Sports throughout the Czech Republic have been suspended out of precaution against the spread of the coronavirus. Photo credit: FC Zbrojovka
Brno, March 13 (BD) — When the government announced a state of emergency because of the coronavirus on Thursday and stipulated that public events would have to be limited to less than 30 people, it effectively closed down all sports events in the Czech Republic.
Local sports, which had prepared three days earlier to continue without crowds, were suddenly forced to suspend their seasons indefinitely.
Hockey, Women’s and Men’s Basketball, and Women’s and Men’s Volleyball were all heading into the postseason. They are all now in limbo. Football just started its spring season, but it too has been suspended.
Check BrnoDaily.com for more information as the story develops over the coming weeks.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
KP Brno Has Advantage as Group A Draws to a Close
KP Brno got a bit of revenge against is crosstown rival when it went to Žabovresky and beat Žabiny Brno, 62-75, on Saturday.
Most importantly, KP Brno (17-5) maintained its advantage in the Renomia ŽBL standings and will likely have easier opponents in the postseason.
Žabiny Brno (14-8), on the other hand, is in line to play league powerhouse ZVVZ USK Praha.
Group A play concludes with two games tonight (Wednesday) and Saturday. All games are shown on TVcom.com.
Tonight, Žabiny Brno hosts BLK Slavia Praha (9-13) at 6 p.m. and KP Brno hosts Sokol H. Králové (18-4) at 5:30 p.m. Then, on Saturday, Žabiny Brno is at Sokol H. Králové at 4 p.m. and KP Brno is at BLK Slavia Praha at 6 p.m.
Žabiny Brno are to host the EWBL 2020 Final Four on March 21-22. The status of the tournament is unclear.
VOLLEYBALL
Brno Teams to Meet in Quarterfinal Series
After a long regular season, the Uniqua Extraliga Žen will begin its postseason with four quarterfinal series. Top on the list will be a local affair: league-leading VK Brno against crosstown rival Královo Pole.
The best-of-five series will begin at hala Kounicova on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Matches are available on a delayed basis through http://www.cvf.cz/.
The other quarterfinal series are between Šternberk X Olomouc; Liberec X Olymp; and Ostrava X Prostějov.
VK Brno finished the regular season with 73 points, a six-point lead over Olomouc (67) and even more over Olymp (49), Prostějov (48), Ostrava (44) and Liberec (44).
VK Královo Pole finished in eighth with 25 points.
Brno Men Stay Third With Postseason Coming Soon
Brno is third in the league standings with 40 points.
The final match of the regular season is at home against Příbram at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Matches are available on a delayed basis through http://www.cvf.cz/.
ICE HOCKEY
Kometa Reaches Postseason as No. 6 Seed
HC Kometa completed the regular season of the Tipsport extraliga in sixth place and they drew HC Sparta Praha for the best-of-seven quarterfinal series. The games will be shown either on CT Sport or O2 TV. Tipsport.cz also has a feed.
The regular season ended on Friday with a 0-2 loss to HC Dynamo Pardubice. Kometa already had a place in the postseason. Nevertheless, the loss to Pardubice was the third in a row and fourth in five games. Since the end of January, Kometa have won just three of 10 games.
The quarterfinal series will begin in Prague on Monday at 7 p.m. HC Sparta Praha will also host Game 2 on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Then Brno will host Game 3 on Friday at 5 p.m. and Game 4 on Saturday at 5 p.m.
If necessary, additional games will be played on March 24 (in Prague), March 26 (in Brno) and March 28 (in Prague).
MEN’S FOOTBALL
Zbrojovka Starts With a Win, Big Games on Tap
Zbrojovka started the spring half of the Fortuna:Národní Liga football season with a 1-0 victory against Sokolov on Sunday.
Now they play important games on the next two Fridays, this week at Ústí n. Labem at 6 p.m. and next week in Brno against Dukla Praha at 6 p.m.
In the first game of the spring season, Zbrojovka picked up against Sokolov where it left off in the fall, when Brno had a three-game winning streak.
The only goal came in the ninth minute. Ondřej Vaněk put the ball into the center, Jakub Přichystal and Adam Fousek moved it around in the box and Jakub Šural was in the right place at the right time to complete the offensive opportunity and put the home team on the board.
Both teams had a lot of scoring opportunities. The Brno defense, and particularly goalkeeper Jiří Floder, made some tremendous stops.
Brno (10-4-3, 34 points) is third in the standings, behind FK Pardubice (12-2-3, 38) and FC Vysočina Jihlava (10-5-2, 35). The coming opponents are in the top half of the standings: FK Ústí nad Labem (7-5-5, 26) is in seventh place and FK Dukla Praha (10-1-6, 31) is in fifth place.
SK Líšeň (6-6-5, 24) played above its eighth-place position in the standings to log a 1-1 tie at fourth-place FC Hradec Králové (9-4-4, 31) in the first spring round.
Líšeň’s first home game of the spring season is Saturday against FC Sellier & Bellot Vlašim at 2:30 p.m.
The team had drawn large and excited crowds throughout the fall half of the season. It will be a financial hardship for the small organization, which is playing at its highest-ever level, to lose the gate receipts during this coronavirus situation.
WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
Lokomotiva Plays Liberec on March 21
After two-goal losses to AC Sparta Praha and SK Slavia Praha, Lokomotiva Brno-Horni Herspice (3-2-8, 11 points) is fifth in the top women’s league standings.
Lokomotiva next goes to FC Slovan Liberec (2-3-8, 9). The game is March 21 at 10:30 a.m.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Brno Continues Group A2 Winning Streak
mmcité1 Basket Brno continued its winning streak through Group A2 when it beat NH Ostrava on the road for its fifth consecutive victory.
Three teams — mmcité1 Basket Brno, Kingspan Královští sokoli and NH Ostrava — are now tied in the Group A2 standings with 8-19 records. The top three teams from Group A2 will play for the chance to enter the playoffs through pig-tail series from April 10 to 14. The main playoff bracket is from April 17 to May 30.
GEOSAN Kolín (5-22) is falling back. The bottom team in the standings will play the top two teams from the lower league for the right to stay among the elite clubs.
On Saturday, Brno hosts GEOSAN Kolín at 5 p.m. Next Wednesday, Brno travels to Kingspan Královští sokoli for a 7 p.m. game. All Kooperative NBL games are shown on tvcom.cz.
BRNO SPORTS RESULTS
Quick results for various Brno professional and recreational sports for the past week. Home team listed first (where applicable).
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
— Women’s Basketball: KP Brno 95, BLK Slavia Praha 61
— Women’s Basketball: Žabiny Brno 57, Sokol H. Králové 58
— Men’s Basketball: mmcité1 Basket Brno 89, Kingspan Královští sokoli 71
Thursday, March 5, 2020
— Women’s Volleyball: VK Brno 3, Šternberk 0
— Women’s Volleyball: Olomouc 3, Královo Pole 0
Friday, March 6, 2020
— Hockey: HC Kometa Brno 0, HC Dynamo Pardubice 2
Saturday, March 7, 2020
— Men’s Volleyball: Praha 3, Brno 1
— Men’s Basketball: NH Ostrava 77, mmcité1 Basket Brno 80
— Women’s Volleyball: Frýdek-Místek 0, VK Brno 3
— Women’s Volleyball: Královo Pole 2, Ostrava 3
— Women’s Basketball: Žabiny Brno 62, KP Brno 75
Sunday, March 8, 2020
— Men’s Football: Zbrojovka Brno 1, Sokolov 0
BRNO SPORTS SCHEDULE
The schedule for various Brno professional and recreational sports for the next week. All dates and times subject to change. Home team listed first (when applicable).
NOTE: All games are to be played without spectators due to the coronavirus.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
— Women’s Basketball: Žabiny Brno X BLK Slavia Praha, 6 p.m.
— Women’s Basketball: KP Brno X Sokol H. Králové, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, March 13, 2020
— Men’s Football: Ústí n. L. X Zbrojovka Brno, 6 p.m.
Saturday, March 14, 2020
— Men’s Basketball: mmcité1 Basket Brno X GEOSAN Kolín, 5 p.m.
— Men’s Volleyball: Brno X Příbram, 6 p.m.
— Women’s Basketball: BLK Slavia Praha X KP Brno, 6 p.m.
— Women’s Basketball: Sokol H. Králové X Žabiny Brno, 4 p.m.
The Brno Sports Report is published every Wednesday. All dates and times are subject to change. Most of the stories are about the traditional “English-speaking” team sports — football, hockey, baseball, basketball, American football, cricket, rugby, etc. — but it is also about the interesting local spectator and participation sports — tennis, badminton, running, horse racing, swimming, rock climbing, biking, etc. If you have any suggestions for what should be included, please comment below or send an email to bruno@brnodaily.cz.
