# 2022–23 Czech First League

The 2022–23 Czech First League, known as the FORTUNA:LIGA for sponsorship reason, is the 30th season of the Czech Republic's top-tier football for professional clubs since its establishment, in 1993. FC Viktoria Plzeň are the reigning champions. The season started on 30 July 2022. The first half of the season will have 16 rounds, finishing on 13 November 2022 because of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the other half will commence on 28 January 2023. The season is expected to end on 28 May 2023 with two extra play-out fixtures on 1 and 4 June 2023.
The season format is unchanged from last season, each team will play in the league format home and away matches. The lowest-ranked team will be relegated directly to the second league, the two teams positioned 14th and 15th will play a play-out with two teams from the second league positioned 2nd and 3rd in a home and away format. This will be the fifth season to use VAR, featuring it in all matches played. The year-to-year changes in the format of the competition are only cosmetic, the most significant change being the expansion of the number of substitutes on the substitute bench to 11.

## Teams
### Promotion and relegation (pre-season)

A total of sixteen teams contest the league, including fifteen sides from the 2021–22 season and the winner of last season's second league.

#### Team promoted to Czech First League

After being relegated in the 2020–21 season, Zbrojovka Brno returns to Czech First League as the champion of the 2021–22 Czech National Football League.

#### Teams relegated from Czech First League

The lowest positioned team from the last season, MFK Karviná, was relegated to the Czech National Football League. The 14th-placed Bohemians 1905 and 15th-placed FK Teplice successfully defended their spots in the first league by winning the relegation play-offs.

### Locations and stadiums

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Bohemians 1905 | Prague | Ďolíček | 6,300 |
| FC Zbrojovka Brno | Brno | Srbská | 12,550 |
| SK Dynamo České Budějovice | České Budějovice | Stadion Střelecký ostrov | 6,681 |
| FC Hradec Králové | Hradec Králové | Lokotrans Aréna | 5,000 |
| FK Jablonec | Jablonec nad Nisou | Stadion Střelnice | 6,108 |
| FC Slovan Liberec | Liberec | Stadion u Nisy | 9,900 |
| FK Mladá Boleslav | Mladá Boleslav | Lokotrans Aréna | 5,000 |
| SK Sigma Olomouc | Olomouc | Andrův stadion | 12,483 |
| FC Baník Ostrava | Ostrava | Městský stadion (Ostrava) | 15,123 |
| FC Viktoria Plzeň | Plzeň | Doosan Arena | 11,700 |
| SK Slavia Prague | Prague | Fortuna Arena | 19,370 |
| 1. FC Slovácko | Uherské Hradiště | Městský fotbalový stadion Miroslava Valenty | 8,000 |
| AC Sparta Prague | Prague | epet ARENA | 18,944 |
| FK Teplice | Teplice | Na Stínadlech | 18,221 |
| FC Trinity Zlín | Zlín | Letná Stadion | 5,783 |
| FK Pardubice | Pardubice | CFIG Arena | 4,600 |
| Rank | Region | Number of teams | Club(s) |
| 1 | Prague | 3 | Bohemians 1905, Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague |
| 2 | Liberec | 2 | Jablonec, Slovan Liberec |
| 2 | Zlín | 2 | Trinity Zlín, Slovácko |
| 4 | Central Bohemian | 1 | Mladá Boleslav |
| 4 | Hradec Králové | 1 | Hradec Králové |
| 4 | Moravian-Silesian | 1 | Baník Ostrava |
| 4 | Olomouc | 1 | Sigma Olomouc |
| 4 | Pardubice | 1 | Pardubice |
| 4 | Plzeň | 1 | Viktoria Plzeň |
| 4 | South Bohemian | 1 | Dynamo České Budějovice |
| 4 | South Moravian | 1 | Zbrojovka Brno |
| 4 | Ústí nad Labem | 1 | Teplice |

## Managerial changes

Ahead of the season:
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Contract valid until |
| Sparta Prague | Michal Horňák | End of contract | 18 May 2022 | Brian Priske | 31 May 2022 | Undisclosed |
During the season:
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Match-week | Position in table | Replaced by | Date of appointment | Contract valid until |
| Pardubice | Jiří Krejčí & Jaroslav Novotný | Sacked | 29 August 2022 | 5 | 16th | Radoslav Kováč | 13 September 2022 | June 2024 |
| Baník Ostrava | Pavel Vrba | Mutual consent | 10 October 2022 | 11 | 14th | Pavel Hapal | 12 October 2022 | Undisclosed |
| Dynamo České Budějovice | Jozef Weber | Sacked | 31 October 2022 | 14 | 14th | Marek Nikl & Tomáš Zápotočný | 13 November 2022 | Undisclosed |
| Trinity Zlín | Jan Jelínek | Sacked | 14 November 2022 | 16 | 15th | Pavel Vrba | 28 November 2022 | Undisclosed |
| Teplice | Jiří Jarošík | Sacked | 4 March 2023 | 22 | 14th | Zdenko Frťala | 6 March 2023 | Undisclosed |
| Zbrojovka Brno | Richard Dostálek | Sacked | 11 April 2023 | 26 | 13th | Martin Hašek | 11 April 2023 | Undisclosed |

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Sparta Prague | 30 | 20 | 8 | 2 | 70 | 29 | +41 | 68 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 2 | Slavia Prague | 30 | 20 | 6 | 4 | 81 | 25 | +56 | 66 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 3 | Viktoria Plzeň | 30 | 17 | 6 | 7 | 55 | 29 | +26 | 57 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 4 | Bohemians 1905 | 30 | 14 | 6 | 10 | 53 | 49 | +4 | 48 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 5 | Slovácko | 30 | 13 | 7 | 10 | 36 | 38 | −2 | 46 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 6 | Sigma Olomouc | 30 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 45 | 40 | +5 | 41 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 7 | Slovan Liberec | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 39 | 43 | −4 | 38 | Qualification for the play-off |
| 8 | Hradec Králové | 30 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 34 | 40 | −6 | 38 | Qualification for the play-off |
| 9 | Mladá Boleslav | 30 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 39 | 42 | −3 | 37 | Qualification for the play-off |
| 10 | České Budějovice | 30 | 10 | 5 | 15 | 35 | 54 | −19 | 35 | Qualification for the play-off |
| 11 | Jablonec | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 46 | 57 | −11 | 35 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 12 | Baník Ostrava | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 43 | 42 | +1 | 35 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 13 | Teplice | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 38 | 63 | −25 | 32 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 14 | Zbrojovka Brno | 30 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 40 | 56 | −16 | 31 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 15 | Pardubice | 30 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 29 | 58 | −29 | 28 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 16 | Trinity Zlín | 30 | 5 | 11 | 14 | 37 | 55 | −18 | 26 | Qualification for the relegation group |

### Results

| Home \ Away | BOH | BRN | CBU | HKR | JAB | LIB | MLA | OLO | OST | PCE | PLZ | SLA | SLO | SPA | TEP | ZLN |
| Bohemians 1905 | — | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 2–6 | 2–0 | 3–2 |
| Zbrojovka Brno | 1–2 | — | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 0–4 | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| České Budějovice | 1–0 | 3–2 | — | 0–3 | 5–1 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–2 |
| Hradec Králové | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | — | 1–4 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 0–0 |
| Jablonec | 0–3 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | — | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2–2 |
| Slovan Liberec | 1–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | — | 1–3 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 5–1 | 1–0 |
| Mladá Boleslav | 4–3 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 4–0 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Sigma Olomouc | 2–2 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | 1–4 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| Baník Ostrava | 4–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 0–3 | — | 3–0 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 3–1 |
| Pardubice | 0–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| Viktoria Plzeň | 1–2 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | — | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Slavia Prague | 3–0 | 2–0 | 6–1 | 1–1 | 5–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 7–0 | 2–1 | — | 2–0 | 4–0 | 6–0 | 4–1 |
| Slovácko | 2–4 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| Sparta Prague | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 5–2 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 4–0 | — | 4–1 | 0–0 |
| Teplice | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–5 | 5–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 2–2 | — | 0–0 |
| Trinity Zlín | 4–1 | 2–3 | 5–1 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–1 | — |

## Championship group

Points and goals were carried over in full from the regular season.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | SPA | SLA | PLZ | BOH | SLO | OLO |
| 1 | Sparta Prague (C) | 35 | 23 | 9 | 3 | 76 | 33 | +43 | 78 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round | — | 3–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | — |
| 2 | Slavia Prague | 35 | 24 | 6 | 5 | 98 | 31 | +67 | 78 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round | — | — | 2–1 | 6–0 | 4–0 | — |
| 3 | Viktoria Plzeň | 35 | 18 | 7 | 10 | 60 | 38 | +22 | 61 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round | — | — | — | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–3 |
| 4 | Bohemians 1905 | 35 | 15 | 7 | 13 | 56 | 58 | −2 | 52 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League second qualifying round | — | — | — | — | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| 5 | Slovácko | 35 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 40 | 46 | −6 | 50 | | 0–0 | — | — | — | — | 2–2 |
| 6 | Sigma Olomouc | 35 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 53 | 47 | +6 | 48 | | 0–1 | 2–3 | — | — | — | — |
* ↑ Slavia Prague qualified for the Europa League as Czech Cup winners.

## Play-off

Because only four teams advance to the European Cups from the Czech First League due to a low national coefficient, the winner of the play-off will only receive a cash bonus and a bye in the third round of the 2023–24 Czech Cup.
| First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round |
| Mladá Boleslav | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hradec Králové | 0 | 2 | 2 | | | | |
| Hradec Králové | 0 | 2 | 2 | Hradec Králové | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| | | | | Slovan Liberec | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| České Budějovice | 3 | 0 | 3 | Slovan Liberec | 4 | 2 | 6 |
| Slovan Liberec | 2 | 4 | 6 | | | | |

## Relegation group

Points and goals were carried over in full from the regular season.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation | OST | TEP | JAB | PCE | ZLN | BRN |
| 11 | Baník Ostrava | 35 | 11 | 9 | 15 | 53 | 50 | +3 | 42 | | — | 2–1 | — | 2–4 | — | 4–0 |
| 12 | Teplice | 35 | 11 | 9 | 15 | 45 | 67 | −22 | 42 | | — | — | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| 13 | Jablonec | 35 | 10 | 10 | 15 | 49 | 63 | −14 | 40 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | — | — | — | 1–0 |
| 14 | Pardubice (O) | 35 | 11 | 4 | 20 | 38 | 63 | −25 | 37 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs | — | — | 2–0 | — | 1–2 | — |
| 15 | Trinity Zlín (O) | 35 | 7 | 13 | 15 | 43 | 60 | −17 | 34 | Qualification for the relegation play-offs | 2–1 | — | 1–1 | — | — | — |
| 16 | Zbrojovka Brno (R) | 35 | 8 | 9 | 18 | 41 | 64 | −23 | 33 | Relegation to FNL | — | — | — | 0–2 | 0–0 | — |

## Relegation play-offs

Teams placed 14th and 15th in the relegation group faced the teams placed 2nd and 3rd in the Czech National Football League for two spots in the next season.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Viagem Příbram | 0–2 | Pardubice | 0–2 | 0–0 |
| Trinity Zlín | 1–0 | Vyškov | 1–0 | 0–0 |

### Matches

All times Central European Summer Time (UTC+2)
Pardubice won 2–0 on aggregate.
Trinity Zlín won 1–0 on aggregate.

## Season statistics
### Hat-tricks

| Matchweek | Date | Player | For | Against | Result |
| 2 | 6 August 2022 | Mick van Buren | Liberec | Teplice | 5–1 (H) |
| 4 | 21 August 2022 | Stanislav Tecl | Slavia | Pardubice | 7–0 (H) |
| 10 | 2 October 2022 | Filip Žák | Teplice | Pardubice | 5–1 (H) |
| 11 | 9 October 2022 | Roman Květ | Bohemians 1905 | Slovácko | 4–2 (A) |
| 13 | 22 October 2022 | Jakub Řezníček | Brno | Pardubice | 3–1 (A) |
| 30 | 30 April 2023 | Muhamed Tijani | Ostrava | Olomouc | 4–1 (A) |
| 31 | 7 May 2023 | Václav Jurečka$^4$ | Slavia | Bohemians 1905 | 6–0 (H) |
| 35 | 27 May 2023 | Václav Jurečka$^4$ | Slavia | Slovácko | 4–0 (H) |

#### Notes

$^4$ Player scored 4 goals (H) – Home team (A) – Away team

### Clean sheets

Final standing
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Filip Nguyen | Slovácko | 11 |
| 2 | Ondřej Kolář | Slavia | 10 |
| 2 | Matěj Kovář | Sparta | 10 |
| 2 | Jindřich Staněk | Plzeň | 10 |
| 5 | Jan Šeda | Mladá Boleslav | 6 |
| 5 | Michal Reichl | Hradec Králové | 6 |
| 5 | Jakub Trefil | Olomouc | 6 |
| 8 | Olivier Vliegen | Liberec | 5 |
| 8 | Martin Jedlička | Bohemians 1905 | 5 |
| 8 | Jan Hanuš | Jablonec | 5 |