2011–12 Czech First League

The 2011–12 Czech First League, known as the Gambrinus liga for sponsorship reasons, was the 19th season of the Czech Republic's top-tier football league. It began on 29 July 2011 and was originally due to end on 26 May 2012,^[3][4] although due to the Czech Republic's qualification for the UEFA Euro 2012, the end of the season was brought forward to 12 May 2012.^[5] Viktoria Plzeň were the defending champions, having won their first Czech Republic championship the previous season.

Czech First League

Season	2011–12
Champions	Liberec
Relegated	Bohemians 1905 Viktoria Žižkov
Champions League	Liberec
Europa League	Sparta Prague Viktoria Plzeň Mladá Boleslav
Matches played	240
Goals scored	635 (2.65 per match)
Top goalscorer	David Lafata (25 goals)
Biggest home win	Jablonec 5–0 Bohemians 1905 Plzeň 5–0 Hradec Králové Slavia Prague 5–0 Hradec Králové
Biggest away win	Č.Budějovice 1–5 Jablonec Bohemians 1905 0–4 Sparta Prague Plzeň 0–4 Olomouc Č.Budějovice 0-4 Liberec
Highest scoring	Olomouc 4–4 Příbram
Highest attendance	18,299[1] Sparta Prague 3–0 Slavia Prague (26 September 2011)
Lowest attendance	0[2] Slavia Prague 3–1 Příbram (14 August 2011)
Average attendance	4,710[1]
← 2010–11 2012–13 →

Sparta Prague started the season with eight consecutive wins, the first such occurrence in league history.^[6] Sparta broke their own record when they won their ninth straight league match and opened up a 10-point lead at the top of the table.^[7]

The title was decided on the last day of the season, with Liberec hosting Viktoria Plzeň in the knowledge that a win for either team would seal the title, with a draw being enough for Liberec to retain first place.^[8] In front of a sold-out stadium at Stadion u Nisy, Liberec held the visitors to a goalless draw, winning the league for the third time since 2002.^[9]

Teams

Ústí nad Labem and Zbrojovka Brno were relegated to the 2011–12 Czech 2. Liga after finishing last and second to last, respectively, in the 2010–11 season. Ústi nad Labem therefore immediately returned to the second tier, while Brno completed a nineteen-year tenure in the top flight.

The relegated terms were replaced by 2010–11 2. Liga champions Dukla Prague and Viktoria Žižkov. Viktoria Žižkov returned after a two-year absence, while Dukla Prague made their debut in the league; however, the Dukla Prague name returned to the league after seventeen seasons, with a club of the same name having played in the top Czech football division until then. The newly promoted clubs were granted licenses to play top-division football on 13 June 2011.^[10]

Viktoria Žižkov became the first team to be relegated on 5 May 2012 after Ostrava beat Příbram.^[11]

Stadia and locations

Prague

Česke Budějovice

Hradec Králové

Jablonec

Liberec

Ml. Boleslav

Olomouc

Ostrava

Příbram

Slovácko

Teplice

Plzeň

Prague teams:
Bohemians 1905
Dukla Prague
Slavia Prague
Sparta Prague
Viktoria Žižkov

Locations of clubs in the 2011–12 Czech First League

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity	2010–11 position
Baník Ostrava	Ostrava	Bazaly	17,372	14th
Bohemians 1905	Prague	Synot Tip Arena Note 1	21,000	6th
Dukla Prague	Prague	Stadion Juliska Note 2	4,560	2L, 1st
Dynamo České Budějovice	České Budějovice	E-On Stadion	6,681	11th
FC Hradec Králové	Hradec Králové	Všesportovní stadion	7,220	8th
FK Jablonec	Jablonec	Stadion Střelnice	6,280	3rd
FK Mladá Boleslav	Mladá Boleslav	Městský stadion (Mladá Boleslav)	5,000	5th
1. FK Příbram	Příbram	Na Litavce	9,100	12th
Sigma Olomouc	Olomouc	Andrův stadion	12,566	4th
Slavia Prague	Prague	Synot Tip Arena	21,000	9th
1. FC Slovácko	Uherské Hradiště	Městský fotbalový stadion Miroslava Valenty	8,121	13th
Slovan Liberec	Liberec	Stadion u Nisy	9,900	7th
Sparta Prague	Prague	Generali Arena	20,558	2nd
FK Teplice	Teplice	Na Stínadlech	18,221	10th
Viktoria Plzeň	Plzeň	Stadion města Plzně	13,000	1st
Viktoria Žižkov	Prague	FK Viktoria Stadion	5,600	2L, 2nd

Notes:

1. Ďolíček stadion does not meet the football association criteria, therefore Bohemians are forced to play at Synot Tip Arena.^[12]
2. FK Dukla Prague played one home match at Stadion Evžena Rošického due to the implementation of under-soil heating at Juliska.^[13]

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager1	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Baník Ostrava	Pavel Malura	Martin Lukeš	Nike	Fortuna
Bohemians 1905	Jozef Weber	Radek Sňozík	Adidas	Fortuna
Dukla Prague	Luboš Kozel	Jan Vorel	Adidas	Bwin then Staeg
Dynamo České Budějovice	František Cipro	David Horejš	Adidas	AVE
Hradec Králové	Václav Kotal	Roman Fischer	Jako	City of Hradec Králové
Jablonec	František Komňacký	Petr Pavlík	Umbro	Baumit
Mladá Boleslav	Miroslav Koubek	Marek Kulič	Nike	Škoda
Příbram	David Vavruška	Aleš Hruška	Adidas	Startip
Sigma Olomouc	Petr Uličný	Radim Kučera	Adidas	Tipsport
Slavia Prague	Martin Poustka	Lukáš Jarolím	Umbro	Synot Tip
Slovácko	Miroslav Soukup	Vít Valenta	Kappa	Z-GROUP Steel holding
Slovan Liberec	Jaroslav Šilhavý	Tomáš Janů	Nike	Fortuna
Sparta Prague	Jozef Chovanec	Marek Matějovský	Nike	Fortuna
Teplice	Petr Rada	Petr Lukáš	Umbro	AGC
Viktoria Plzeň	Pavel Vrba	Pavel Horváth	Puma	Doosan Group
Viktoria Žižkov	Roman Nádvorník	Tomáš Procházka	Adidas	None

• ¹ According to current revision of List of Czech Football League managers

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Baník Ostrava	Karol Marko	Sacked	30 July 2011[14]	14th (10–11)	Pavel Malura	31 July 2011[14]
České Budějovice	Jiří Kotrba	Removed from position	7 September 2011[15]	15th	František Cipro	7 September 2011[15]
Slavia Prague	Michal Petrouš	Sacked	2 October 2011[16]	13th	František Straka	2 October 2011[16]
Viktoria Žižkov	Martin Pulpit	Sacked	23 November 2011[17]	15th	Roman Nádvorník	23 November 2011[17]
Sigma Olomouc	Zdeněk Psotka	Sacked	27 November 2011[18]	16th	Petr Uličný	8 December 2011[19]
Bohemians 1905	Pavel Medynský	Sacked	6 March 2012[20]	12th	Jozef Weber	7 March 2012[21]
Slavia Prague	František Straka	Resigned	8 March 2012[22]	11th	Martin Poustka	14 March 2012
Baník Ostrava	Pavel Malura	Sacked	26 March 2012[23]	15th	Radoslav Látal	26 March 2012[23]

• ^1 Slavia manager František Straka resigned on 8 March. Assistant manager Martin Poustka was appointed to serve as caretaker manager for the next match against Jablonec, which was just three days later.^[22]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Slovan Liberec (C)	30	20	6	4	68	29	+39	66	Qualification for Champions League second qualifying round
2	Sparta Prague	30	20	4	6	51	25	+26	64	Qualification for Europa League third qualifying round[a]
3	Viktoria Plzeň	30	19	6	5	66	33	+33	63	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round
4	Mladá Boleslav	30	15	5	10	49	34	+15	50	Qualification for Europa League second qualifying round[a]
5	Teplice	30	12	10	8	36	30	+6	46
6	Dukla Prague	30	11	9	10	42	35	+7	42
7	Slovácko	30	12	5	13	29	32	−3	41
8	Jablonec	30	11	7	12	54	43	+11	40
9	Příbram	30	11	6	13	44	56	−12	39
10	Dynamo České Budějovice	30	9	8	13	30	51	−21	35
11	Sigma Olomouc	30	11	10	9	42	38	+4	34[b]	Banned from 2012–13 European competitions[a]
12	Slavia Prague	30	8	10	12	28	34	−6	34
13	Hradec Králové	30	8	7	15	22	38	−16	31
14	Baník Ostrava	30	7	7	16	31	48	−17	28
15	Bohemians 1905 (R)	30	6	6	18	20	54	−34	24	Relegation to Czech 2. Liga
16	Viktoria Žižkov (R)	30	5	4	21	23	55	−32	19

Source: Fortuna liga
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Sigma Olomouc, the 2011–12 Czech Cup winner, were initially to enter the third qualifying round of the Europa League. However, UEFA banned them from participating in Europa League over the club’s involvement in a corruption scandal.^[24] As a result, Sparta Prague, the second-placed team of the league, entered the Europa League third qualifying round instead of the second qualifying round, and Mladá Boleslav, the fourth-placed team of the league, will take one of Czech Republic's Europa League places in the second qualifying round.
2. Sigma Olomouc were deducted 9 points following a disciplinary commission judgement regarding their 2009 corruption case.^[25]

Results

Home \ Away	OST	B05	DUK	ČBU	HRK	JAB	MLA	PŘI	SIG	SLA	SLO	LIB	SPA	TEP	VPL	VŽI
Baník Ostrava		0–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–4	0–2	0–0	3–0	0–1	1–3	0–2	3–4	2–3	3–1
Bohemians 1905	0–1		0–0	2–1	0–0	1–2	0–3	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–4	0–0	2–1	1–2
Dukla Prague	4–1	2–0		4–2	4–0	1–3	1–2	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	1–2	1–1	0–0	2–4	3–0
Dynamo České Budějovice	0–0	3–1	3–2		1–0	1–5	1–0	4–1	1–2	1–0	2–2	0–4	2–4	1–1	0–0	1–0
Hradec Králové	0–1	2–0	0–2	0–0		0–0	2–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–3	1–0	3–2	0–1	1–0
Jablonec	4–0	5–0	0–2	1–1	2–0		0–0	5–1	2–0	4–0	1–0	0–2	2–4	0–1	0–2	3–1
Mladá Boleslav	2–1	2–0	3–1	3–1	1–1	3–0		2–2	2–3	3–2	1–0	1–4	2–0	0–1	0–1	2–0
Příbram	1–2	3–0	2–2	1–2	0–0	4–3	2–0		4–1	0–0	0–4	2–3	0–3	0–0	2–1	2–1
Sigma Olomouc	3–0	4–0	2–1	0–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	4–4		1–0	1–1	2–4	0–1	1–0	2–3	2–1
Slavia Prague	0–0	3–1	0–0	2–0	5–0	0–0	1–1	3–1	1–0		0–1	1–3	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–0
Slovácko	1–0	3–2	1–0	2–0	0–3	1–0	1–0	2–3	0–1	1–3		1–2	0–2	0–0	1–3	2–1
Slovan Liberec	3–2	3–0	1–2	4–0	3–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–1	0–0		1–3	0–2	0–0	4–0
Sparta Prague	2–0	1–0	0–0	3–0	1–0	2–1	0–3	0–2	1–0	3–0	1–0	0–3		2–2	1–3	4–1
Teplice	1–1	2–0	4–0	0–1	0–3	3–2	1–3	2–1	3–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–1		3–4	0–0
Viktoria Plzeň	1–1	4–1	1–1	4–0	5–0	4–2	3–2	5–0	0–4	3–0	1–0	2–2	0–2	2–0		4–1
Viktoria Žižkov	0–3	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	4–2	1–2	1–2	2–2	1–0	0–1	1–4	0–2	0–1	0–0

Source: Fortuna liga
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

As of 10 May 2012^[26]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	David Lafata	Jablonec	25
2	Marek Bakoš	Plzeň	16
3	Jiří Štajner	Liberec	15
4	Michal Breznaník	Liberec	12
5	Léonard Kweuke	Sparta Prague	11
	Ivan Lietava	Dukla Prague
	Michael Rabušic	Liberec

See also

• 2011–12 Czech Cup
• 2011–12 Czech 2. Liga