The 2011–12 Czech First League, known as the

Gambrinus Gambrinus ( ) is a legendary European culture hero celebrated as an icon of beer, brewing, joviality, and ''joie de vivre''. Typical representations in the visual arts depict him as a rotund, bearded duke or king, holding a tankard or mug, ...

liga for sponsorship reasons, was the 19th season of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

's top-tier

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league. It began on 29 July 2011 and was originally due to end on 26 May 2012, although due to the

's qualification for

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

, the end of the season was brought forward to 12 May 2012.

Viktoria Plzeň Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

were the defending champions, having won their first Czech Republic championship the previous season.

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

started the season with eight consecutive wins, the first such occurrence in league history. 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. The title was decided on the last day of the season, with

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

hosting

in the knowledge that a win for either team would seal the title, with a draw being enough for Liberec to retain first place. 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.

Teams

Ústí nad Labem Ústí nad Labem (, , ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of its eponymous region and district. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway ju ...

and

Zbrojovka Brno Pre-war Československá zbrojovka, akc.spol. (or a.s.) (Czechoslovak Armory)and post-war Zbrojovka Brno, n.p.(Brno Armory) was a maker of small arms, light artillery, and motor vehicles in Brno, Czechoslovakia. It also made other products and ...

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 Dukla Prague ( cz, Dukla Praha) was a Czech football club from the city of Prague. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the semi ...

and

Viktoria Žižkov Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

. 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. Viktoria Žižkov became the first team to be relegated on 5 May 2012 after

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

beat

Příbram Příbram (; german: Freiberg in Böhmen, ''Przibram'', or ''Pribram'', in 1939–1945 ''Pibrans'') is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 32,000 inhabitants. It is well known for its mining history, and more ...

Stadia and locations

Notes: # Ďolíček stadion does not meet the football association criteria, therefore Bohemians are forced to play at Synot Tip Arena. # FK Dukla Prague played one home match at

Stadion Evžena Rošického Stadion Evžena Rošického, also known simply as Strahov, is a multi-purpose stadium in Strahov, Prague in the Czech Republic. It hosted the 1978 European Athletics Championships and for many years this was the venue for main annual internati ...

due to the implementation of under-soil heating at Juliska.

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. * ¹ According to current revision of List of Czech Football League managers

Managerial changes

* 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.

League table

Results

Top goalscorers

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Czech First League, 2011-12 Cze 2011-12 1