Transport Minister Aleš Řebíček (Civic Democrats, ODS) has also a 33 percent stake in the indebted Slavia football club, becoming the second-largest shareholder after Natland Group, which stepped in earlier to settle some of the club’s debts — like back pay to the footballers. Meanwhile, Slavia on Tuesday got its premier league license from the ČMFS, but ENIC insists it never relinquished its stake.

Fans of Slavia Prague FC can breathe a collective sigh of relief: Next week a strong investor will provide enough finances to meet the demands of the Czech and Moravian Football Association (ČMFS) for Slavia to retain its license to play in the top division in Czech football. The cash injection is a first step toward gaining ownership, one of the investor’s representatives has told Czech Position.

Will Slavia be playing in the top Czech football league next season? On the pitch, Prague’s oldest professional football club has seven matches left to play and, while it hasn’t been an epic season, the team looks to be safe from relegation. Nevertheless, in six weeks time the license tribunal will confirm the teams to play in the Gambrinus Extraliga next season, and an unpaid debt of Kč 110 million could spell relegation to even the third division.

The Education Ministry (MŠMT) has launched a Kč 60 million promotion of EU funds to strengthen Czech science without having signed a proper contract. The first ad on Czech Television (ČT), produced by a company that doesn’t even have a webpage, cost some Kč 250,000 — nearly four times the market rate. The ads themselves are also uninspired, and fail to highlight exciting developments in the field.