FC Petržalka
is a football club from the Slovak capital of Bratislava that was formed on
June 7th 1898 as Pozsonyi Torna Egyesület out of the sports club of
that name who had started out life in 1890, with the team initially playing in
the regional Hungarian football system.
Štadión za
Starým Mostom close to the south bank of the Danube was officially opened in
1900 with Slovan Bratislava sharing the venue. In 1913 the club became the
champions of Upper Hungary.
Slovak teams
joined the Czechoslovak football system from 1935-36, with Pozsonyi playing in
the lower grades as they changed their title to Engerau Pressburg at the
outbreak of World War Two in 1939.
The club
became known as ŠK Petržalka in 1945 before Kovosmalt Petržalka from 1949 and
then Spartak Kovosmalt Bratislava from 1953. Yet another change of title
followed in 1963, with TJ Považské Strojárne Bratislava becoming the new name.
Two years
later the simplified SKS Petržalka was adopted. The name changes continued as
the team continued along in the lower reaches of the Slovak leagues as the club
became TJ ZŤS Petržalka in 1976.
In 1986 the
club merged with TJ Internacionál Slovnaft Bratislava to form TJ Internacionál
Slovnaft ZŤS Bratislava to take the position of Inter Bratislava who had been
relegated from the top level 1. Československá Fotbalová Liga.
The team
edged out city rivals Slovan to win the 1. Slovenská Národná Futbalová Liga
title at the first attempt before consolidating back in the top tier but
lifting the Slovenský Pohár, Slovak Cup in 1987-88 before finishing in third
place in 1989-90. After a further season the arrangement split.
Petržalka went
their own way as 1. FC Hydronika Petržalka before becoming 1. FC Petržalka a
year later. Slovak independence would be the turning point for the club with
opportunities for honours becoming far greater.
The club
title was changed to FK Artmedia Petržalka in a sponsorship deal with an advertising
agency as the team ended the 1993-94 season in fourth place in 2. Liga before
climbing to third the season afterwards.
The team
raced to the 2. Liga title in 1995-96 before consolidating in the Super Liga
for a couple of seasons at the redeveloped Štadión Petržalka as Štadión za
Starým Mostom was more commonly known.
Tomáš Medveď
top scored in another mid table finish in 1999-00 under coach Vladimír Weiss before
fourth place in a ten team top flight was attained the following campaign prior
to Henrich Benčík topping the scoring charts in 2001-02.
Artmedia
finished as Super Liga runners-up in 2002-03 to receive a taste of UEFA Cup football
the following season which was ended by Bordeaux in the first round. The team captained
by Štefan Maixner went on to lift the Slovak Cup as goals from Marek Krejčí and
Martin Mikulič helped see off Steel Trans Ličartovce 2-0.
The 2004-05
campaign saw the team crowned as Slovak champions as Filip Šebo and Branislav
Fodrek banged in the goals. The double was nearly completed but for a 2-1 Cup
final defeat to Dukla Banská Bystrica.
.
The 2005-06 UEFA
Champions League campaign saw Artmedia play their home games at Slovan’s Tehelné
pole in which they defeated Kairat Almaty and Celtic including a 5-0 home win which
can be seen here before FK Partizan were disposed of for the team to reach the
group stages.
A third
place in Group G alongside Internazionale, Rangers and FC Porto led to a place
in the UEFA Cup where they went out to Levski Sofia. Domestically the goals of Juraj
Halenár and Lukáš Hartig helped the side make the runners-up spot.
Tomáš Oravec
ended as league top scorer as Artmedia finished as Super Liga runners-up in
2006-07. Victories over WIT Georgia and Dinamo Minsk set up a UEFA Cup tie with
RCD Espanyol which saw the Slovaks go out on aggregate.
Further UEFA
Cup wins were achieved by the club now known as FC Artmedia Petržalka in
2007-08 before Panathinaikos ended the run. However, it was a golden domestic
campaign under Weiss on his return after a year away as the Super Liga title
was won with Ján Kozák and Halenár both scoring regularly.
A last
minute Zbyněk Pospěch goal was enough for Artmedia captained by Kornel Saláta to
defeat Spartak Trnava in the Cup final. Following the triumphant season club
owner Ivan Kmotrík, Weiss and main sponsor left the club.
A couple of
Champions League wins against Valletta FC and Tampere United led to defeat
against Juventus in 2008-09 before the team finished midway in the Super Liga
and reached the Slovenský Pohár where they lost 3-1 to MFK Košice under coach Michal
Hipp with Vojtech Horváth bagging the consolation goal.
At the end
of the season most of the players departed as the club name was changed to MFK
Petržalka. Players were signed from Inter Bratislava whose license had been
sold to FK Senica. Former Artmedia youngsters made up the rest of the side as
they were relegated before Štadión Petržalka was closed.
Rechristened
as FC Petržalka 1898, the side finished third in 1. Liga in the 2010-11 season
in which Radoslav Augustín top scored while the club played at Štadión FK Rapid
Ružinov across the other side of Bratislava.
In 2011-12
the team finished rock bottom and were relegated to 3. Liga where they finished
eleventh in 2012-13 in their new Štadión FC Petržalka1898.
A fourteenth place in 2013-14 was the least of the clubs worries.
It heralded
the end of the original club through bankruptcy despite the efforts of several
owners after the departure of Kmotrík. The club was quickly reformed as FC Petržalka Akadémia.
Petržalka were
placed in 5. Liga, which was won at the first attempt, but the club was denied
promotion owing to a reorganisation of the Slovak football system. The team
regrouped and won the title again in 2015-16.
The 4. Liga
championship was won in 2016-17 after the team put a run of twenty five
unbeaten matches together before the club was retitled as FC Petržalka. In
2017-18 ‘Engerau’ saw off the challenge of FC Rohožník to lift the 3. Liga
title to return the status where the old club ended life.
Miroslav
Mentel coached the side captained by Juraj Piroska to an eighth place finish in
2018-19 before Vladimír Koník stepped in to coach the team to eleventh place when
the COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2019-20 campaign early.
FC Petržalka
will play in 2. Liga in the 2020-21 season.
My visit
Monday 9th
March 2020
I found
myself on a half day visit to Bratislava at the back end of my long weekend to
Vienna. The Slovak capital had grown on me after a slow start as I reflected on
a fine day out over some excellent cheap local beer in The Dubliner Irish Pub on
Sedlárska.
A friend
back home, Richard Oldale, had been most helpful with advice and he’d mentioned
the home of Petržalka across the river. I must confess to not knowing their
full history. Perhaps their old title of Artmedia would have rung a bell?
It was a
lovely late afternoon and I reckoned I could be there and back within forty
minutes to still allow more drinking time before my train back to Vienna in
time to tick off another new ground in the Diocese Football League.
Off I set in
search of Zochova bus stop and the number 84 heading to Ovsište. I was
astonished at just how many buses came and went. Eventually my service showed
up as we headed past the castle and over the Danube.
We passed
near to where the now long gone Štadión Petržalka once stood through new build
housing not dissimilar to many suburban city estates before I jumped out at the
Ovsištské nám stop by a parade of shops either side of Mamateyova.
It was just
a couple of minutes to the Štadión FC Petržalka1898 where some youngsters were
having a game in the goalmouth on the artificial pitch. It was a neat and tidy if
small venue with no spectator accommodation behind the goals.
One side of
the pitch had a few rows of open seating with a modern covered seated stand
opposite on the same side as club rooms and facilities backing onto the École
Française Internationale de Bratislava French school.
While happy
that I’d made the effort, the earlier beer had left me needing a loo. I saw
what looked like some bars on the parade. I had struck lucky. The end premises
had a sign outside saying FC Petržalka Pub!
I got a few
looks from locals when I went in, obviously wondering what a tourist was doing
down there. The barman was sound and advised that I went for the Czech Svijanský
Máz. It was €1.30 a pint so who was I to argue!
The first
one didn’t take much drinking as I’d done plenty of walking and needed to
refuel. I soon abandoned the idea of heading back to the old town. What was the
point? Instead I gave the football club my trade for another hour.
Even better
was that I could catch the 99 bus where I’d previously alighted to Petržalka
station where I needed to catch the train back to Vienna. It was a bit of a
tight call as well inevitably got delayed by the lights, but I made it with a
couple of minutes to spare.
I’d had a
fantastic day out but was now ready to nod most of the way back to regather
some energy to head off for a bit of live football action at WAF Vorwärts
Brigittenau which can be viewed here.
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