The stands will be empty of fans, but FC Zbrojovka will nevertheless take its home field Friday evening against Liberec as it starts the hard work of maintaining its place in the top Czech football league. Photo Credit: FC Zbrojovka.
Brno, Jan. 20 (BD) — KP Brno wins EuroCup opener in home-court bubble; Basket Brno solidifies postseason chances with two wins over lowly Ostrava; and HC Kometa slowly adding points in the standings.
MEN’S FOOTBALL
Zbrojovka Plays Friday Evening
FC Zbrojovka Brno scored first on a set-play header but they were not able to hold off host Mladá Boleslav in the first game of the spring part of the Fortuna Liga season on Saturday.
A big underdog in the game, Brno nevertheless earned a point in the standings with the 1-1 tie. Both Brno and Mladá Boleslav have records of 2-4-9 through 15 games. Though they both have 10 points, they are on opposite sides of the relegation line in the standings because Mladá Boleslav has a better goal differential, -12 to -15.
Zbrojovka returns home to host Liberec (6-4-4) in a Friday evening game at 6 p.m. Fans are still not able to attend games due to restrictions against the spread of the coronavirus. Liberec is sixth in the standings and Brno always plays well at home.
Anything Brno gets against Liberec is great, but the fact of the matter is that the local team must earn points against the bottom third of the standings: at Opava (Jan. 31 at 2 p.m.); at Bohemians (week of Feb. 6); at Příbram (the week of March 20); at SK Dynamo Č. Budějovice (the week of April 10); Teplice (the week of April 24); FK Mladá Boleslav (the week of May 8); and Opava (the week of May 22).
Four of those games are on the road. Two of the games against last-place Opava.
Moravian rivalry games during the spring part of the season include Zlin (the week of Feb. 13); at Olomouc (the week of Feb. 20); at Slovacko (the week of April 21); and at Ostrava (the week of May 1). The season ends in Prague against Sparta Praha on May 29.
For updated information and the schedule for FC Zbrojovka Brno games, go to the league website at https://www.fortunaliga.cz/. The team website is at https://fczbrno.cz/. Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
KP Brno Wins EuroCup Opener, Plays Thursday and Friday
KP Brno started its three-game EuroCup mini-tournament with an exciting win against Gorzów WLKP, 72-70, on Tuesday. They host MBA Moscow of Russian tomorrow (Thursday) and Elazig Idare of Turkey on Friday. The CT Sport internet site and Tvcom.cz will carry the action.
The bubble in Královo Pole was put in place because of the restrictions against the spread of COVID-19.
For updated information and schedules for both local teams, go to the league website at https://www.zbl.basketball/. The KP Brno team website is: http://www.kpbrnobasket.cz/ The Žabiny Brno team website is: https://www.bkzabiny.cz/ Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
MEN’S BASKETBALL
Basket Brno Looks Good for Postseason
Basket Brno beat NH Ostrava twice last week to improve to 10-8 with four more rounds remaining in the regular season of the Kooperative NBL.
Brno travels to USK Praha (11-6) on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and then hosts Ústí nad Labem (8-11) on Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. Games are shown on Tvcom.cz.
The 22-round regular season will conclude on Feb. 6 after every team has played every other at home and away. The top eight teams move to Group A, with each playing home-and-away games with each other team. The top six teams move on to the postseason. The seventh- and eighth-place teams will need to earn their way with an extra step. The ninth- to 12th-place teams from the regular season will move to Group B and play each team twice at home and twice away. The top two teams from Group B will play the bottom two teams from Group A in order to earn a place in the postseason bracket. The bottom team of Group B will play in a relegation series with the top team from the lower league. The postseason is scheduled for April 9 to May 22.
For updated information and the schedule for Basket Brno games, go to the league website at https://www.nbl.cz/. The team website is: https://basketbrno.cz/ Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
MEN’S HOCKEY
HC Kometa Scratching for Every Point
HC Kometa lost to Mountfield HK (1-2 at home on Sunday) and at HC Olomouc (2-1 after an extra time shootout on Tuesday), but the team has earned at least a point in eight of its last nine games. The loss to Mountfield is the only no-point game since Dec. 28.
The legendary Brno hockey team, which has won more national titles than any other, is currently in ninth place in the 14-team Tipsport extraliga with 47 points through 33 games.
Kometa will host traditional rival HC Sparta Praha on Friday at 6 p.m. They will be on CT Sport on Sunday at HC Dynamo Pardubice at 2 p.m.
The season, which includes 52 rounds, ends on March 7. Then the postseason series begin.
For the league website, go to https://www.hokej.cz/tipsport-extraliga. For updated information and the schedule, go to the team website at https://hc-kometa.cz/. Use Google Chrome, right-click anywhere on the page and select “Translate to English”.
