2026/27 team profile: FC Viktoria Plzeň

It must be tiring to be the third wheel as consistently as Viktoria Plzeň has been for its Prague rivals. Ever since stunning Czech football by snatching the title in 2022, they have finished 17, 17, 16 and again 17 points behind the eventual champions. Never dropping out of the Top 3 is nice (Sparta cannot say that in the same period, after all), but a club entering its first full campaign while backed by the richest Czech can’t possibly be satisfied with that. And so here we are: both the under-pressure coach Martin Hyský and the powerful show-runner Adolf Šádek openly declaring a title bid, perfectly echoing the name of this wonderful podcast: S klackem proti tankům (“bringing a stick to a tank fight”).

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2026/27 team profile: FC Baník Ostrava

One for the ages. A phrase normally reserved for historic feel-good stories like the one Hradec Králové just wrote, or the one Ostrava’s little sister Karviná would’ve authored had it not been for that tiny little match-fixing incident. Baník, however, proved to be the exception: its story for the ages was one of spectacular self-destruction, an epic collapse brought about entirely by footballing means — with the club still likely to end the sorry campaign comfortably in the black. Baník may have gone from a Top 3 finish straight to a Bottom 6 finish for a shocking third time in my lifetime, but this one still hits different.

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2026/27 team profile: FC Zbrojovka Brno

Not often does a neutral look forward to the arrival of a promoted side as much as this summer. First of all, everyone seems eager for the return of Martin Svědík, who won an impressive 32 of his 42 competitive matches in charge of Zbrojovka. It will be refreshing to watch a newcomer with the financial muscle to rival most clubs for a player’s signature and remain competitive for years to come. And it’s objectively good for the Czech top tier to welcome a big-city club that has been growing its fanbase in the second tier through excellent work in marketing and beyond, rather than losing support as so many others do.

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2026/27 team profile: FC Hradec Králové

Each year, the football team of FC Hradec Králové seem to raise the bar even higher. In 2023, they returned to their hometown with a brand-new stadium, filled it to the rafters on a regular basis and even welcomed the Czech national team, coming within a whisker of an unlikely European adventure. In 2024/25, they lifted their point-per-game average to 1.44, setting up the scene for only their second Top 4 placement since the shock title win in 1960. All along the way, FCHK’s marketing team has been opening new chapters as effortlessly as opening a pack of Bon Pari, effortlessly swapping the club’s 2025 First Republic-themed appeal to older generations for a fresher look in 2026, continuously adding more exciting layers to the brand. It’s as if the club simply cannot put a foot wrong.

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zimní inventura 2025/26: SK Slavia Praha

Svým způsobem se historie opakuje – s přesností až obsedantně nutkavou. Stejně jako loni má Slavia za sebou velmi dobrý ligový podzim, díky němuž se její šance na titul zvýšily z už tak směšných výšin na téměř 100 %. Stejně jako loni i letos oslavila překlopení kalendáře brutální dvojicí výsledků na kontinentální scéně – jen teď nešlo přímo o její postupové vyhlídky, protože soutěžila o úroveň výš. Stejně jako loni mají slávisté na čele tabulky sedmibodový náskok – jenže tentokrát je místo Plzně nahání Sparta. Už jen díky tomu je “pole position” Slavie o něco křehčí. Ale opravdu jen o něco.

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2025/26 winter stocktake: SK Slavia Praha

In a way, history repeats itself — almost OCD-like in its precision. Just like last year, Slavia have a very good league autumn behind them which saw their title chances increased from ridiculous heights to nearly 100%. Just like last year, they also celebrated the calendar flip with a brutal pair of results on the continental scene — only now they didn’t suddenly tank their prospects of advancing, since they were competing a level higher. Just like last year, they own a 7-point lead at the top — only this time, it’s Sparta doing the chasing instead of Plzeň. That alone makes Slavia’s pole position a tad more fragile. But only really a tad.

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zimní inventura 2025/26: AC Sparta Praha

Brian Priske není žádný Mesiáš. Nudná realita jeho návratu do klubu, který dovedl ke dvěma titulům – jednomu šokujícímu, jednomu dominantnímu – je taková, že toto tažení mohlo dopadnout mnohem lépe, ale také mnohem hůře. Vzhledem k tomu, že model z letní prognózy Sparty ukrojil jen jedno vítězství, lze dokonce tvrdit, že sezona vlastně probíhá podle očekávání a možná i plánu. Koneckonců, stát 7 bodů za vánočními lídry už Spartě jednou posloužilo a Slavia se opravdu zdá být křehčí než v roce 2025…

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2025/26 winter stocktake: AC Sparta Praha

Brian Priske is no Messiah. The boring reality of his return to the club he’d led to two titles — one shocking, one dominant — is that this campaign could’ve gone a lot better, but also much worse. With the model shaving just one victory off Sparta’s summer forecast, there’s even an argument to be made that the season has, in fact, gone according to expectations and perhaps even the plan. After all, standing 7 points behind the Christmas leaders has already served Sparta well once, and Slavia do seem more fragile than in 2025…

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2025/26 winter stocktake: FC Viktoria Plzeň

For two years under Miroslav Koubek, Plzeň made for a surprise continental (Top 4) contender and a fun domestic pretender. Then, as 25/26 started to shape up like yet another campaign of high-octane victories and frustrating losses setting up a 15+ point gap on the title-winners, the club decided to pivot. Enough was enough; it was time to start building for future, without really stopping to live in the moment like Koubek’s Viktoria always appeared to do. Having launched a daring retool on the fly, Plzeň are entering 2026 with seemingly nothing and yet everything at stake, both at the same time.

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zimní inventura 2025/26: FC Viktoria Plzeň

Dva roky pod vedením Miroslava Koubka Plzeň na kontinentální scéně předváděla překvapivé výkony na hraně Top 4, zatímco na domácí scéně tak maximálně předstírala boj o titul. Když se pak ročník 25/26 začal rýsovat jako další taková sezona vzrušujících vítězství a frustrujících porážek, která by vytvořila další více než patnáctibodovou ztrátu na mistr, rozhodl se klub pro obrátku. Už toho bylo dost, bylo načase začít budovat pro budoucnost, aniž by se přestalo žít okamžikem, jako tomu vždy bylo pod Koubkem. Poté, co nyní Plzeň za pochodu zahájila odvážnou přestavbu, vstupuje do roku 2026 s tím, že zdánlivě nemá co ztratit na cestě za ziskem všeho.

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