Mladá Boleslav is a very specific town. Owing to its proximity to Prague, it boasts three top-flight clubs across three of the country’s most popular sports, with the floorball side even going unbeaten on its way to this year’s league title. Thanks to its modest size and the presence of Škoda Auto, which employs roughly 30–40% of the local workforce, average monthly salaries are through the roof, while season tickets obtained via the company’s trade union cost a mere CZK 850 — perhaps explaining why most people turn up for three or four matches a year. With all that in mind, it only makes sense that a football club from such a very specific town would also be run quite, erm, specifically…
Sure enough, ‘Škodovka’ remains the club’s biggest financial backer, but the more intriguing story concerns who is actually calling the shots. Most locals would tell you that it is still David Trunda, the Czech Football Association chairman for over a year now, who continues to pull the strings. After all, he remains a regular presence at home games and hand-picked his successor, Luboš Bartůněk, who had served as FKMB’s CEO under him before taking over as the chairman. One member of Trunda’s original cast, Dominik Verner, may have departed recently, but given that (non-existent) marketing and commercial partnerships were supposedly his domain, he hardly leaves behind a particularly enormous pair of shoes to fill.
In fact, feel free to check out the advertising rates for yourself here. Tremendous work. Almost as good as the 30-year-old fanshop not selling official jerseys or offering online shopping. You see, FK Mladá Boleslav is always a good place to remind you that basics are never a given, with the ability to pay by card mentioned to me as one recent improvement. In a summer when a couple of clubs announced they were going cashless, it feels rather fitting.
Ultimately, this is a directionless club with nothing resembling a long-term vision that would stretch beyond coach Aleš Majer’s commendable ideas about how to play football and develop talent. Perhaps that’s why the club moved so quickly to extend him through 2029.
Looking back on 2025/26
What went right
The winter additions of Matěj Hybš and Ondřej Karafiát were arguably underrated at the time of making, and they very soon proved their worth — with a bang. Already in the third spring round began the joint-longest unbeaten streak in the club’s history (11), equalling those from 2024 and 2008. While there were a lot of draws sprinkled around, there were also 7 clean sheets to be found. Remarkably, that’s four more than the record-setting 2008/09 team achieved, despite ultimately finishing in the Top 6 rather than the Bottom 4.
Other than that, you know the drill with “Majer-ball”: lots of shots and passes, very few fouls and offsides, and a Top 4 rate in xGFExpected Goals For (xGF) estimates how many goals a team should have scored based on shot quality, location, and context. generated through the central channel. Boleslav love to combine and get cute, but the real key to their non-existent relegation troubles was a deadly trigger. With their finishing (xGSExpected Goals Scored (xGS) only takes shots on target into account, including their power and placement on top of xGF.), they added nearly 7 extra goals to their expected output.
What went wrong
On the other hand, Aleš Majer admitted to Livesport Daily that he is well aware his team wasn’t doing enough on counter-attacks, something that the xG method supports. A mere 0.05 xGF produced from counters per game represents the lowest rate in the league, and their 4.6% share of the total team xGF accordingly represents the lowest portion around.
Otherwise it’s now more than well documented that Majer had a lot of fixing to do on defence. After the first half of games, FKMB averaged an appalling 2.3 goals conceded, and until the very end of the regular season, they owned the worst home defence per xGAExpected Goals Against (xGA) estimates how many goals a team should have conceded based on shot quality, location, and context. (1.5).
Most valuable player
Per my MVP model (traditional stats): Jiří Floder (ranked 26th league-wide)
Per my positional models (advanced stats): Ondřej Karafiát (97th overall percentile at CB)
Back when Zbrojovka were leaving the top flight in 2021, a 24-year-old Jiří Floder was also leaving it as the worst shot-stopper per most metrics, allowing 0.41 goals above expectation per game, and only pulling off 0.15 high-danger saves behind a poor Brno defence. When he soon departed Zbrojovka for Chrudim and then joined Mladá Boleslav in the capacity of third-choice goalkeeper at best, I was convinced I will never see him again.
Imagine my surprise, then, when he now emerged as this uber-confident box operator who pushed himself in the MVP conversation purely by means of nullifying so much threat before it even occurred. Floder was in a league of his own when it came to damage control, going on 9 vital trips way out of the line and claiming the ball under severe pressure 9 more times. He was generally assured and above average in error-proneness or prevented goals, too.
If I wasn’t overly shy to crown a winter arrival, though, Ondřej Karafiát would be the MVP instead. As he was returning to a broken outfit after quite a while spent abroad, I was expecting rough times to begin with, but the veteran wasted no time in bringing order to the back line. There was seemingly no pressing opponent that could unsettle him, and no passer who could find an opening behind him. As ever, he spread the ball and moved the needle with the ball at his feet, gaining more meters on average than anyone not named Krčík. Turning 32 in December, Karafiát isn’t even as old as I thought, and so Boleslav can finally feel confident they have a centre back tandem to provide a solid foundation for the buzzing youth up front.
Chip on the shoulder
After garnering some initial transfer buzz around the league, it seems like Josef Kolářík is staying put as a designated starter and possibly my youngest chip carrier ever at 19 years old. Why would such a baby feel any sort of pressure to perform and prove himself? Because he’s replacing Michal Ševčík from within, basically, and because the coach called him out at the end of the season for poor finishing, effectively disregarding three of his five goals because they occurred inside the post-season when no defender is anywhere close to their best.
It was all in good faith, of course, and part of the plan to push him even further, to greater heights, but it’s funny to note that what seemed criticizable to his own coach actually wasn’t the issue. Kolářík actually has a well-rounded set of formidable weapons for a teenager, and quality finishing falls within it. He’s slacking off the ball, if anything, otherwise this is a far better looking pizza chart than the one Slončík posted at a similar age in Zlín, for instance.
Inside the off-season
special thanks for guiding me through the motions of FK Mladá Boleslav’s off-season go out to @stepan_1902 & @bolkacast
Squad turnover
Quite rarely does a tandem of players, none of whom even reached 2 000 minutes, do so much damage like Michal Ševčík and Christophe Kabongo in the case of Mladá Boleslav. Still reeling from the loss of Matyáš Vojta midway through 25/26 (not many people now realize he still managed seven important points and 13 goal contributions), FKMB are also worse off by a further 17 points and 22 goal contributions just because of the two loanees. On top of it, Ševčík led the team in chance-creating actions by a wide margin (19), seemingly replaced by Filip Špatenka who contributed one every 204 minutes (it was one every 50 mins for ‘Ševa’).
Indeed, it could be a long season for Mladá Boleslav, left searching for replacements for two of the most valuable contributors in the league when normalized per game. Despite carrying over the 6th-most minutes, no other outfit is currently losing more goals (23) than FKMB.
Biggest upgrade
Yeah, I’m not quite ready to highlight Filip Špatenka here, sorry for that. He’s the only truly new arrival (Vojtěch Vorel already spent the spring on loan here) and isn’t very good, so I’ll have to improvise and point to Dominik Kostka potentially leaving more space to flourish for Dominik Mareš. This obviously has one major caveat and an elephant in the room: Mareš was only fit to eat up 297 minutes in 25/26 and once again got (lightly) hurt in pre-season.
If this brave condition gets fulfilled, I would be confident Kostka is soon forgotten. He runs a lot and has a fairly developed instinct to arrive in the box on time to finish or assist, but when it comes to pushing the play forward, he’s a virtual black hole. Then again, if Mareš does not stay fit, you are left with these first-choice options, while only one regular fullback in the league was less of a contributor in the build-up than Filip Matoušek, a part-time centre back.
Biggest downgrade
There’s no need to overthink it. Michal Ševčík arrived to the country’s automotive capital as a reclamation project of sorts, left it wanted abroad — possibly even at his own club. When he first broke out in 2022/23, he was elite in exactly three things: creating chances for himself, appearing in high-danger situations as a shooter, and pressing up high in a very opportunistic way. Back then, he was in and around the box purely for his own interest. Now he still refuses to deliver a cross, but sits atop the AM leaderboard with 2.82 deep completed passes per game, and creating danger for teammates a solid 1.10 times per 90 minutes, too.
Ševčík basically came to realize belatedly that football is a team game, and only that way you can earn the desired chance abroad. He will never be the most (pro)active midfielder, but he’s more of a creator and a progressor now, ranking 12th and higher among AMs in all the three groups of metrics involving a lot of ball at his feet — ie. green, blue and red. He was a stud.
Need left to be addressed
Every pre-school kid could tell you Mladá Boleslav needs a proven striker. Typologically maybe someone like Lukáš Letenay, yet to sign despite strong rumours, ie. someone who provides a bit more box presence. But quality-wise… someone unlike Lukáš Letenay. He would basically be another “solid no. 3” next to Jan Buryán and Jiří Klíma; a passable no. 2 if you will. But improving a position like centre forward by accumulation simply does not work.
This is all the more frustrating due to Christophe Kabongo not being any irreplaceable homerun. He ended up being excellent below the penalty box in all sorts of ways, but he was mostly absent from the danger zone he was helping to enter — or wildly inefficient there.
Out of 38 ball touches performed in the box, he was only successful with a dozen. Even Michael Krmenčík contributed more in terms of deep passing and crossing, and guys like Stanley Kanu or Mick van Buren entered the penalty area at a higher rate. It’s not like he didn’t try either, but with a 37.5% success rate Kabongo landed in the bottom third among CFs. This is not to pick on the Plzeň loanee, who was clearly influential in his own right anyway; it is just to say that replacing or even upgrading him is nowhere near an impossible task, and FKMB’s utter failure to so much as get a credible rumour floating around is odd.
Maybe it will be Matyáš Vojta, now most definitely plugged at Sparta, saving them again.
New kid on the block
Almost by default, thanks to the 40-minute drive and sporting director Josef Jinoch’s ties to Eden, any new kid on the block in Mladá Boleslav seems to have come through Slavia at some point. In fact, all four fresh faces for this summer have that in common, with Jan Jinoch (b. 2006) part of the family clan that also includes his brother Josef Jr. playing for the reserves. He’s quite likely to return there permanently, whereas Marek Obdržálek (b. 2007) has seen his competition in goal steadily diminish to the point he’s the de facto third choice, something that also goes for Roman Teterja (b. 2006), versatile forward who doesn’t mind playing any position across the front three and enjoys a good 1v1, or Filip Kolář (b. 2005) — at his age already a seasoned veteran of the senior third tier. He’s been impressing regularly.
Indeed, if anything is a source of hope at FKMB, it’s the youth. For all the lack of attention paid to every other aspect of the club’s operation, U-19s have successfully protected their top-flight status and U-17s even cracked the Top 4 this past season. Both Martin Kulas and Lukáš Stehlík (b. 2009) have already got their first professional contracts in the bag, though that seems to have gone to their heads a bit despite combining for 51 mins on the U-19 level.
Looking ahead to 2026/27
Below is the team’s current depth chart with a maximum of 4 alternatives for one position. The colourful ratings are a static snapshot of the league-wide situation on 21 July, and they are just a playful bit to add flavour to it; the names featured should be relevant to this day. To learn more about my approach to constructing depth charts, with all its limitations, head here.
Primary formation
The coach did reach for 3ATB3ATB means 3-at-the-back, ie. any formation with three centre backs and wingbacks, or alternatively, five defenders. when the goings got tough in the fall, but abandoned it again for the final 9 games of the campaign, including the post season, so only expect it rarely.
Colours I grappled with
Much of the pale red you see above is down to the severely lacking depth, and I was arguably too generous with the pale blue for the goalkeeping crop (perhaps overrating Floder at this point on the back of an MVP-worthy year). The depth is probably most dragging down the CB deck’s rating, with Karafiát and Martin Králik standing tall as poorly backed up solid options.
Notes on the depth chart
It took some time before he announced himself on the stage (and even once he did, we promptly lost him to a suspension and yet another injury), but it was ultimately worth the wait. Son of coach Luboš, David Kozel offers plenty of support through clever little runs as well as varied ball progression when in possession, and works his ass off in defence. For such a deep-lying attacking midfielder, it’s incredibly hard to land in the 75th overall percentile, and it will be even harder when Kozel makes himself available for more than 13.8 starts.
Initially butting heads with the coach, Roman Macek eventually understood he’s part of a collective and started leading by example. Owing to his former deployment further up the pitch, he’s a very ill-disciplined holding midfielder, but only a few of them help their team get the ball forward as efficiently as Macek does. Landing in the top 20% for all duel-related metrics is a nice feature, and most certainly the main reason why Majer wants him at the base of midfield regardless of the aforementioned. Football is a game of balancing trade-offs.
Another fine build-up contributor, David Pech succumbed to an injury in Round 13 and suspiciously never returned to the starting line-up for a sustained period since. That’s a shame, because he showed early on he can still be a great fun to watch, even if he’s slow.
Finally, something of a secondary roster battle on the left wing where Martin Šubert looked to be the coach’s favourite despite possessing very few attacking tools. He started off as an unspectacular left wingback option, but eventually popped up at both RW and LW, too.
Roster battle to follow
The real roster battle to follow, however, is in the hole. Filip Lehký is stylistically closer to Ševčík, but entering the season injured, and Daniel Langhamer has earned some sizeable trust especially for games where Majer aims for more of a flat 4-5-1 rather than a 4-2-3-1.
There are two fantastic pieces of news for Mladá Boleslav on this comparison table. First of all, Langhamer’s emergence as a capable distributor. As a maturing midfielder, he was ranked 17th for that particular set of metrics in 24/25. Now entering his peak, he suddenly blossomed as an elite option, combining some decent ball progression values (on the edge of top 10 usually) with the very best pass completion rate under strong pressure and great ball retention in the attacking half overall. Second promising development: Lehký’s top-flight debut as an “outstanding” operator at the top of the box. He’s a sneaky, slippery player who’s often helping the team with a well-executed give-and-go, entering the penalty area with an impressive success rate of 63.6% (second-best). Gaining the fourth-most meters via ball carrying when nominally stationed as high as Lehký is no less incredible. Once the former Vlašim star becomes a lot more comfortable as a finisher inside the box, he’ll draw interest.
Season forecast
This forecast has barely moved since last summer. After earning 35 regular-season points in 25/26, Mladá Boleslav jump up by a humble 0.7 points courtesy of a very humble (or humbling?) transfer window. Once again, there is a 2% chance of UEFA football and an 11-12% chance of relegation; it’s like a copy-paste. And when you think about it, this is also a sweet spot for a club whose ambition pretty much begins and ends with “buying young and low, selling high”. They don’t need to worry about earning too much money from continental stuff and getting ripped off by a seller, just as they don’t need to worry about losing a lot of it on the way down to the second tier. Boleslav are right there with Bohemians and Zlín, sporting a modest 22-26% likelihood of dropping to the relegation play-off, and that’s fine by them.
Bold prediction
The track record: 0/5. Boleslav didn’t beat Bohemians even once to celebrate
The prediction: FKMB will pick up as many clean sheets as Majer yellow cards in 25/26
The rationale: Since I watch all games via Wyscout, which often utilizes a tactical camera, I never noticed it, but… as brought to my attention by the wonderful Bolkacast, Aleš Majer is apparently a bad boy. Mouthing off too frequently for their liking, he picked up a total of 6 cautions inside the first 25 rounds before finally settling down a bit. That sets up a perfect opportunity for some symbolism, and so I’m saying FKMB goalkeepers will combine for half a dozen clean sheets — coincidentally a total the legendary Jan Šeda landed on in three different campaigns. Floder excelled in 25/26 with 9 shutouts, but I don’t find it sustainable.
Enjoyed it and just want to casually support us with an amount of your choosing? No worries, you can still do that by inviting us for a symbolic pint at the old BuyMeACoffeeBeer page.