AC Sparta Prague or Sparta Praha to give them their Czech name is a professional sports club with a prominent football section who were formed in the capital of the Czech Republic on the 16th November 1893 as Athletic Club Královské Vinohrady.
Within a year the club became Athletic Club Sparta as the team wore wore black shirts with a large S on the front. They went on to wear black and white striped shirts before the club president of the day; Dr. Petřík was in London where he saw Arsenal play in 1906. The Gunners wore their dark redcurrant shirts at the time so Dr. Petřík took a set back with him. Sparta have worn the colour ever since.
The first top flight championship arrived at Letná in 1925-26, four years after the opening of their stadium, with Sparta retaining their title the following season. The 1930's would see a team constructed that would be referred to as 'Iron Sparta' owing to their dominance.
Titles were collected in 1931-32, 1935-36, 1937-38 and 1938-39 under manager Ferenc Szedlacsek. Three further championships were won in the following decade in 1943-44, 1945-46 and 1947-48. The last of these triumphs came under the title of Athletic Club Sparta Bubeneč following communist rule.
The major achievements of that golden period of the club's history were two Central European, Mitropa Cup titles, which in the twenties and the thirties enjoyed the same recognition as that of today's Champions League with wins in 1927 and 1935.
A further name change came in 1949 as the club became Sokol Bratrství Sparta, before changes to Sparta ČKD Sokolovo in 1951 and TJ Spartak Praha Sokolovo in 1953. The league title returned to Sparta in the 1952 and 1954 campaigns.
The late 50's and early 60's saw Sparta attract crowds of up to 40,000 to watch the likes of Kvašňák, Jiří Tichý and Václav Mašek, who would go on to play as Czechoslovakia lost to Brazil in the 1962 World Cup Final.
A third Mitropa Cup was lifted in 1964, but the tournament had lost a lot of its credence owing to the formation of other European club competitions. The same season saw the club lift the Československý pohár (Czechoslovak Cup) for the first time after victory over FC VSS Košice.
Yet another change in title came in 1965. The club's thirteenth league title in 1966-67 was lifted as TJ Sparta ČKD Praha and would be the last major honour to arrive at Letná for a few years until the Cup was won for a second time with an aggregate win over Slovan Bratislava in 1972. The trophy was regained over the same opponents in 1976.
This was one year after the unthinkable happened when Rudí (The Reds) were relegated, although they were promoted the following season to make it a double triumph of sorts. The Cup was won once again in 1980 following a defeat of ZŤS Košice.
The 1983-84 season saw Sparta complete the league and Cup double, with Inter Bratislava the defeated side in the final of the pohár. The rest of the 80's were packed full of league successes as stars such as; Berger, Hašek, Skuhravý, and Griga took the side to the title in 1984-85, 1986-87, 1987-88 and 1988-89.
Sparta's dominance continued into the new decade with another league title in 1989-90 before the club changed the name slightly to TJ Sparta Praha and then AC Sparta Praha in 1991 as the title was retained.
Sparta have never lifted a European trophy in the modern era, although they had a superb run in the 1991-92 European Cup; the last competition before it was rebranded as the Champions League.
Victories over Rangers and Olympique de Marseille sent Sparta into the two group stage. Unfortunately there was no semi-final stage as Dušan Uhrin's side finished second to FC Barcelona.
The same season saw another Cup victory; this time over 1. FC Tatran Prešov. The 1992-93 season was the final season when Czech and Slovak sides competed in the same competitions before the country's split. Sparta were the final champions.
The newly formed Czech First League would see Sparta dominate in the first few years. Titles came in 1993-94 and 1994-95 as the club provided valuable players to the newly formed Czech Republic national team. In Euro 96 in England Sparta players Kouba, Frýdek and Horňák returned with tournament runners up medals.
The first Pohár FAČR (Czech Cup) triumph came in 1996 with a 4-0 win over Petra Drnovice. The league arrived once more to Letná in five consecutive seasons; 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2000-01.
The outstanding talent of Tomáš Rosický had featured prominently in the Euro 2000 tournament in Holland and Belgium. The decade continued in successful mode. Another league championship arrived to the trophy cabinet in 2002-03 as Zdeněk Grygera, Tomáš Hübschman, Jaromír Blažek, Karel Poborský and academy product Petr Čech helped the Czech’s to third place in the Euros in Portugal in 2004.
More championships were secured in 2004-05, 2006-07 and 2009-10. Cup wins came in 2004 and 2006 over Banik Ostrava, 2007 against FK Jablonec and in 2009 after a penalty shoot out versus FC Slovan Liberec as Jozef Chovanec oversaw team affairs from 2008.
Chovanec departed in December 2011 after a rare barren spell to be replaced by former player Martin Hašek. Vítězslav Lavička took over in the summer of 2012, eventually leading Sparta to the league in 2013-14 before adding the Cup with a penalty shoot out victory against FC Viktoria Plzeň.
Lavička moved on in April 2015, which saw a dramatic turn over of managers, with Zdeněk Ščasný, David Holoubek and Tomáš Požár all taking turns before the appointment of Petr Rada in March 2017.
Pavel Hapal was in charge of the team for the 2017-18 campaign which saw the goals of Josef Šural help Sparta to fifth place which was improved on with third the following season thanks in part to the strike force of Guélor Kanga and Benjamin Tetteh under coach Zdeněk Ščasný who was succeeded by Michal Horňák.
Václav Jílek was appointed as coach in June 2019. Poor results which saw the team in mid table led to him being replaced by Václav Kotal in February 2020.
Sparta Prague will play in the Czech First League in the 2020-21 season.
My visits
Sparta Prague 4 Slovan Liberec 2 (Saturday 20th October 2000) Gambrinus Liga (att: approx 6,000)
In October 2000 I had been enticed to take three weeks away from my job at the time at Lord’s Cricket Ground by an article in the travel section of the Daily Star and to buy an Interail ticket and discover Europe. I decided to visit lots of cities that I’d always fancied seeing to take in sightseeing and some football and stadiums.
I'd arrived in Prague after travelling from Budapest. I had found accommodation and visited both the Strahov Stadium and Stadion Evžena Rošického that morning. I had already worked out that Sparta were playing that evening at home to FC Slovan Liberec, so after some sightseeing I went back to my digs for a siesta.
Waking up refreshed after the badly needed sleep, I travelled on the tram into the city centre and wandered around Wenceslas Square and found something to eat. From there I took the Metro to Hradcanska station and then another tram for the short ride to the stadium.
The Sparta supporters clubhouse was showing the results coming in from around the rest of Europe as well as Sparta’s ice hockey team in action at an away game. The prices of the beer made me extremely happy. I started off on Pilsner Urquell, which was about 30p before I saw signs for Gambrinus who sponsored the league. Being the adventurous type I gave it a go, to find out it was even cheaper!
I went to the ticket booth to try and work out what I wanted. I saw signs in koruna (the local currency) which I couldn’t quite believe. I could stand behind the goal for 50p! I asked for a ticket for that section, but the English speaking vendor told me it was with the Sparta hooligans and advised me to have one in the seats for 70p. I took his advice and went back for another beer or two before kick off. I got inside the stadium and found I had a great bargain.
I was sat on the bottom tier opposite the Main Stand near to the half way line. My stand continued round three sides with the corners cut across. My area had seats upstairs and down, whereas there was terracing behind the goals (this has since been converted to all seated). The Main Stand was a separate structure with two tiers of seats. The Letná stages most of the Czech Republic home games.
A young local who was intrigued as to what I was doing at the game got chatting to me; wanting to grill me about English football. The atmosphere wasn’t great because the crowd wasn’t enormous, probably owing to the game being shown live on TV.
The Sparta 'hooligans' to our left were a bunch of youngsters who made noise, had lots of flags and tried to be a nuisance to the stewards. The Liberec fans were at the other end in the corner. There was probably about 200 of them.
I sent my new friend out to get two beers. He came back and handed them to me. He was taken aback that one was intended for him. I may have been on a budget but I would struggle to spend all my koruna (£20 worth!) before I went. I even indulged in half time local sausages to realise that not all countries and clubs rip off their supporters.
Sparta won the game at a canter and would go on to the title the following Spring. The football wasn’t the best, but the league was still relatively new and obviously not as strong in competition as the old Czechoslovakia League. I asked my mate if he knew any decent nearby pubs for a beer after the match. He said he did but they were about ten minutes away in the opposite direction from the Metro and he had to get the train home as he lived about 30km from Prague.
After the game I went back into town and had a wander about, but didn’t fancy trying any of the establishments I saw. I was tired as the trip was catching up with me. I was to catch a morning train to Berlin the next day so I had an early night. At least it meant I had plenty of koruna to spend on food and drinks to keep me going for the next day.
Friday 11th March 2016
It was a pleasant but cold morning as I navigated my way around the magnificent city of Prague. I’d already visited the excellent homes of Admira Praha and Meteor Praha before I took a tram and changed before arriving outside the Generali Arena as the stadium had been renamed under sponsorship.
My taxi from the airport the previous evening had gone very close to the rear of the stands the previous evening as I was taken from the airport to my hotel. The match between Sparta and Lazio in the Europa League was in progress, but I’d missed out by just an hour.
A decent consolation prize would be to get inside to take some photos, as I hadn’t any of real quality from my previous trip. It looked from the outside like workers were clearing up from the match, so I had high hopes.
I’m not entirely sure whether I should have walked past the security box and behind the Main Stand, but I knew I wouldn’t be doing anything wrong. Within minutes I found myself up behind the goal with a great view.
The stadium hadn’t changed to my knowledge since my visit. The groundsmen were doing work on the pitch while others were sweeping the stands. It looked a real picture. After getting as many different shots as I could I went back down, where someone was struggling to get security to let them through!
Before I departed I popped into the office and bought a programme from the Lazio game and tried without success to find out whether spectators were permitted to enter Strahov for Sparta’s under 21’s game on the Monday afternoon.
I headed to Hradansky metro station and then into the city centre to do some sightseeing in a place I was growing fonder with by the hour.
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