The leagues in the Czech Republic was drawn and prepared several new features
The leagues in the Czech Republic was drawn and prepared several new features
First matches of The FORTUNA:LIGA and FORTUNA:NATIONAL LEAGUES are scheduled on the penultimate weekend of July.
The League General Assembly in Prague made changes to the National Competition Handbook which were accepted by all members. A significant new feature is the possibility for participants in European club competitions to request a postponement of a league match or a change the kick-off time in the play-off qualifying phase, even without the opponent's consent. The postponed match will have to be played by 31.12.2023.
In terms of the season format, the Group for Europe returns, as Czech football will have five european Cup places in the season 2024/25.
This means that in 2023/24 the winner of the middle Group for Europe, in which the teams in seventh to tenth place will face the fourth or fifth team in the Group for the title in a two-match play-off system. The fifth team will do it if the winner of the National Cup finishes in one of the top four places in the final table. The team which secures a place in the preliminary round of the European Conference League will be decided by a single match at the ground of the better-placed team after the regular season.
It also means that the winner of the middle group play-offs will no longer receive the prize money of CZK 1 million, which has been a substitute reward in the period when Czech clubs had only four places in the European Cup.
There has also been a change in the yellow card counting of players and squad members. In the situation when a player or a member of staff is sent off after two yellow cards during a match, none of them will now be recorded for the purposes of punishing him for repeated cautions in the relevant competition. The same rules are applied in UEFA competitions.
The FORTUNA:NATIONAL LEAGUE will see a big innovation, which, following the FORTUNA:LIGA model, will have an official ball for the first time in its history. The SELECT brand, which also supplies with balls the teams in the top domestic competition, will once again take care of its delivery.
The official ball will be available from the 2024/25 season onwards, with clubs in the second highest competition being able to take advantage of the LFA's offer to receive SELECT balls free of charge in the following competition year.
