The Czechs have always been capable, skillful, creative and organised.  Names such as Ivo Viktor, Nehoda and modern day names such as Berger and Nedved have made the Czech Republic one of European football’s top national sides.  

Very few national sides have reached two World Cup finals and two European Championship finals but the Czechs have both.  All be it that three of these appearances came when the nation was Czechoslovakia and Slovakian players padded out the side, the nation can still look back on one victory in the 1976 European Championships as a telling sign of the strength off its football.   In 1996 when the Czech Republic finished as runners up to the German side of Klinsmann the team was largely a product of the post 1989 communist era apart from Kadlec.  Euro 1996 gave the Czechs its first chance to prove itself on an international platform as the newy emerging Czech Republic.   The velvet revolution of 1989 served to break up the older powerful Czechoslovakia side.   Now it was time for names such as Karel Podborsky, Patrik Berger, Vladimir Smicer and  Pavel Nedved to break free and succeed in a number of leagues across Europe.

When the stars of Czech football began to spread their technical skills throughout the best leagues of Europe the Czech league and football in the capital city of Prague struggled to progress.   A Manchester United poched Podborsky, Lazio signed Nedved and Berger arrived at Liverpool so Czech football with marked by four figure crowds, beer and sauagages with mustard.  Off the field poor decison making by new investing sponsors meant that clubs struggled to progress commercially and grounds lagged behind appearance wise. 

Prague unsurprisingly is the centre point of Czech football, its two main clubs Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague playing a forefront role in the growth of the game in the central Europen state.  The early Czech form of football was based on ceske ulice - a form of street football based on dribbling, beating players and shooting.  The earliest Czech general was Josef Masopust the midfield general of army side Dukla Prague.  Later heroes were goalkeeper Ivo Viktor and Nehoda the midfielder. In the 1976 European Championship win over est Germany Anton Panenka became a legend for his chipped penalty over Sepp Meier.  

Czech football today is slowly catching up on others in what today is an age of club cheeseburgers, branded goods and replica shirts.  Czech half time will more often than not be based on on cheap beer, sausages, bread and mustard.  Stadia infrastructure apart from Slavia Prague’s Eden is still largely short on facilities and access facilities. Fot lower ranking sides Sunday can still be the traditonal day for football with the Prague club Viktorial Zizkov plaing game at 10.15am on a Sunday morning.  At almost any game in Prague you can get tickets for games right up until kick off.  More often than not these will cost between 50kc and 250 kc.  For some Champions League games the cost can rise to 350kc for the best seats. 

Inside stadia standing areas are k-stani open stands are kryta or covered stands nekryta.  On any match ticket you buy Sektor will show the area/sector you are in.   Rada and smisto will show the seat number and row.  Inside grounds beer can be purchased at around two pints for 60kc and these can also be taken inside the stadia rather than consumed away from the terracing area.   As mentioned sausages klobasa or frankfurters parek are big parts of the matchday diet.  Many sauagues are served on a white paper plate with an additonal slice of bread and generous helpings of mustard. 

To catch up with match reports, manager interviews, player profiles and foreign football most Czechs read the daily paper Sport which sells at 12kc and is issued 6 days a week.   The Gambrinus League is  the main Czech professional league for football clubs and it is the country's primary football competition. Currently it is contested by 16 clubs, operating a system of promotion and relegation with the Czech 2.Liga format.   The Season runs from August to May, with teams playing 30 games each. Today the league is sponsored by Plzensky Prazroj, a.s. and is officially known as the 1. Gambrinus Liga, the name of one of the best selling beer in the Czech Republic.

Situated on the River Vltava in central Bohemia Prague has been the political, cultural, and economic centre of the Czech state for more than 1000 years.  Today the city is a prominant tourist site and destination with some spectacular scenary.  This reason for its indentity and beauty perhaps comes through the fact that for many decades during the gothic, renaissance and Holy Roman Empire period Prague was one of the main seats of the emperor and caotial of the Holy Roman Empire.

It is estimated that today the city is home to more than 1.2 million people, while the surrounding metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 1.9 million.  Largely since the velvet revolution of 1989 the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites.  This has led to a number of references to Prague as a golden European city and ‘the mother of cities’ or  Praha matka měst in Czech.

Sparta Prague are Czech record title winners and despite recent rivivalism of Slavia the zelezna irons are still regarded as the countrys top side. The earliest star of Sparta Prague was Oldrich Nejedly who was one of the stars of the 1934 World Cup.  In contrast to Slavia Sparta Prague did alright out of the older Czech communist system when it alone was the only team to challenge the Dukla Prague side.   In the 1970’s Slovakian football dominated the Czechoslovakian league system and the era also saw Sparta being relegated before coming back to dominate in the mid 1980’s and early 1990’s.  In more recent years the Letna ground has been redeveloped and remains one of the most modern in the Czech Republic.  Most fans going to games at the Letna take a metro ride to hradcanska some four stops from the main train station.  Outside and adjoining the ground are a few club shops and some inspired fan gaffiti which positions the club badge alongside an group names and the obligatory A.C.A.B soundbite.  Sparta hardcore fan groups tend to congregate behind the south facing goal area on Milady Horakove with away fans behind the opposite goal area.

If ever a club was so ingrained in a nations football history yet were forced to suffer such a long term famine in terms of success it is Slavia Prague.   For years mismanagement and players drains meant that Slavia were incapable of competing with Sparta and the older ground in which it played games Eden, continually failed to inspire and fell further into disrepair.  Early heroes of Slavia were goalkeeper Frantisek Planicka and winger Antonin Puc.  After then the all time great Pepi Bican arrived and Slavia dominated.

After the war Slavia were renamed Sokol Praha 7 and the best players were sqeezed against their will into playing for the army side ATK.  By the time the 1950’s arrived Slavia Prague were called Dynamo Slavia and forced to move from the Letna playing area to a new ground Eden.   The club up until recently drifted around the Strahov ground and back and forth to the Eden ground.  Periodic showings in European competition have seen a number of teams being beaten but the club still finds itself in the shadow of Sparta.  Entrance into the Champions League saw a 7-0 hammering from Arsenal but the club was looking forward as opposed to licking its wounds from Sparta’s continued success.   The new Eden stadium is now the venue for games of the Czech national side although the defeat by the national side to Slovakia in 2009 saw the stadium being given a cruel entrance into the International football arena.  The man way of reaching the ground is to take a metro trip to Namesti Miru just behind the museum area of the city.  After this a tram trip on number 22 or no.4 takes fans straight to the ground.   Ticket sales for games are seldom hard negotiated and the home fans are located behind the home south goal.  For nearly every game at Slavia there is a free programme on a seat when yu enter the ground.  Even for European games these will tend to be free of costs. 

As mentioned The Strahov has been the home of Slavia but is more the Czech national stadium.  High up to the left of the old town the Strahov is the perfect setting for major sporting events even though it is seriously downtrodden and has facilities that are tatty and outdated.   Slavia Prague held most of its European ties at the ground and for many years Czech cup finals more often that not involving a Prague side took place at the ground.

Now lurking in the second division Viktoria Zizkov are perhaps the most centrally located Prague side.  Located some 5 minutes from the main Hlavni Nadradzi train station Zizkov last made a name for themselves when they defeated Glasgow Rangers in the early rounds of the UEFA cup in 2003.   He ground is hemmed in by local properties, bars and a park where the homeless sleep.  So downtrodden is the ground that even during the night the ground was open to anyone.  Games also kick off at the surprisingly early 10.15am meaning that any fans of Zizkov has the chance to see the club and then venture to another Prague game.

Although the modern era has been dominated by Sparta and Slavia the most famous Prague side are actually Dukla Prague.  In line with the communist restructuring of the football system the Czechoslovakian army were given its own team post 1945 and this was called ATK or Armádní tělocvičný klub.  Essentially this club was based on the model of it being an Army Club for the pursuit of Physical Training.  In 1956 it was then decided that ATK should become Dukla Prague the name coming in honour of a Slovak village of the same name which was caught up in a battle during the second world war.  The village today is now in south eastern Poland and is regared as an area of eastern Europe where western and slavic cultures meet.

Dukla Prague reached its heights through the ability of the club to call up any player it liked to the side.  By drafting players to the army he was then obliged to be enlisted to the Dukla Prague team.  Every era until the 1990’s saw success for Dukla until the fall of communism saw Dukla Prague fall into tough times.   From 1991 the club fell on increasingly hard times as Sparta and Slavia started to acquire major shirt deals and expand commercially.

Dukla Prague found it hard to acquire the same level of sponsorship as Sparta gained mainly due to the communist past of the club which tainted the club and potential associations with it.   In the mid 1990’s Dukla merged with FC Primbram and the clud moved away from its older stadium in north west Prague.  Gone also was the name Dukla Prague and owbers replaced with Marila Primbra.  The disappearance of the patronage of the army had meant that Dukla Prague could be no more.

The name of Dukla Praha disappeared from the Czech football for several years, but not for ever.  Dukla Dejvice a local Prague team founded in 1959 and playing in the vicinity of Dukla began playing at the Na Julisce stadium north of Dejvice Metro stop.  The club adopted Dukla Praha's yellow and red colors. Incredibly Dukla Prague the club are now back and on the map of Prague football.   The club plays in second Czech division at the old ground having entered it in 2007.

Almost as much of kult club as Dukla, Bohemians have encountered similar problems to those experienced by Dukla.  Colloquially known as Bohemka and the Kangaroos, the Bohemians 1905 club are a short hop from Slavia in the south eastern locality of Prague.  The club was originally founded as AFK Vrsovice and played games at the Dolicek Dimple ground.    Under the communist regime Bohemians suffered name changes and at one point were known as Spartak Stalingrad.   

The most successful era of the club came in the early 1980s when the club won the Czechoslovakian League Championship and advanced to the semifinals of the UEFA Cup where it lost to Anderlecht.  In 2005 the club survived a crisis which came as a consequence of bad management the increasing domination of Sparta and Slavia.   The club were eventually relegated to the 3rd Czech division due to  financial insolvency, but later was saved by its fans who paid off portion of the club's debts.

The club was able to advance back to the 1st league in 2007, but in 2008 the team was relegated again.   Playing in the famous green and white stripes the best known player from Bohemians' history is Antonin Panenka who now serves as the chairman of the club. The story of the clubs mascot a kangaroo came as a  legacy of a 1927 tour of Australia.  Following the tour, the club was awarded two live kangaroos, which they eventually donated to Prague zoo.

Recent years have seen confusing times for those looking onto Czech football with to teams bearing he same colours, badge and team name of Bohemians Prague.  If you are in Prague you may even see some fans wearing a t-shirt bearing the logo ‘There is Only One Bohemka’.  For more than four years Bohemka (Bohemians 05) have been battling with Střižkov Football Club for the exclusive use of the name Bohemians and all logos connected with the club, including the famous kangaroo.

Both Bohemians 1905 and Bohemians Praha use the names and symbols which are historically connected to the Vršovice club.  The dispute arose in 2005 when Bohemka (then called Bohemians Praha) went bankrupt.   The Bohemians Praha Sports Club then attempted to sell the rights to the name, property and club badge to a team from Střižkov.  However, when the fans came together to save the Vršovice club, Bohemians 1905 came into existence.

Sadly, Střižkov took the name Bohemians Praha and all symbols and logos connected with Bohemians as well and both clubs play in the Czech league with the same colours, badge but only one of the clubs is truthfullt Bohemians.

Prague is one of the most beautiful cities in the whole of Europe. With its outstanding scenery, cheap and plentiful beer and warm summers Prague has seen its tourist base grow to be as diverse as Paris and London.  Football wise you will not find a super club like PSG or a Chelsea in Prague but what you can discover are a range of clubs with local traditions many of which, like Slavia and Sparta, have grown to replace previous masters like Dukla and become the major clubs in their own right.