Patrik Schick has been named Czech Footballer of the Season for 2025/26, collecting the country’s Golden Ball for the second time. The Bayer Leverkusen forward, now 30, had previously won the award after the 2021/22 campaign.
Schick is already the highest-scoring Czech player in Bundesliga history, with 94 goals. His latest domestic recognition followed a close vote among Czech football journalists. He finished on 771 points, 19 ahead of Pavel Sulc, the former Viktoria Plzen midfielder now at Olympique Lyon. Ladislav Krejci, who moved from Girona to Wolverhampton Wanderers, was also among the leading candidates.
The voting was split into autumn and spring sections, and Schick’s win came without taking first place in either part. Sulc led after the autumn ballot, while Schick placed second in both phases before his accumulated score carried him to the overall prize.
His finish to the previous Bundesliga season was decisive. The left-footed striker scored 16 league goals, with eight arriving across the final eight matchdays. He has also begun the current Bundesliga campaign strongly, finding the net once on every matchday so far.
Bundesliga names in the Czech vote
Hoffenheim right-back Vladimir Coufal placed fifth. Former Bundesliga players Matej Kovar and Adam Karabec also made the top 10: Kovar, now with PSV Eindhoven after his Bayer Leverkusen spell, finished seventh on 242 points, while Lyon’s Karabec, formerly of Hamburger SV, was ninth with 175.
Hoffenheim forward Adam Hlozek received 73 points in 15th place. Alex Kral, who played for Union Berlin and is now at FC Copenhagen, was 45th after receiving five points.
Former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech remains the record winner of the Czech award with 12 successes. Pavel Nedved won it six times, while West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek has four titles. Schick’s early scoring run gives him a platform to add to his two awards.
