Czech Football: Red Cards & “Star Wars” Chaos

One spins billions thanks to sophisticated energy trading, the other has them stored in logistics halls all over Europe, and the third, fourth, fifth and others in the order are among the richest entrepreneurs in this country. In business, they bet on themselves and the brightest minds to make sure everything goes as it should. In a few months, they can face each other on the lawn, where they will not be able to influence the outcome at all. Their footballers will play and quite possibly for everything – for a place in the billionaire cream. Welcome to the star wars of Czech football, which promise great fun.

It has always been said that coaching a club in the top flight is a privilege, as there are only sixteen coaching seats in the league. However, the same is starting to apply to owners as well. Czech football is experiencing an absolute boom. This happens not only thanks to the growing interest of fans, but also the constantly improving status of clubs in Europe. Directly related to this is the increasing revenue that flows into the league from TV rights and UEFA bonuses, which makes it an extremely attractive – but also expensive – field.

It was because of this development that leading businessmen across the entire republic began to show interest in football. However, this was not the rule for a long time. Many of them used to despise football. For a long time, only Daniel Křetínský stood above them all. One of the richest Czechs bought Sparta more than twenty years ago. Thanks to his capital, it was clearly the strongest club financially for a long time, although it often failed to be attributed to sporting achievements.

In recent years, however, the football map has been completely rewritten. Although Sparta still has one of the biggest budgets, its rival Slavia, which was bought by equally rich businessman Pavel Tykač, has reached the same level. And they are far from alone. There are only a few clubs that haven’t changed hands recently. There are people who are not afraid to splash their hard earned money on football, even though it has a very uncertain return and no guarantee of future victories.

This state of affairs promises the most interesting spectacle in Czech football for a long time. Paradoxically, it will not only be about who will win the title, although thanks to Michal Strnad, who recently became the richest Czech ever, and his Viktoria Plzeň, the race at the top may also be more exciting than before. The battle for who will stay in the elite sixteen will be even more intense. Both the competition and the ambitions of all sides are growing and one thing is certain: no rich owner will want to experience the humiliation of being relegated to the second division.

For example, the co-owner of the multibillion-dollar Accolade group, Milan Kratina, does not currently have to worry when looking at the table. His FK Teplice are staying above the relegation zone, but in football, moods and positions change quickly. The last one is now Dukla Praha. It was taken over from the billionaire Petr Paukner by the inconspicuous investor Matěj Turek, who certainly would not want to be relegated to a lower level in his first season as the majority owner. But nobody wants that.

Falling into the second league is a huge blow to the club’s prestige and overall economy. While many owners would certainly be able to write off financial losses at least in the short term, many of them cannot or do not want to imagine the impact on their perception and sporting failure in the event of relegation. The spring part of the season has just started and nothing has been decided. The last team falls automatically, the second and third teams from the end await a play-off. And this playoff promises to be a fantastic spectacle thanks to the ambitions of the second-league predators.

Zbrojovka Brno, which after years of tragicomic hardship was also taken over by the inconspicuous but capital-strong founder of the billion-dollar company Second Foundation, Vojtěch Kačena, is rushing out of the second league like an unstoppable train. And his ambitions are the highest thanks to the involvement of the renowned coach Martin Svědík. Zbrojovka is expected to win the second league and return directly. But it will not add peace to the first league clubs. There are other greyhounds waiting in the background, for whom the first league players can no longer rely on the fact that they can be easily beaten just on principle.

This was often the case before, when the difference in the quality of staff between the first and second leagues was too striking. And so, even though some clubs struggled in the first league during the season, they managed to manage in the playoffs. But behind Zbrojovka is the no less heated Artis Brno, which, led by local patriot and billionaire Igor Fait, will certainly not want to stay in the lower competition longer than absolutely necessary. Even today, thanks to large investments, the quality of these squads often surpasses teams from the bottom of the first league.

It remains to be seen who will actually fall into these “life and death” fights. Táborsko, which is currently second, has established close relations with Viktoria Plzeň and could want to take over the role of South Bohemia’s number one after the infamous economic and sporting downfall of Dynamo České Budějovice. In the first league, next to Dukla, especially clubs that have not changed owners, whether it is Slovácko or Bohemians, are pulling for the weakest end. The economic scissors are opening dramatically. Anyone unable to keep up will have to get off the bike.

Until recently, it was unthinkable for Czech clubs to sell players to each other for several million euros, i.e. for more than 100 million crowns. But that is the new reality, and Matyáš Vojta’s record transfer from Mladá Boleslav to Sparta only confirms it. What is much more fundamental is that it does not only apply to Sparta and Slavia, the Pardubice of the billionaire Karel Pražák (who also owns the hockey Sparta) are also starting to spend without fear, and many others are joining.

A shining example are the new owners of Olomouc’s Sigma, where, alongside Milan Šimonovský’s Sigma concern, billionaires Pavel Hubáček and Richard Morávek are pouring capital. They invested by far the most in reinforcements in a short period of time. However, in football, there is no direct ratio that the more you spend, the more likely you are to win. Football alchemy is more complicated. At Sparta, we once saw how expensive purchases ended in fiasco and Daniel Křetínský had to write off hundreds of millions. Because not everyone can win all the time, even if you try your hardest.

Photo: AC Sparta Prague

Prague derby

However, billionaires know that football is not a dividend machine, but they see it as a unique asset with enormous social and political influence. In their world, it’s a status symbol – when all your business partners in the lodges have their own club and you don’t, it can be annoying. Entry into football is thus often a combination of building influence, networking at the highest level and, last but not least, a battle of pure egos. The feeling that your team beat your business rival’s team cannot be replaced by any Excel spreadsheet.

Pavel Tykač also experienced a completely new wave of emotions as an owner after buying Slavia. Then, when he met Daniel Křetínský at the derby with Sparta and asked him when the tables would turn and the stress from everything revolving around football would subside, he learned that never. “He looked at me and said, ‘It just keeps getting worse.’ He then showed me his heart rate on his watch. He kept going up during the match.’ With a similar smile, he then explained that he certainly wasn’t doing it for the money. “Buying a football club for profit would be foolish,” he said the year before last at the Money Maker conference.

The approach of the new owners differs in this as well. One of those who ignited the entrepreneurial renaissance in Czech football was Ondřej Kania. He bought Slovan Liberec after the sale of his educational group and says from the beginning that he definitely does not want to just waste money in it. “Football will be my best life investment,” he stated on the Money Maker podcast last year. Nobody wants to lose money. However, not everyone will earn money in football, at least in the next few years. But no one wants to go down anymore, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a billionaire, a hundred millionaire or a little less rich.

In short, there will be no shortage of entertainment. And if we continue the current trend, it is inevitable that sooner or later some billionaire will actually fall to the second league. And that will be dramatically different than in the case of Vojtěch Kačena or Igor Fait, who started there and only saw the way up. Only then will it become clear how serious some owners are and whether they will be interested in such football outside the spotlight at all. The first wave of changes in property conditions in this sport may not be the last.