The highest-earning Czech athletes earn hundreds of millions of crowns each year, Forbes magazine has found.
Among the highest-paid Czech athletes, according to the traditional Forbes magazine ranking, are hockey players and footballers, but also poker players like Martin Kabrhel and Zdeněk Žižka, as well as tennis players Karolína Muchová and Kateřina Siniaková. It is already clear that Wimbledon winner Linda Nosková, who finished just behind them, will significantly improve her position in future rankings.
Have you ever heard of Martin Kabrhel? This most prominent Czech poker player, who is already 43 years old, has earned over nineteen million dollars in tournaments so far, which is roughly 400 million Czech crowns. Just last year, his income amounted to more than 70 million Czech crowns. He is historically the most successful Czech poker player. He is the holder of six bracelets from the World Series of Poker tournaments. In the middle of this year, he was ranked 78th among all world players.
This exceptionally intelligent entrepreneur, who developed algorithmic models for trading on derivatives exchanges for billionaire Karel Janeček after the turn of the millennium and who is also behind the data-analytics company Ematiq, succeeded mainly at the end of last year in Brazil and the Bahamas, as noted by Forbes. Just a third place in a generously funded tournament for 125 thousand dollars reportedly earned him almost 1.37 million dollars. Thanks to this, he was the seventeenth highest-earning domestic athlete according to Forbes.
Another poker wizard, 27-year-old Zdeněk Žižka, is close behind him in the rankings. This two-time world champion in backgammon, the ancient board game that mixes strategy and probability, was ranked 21st by Forbes. While in backgammon the player known as ZZ has reached the highest levels, he still sees opportunities in poker. Last November in Brazil, he earned, for instance, 1.2 million dollars.
This year, Žižka also became part of the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 selection for 2026, which honors talented and inspiring individuals in our country under the age of thirty.
Tennis Players to Benefit from Wimbledon
Tennis player Linda Nosková made a significant impact last year, and she, along with her final opponent Karolína Muchová, is likely to benefit even more in the upcoming period. The current Forbes rankings have yet to include the prize money earned from this year's success at Wimbledon, where Nosková defeated her compatriot in the final and won 3.6 million pounds, approximately 102 million Czech crowns. Muchová is entitled to half of that amount. While Nosková earned 61 million Czech crowns last year, her older colleague made 7 million more.
In the next year, the top of the ranking should see another change. This year, sixth-ranked hockey player Martin Nečas signed a new contract with Colorado last October, which will take effect from the upcoming season, and the twenty-seven-year-old forward will earn 14 million dollars from it. You might wonder how much that is in Czech crowns. A staggering 293.5 million!
Hockey and football are still doing the best
It is precisely hockey players and footballers who earn the most. In the top ten, there are eight hockey players, complemented by footballers Patrik Schick and Tomáš Souček.
For the third year in a row, hockey forward David Pastrňák earned the most. The star of Boston in the NHL earned 275 million Czech Koruna last season.
Second place, just like last year, belongs to Tomáš Hertl, a hockey forward for the Vegas Golden Knights, who made 215 million Czech Koruna. Third is footballer Schick with just under 200 million Czech Koruna. Compared to last year, he surpassed hockey defenseman Filip Hronek. In fifth place was footballer Tomáš Souček and in sixth place was hockey player Martin Nečas.
The newcomers to the top ten this time are hockey goalkeepers Lukáš Dostál and Karel Vejmelka, who hold 7th and 8th place. Dostál signed a new contract with Anaheim last year, Vejmelka with Utah.
Forbes compiles the ranking for the period from July to June of the following year as a sum of salary from the club or prize money and money from sponsors. However, it does not consider taxes or costs related to the activities of the athletes.
Sources: original article, ČTK, Forbes, Wikipedia
