The winners of the Super Final can look forward to an original trophy from Artcristal Bohemia, which supplies prizes for the US Open and PGA Tour

Similar to the winners of overseas professional competitions, the NHL hockey, NBA basketball or NFL American football, the champions of the Superleague of Minor Football will also receive an original souvenir of their triumph. The winners of the men’s national competition will receive a special glass egg from the Artcristal Bohemia glass company in Boskovice on 25 June.

The products of the family company from Velký Osek are proud of, for example, the winners of the US Open tennis tournament or the PGA Tour golf series. “We are proud that we have concluded a contract with Artcristal Bohemia and the winners of the Super League of small football will receive unique handmade glass eggs,” said Petr Brejla, sports and technical director of the Association of Small Football of the Czech Republic.

The company Artcristal Bohemia will produce souvenirs for the winners of the national competition in the symbolic blue and yellow combination and monogrammed with the AMF monogram. Nobody else but the Super League champions will get them. “We have hit the colours used by small football. We won’t offer the products anywhere, we’ll keep them only for small football, which thus gains complete exclusivity,” explained Jan Machálek Sr., the founder of the family glass company.

The individual pieces will be given to the players or members of the national champions’ management team in a luxury satin box along with a numbered certificate of authenticity and the owner’s signature. “Only the winners of the men’s category will really get them, which I hope will motivate players in their twenties or thirties to be among the holders in the future,” said Brejla.

In addition to the winners of the championship title, the most productive player of the current year of the national competition and the most valuable player of the Superfinal, who will be selected by an expert committee directly at the tournament venue, can also look forward to a unique gift. A large and a small glass vase will be waiting for them. Artcristal Bohemia products will also be given to members of the Small Football Hall of Fame.

Brejla visited the glass company together with the association’s CEO Jan Pinkava, where they discussed the final design of all the trophies with the owner. “For the first time in our lives we saw a glass workshop in operation and we were fascinated. Until then, we could only see such an operation on television,” said Brejla.

The founder of Artcristal Bohemia has always been close to the sport. “It’s not so famous now, but when I was young I played ball games and basketball competitively in Poděbrady. Maybe the smaller court suited me, so I didn’t get so out of breath,” Machálek smiled. “I also played tennis, I like to watch football as a fan,” he explained.

He founded the company in 1992 and currently imports products to three hundred shops and small galleries around the world from the US to Australia.

“I started out with local sports organisations, for whom we made prizes for various tournaments. That’s kind of the philosophy of our company and family, we encourage people to play sports so they don’t sit at home. We create a reward for them for doing something and maybe attract young children to sports,” Machálek described why he welcomed the cooperation with the Association of Small Football of the Czech Republic. The Czech Embassy also uses the products as gifts for its partners abroad.

Artcristal Bohemia has gained an excellent reputation and was approached by an American family business that supplies prizes for the US Open and PGA Tour.

“You won’t get certification there unless you slowly document even the shoe numbers, lest someone deliver goods made in China. The Americans were interested in working with us and as you get to that level, it gradually spreads. Everybody does classic crystal but we got into it with colour, suddenly it’s something different and we’ve broken into the top trophy suppliers so we’re doing prizes for tournaments in Canada, Australia and Singapore. We pride ourselves on quality, seriousness and meeting deadlines,” said Machálek, who runs the business with his wife and son.

Author: Jaroslav Kára