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, a ...

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

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

's top-tier

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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

's qualification for the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

, the end of the season was brought forward to 12 May 2012. Viktoria Plzeň were the defending champions, having won their first Czech Republic championship the previous season.

Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...

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 (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 108,000 inhabitants, making it the fifth largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse River, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preserved and is pr ...

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. In front of a sold-out stadium at

Stadion u Nisy Stadion u Nisy is an all-seater soccer, football stadium in Liberec. The stadium is home to Czech Republic, Czech football club FC Slovan Liberec, Slovan Liberec and occasionally hosts matches of the Czech Republic national football team, Czech R ...

, 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 91,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction. ...

and

Zbrojovka Brno Zbrojovka Brno, s.r.o is a maker of small arms in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic, wholly owned by Colt CZ Group, Colt-CZ Group. In the past it also made light artillery, cars, motorcycles, tractors and various tools, such as typewriters and early c ...

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 () 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-finals of the ...

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

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

beat Příbram.

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

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

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