April 2010
Pulpit, MartinMartin Pulpit	Viktoria Žižkov	02010-07-01 1 July 2010
Medynský, PavelPavel Medynský	Bohemians 1905	02011-05-09 9 May 2011
Vavruška, DavidDavid Vavruška	Příbram	02011-05-26 26 May 2011
Koubek, MiroslavMiroslav Koubek	Mladá Boleslav	02011-05-28 28 May 2011
Rada, PetrPetr Rada	Teplice	02011-06-03 3 June 2011
Šilhavý, JaroslavJaroslav Šilhavý	Slovan Liberec	02011-06-06 6 June 2011
Malura, PavelPavel Malura	Baník Ostrava	02011-07-31 31 July 2011
Cipro, FrantišekFrantišek Cipro	České Budějovice	02011-09-07 7 September 2011
Straka, FrantišekFrantišek Straka	Slavia Prague	02011-10-02 2 October 2011

References

1. ^ Ďolíček Stadium does not meet the football association criteria, therefore Bohemians are forced to play at the stadium of Slavia Prague.

External links

• Official website of Czech football
• fotbal.iDNES.cz
• Gambrinus liga at eFotbal.cz