Key takeaways
- Czech top-flight media rights are sold centrally by the Ligová fotbalová asociace (LFA), the association of all 32 professional clubs. Distribution is approved by the Ligové grémium, the assembly of club representatives.
- The current cycle runs 2024/25 to 2028/29. Season 2026/27 is year three of a five-year contract, not the start of a new deal.
- Audiovisual rights are worth CZK 432.2m per season (c. EUR 17.9m), of which CZK 302m comes from Oneplay (formerly O2 TV) for top-flight live rights and CZK 129m from Betano for betting-streaming rights.
- Adding the title sponsor Chance and other commercial partners, the total central pot reached roughly CZK 750m (c. EUR 31m) in year one — about triple the pre-tender level.
- League split is fixed at 85% first division / 15% second division.
- Within the top flight, money is allocated across five pillars: an equal share, a placement bonus including a relegation parachute, a European qualification bonus, a TV audience share, and a discretionary bonus funded by the LFA’s own operating surplus.
- For 2026/27 the pot rose again — new partner contracts effective 1 July 2026, improved fast-betting terms via European Leagues membership, and a new highlights sales agreement — plus an approved one-off of CZK 3m per top-flight club.
1. The governance structure behind the money
Every Czech professional club assigns its audiovisual and radio rights for league and cup matches exclusively to the LFA. The association sells them centrally; the Ligové grémium decides how proceeds are allocated. This is a club-controlled model rather than a federation-controlled one, closer in constitutional design to the Premier League or the DFL than to leagues run directly by a national association.
That structure only became commercially meaningful recently. Until 2023, rights were awarded without an open tender to the agency Pragosport, which had held them since 2014. After a complaint from Slavia Prague, the Czech competition authority ÚOHS examined the arrangement; the LFA committed to a transparent, non-discriminatory tender for subsequent seasons. The revenue step-change described below is, in large part, the price of competition being introduced to a market that had none.
For anyone modelling Central and Eastern European football economics, this is the single most useful data point in the Czech case: the same product, sold competitively, was worth roughly three times what it had been worth when sold bilaterally.
2. The 2024/25–2028/29 rights cycle
Thirteen parties expressed interest in the autumn 2023 tender. The Ligové grémium ratified the outcome on 28 November 2023.
| Package | Buyer | Annual fee | EUR equivalent* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live TV, first division | O2 TV / Oneplay | CZK 302.0m | c. EUR 12.52m |
| Betting streaming, first division | Betano | CZK 129.0m | c. EUR 5.35m |
| Live TV, second division | Pragosport | CZK 1.2m | c. EUR 0.05m |
| Total audiovisual | CZK 432.2m | c. EUR 17.92m |
* Converted at the 21 August 2026 rate. All contracts are denominated in Czech koruna.
The previous audiovisual arrangement generated roughly CZK 150m per year. Ancillary packages — highlights, international TV, international betting streaming and audio commentary — were tendered separately. Note that the audio licence was awarded for three seasons only, expiring after 2026/27, so a re-tender falls within the current campaign.
The title sponsorship
From 2024/25 the competition is branded the Chance Liga, after betting operator Chance (part of the Tipsport group) outbid incumbent Fortuna. Reported consideration was around CZK 250m annually at signature; Deník Sport put the first-season figure at CZK 260m. Fortuna had been paying roughly CZK 80m. Both the media rights and the title sponsorship therefore roughly tripled in the same negotiation window.
Total central revenue
The LFA guided to a minimum of CZK 660m across both divisions before the 2024/25 season. Once ancillary packages closed, the realised figure for year one was reported at approximately CZK 750m.
On 22 June 2026 the Ligové grémium confirmed a further increase for 2026/27. New or improved partner contracts with Louda Auto, ČPP and SELECT took effect on 1 July 2026; fast-betting rights terms improved through the LFA’s European Leagues membership; and a new agreement covers the sale of match highlights. The association quantified the uplift only as being “in the millions” of koruna.
3. The 85/15 split
Before the tender concluded, clubs agreed that the second division would not be worse off in relative terms. The resulting fixed key:
- 85% to the Chance Liga
- 15% to the Chance Národní Liga
The key applies not only to base revenues but to subsequent distributions. When the grémium approved a surplus-funded bonus in June 2026, LFA executive director Tomáš Bárta confirmed it was allocated “in the 85:15 ratio in favour of the first league, in line with the previous agreement.”
On the original CZK 660m guidance, the first-division share was CZK 553m to 573m, the range reflecting how many clubs are relegated and therefore how much is committed to parachute payments.
4. The five distribution pillars
Pillar 1 — Equal share
Every top-flight club receives an identical guaranteed base payment, set at CZK 24m (c. EUR 995,000) for 2024/25 and, per iSport.cz, unchanged through 2025/26. Across 16 clubs this commits roughly CZK 384m — the single largest block in the model.
Pillar 2 — Placement bonus and parachute
Final standings after the championship group and play-offs are rewarded on a sliding scale. The relegated club receives a CZK 10m parachute (c. EUR 415,000). The full ladder is not published.
Pillar 3 — European qualification bonus
Clubs qualifying for a UEFA competition — including qualifying rounds — receive a flat CZK 18m (c. EUR 746,000). The amount does not scale with the competition entered: a club going straight into the Champions League league phase and a club entering the second qualifying round of the Conference League receive the same. Five clubs qualified in 2024/25, committing CZK 90m.
This was the model’s only genuinely contested element. Smaller clubs argued for redistributing the CZK 90m equally across all 16 and raising the base share instead. The proposal failed.
Pillar 4 — TV audience share
A portion is allocated according to each club’s share of measured television audience — structurally the closest Czech equivalent to the Bundesliga’s “interest” pillar or the Premier League’s facility fees, though based on aggregate viewership rather than number of matches broadcast. The formula and club-level values are not disclosed. Deník Sport published a first overview of club-by-club Czech top-flight viewing figures in July 2025.
Pillar 5 — Surplus bonus
Where the LFA itself records a positive result, the grémium may approve an extraordinary distribution. On 22 June 2026 it did exactly that: CZK 3m per first-division club and just over CZK 0.5m per second-division club, based on a preliminary assessment of the 2025/26 financial year.
5. What a club actually receives
The LFA does not publish club-by-club payments. The table below separates what is documented from what has to be modelled.
Documented per-club components, 2026/27:
| Component | CZK | EUR | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equal share | 24.0m | c. 995,000 | Documented at this level since 2024/25; increase announced for 2026/27, not quantified |
| Surplus bonus | 3.0m | c. 124,000 | Documented (approved 22 Jun 2026) |
| European bonus (qualifiers only) | 18.0m | c. 746,000 | Documented |
| Relegation parachute | 10.0m | c. 415,000 | Documented |
| Placement bonus | undisclosed | – | Ladder not published |
| TV audience share | undisclosed | – | Formula not published |
Modelled reconciliation (not official):
| Line | CZK |
|---|---|
| Total central pot (750m carried forward plus announced uplift) | c. 760–790m |
| Chance Liga share (85%) | c. 645–670m |
| Less equal shares (16 × 24m) | 384m |
| Less surplus bonus (16 × 3m) | 48m |
| Less European bonus (5 × 18m) | 90m |
| Residual for placement, audience, parachute | c. 120–150m |
| Average per club | c. CZK 40–42m (c. EUR 1.65–1.74m) |
Roughly two thirds of the top-flight pot is distributed equally. Merit-based elements — placement, European qualification and audience — account for the remaining third. The implied ratio between the highest and lowest domestic central earner is comfortably below 2:1.
For context, the Premier League’s equivalent ratio sits near 1.8:1, LaLiga’s around 3.5:1, and Portugal’s — where clubs still sell individually — considerably wider. On the domestic distribution axis alone, the Czech league is one of the flatter models in Europe.
6. Where the real inequality sits
The flat domestic model does not mean Czech football is financially flat. It means the variance lives elsewhere.
A single Champions League league-phase entry is worth multiples of the entire Czech central pot for both divisions combined. In 2025/26, Czech clubs reaching UEFA league phases earned prize money that dwarfed anything the domestic market generates. This is the defining structural feature of a mid-sized European league in the post-2024 UEFA distribution era: domestic central revenue functions as a floor, while European qualification functions as the entire growth mechanism.
That has a knock-on effect on how these leagues are valued commercially. A broadcaster buying Czech rights is buying a product whose top clubs’ financial fortunes are largely determined by a competition it does not hold the rights to.
Suggested internal links: → “UEFA prize money 2026/27: Champions League, Europa League and Conference League” → “TV money in the Polish Ekstraklasa” → “Central and Eastern European TV rights: a comparison”
7. UEFA solidarity payments
Solidarity payments form a second, materially significant revenue stream — worth roughly half an equal share to a non-European Czech club.
The mechanism
UEFA redistributes a portion of Champions League, Europa League and Conference League revenue to national associations. Since the cycle beginning in 2024, two pillars apply:
- 70% is allocated by access list, i.e. association coefficient position for the relevant season, excluding the top five countries. Associations with Champions League representatives are further favoured. Pool: EUR 180.6m.
- 30% is proportional to the prize money earned by each association’s highest-earning club across the three competitions. Pool: EUR 77.4m.
The Czech allocation
The Czech Republic entered 2025/26 ranked tenth by coefficient, generating EUR 5.936m under pillar one, up from EUR 5.624m the year before. In December 2025 the grémium extended a share to the second division for the first time:
| Recipient | Share | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Chance Liga clubs outside UEFA league phases (12 clubs) | 90% | EUR 5,342,400 |
| Chance Národní Liga clubs (B teams excluded) | 10% | EUR 593,600 |
That works out to roughly EUR 445,200 per eligible top-flight club (c. CZK 10.7m). Pillar two proceeds are determined after the season ends and go exclusively to first-division clubs.
2026/27 status
The mechanism carries over unchanged; the amounts do not yet exist. They depend on how many Czech clubs reach a UEFA league phase, since those clubs are excluded from the solidarity pool. The Czech Republic has five European entrants in 2026/27 — Slavia Prague (direct to the Champions League league phase), Sparta Prague, Viktoria Plzeň, Hradec Králové and Jablonec. The distribution is normally ratified at the grémium meeting in late autumn.
8. The Karviná complication
MFK Karviná qualified on sporting merit for the Europa League but was expelled from the top flight by the FAČR ethics commission over the “Úklid” corruption case and ruled ineligible by UEFA. Plzeň and Hradec Králové moved up the European ladder as a result, and promoted Artis Brno took the vacated league place.
Whether and to what extent Karviná retains claims under the previous season’s distribution key is not publicly documented. We treat this as an open item pending confirmation from the LFA.
9. Summary table
| Metric | Chance Liga 2026/27 |
|---|---|
| Central pot, both divisions | c. CZK 760–790m (c. EUR 31.5–32.7m) |
| First-division share | c. CZK 645–670m (c. EUR 26.7–27.8m) |
| Average per top-flight club | c. CZK 40m (c. EUR 1.66m) |
| Distribution logic | Predominantly equal, moderate merit component |
| Rights cycle | 2024/25 to 2028/29 |
| Domestic broadcasters | Oneplay (pay TV), Betano (betting stream), Český rozhlas (audio) |
| Free-to-air top-flight coverage | None |
10. Methodology and data quality
Documented figures are drawn from LFA and Chance Liga communications, reporting by iSport.cz / Deník Sport, footballclub.cz, MediaGuru and ČTK, and the ÚOHS competition decision.
Not publicly available: the full placement bonus ladder, the audience-share formula, club-level payments, and the precise size of the 2026/27 uplift. Every figure derived from these is labelled as modelled.
Currency: All contracts are denominated in Czech koruna. Euro figures are indicative only, converted at EUR 1 = CZK 24.12 (Czech National Bank, 21 August 2026). Multi-year contracts translated at different historical rates will not reconcile with euro figures published elsewhere.
Terminology: Czech coverage often uses “TV money” as shorthand for the entire central pot. Strictly, CZK 432.2m is the audiovisual component; title sponsorship and commercial partnerships are separate revenue lines distributed under the same key.
FAQ
How much money does the Czech league distribute in 2026/27? The central pot across both professional divisions was approximately CZK 750m (c. EUR 31m) in the first season of the current cycle. The LFA has confirmed a further increase for 2026/27 from new sponsorship contracts and a highlights sales deal, without stating the amount.
Who holds Czech Chance Liga broadcast rights? Oneplay, formerly O2 TV, holds exclusive live TV rights for CZK 302m per season, shown on Oneplay Sport 1–4. Betano holds exclusive betting-streaming rights for CZK 129m per season. Audio rights sit with Český rozhlas. There is no free-to-air option for top-flight matches.
How much does an individual Chance Liga club receive? Guaranteed elements are a CZK 24m equal share plus a CZK 3m surplus bonus for 2026/27. Added to this are a placement bonus, a TV audience share, and — for European qualifiers — CZK 18m. Modelled average is around CZK 40m (c. EUR 1.66m).
How is money split between the first and second divisions? Under a fixed 85/15 key in favour of the Chance Liga. The same key applies to one-off surplus distributions.
What does a relegated club receive? A parachute payment of CZK 10m, roughly EUR 415,000.
When does the current Czech TV deal expire? After the 2028/29 season. The cycle began in 2024/25 and covers five seasons, making 2026/27 the third year.
How much do Czech clubs receive in UEFA solidarity payments? In the 2025/26 cycle the Czech Republic received EUR 5.936m. Of that, EUR 5,342,400 went to twelve top-flight clubs outside UEFA league phases — roughly EUR 445,200 each — and EUR 593,600 to the second division. The 2026/27 amounts have not yet been set.
