 | ||||
| Full name | Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbala.s. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | Červenobílí (The Red and Whites) Sešívaní (The Stitched)[nb 1] Slávisté (The Slavists) | |||
| Founded | 1892; 133 years ago (1892) asACOS (Akademický cyklistický odbor Slavia) | |||
| Ground | Fortuna Arena | |||
| Capacity | 19,370[1] | |||
| Owner | Pavel Tykač | |||
| President | Jaroslav Tvrdík | |||
| Manager | Jindřich Trpišovský | |||
| League | Czech First League | |||
| 2024–25 | Czech First League, 1st of 16 (champions) | |||
| Website | slavia.cz | |||
 Current season | ||||
Sportovní klub Slavia Praha – fotbal (Sports Club Slavia Prague – Football,pronounced[ˈslaːvɪjaˈpraɦa]), commonly known asSlavia Praha orSlavia Prague, is a Czech professionalfootballclub inPrague. Founded in 1892, they are the second most successful club in theCzech Republic since its independence in 1993.[2]
They play in theCzech First League, the top division in theCzech Republic. They play thePrague derby withSparta Prague, the most prominent rivalry in Czech football. Slavia has won 22 league titles, 11 Czech cups, and theMitropa Cup in 1938. The club has won eight league titles since the foundation of the Czech league in 1993. They have also reached the semi-finals of the1995–96 UEFA Cup and qualified for the2007–08 UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time in their history. In 2019, Slavia reached the quarter-finals of the2018–19 UEFA Europa League and also qualified for the2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage for the second time in their history. They once again reached the Europa League quarter-finals in2020–21. In the title-winning2020–21 Czech First League season the team completed an entire season undefeated and set a Czech record for the longest top-flight unbeaten league run at 54 games between 2020 and 2021.[3]
In addition to their men's squad, Slavia Prague hasreserve, youth, andwomen's teams.
Slavia Prague was founded on 2 November 1892[nb 2] by medicine students inVinohrady,Prague, as a sport club aimed at increasing sport activity among students. The club initially focused oncycling, and expanded to football in 1896.[4] On 25 March of that year, Slavia won their first match against AC Prague 5–0. The captain of this team wasKarel Freja.[4] Four days later, Slavia played againstSparta Prague, with the match finishing 0–0, this match being the start of the rivalry between these two clubs.[5][6]
In 1905,Scottish manager and formerCeltic playerJohnny Madden brought new tactics and views on football from his home country to the club. He managed to set up an early golden age for the club that lasted 25 years. Under Madden Slavia won 134 domestic matches out of a total of 169, and 304 internationals out of 429 between 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 the1934 World Cup, theCzechoslovak national team included eight Slavia players. The second golden period came when Slavia boughtJosef Bican fromAdmira Vienna. Slavia with Bican won titles in1940,1941,1942 and1943, while many football players were at war. In1951 Slavia finished in 11th position in the league. Poor results continued during the 1950s and 1960s when Slavia were relegated twice, in1961 and1963. They next played in the top level of football in1965.
In 1996, Slavia won their 14th title after 49 years.[7] During this season, Slavia played in the semi-final of theUEFA Cup and four players of this team had big importance for the silver medal-winning Czech team fromUEFA Euro 1996.[8]
Slavia participated in the qualifying rounds for theUEFA Champions League five times (1996,2000,2001,2004 and2005), being eliminated each time until finally qualifying for the group stage in the2007–08 season following a 3–1 aggregate victory overAjax in the third qualifying round. For the group stage, Slavia were drawn in Group H along withArsenal,Steaua București andSevilla. 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 lost 7–0 at theEmirates Stadium, but eventually draw 0–0 in the second leg. InBucharest came a 1–1 draw, which qualified the Czech team for the UEFA Cup round of 32, from third place in Group H, in spite of a home 0–3 defeat against Sevilla.
In October 2006, the construction of the new and long-awaited stadium atEden for 21,000 spectators began. The stadium was opened on 7 May 2008 with anexhibition match againstOxford University.[9]
In the2007–08 and2008–09, Slavia were back-to-back Czech champions, but did not play in the Champions League group stage due to elimination in the qualifying rounds byFiorentina (0–2 on aggregate in 2008–09) andSheriff Tiraspol (1–1 onaway goals rule in 2009–10). In the2009–10 Czech First League, the club managed only seventh place in the league.
In the autumn of 2010, the club found itself in crisis due to its economic problems. It was discovered that Slavia owed 112 millionCzech koruna to the club's former owner,ENIC Sports Ltd (English National Investment Company).[10] As a result, major cost-cutting was needed to service this debt and it was confirmed that the squad needed to be purged.[10] In addition to the players sold, midfielderPetr Trapp left the club mid-season, claiming that Slavia had not paid his wages for three months.[11]
On 5 May 2011, the first leg of the cup semi-final againstOlomouc was suspended after the first half at a score of 1–1 due to Slavia fans invaded the pitch in protest against the deteriorating financial situation of the club.[12][13] As a result of this action, Sigma were awarded a 3–0 win.[14]
In September 2015,CEFC China Energy Company bought the team. Since November 2018, the club owners have been the Sinobo Group andCITIC Group.
Since December 2023, the club is owned by the Czech businessmanPavel Tykač, who bought the club from Chinese owners for reported 2 billion Czech crowns.[15]
The club's colours, red and white, were chosen as standing for the heart and blood, and fair play and sportsmanship respectively. The inverted five-pointed star was intended to symbolise "new hope, forever strengthening the mind and uplifting the spirit."[4] The name "Slavia" is aLatin term used in older literature to denote the lands inhabited bySlavs.[16]
Slavia's greatest rivals areSparta Prague, with whom they contest thePrague derby. A localVršovice derby is also contested between Slavia andBohemians 1905, whose stadium is situated a kilometre from Eden.[17]
Slavia is widely misconceived as being aJewish club among other fans, particularly Sparta fans, and its fans and players are often subjected to anti-semitic abuse. However, the club was not founded by Jews nor did it have any Jewish history. Football historian Vladimír Zapotocký commented in an interview that were this the case, theNazis would have shut the club down during the wartimeoccupation, as they did withDFC Prag. The association stems from a friendly match played againstWest Ham United in 1922, when Slavia insured the match against adverse weather conditions, and the match was later cancelled due to rain. They then agreed with West Ham to play the fixture the next day, while also collecting money from the insurance company for cancelling the fixture. A week later in a Prague derby fixture, Slavia were greeted onto the pitch by chants of "vy židi!" ("you Jews!") from the Sparta fans.[18]
Since 2021, there is a fan coalition with Sportowe Zagłębie (Zagłębie Sosnowiec hooligans).[19]
In May 2018 a strategic cooperation with Chinese clubBeijing Sinobo Guoan for both professional and youth level football started.[20]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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The best known Slavia player of all time is perhaps forwardJosef "Pepi" Bican, one of the most prolific goalscorers in the history of football. Other famous players include forwardAntonín Puč, goalkeeperFrantišek Plánička (both of them members of theCzechoslovakia national team in twoWorld Cups) and midfielderFrantišek Veselý. Other big names in club history areKarel Jarolím,Ivo Knoflíček,Vladimír Šmicer,Karel Poborský,Patrik Berger,Vladimír Coufal andTomáš Souček.[4][23]
Most appearances[edit]
| Most goals[edit]
|
| # | Name | Clean sheets |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Radek Černý | 86 |
| 2 | Ondřej Kolář | 80 |
| 3 | Jan Stejskal | 42 |
| 4 | Martin Vaniak | 39 |
Under the Czech jurisdiction the club's legal form is ajoint-stock company (updated 1 August 2020) with the largest shareholder being the Chinese real estate Sinobo Group,[25] which has on 11 November 2018 purchased a majority stake fromCITIC, at the time holding 99.98% of the 212,074 stocks worth of CZK 1.514 billion (Annual report from 30 June 2018). CITIC remains to be a minority shareholder and the companies did not reveal the distribution of the shares.
According to their chairman Jinhui Zhou, the Sinobo business model is a combination of real estate development and sports activities.[26] In a similar business model, Sinobo owns 64% of the shares in theChinese clubBeijing Guoan where the 36% minority belongs toCITIC. Sinobo also holds the naming rights of the arena, theSinobo Stadium.
The Chinese investment activity in Slavia has firstly started in September 2005, when a privateconglomerateCEFC acquired 59.97% shares of the club through its Czech subsidiary CEFC Group (Europe) Company a.s. fromAleš Řebíček for CZK 27 million. Through the course of the years, the share has increased to 67% and 80%, and on 22 November 2016 CEFC has capitalized its loan into the equity and increased their shares to 99.96% which made them the sole owner. In early 2018, it turned out that CEFC had serious financial problems and CITIC bought the club and arena. In late 2018, CITIC transferred Slavia's majority stake to the Chinese company Sinobo Group.
Slavia's financial results for the2017–18 season show group revenue of CZK 837.4 million, with a profit before tax of CZK <366.7> million.
| Year | 2020-21 | 2019-20 | 2018-19 | 2017–18 | 2016–17 | 2015–16 | 2014–15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 942.133 | 837.390 | 430.070 | 204.806 | 137.909 | ||
| Net Income | 156.0[28] | <219.208> | <366.376> | <263.442> | <117.099> | <61.503> | |
| Assets | 1,024.278 | 605.796 | 610.835 | 386.571 | 211.416 | ||
| Employees | 114 | 108 | 125 | 115 | 118 |
The club's current manager isJindřich Trpišovský, who joined the club in December 2017 fromSlovan Liberec. He replacedJaroslav Šilhavý, who was appointed in September 2016 and moved on to manage theCzech national team. There have been 65 managers in Slavia's history. The club's first professional coach,Johnny Madden, was appointed in 1905, serving in that position until 1930. He remains the club's longest-serving coach in terms of both length of tenure and number of games overseen.[citation needed]
| From | To | Record[29] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||
| 22 Dec 2017 |
| 84 | 60 | 15 | 9 | 171 | 50 | +121 | 071.43 |
Only competitive matches are counted.
| Type | Competition | Titles | Seasons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic leagues | Czech First League | 8 | 1995–96,2007–08,2008–09,2016–17,2018–19,2019–20,2020–21,2024–25 |
| Czechoslovak First League | 13 | 1925,1928–29,1929–30,1930–31,1932–33,1933–34,1934–35,1936–37,1939–40,1940–41,1941–42,1942–43,1946–47 | |
| Bohemian Football Union Championship | 1 | 1913 | |
| League titles not counted by Czech FA[30] | Czech Championship | 10 | spring of 1897, fall of 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1915, 1918, 1924,1948 |
| Domestic cups | Czech Cup | 7 | 1996–97,1998–99,2001–02,2017–18,2018–19,2020–21,2022–23 |
| Czechoslovak Cup | 2 | 1940–41, 1941–42 | |
| Czech-Slovak Supercup | 1 | 2019 | |
| Domestic cups not counted by Czech FA | Charity Cup | 4 | 1908, 1910, 1911, 1912[31] |
| Central Bohemian Cup | 8 | 1922, 1925–26, 1927, 1927–28, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1934–35, 1940–41[31] | |
| Liberty Cup | 1 | 1945[31] | |
| Continental | Mitropa Cup | 1 | 1938 |
| Competition | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League | 46 | 13 | 12 | 21 | 34 | 63 | −29 | 028.26 |
| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 9 | +2 | 037.50 |
| UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League | 150 | 56 | 40 | 54 | 194 | 178 | +16 | 037.33 |
| UEFA Europa Conference League | 25 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 52 | 32 | +20 | 048.00 |
| Total | 229 | 84 | 61 | 84 | 291 | 282 | +9 | 036.68 |
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