The Czech National Football League (Czech: Fotbalová národní liga, CHNL), known as Chance Národní Liga due to sponsorship reasons, is the second level professional association football league in the Czech Republic. Before 2013 it was known as 2. liga or Druhá liga. The top team each season is eligible for promotion to the Czech First League, while the second and third placed teams enter play offs for possible promotion.
The league replaced the I.ČNL (I. Česká národní liga; First Czech National League), which had been established following the end of the nationwide Czechoslovak Second League in 1977. The league became known as simply II. liga (Second League) in 1993 following the establishment of the Czech Republic as an independent state.
Structure
There are 16 clubs in the CHNL. During the season, which runs from August to May or June, with a winter break between November and February or March, each club plays each of the other clubs twice (once at home, once away) and is awarded three points for a win, one for a draw and zero for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, then goal difference and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the top-ranked team is promoted to the Czech First League, providing they obtain a license and meet league requirements, and is replaced by the team that finished 16th in that league. The two teams positioned 2nd and 3rd play a play-out with two teams from the first league positioned 14th and 15th in a home and away format. The two teams that finished at the bottom of the CHNL are relegated to either the Bohemian Football League or the Moravian-Silesian Football League, based on geographical criteria. In turn, the champions of each of these regional divisions are promoted to the CHNL.
Fortuna Národní Liga (2016–2024)
In the 1993–94 season the league was played with 16 teams, before expanding to 18 teams in the 1994–95 season. Since 1995, the league is usually played with 16 teams, but on two occasions a team did not fulfil its fixtures and the full 30 rounds were not completed. Firstly in the 1997–98 Czech 2. Liga as Ústí nad Labem did not fulfil their fixtures and their results were cancelled, and secondly in the 2004–05 Czech 2. Liga as Bohemians' results were expunged after playing only the first half of the season. In the 2020–21 season, only 14 teams competed because of the suspension of the first league in the previous season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 1993 to 2018, the top two teams qualified for promotion. Since the 2018–19 season, only the top team has been directly promoted. Teams finishing second and third play a two-legged playoff with teams from the First League to determine who will play there next season. In the COVID-impacted 2019–20 season, the playoffs were cancelled.
↑Drnovice were refused a Czech First League license so Plzeň were promoted to replace them
↑Čáslav was not able to play 1st liga due to financial problems.
↑Ústí nad Labem was not able to play 1st liga due to problems with their stadium
References
↑Jeřábek, Luboš (2007). Ceský a ceskoslovenský fotbal – lexikon osobností a klubu (in Czech). Prague: Grada Publishing. pp.34–35. ISBN978-80-247-1656-5.
