On Friday 09.02.2024, a press conference of the League Football Association was held before Saturday’s start of the spring part of FORTUNA:LIGY, which will be attended by LFA Chairman Dušan Svoboda, LFA Chief Executive Officer Tomáš Bárta, LFA Commercial and Marketing Director Daniel Hajný, LFA Communications and PR Director Pavel Jahoda, and Louda auto Sales Director Robert Imling.

Already this Saturday, the winter break will end after 55 days, with the 20th round kicking off the spring leg of the FORTUNA:LIGY season and a direct assault on the record audience. The League Football Association faces several important decisions in the lead-up to the selection process for general partner for both the First and Second Leagues. At the same time, the LFA has already extended contracts with a trio of important partners. The positive news of the autumn part of the season was that 948,875 spectators arrived during the 19 rounds, averaging 6,411 spectators per match. This is still the second highest average visit per round in the history of the independent Czech league. The all-time record from the 1996/97 season, when the average was 7,155, also remains in play. “At least trying to get close to the record must be the goal of all of us for the spring part of the season, and I believe we can break it. At the same time, I am convinced that if we don’t overcome it in the spring, we will next season. We are all seeing a shift in the culture of stadiums in recent months and the work of clubs with supporters in general. And we are talking not only about Sparta and Slavia, who are doing a great job in the long term, but also about the rest of the competition,” believes Dusan Svoboda, chairman of the League Football Association. “We also want to contribute to the LFA through our projects such as FORTUNA:LIGA fanzones, Liga to schools, SLO or Liga Academy,” added Daniel Hajný, lfa’s commercial and marketing director. The LFA has also been significantly active in the field of business partnership in recent months. Following the first phase of the audio-visual tender, discussions with current league partners took place.  During the winter break, the contract was extended immediately with a trio of partners, Louda Auto+, ČPP and also JVC, for the next two seasons. In addition, with a significant increase in financial execution.”We were very pleased that we were able to agree on a contract extension, with all the partners mentioned. We take this as confirmation that mutual and long-term cooperation is working and delivering to all parties what they expected of it. At the same time, I see this as another signal that lfa and generally Czech professional football is a stable and attractive partner with whom it is meaningful to connect,” said Daniel Hajný, lfa’s commercial and marketing director. “We deliver 280 new cars to domestic football each season.  For the fourth year running, we are thus ensuring mobility for the LFA and all clubs in league one and two. Our partnership will last for the next two seasons,” said Louda Auto+ sales director Robert Imling. “As a leading dealer of young cars on the Czech market, we are happy to be a proud partner of the most popular sport in our country in the coming season,” added Robert Imling. “We are currently dealing with all the elements that are associated with the tender and that need to be implemented before its launch. At the same time, we discuss the important details it should contain. The goal is clear, we want the general partner to be an important contributor in our efforts to take Czech professional football back a significant way forward. We plan to open the tender in late February and March,” said lfa chairman, Dusan Svoboda, at a press conference ahead of the launch of the spring part of FORTUNA:LIGY.  In addition to the general partnership, the League Football Association will also tender for the sale of television and streaming rights for foreign exchange betting, audio and match-editing rights (highlights).  “As has been the case for the first three competitions, a working group is now set up in which there is close cooperation between lfa representatives and individual clubs. I firmly believe that mutual cooperation will be similarly successful, as was the case with the autumn tender for selected audio-visual rights,” Svoboda stated.

LFA partners are also preparing to restart FORTUNA:LIGY. The main broadcaster O2 TV Sport will launch the spring part as early as Friday, offering a 90-minute Preview FORTUNA:LIGY from 6:30 p.m. “Presenter David Sobišek together with the experts will bring a big summary of winter transfers and forecasts before the start of the spring part of the SEASON FORTUNA:LIGY. The F:INITO show closes on Saturday and Sunday, and the popular entertainment show TIKI-TAKA, which has already had 231 episodes, with almost 390 personalities from the world of sports, culture and showbusiness, will take the floor on Monday from 8:30 p.m.,” said Marek Kindernay, managing director of O2 TV Sport.  The general partner of both competitions, betting company FORTUNA, believes that at least as many fans will visit during the spring part of the stadium as in the autumn, and expects a balanced battle at both poles of the standings. This is also reflected in the field of betting.

Jk