| Full name | Sportovní klub Slavia Praha | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Sešívaní (The sewn-ones) | ||
| Founded | 1892 | ||
| Ground | Synot Tip Arena, Prague (Capacity: 21,000[1]) |
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| Chairman | Miroslav Platil | ||
| Manager | František Straka | ||
| League | Gambrinus liga | ||
| 2010-11 | Gambrinus liga, 9th | ||
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Sportovní Klub Slavia Praha (English: SK Slavia Prague) is a Czech professional football club founded in 1892 in the city of Prague.
They play in the Gambrinus liga—the highest competition in the Czech Republic. Alongside Sparta Prague, they are considered one of the top Czech clubs and the rivalry between the two clubs is important in Czech football. Slavia has won 17 titles, several Czech cups and the Mitropa Cup (Central European Cup) in 1938. Their most recent success was winning the Gambrinus liga in the 2008-09 season. Slavia also won the Gambrinus liga in the 1995-96 season, when they also advanced to the UEFA Cup semi-finals. They qualified for the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in their history.
In addition to their men's squad, Slavia Prague also has youth, futsal, and women's clubs.
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Slavia were founded in 1892 in Vinohrady, Prague as a sport club, where cycling dominated. In January 1896, a new sport came to the club—football. On 25 March 1896 Slavia won their first-ever match 5-0 (some sources are saying 6-0). The rivals were AC Prague. Four days later, Slavia was playing against Sparta 0-0 and this match is the start of traditional rivality between these popular Czech clubs. On 5 April 1896 Slavia won 2-1 over ČFK Kickers and ended 2nd of 4 in this tournament. The great era for Slavia started in 1905, when Scottish manager and former Celtic player John William Madden brought new tactics and views on football from his home country. He managed to set up an early golden age for the club that lasted 25 years. Johnny was the first Slavia manager, before him there were only team captains who had something like managers' rights. Under Madden Slavia won 134 domestic matches out of possible 169, and 304 internationals out of 429 between the years 1905 and 1930. In 1930 Madden retired from Slavia and professional football at the age of 66, though he remained in Prague for the rest of his life.
In the 1934 FIFA World Cup the Czechoslovakia national football team included 8 Slavia players, which means that Slavia were the top Czech club in that age. The second gold period came when Slavia bought Josef Bican from Admira Vienna. With this famous footballer Slavia won titles in the years 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1943. In 1951 Slavia finished in 11th position and it was a big break. Poor results continued during nineteen-fifties and sixties when Slavia were relegated twice. They were promoted back in 1965.
A new age and comeback to the top began in 1990, when lots of young, budding players, including Vladimír Šmicer and Patrik Berger, were brought to the club, mostly by rich Czech-American businessman Boris Korbel. In 1996 Slavia won their fourteenth title after 49 years. During this season, Slavia was playing semi-final of UEFA Cup and four players of this team had big importance for silver Czech team from Euro 96.[2][3]
Slavia have suffered from financial problems in recent years, mainly because of their repeated failure, until 2007, to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. Slavia have built a team of young players, many of whom represented their countries in "Under-21" teams. The brightest young hopes are Adam Hloušek, Petr Janda and Milan Černý.
Slavia qualified for the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League following a 3-1 aggregate victory over Ajax Amsterdam in the Third Qualifying Round. On 30 August 2007 in Monaco, they were drawn in Group H along with Arsenal, Steaua Bucharest and Sevilla. They started with a 2-1 win at home against Steaua and a 4-2 loss to Sevilla. Next came two matches against Arsenal; Slavia was dismantled 7-0 at Emirates Stadium, but in the second leg they managed to steal a point for 0-0 draw. In Bucharest came a 1-1 draw, which qualified the Czech team for the UEFA Cup round of 32, from 3rd place in group H, in spite of a home 0-3 defeat against Sevilla.
In the seasons of 2007–08 and 2008–09, Slavia was two times Czech champion. But in the 2009–10 season they managed only 7th place.
In October 2006, the construction of the new and long-awaited stadium at Eden for 21,000 spectators began. The stadium was opened on 7 May 2008 with an exhibition match against Oxford University.[4]
In the autumn of 2010, the club found itself in crisis due to its economic problems. It was discovered that Slavia owed £3,600,000 to the club's former owner, ENIC Sports Ltd (English National Investment Company). As a result of this, major cost-cutting was needed to service this debt and it was confirmed that the squad would need to be purged. As a result, it was confirmed that Tunisian players Hocine Ragued and Tijani Belaid would leave the club in the winter of the 2010/11 season, as Slavia could no longer afford their comparatively large wages. In addition to these departures, midfielders Petr Trapp and Jaroslav Černý also left the club mid-season, the former claiming that Slavia had not paid his wages for three months.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the turmoil off the field was echoed in Slavia's performance on the field. At the start of January 2011, 17 games into the league season, Slavia were 14th in the Gambrinus Liga with just 16 points, having won just three times since July 2010. The club finished the season above the drop zone, to stay in the top flight for another season.
On May 5th 2011, the cup match against Olomouc was canceled due to protests of fans against the financial situation of the club.[5]
Until spring 2011, 31% of the club was owned by ENIC Sports Ltd, who also have significant or controlling stakes in Tottenham Hotspur and AEK Athens. 61% was owned by a Czech company Key Investments with unclear ownership, who did not own the share itself, but managed it for an unknown owner - possibly Tomáš Rosen and Antonín Franc. The remaining 8% were held by minor stockholders. Until that date the club has been controlled by two Czech businessmen Tomáš Rosen and Petr Doležal.
In Spring 2011 shares managed by Key Investments were bought by Natland Group and share of ENIC Group was sold to former minister of transportation of the Czech Republic Aleš Řebíček. Aleš Řebíček owns 98% of company since he bought share of Natland in summer 2011. The remaining share (approx. 2%) is owned by minor stockholders.
The best known Slavia player of all time is perhaps forward Josef "Pepi" Bican, one of the most prolific goalscorers in the history of football. Other famous players include forward Antonín Puč, goalkeeper František Plánička (both of them members of the Czech national team in two World Cups) and midfielder František Veselý. Other big names in club history are: Čestmír Vycpálek, Jan Košek, Alexander Bokšay, Vlasta Kopecký, Ota Hemele, Jiří Hildebrandt, Jan Lála, František Veselý, Luboš Kubík and Ivo Knoflíček.
Players for Slavia in the 1990s include Vladimír Šmicer (2005 UEFA Champions League winner), Patrik Berger, Karel Poborský, Radek Bejbl, Jan Suchopárek, Ivo Ulich, Pavel Kuka, who ended his career in 2005 and Croatian player Slađan Ašanin. Notable players of the 2000s include Radek Černý, Pavel Horváth, Martin Vaniak and Mickael Tavares or young players like Tomáš Necid, Marek Suchý, Michal Švec. Among current notable players are forward Stanislav Vlček, midfielder Adam Hloušek and defender Ondřej Čelůstka.
The 1913 Championship ČSF title together with all Czechoslovakia and Czech league titles are today considered as official titles of Czech leagues.[6] (Czech)
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Slavia have participated in the qualifiers for the UEFA Champions League six times (1996, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007). They had been eliminated five times until finally qualifying for the group stage in the 2007/2008 season. In the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 they were eliminated again, by ACF Fiorentina (0-2 on aggregate) and Sheriff Tiraspol (1-1 on away goals rule), respectively.
Football Club Vojvodina (Serbia), one of the oldest Serbian premier league clubs, was founded in 1914 by former students of Prague University. They brought from Czechoslovakia a complete set of Slavia jerseys. Since then, Vojvodina uses jerseys that share the same design as Slavia's jerseys.
Oddly enough the first foreign player to sign with Slavia was Serbian striker Dragiša Binić who transferred to the club from Red Star in 1991.
As of December, 2011. Only competitive matches are counted.
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