Stands packed with fans will not happen, but team sports are slowly planning a comeback. Photo credit: FC Zbrojovka.
Brno, May 6 (BD) — FC Zbrojovka and SK Líšeň are expected to resume their Fortuna:Národní Liga seasons in late May if the situation concerning the COVID-19 pandemic remains positive. The schedule is yet be released.
The league hopes to use June and perhaps July to complete the league schedule. Seasons usually start in mid-July.
Teams in the league were able to begin light training on April 27, though they had to follow existing rules, including staying at least two meters apart and limiting the groups to eight players. Those have since been loosened.
FC Zbrojovka (10-4-3, 34 points) is currently third in the standings, behind FK Pardubice (12-2-3, 38) and FC Vysočina Jihlava (10-5-2, 35). SK Líšeň (6-6-5, 24) is in the eighth place in its first year at this level.
Only one round was played in the spring half of the 2019-20 season. Zbrojovka won 1-0 at home over Sokolov on March 8 and SK Líšeň got a 1-1 tie at fourth-place FC Hradec Králové (9-4-4, 31). The 10 subsequent rounds on the schedule were postponed, including a much anticipated Brno derby at SK Líšeň on April 15. Another three games will be postponed.
BASEBALL
Season Expected to Start in mid-June
The Baseball extraliga was to have started the season at the beginning of April but it looks like the season will actually get under way on Friday, June 12. The second part of the season — known as the superstructure, where the top teams play against each other and lesser teams drop down to easier competition — should start on Aug. 28.
The postseason would continue without a break, with best-of-three quarterfinal series, best-of-three semifinal series and a best-of-five Czech Series. Only foreigner players who live in the Czech Republic will be eligible to play.
On April 27, baseball was able to start light training in groups of 10.
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
Season On Hold Until Mid-August
The Council of the Czech American Football Association has postponed the start of the men’s league until mid-August.
The 27th season of American football are expected to start on August 15 and end in early November. The season was supposed to have started on the first weekend of April.
The Brno Sigrs and the Brno Alligators are both scheduled to play in the Paddock League Eastern Division, which also includes the Přerov Mammoths and the Ostrava Steelers.
CANCELED SPORTS
The middle of March was when the Czech Republic really started tighten up and hole up at home. It is also when hockey, women’s basketball and both women’s volleyball and men’s volleyball all cancelled their seasons, just before they were to start their postseasons.
• The Tipsport extraliga hockey league did not have a champion decided on the ice for the first time since 1945. HC Kometa finished the season in sixth place.
• The Renomia ŽBL, the top women’s basketball league, left perennial champion ZVVZ USK Praha atop the standings with an undefeated record. Sokol H. Králové (19-4) was second. KP Brno (17-6) was third and Žabiny Brno (15-8) was fourth.
• The Kooperativa NBL, the top men’s basketball league, concluded its season soon after the women’s league. mmcité1 Basket Brno (8-19) had won five games in a row and they were atop the Group A2 standings.
• The Uniqua Extraliga Žen, the women’s volleyball league, had VK Brno (73 points) atop the regular season standings, with a six-point lead over Olomouc (67). They were to start a best-of-five quarterfinal series with crosstown rival VK Královo Pole (25, eighth place).
• The UNIQA Extraliga Muži, the men’s volleyball league, ended with Volejbal Brno in third place.
In addition, in April,
• The 1.liga žen, the top women’s football league, ended its season with Lokomotiva Brno-Horni Herspice (3-2-8, 11 points) in fifth in the standings. Brno’s Lucie Lišková was ninth on the league scoring list with six goals. Desana Dianišková was 15th with 4.
BRNO SPORTS SCHEDULE
Schedules are to be announced.
The Brno Sports Report has generally been published every Wednesday, although, like most everything else, the regularity was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. If you have any suggestions for what should be included, please comment below or send an email to bruno@brnodaily.cz.
