History
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.
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.
Read more about this topic: SK Slavia Prague
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man’s judgement.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
“In nature, all is useful, all is beautiful. It is therefore beautiful, because it is alive, moving, reproductive; it is therefore useful, because it is symmetrical and fair. Beauty will not come at the call of a legislature, nor will it repeat in England or America its history in Greece. It will come, as always, unannounced, and spring up between the feet of brave and earnest men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We aspire to be something more than stupid and timid chattels, pretending to read history and our Bibles, but desecrating every house and every day we breathe in.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)