Three-horse race for title

Reigning champions Sparta Prague are expecting strong challenges from Slavia Prague and Viktoria Plzen

- Emanuele Giulianelli

There’s a crucial question in the air about the Czech Republic’s new top-flight season: after Sparta Prague ended their nine-year wait for the league title, is this the start of a new era for the country’s most successful club, or was it just a flash in the pan, with Slavia Prague and Viktoria Plzen set to reassert their authority as the teams to beat again?

In November, Sparta will celebrate their 130th birthday and would like nothing better than to mark their anniversary season by adding to their collection of trophies. Last season’s title was their 13th in the Czech First League, in addition to the 21 that they won before the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, making them the most decorated club in the country by far. Yet it took the arrival of Danish head coach Brian Priske, a title winner in his home country with Midtjylland back in 2019-20, to end the recent dominance of Slavia and Plzen, and the reality is that the 2023-24 season will probably be a three-way battle.