# 2019–20 Czech First League

The 2019–20 Czech First League, known as the Fortuna liga for sponsorship reasons, was the 27th season of the Czech Republic's top-tier football league. The defending champions were Slavia Prague, who won their fifth Czech title in the previous season. This season was the second one with a new league structure in which 16 clubs play each other home and away, until the league is split up in championship, Europa League and relegation groups.

## Season events

On 12 March, the League Football Association announced that all Fortuna liga games had been postponed for the foreseeable future due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After 2 months, on 12 May, the League Football Association announced that the Fortuna liga would resume on 25 May. The regular season concluded on 14 June 2020.
On 23 July, when the Champions group and the Europa League playoffs had already been finalized, SFC Opava - a team holding 15th place in the table had a suspected coronavirus case among their team members. The Czech League Football Association said it was not possible to complete the league's relegation group as a result of this, and the team was forced to quarantine. None of the three teams in danger of being relegated to the second league, namely Karviná, Opava and Příbram, would be relegated. From the Second League, the victorious Pardubice, and second-placed Zbrojovka Brno would advance to the first league, while third-placed Dukla Praha would not. The relegation group matches were suspended and no team was relegated.

## Teams
### Team changes

| Promoted from 2018–19 Czech National Football League | Relegated from 2018–19 Czech First League |
| České Budějovice | Dukla Prague |

### Stadiums and locations

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Bohemians 1905 | Prague | Ďolíček | 5,000 |
| SK Dynamo České Budějovice | České Budějovice | Stadion Střelecký ostrov | 6,681 |
| FK Jablonec | Jablonec nad Nisou | Stadion Střelnice | 6,108 |
| MFK Karviná | Karviná | Městský stadion (Karviná) | 4,833 |
| 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 |
| SFC Opava | Opava | Městský stadion (Opava) | 7,758 |
| FC Baník Ostrava | Ostrava | Městský stadion (Ostrava) | 15,123 |
| FC Viktoria Plzeň | Plzeň | Doosan Arena | 11,700 |
| 1. FK Příbram | Příbram | Na Litavce | 9,100 |
| SK Slavia Prague | Prague | Sinobo Stadium | 19,370 |
| 1. FC Slovácko | Uherské Hradiště | Městský fotbalový stadion Miroslava Valenty | 8,000 |
| AC Sparta Prague | Prague | Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena | 18,944 |
| FK Teplice | Teplice | Na Stínadlech | 18,221 |
| FC Fastav Zlín | Zlín | Letná Stadion | 5,783 |

## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Slavia Prague | 30 | 22 | 6 | 2 | 58 | 10 | +48 | 72 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 2 | Viktoria Plzeň | 30 | 20 | 6 | 4 | 60 | 22 | +38 | 66 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 3 | Sparta Prague | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 55 | 35 | +20 | 50 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 4 | Jablonec | 30 | 14 | 7 | 9 | 46 | 41 | +5 | 49 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 5 | Slovan Liberec | 30 | 14 | 5 | 11 | 50 | 38 | +12 | 47 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 6 | Baník Ostrava | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 42 | 34 | +8 | 45 | Qualification for the championship group |
| 7 | České Budějovice | 30 | 13 | 4 | 13 | 46 | 45 | +1 | 43 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs |
| 8 | Bohemians 1905 | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 38 | 41 | −3 | 42 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs |
| 9 | Slovácko | 30 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 35 | 35 | 0 | 42 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs |
| 10 | Mladá Boleslav | 30 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 48 | 52 | −4 | 40 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs |
| 11 | Sigma Olomouc | 30 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 36 | 37 | −1 | 36 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 12 | Teplice | 30 | 7 | 10 | 13 | 29 | 49 | −20 | 31 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 13 | Fastav Zlín | 30 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 25 | 47 | −22 | 27 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 14 | Karviná | 30 | 5 | 11 | 14 | 23 | 39 | −16 | 26 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 15 | Opava | 30 | 5 | 8 | 17 | 16 | 47 | −31 | 23 | Qualification for the relegation group |
| 16 | Příbram | 30 | 5 | 6 | 19 | 19 | 54 | −35 | 21 | Qualification for the relegation group |
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: Bohemians 1905 4, Slovácko 1.

### Results

Each team plays home-and-away against every other team in the league, for a total of 30 matches played each.
| Home \ Away | B05 | CBU | JAB | KAR | LIB | MLA | OLO | OPA | OST | PLZ | PRI | SLA | SLO | SPA | TEP | ZLN |
| Bohemians 1905 | — | 3–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 2–2 |
| České Budějovice | 3–2 | — | 1–1 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| Jablonec | 2–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 6–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| Karviná | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Liberec | 3–1 | 4–2 | 2–2 | 3–0 | — | 2–2 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 5–0 |
| Mladá Boleslav | 2–1 | 4–2 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–3 | — | 0–2 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 4–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Olomouc | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | — | 2–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Opava | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | — | 0–2 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 |
| Ostrava | 4–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 0–0 | — | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 |
| Plzeň | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 4–1 | 7–1 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | — | 4–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Příbram | 3–2 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | — | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Slavia Prague | 4–0 | 4–1 | 5–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | — | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 |
| Slovácko | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | — | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Sparta Prague | 4–0 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 5–2 | 3–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 0–2 | — | 3–0 | 2–2 |
| Teplice | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–5 | 0–0 | 1–1 | — | 2–1 |
| Fastav Zlín | 2–3 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | — |

## 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 | SLA | PLZ | SPA | JAB | LIB | OST |
| 1 | Slavia Prague (C) | 35 | 26 | 7 | 2 | 69 | 12 | +57 | 85 | Qualification for the Champions League play-off round | — | 1–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | — | — |
| 2 | Viktoria Plzeň | 35 | 23 | 7 | 5 | 68 | 24 | +44 | 76 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round | — | — | 2–1 | 2–0 | 4–0 | — |
| 3 | Sparta Prague | 35 | 17 | 9 | 9 | 66 | 40 | +26 | 60 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage | — | — | — | 3–0 | 4–1 | 3–2 |
| 4 | Jablonec | 35 | 14 | 9 | 12 | 48 | 52 | −4 | 51 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round | — | — | — | — | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| 5 | Slovan Liberec (O) | 35 | 15 | 6 | 14 | 55 | 51 | +4 | 51 | Qualification for the Europa League play-offs final | 1–3 | — | — | — | — | 2–1 |
| 6 | Baník Ostrava | 35 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 47 | 43 | +4 | 47 | | 1–3 | 0–0 | — | — | — | — |

## Europa League play-offs

Teams placed between 7th and 10th position will take part in the Europa league play-offs. The best of them will play against the fourth-placed or fifth-placed of the championship play-offs to determine the Europa League play-off winners. The winners will qualify for the second qualifying round of the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League.
| First round | First round | First round | First round | Second round | Second round | Second round | Second round |
| Mladá Boleslav | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| České Budějovice | 1 | 0 | 1 | | | | |
| České Budějovice | 1 | 0 | 1 | Mladá Boleslav | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| | | | | Bohemians 1905 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Slovácko | 1 | 1 | 2 | Bohemians 1905 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Bohemians 1905 | 2 | 2 | 4 | | | | |

### Final
## Relegation group

Points and goals were carried over in full from the regular season. The relegation group was scheduled to conclude on 7 July but due to three players from MFK Karviná testing positive for COVID-19, the last two rounds of matches were postponed to 23 and 26 July. Then, due to one player from SFC Opava testing positive for COVID-19, the last two rounds of matches were not played. As a consequence, no team was relegated and number of teams for 2020–2021 season was increased from 16 to 18.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | OLO | TEP | ZLN | KAR | OPA | PRI |
| 11 | Sigma Olomouc | 33 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 39 | 40 | −1 | 40 | — | 0–0 | — | 3–1 | — | — |
| 12 | Teplice | 33 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 37 | 51 | −14 | 38 | — | — | 4–1 | 4–1 | — | — |
| 13 | Fastav Zlín | 33 | 9 | 6 | 18 | 30 | 52 | −22 | 33 | — | — | — | — | 3–1 | 1–0 |
| 14 | Karviná | 33 | 5 | 12 | 16 | 25 | 46 | −21 | 27 | — | — | — | — | 0–0 | — |
| 15 | Opava | 33 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 17 | 50 | −33 | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | 0–0 |
| 16 | Příbram | 33 | 6 | 7 | 20 | 21 | 55 | −34 | 25 | 2–0 | — | — | — | — | — |
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: Opava 4, Příbram 1.

## Top scorers

    As of matches played 6 July 2020
| Rank | Name | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Petar Musa | Slovan Liberec / Slavia Prague | 14 |
| 1 | Libor Kozák | Sparta Prague | 14 |
| 3 | Lukáš Budínský | Mladá Boleslav | 13 |
| 4 | Guélor Kanga | Sparta Prague | 12 |
| 4 | Jakub Řezníček | Teplice | 12 |
| 6 | Nikolay Komlichenko | Mladá Boleslav | 10 |
| 6 | Martin Doležal | Jablonec | 10 |
| 6 | Michael Krmenčík | Viktoria Plzeň | 10 |
| 6 | Pavel Bucha | Mladá Boleslav / Viktoria Plzeň | 10 |
| 6 | Roman Potočný | Slovan Liberec / Baník Ostrava | 10 |

## Awards
### Monthly Awards

| Month | Player of the Month | Player of the Month | Manager of the Month | Manager of the Month |
| Month | Player | Club | Manager | Club |
| July | Jan Kopic | Viktoria Plzeň | Pavel Vrba | Viktoria Plzeň |
| August | Jakub Plšek | Sigma Olomouc | Jindřich Trpišovský | Slavia Prague |
| September | Jakub Mareš | Teplice | Jindřich Trpišovský | Slavia Prague |
| October | Tomáš Souček | Slavia Prague | Martin Svědík | Slovácko |
| November | Jaroslav Drobný | České Budějovice | David Horejš | České Budějovice |
| December | Milan Škoda | Slavia Prague | Martin Svědík | Slovácko |
| February | Pavel Bucha | Viktoria Plzeň | Adrián Guľa | Viktoria Plzeň |
| May | Aleš Čermák | Viktoria Plzeň | Adrián Guľa | Viktoria Plzeň |
| June | Jakub Řezníček | FK Teplice | Jindřich Trpišovský | Slavia Prague |

### Annual awards

| Award | Winner | Club |
| Player of the season | Ondřej Kolář | Slavia Prague |
| Manager of the season | Jindřich Trpišovský | Slavia Prague |
| International of the season | Nicolae Stanciu | Slavia Prague |
| Fans' Player of the season | Adam Hložek | Sparta Prague |
| Newcomer of the season | Pavel Bucha | Viktoria Plzeň |
| Figure of the season | Josef Jindřišek | Bohemians 1905 |
| Goalkeeper of the season | Ondřej Kolář | Slavia Prague |
| Defender of the season | Jakub Brabec | Viktoria Plzeň |
| Midfield of the season | Nicolae Stanciu | Slavia Prague |
| Forward of the season | Petar Musa | Slovan Liberec / Slavia Prague |

## Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Slavia Prague | 184,466 | 19,370 | 90 | 10,851 | −19.7%$^†$ |
| 2 | Sparta Prague | 146,777 | 17,292 | 120 | 8,634 | −22.0%$^†$ |
| 3 | Viktoria Plzeň | 123,440 | 11,625 | 160 | 7,261 | −18.3%$^†$ |
| 4 | Baník Ostrava | 120,278 | 13,535 | 1,722 | 8,019 | −23.2%$^†$ |
| 5 | Slovan Liberec | 58,895 | 8,765 | 150 | 3,272 | −34.6%$^†$ |
| 6 | České Budějovice | 58,530 | 6,681 | 120 | 3,658 | n/a$^†$ |
| 7 | Slovácko | 55,011 | 7,288 | 100 | 3,667 | −12.4%$^†$ |
| 8 | Teplice | 54,972 | 13,112 | 140 | 3,436 | −3.0%$^†$ |
| 9 | Bohemians 1905 | 54,179 | 6,277 | 125 | 3,386 | −19.9%$^†$ |
| 10 | Sigma Olomouc | 51,402 | 8,119 | 114 | 3,024 | −34.9%$^†$ |
| 11 | Fastav Zlín | 49,243 | 5,898 | 125 | 3,078 | −19.6%$^†$ |
| 12 | Opava | 42,235 | 6,087 | 55 | 2,640 | −17.3%$^†$ |
| 13 | Mladá Boleslav | 40,788 | 5,000 | 287 | 2,719 | −6.1%$^†$ |
| 14 | Karviná | 40,213 | 4,833 | 25 | 2,681 | −12.1%$^†$ |
| 15 | Jablonec | 37,124 | 4,863 | 100 | 2,320 | −19.9%$^†$ |
| 16 | Příbram | 35,804 | 5,862 | 120 | 2,238 | −34.6%$^†$ |
| | League total | 1,153,357 | 19,370 | 25 | 4,470 | −19.3%$^†$ |
Source: