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Viktoria Plzeň
Viktoria Plzen logo.svg
Full name Football Club Viktoria Plzeň a.s.
Founded 11 June 1911; 113 years ago (11 June 1911)
Ground Doosan Arena
Ground Capacity 11,700
President Adolf Šádek
Head coach Miroslav Koubek
League Czech First League
2023–24 3rd of 16
Third colours

Football Club Viktoria Plzeň (pronounced [ˈvɪktorja ˈpl̩zɛɲ]) is a Czech professional football club based in Plzeň. Its team play in the Czech First League, the top division of football in the country.

As runner-up in the 1970–71 Czechoslovak Cup, the club gained the right to compete in the following season's Cup Winners' Cup – for the winner Spartak Trnava also won the championship, and its team played in the European Cup. In 2010, Viktoria Plzeň competed in the UEFA Europa League after its team won the 2009–10 Czech Cup.

The club won the Czech league for the first time in 2011, and participated in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League group stage, during which they won their first Champions League match, earning five points and qualifying for the Round of 32 in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. The club won its second Czech league title in the 2012–13 season.

In 2013–14, the team participated in the UEFA Champions League group stage and finished third. They then reached the round of 16 in UEFA Europa League before being eliminated by Lyon.

History

Early history

In 1911, Jaroslav Ausobský, an official of the state railways, filed a request for the establishment of a new football club in Plzeň. In August 1911, the newly formed club Viktoria played their first match, losing 7–3 against Olympia Plzeň.

For the first 18 years of its existence, Viktoria Plzeň was a purely amateur club, although in 1922–23, they took their first foreign trip to Spain, where they won six out of nine matches. In June 1929, an extraordinary meeting of members agreed to go professional and enter the national professional league. Viktoria finished their first season in seventh place, but the very next season, improved and reached second place, which meant a first-ever promotion to the First League. In the 1934–35 Czechoslovak First League, Viktoria finished in fourth place and subsequently played in the 1935 Mitropa Cup, the top European club competition at the time. Two matches against Juventus brought Viktoria to the attention of European football at large. They drew 3–3 at home but lost 5–1 in Turin.

Viktoria played without success in the First League, being relegated for the 1938 season but returning to top competition the next year. The outbreak of World War II interrupted competition, notably through the absence of teams from Slovakia. In 1942, Viktoria fell again into the divisions, but again returned to the top league the next year, where they would remain until 1952. That same year, the club changed its name to Sokol Škoda Plzeň. For nine years they remained in the divisions, struggling to return to the First League, and in 1961, now under the name of Spartak Plzeň, achieved that promotion. The club was relegated and promoted frequently between the top two tiers until 1972, when as Škoda Plzeň they settled in the First League for eight years.

In 1971, Viktoria won the Czech Cup by drawing lots after the two-legged final ended 4–4 on aggregate and 5–5 in a limited penalty shootout against Sparta Prague B. They lost 7–2 on aggregate in the Czechoslovak Cup final against Slovak Cup winners Spartak Trnava, but as Trnava had won the league title that season, Viktoria was the country's entrant to the next season's European Cup Winners' Cup. The club's greatest honor is elimination in the first round by Bayern Munich, 7–2 on aggregate. From 1980 until the division of Czechoslovakia 13 years later, Viktoria moved frequently between the top two tiers again.

Recent history

Pavel Horváth (2012)
Pavel Horváth was voted as Viktoria's best player of all time at the club's centenary gala in 2012.

In 1992, the club returned to its historical name FC Viktoria Plzeň and the very next season, advanced to the first league, where it remained until 1999.

In the first years of the new millennium, Viktoria was owned by a foreign investor – Italian Football Company Ltd EAST. This situation lasted until March 2005, when 100% of the club's shares were purchased by local interests. The summer of 2005 also brought back relations with the Czech motor company Škoda, which had previously been the club's name sponsors.

On 18 May 2010, Viktoria won the Czech Cup final 2–1 against Jablonec, and returned to European competitions via the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. Viktoria entered in the third qualifying round against Beşiktaş and held them 1–1 at home before losing 3–0 away.

Viktoria won its first ever league championship in 2010–11, finishing with 69 points to Sparta Prague's 68. The club therefore qualified for a play-off to the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, in which they defeated Copenhagen 5–2 on aggregate. Viktoria were placed in Group H alongside reigning champions Barcelona and Milan, and reached third place in the group by recording a victory over BATE Borisov. This saw the club drop into the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League in the round of 32, where they lost 4–2 on aggregate to Schalke 04 after extra time.

The club's Stadion města Plzně was also rebuilt in 2011. The same year on 11 June, Viktoria celebrated together with fans in the courtyard of the Pilsner Urquell brewery for a centennial anniversary. In January 2012, the club held a festive gala for its centenary, and voted current midfielder Pavel Horváth as its greatest player of all time.

The 2011–12 season saw Viktoria finish in third place in the league, three points behind champions Slovan Liberec, to qualify for a third consecutive Europa League campaign. Starting in the second qualifying round, the club advanced past Metalurgi Rustavi of Georgia and Ruch Chorzów of Poland to set up a play-off against the Belgian club Lokeren, in which Viktoria advanced on away goals after a 2–2 aggregate draw. The club finished first in Group B, ahead of the tournament's reigning champions Atlético Madrid. In the round of 32, Viktoria were drawn against Napoli and won 3–0 away and 2–0 at home to advance to the last 16, where they played Fenerbahçe. Viktoria lost the home leg 1–0, and in the away leg (which was played behind closed doors due to the Istanbul club's fans' recent conduct) drew 1–1, resulting in their elimination. Viktoria won the Czech First League for a second time in the 2012–13 season.

In the 2014–15 season, Viktoria were involved in a title race between Sparta Prague and Jablonec. In the end, Viktoria emerged as league champions, finishing in front of second-placed Sparta Prague by 5 points. In the 2015–16 season, Viktoria became champions of the Czech First League for a fourth time.

In 2017, the club installed a dugout in the shape of a beer can after a deal with a local beer sponsor.

After narrowly missing out on the league title to SK Slavia Prague in the 2016-17 season, Viktoria Plzeň made a remarkable comeback the following year. Demonstrating consistent form and resilience, they clinched the championship, finishing 7 points ahead of Slavia Prague, who this time ended as runners-up.

Viktoria were named league champions for a sixth time in the 2021–22 season.

In the 2023–24 season, Viktoria reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League. Viktoria reached top of their group consisting of Dinamo Zagreb, FC Astana and FC Ballkani, beating all of them to be the first Czech team in a UEFA competition to go 6 wins in the group stage while only conceding one goal. In the round of 16, Viktoria dispatched of Servette FC, before going out to Fiorentina after extra time in the quarter-finals.

Historical names

  • 1911 – SK Viktoria Plzeň (Sportovní klub Viktoria Plzeň)
  • 1949 – Sokol Škoda Plzeň
  • 1952 – Sokol ZVIL Plzeň (Sokol Závody Vladimíra Iljiče Lenina Plzeň)
  • 1953 – DSO Spartak LZ Plzeň (Dobrovolná sportovní organizace Spartak Leninovy závody Plzeň)
  • 1962 – TJ Spartak LZ Plzeň (Tělovýchovná jednota Spartak Leninovy závody Plzeň)
  • 1965 – TJ Škoda Plzeň (Tělovýchovná jednota Škoda Plzeň)
  • 1993 – FC Viktoria Plzeň (Football Club Viktoria Plzeň, a.s.)

Players

Current squad

.

No. Position Player
1 Austria GK Florian Wiegele
2 Czech Republic DF Lukáš Hejda
3 Serbia DF Svetozar Marković
4 Senegal DF Cory Sene
5 Czech Republic DF Jan Paluska
6 Czech Republic MF Lukáš Červ
9 Brazil FW Ricardinho
10 Czech Republic MF Jan Kopic
11 Czech Republic FW Matěj Vydra
12 Czech Republic MF Alexandr Sojka
13 Slovakia GK Marián Tvrdoň
15 Czech Republic GK Matyáš Šilhavý
16 Czech Republic GK Martin Jedlička
17 Nigeria FW Rafiu Durosinmi
18 Colombia MF Jhon Mosquera
No. Position Player
19 France MF Cheick Souaré
20 Czech Republic MF Jiří Panoš
21 Czech Republic DF Václav Jemelka
22 Brazil MF Cadu
23 Czech Republic MF Lukáš Kalvach
24 Czech Republic DF Milan Havel
29 Czech Republic MF Tom Slončík
30 Czech Republic GK Viktor Baier
31 Czech Republic MF Pavel Šulc
32 Czech Republic MF Matěj Valenta
33 Slovakia MF Erik Jirka
37 Czech Republic FW Christophe Kabongo
40 Liberia DF Sampson Dweh
51 Czech Republic FW Daniel Vašulín
80 Ghana FW Prince Kwabena Adu

Out on loan

No. Position Player
Czech Republic MF Roman Květ (at Dender)
Czech Republic DF Václav Míka (at České Budějovice)
Nigeria FW James Bello (at Pardubice)
No. Position Player
Togo FW Idjessi Metsoko (at Slovan Bratislava)
Czech Republic MF Ondřej Deml (at Železiarne Podbrezová)

Notable former players

Player records in the Czech First League

. Highlighted players are in the current squad.

Most clean sheets

# Name Clean sheets
1 Slovakia Matúš Kozáčik 82
2 Czech Republic Aleš Hruška 34
Czech Republic Jindřich Staněk
4 Czech Republic Michal Čaloun 31
5 Czech Republic Michal Daněk 29

Managers

  • Rudolf Krčil (1963)
  • Vlastimil Chobot (1967–68)
  • Karel Kolský (1969–70)
  • Jiří Rubáš (1970–75)
  • Tomáš Pospíchal (1975–77)
  • Jaroslav Dočkal (1977–78)
  • Svatopluk Pluskal (1978–79)
  • Josef Žaloudek (1979–??)
  • Václav Rys
  • Zdeněk Michálek (1993–95)
  • Jaroslav Hřebík (1995–96)
  • Antonín Dvořák (1996–97)
  • Petr Uličný (1997–99)
  • Milan Šíp (1999)
  • Luboš Urban (1999–2000)
  • Miroslav Koubek (Oct 2000 – Dec 2001)
  • Petr Rada (Dec 2001 – Oct 2002)
  • Zdeněk Michálek (Oct 2002 – May 2003)
  • František Cipro (May 2003 – May 2004)
  • Martin Pulpit (May 2004 – May 2005)
  • Zdeněk Michálek (May 2005 – April 2006)
  • František Straka (April 2006 – May 2006)
  • Michal Bílek (July 2006 – Sept 2006)
  • Stanislav Levý (Oct 2006 – April 2008)
  • Karel Krejčí (April 2008 – May 2008)
  • Jaroslav Šilhavý (July 2008 – Oct 2008)
  • Pavel Vrba (Oct 2008 – Dec 2013)
  • Dušan Uhrin Jr. (Dec 2013 – Aug 2014)
  • Miroslav Koubek (Aug 2014 – Aug 2015)
  • Karel Krejčí (Aug 2015 – May 2016)
  • Roman Pivarník (May 2016 – April 2017)
  • Zdeněk Bečka (April 2017 – June 2017)
  • Pavel Vrba (Jun 2017 – Dec 2019)
  • Adrián Guľa (Dec 2019 – May 2021)
  • Michal Bílek (May 2021 – May 2023)
  • Miroslav Koubek (June 2023 –)

History in domestic competitions

  • 1993–1999 Czech First League
  • 1999–2000 Czech 2. Liga
  • 2000–2001 Czech First League
  • 2001–2003 Czech 2. Liga
  • 2003–2004 Czech First League
  • 2004–2005 Czech 2. Liga
  • 2005– Czech First League
  • Seasons spent at Level 1 of the football league system: 27
  • Seasons spent at Level 2 of the football league system: 4
  • Seasons spent at Level 3 of the football league system: 0
  • Seasons spent at Level 4 of the football league system: 0

Czech Republic

Season League Placed Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Cup Super Cup
1993–94 1. liga 5th 30 12 11 7 35 23 +12 35 Quarter-finals
1994–95 1. liga 9th 30 12 4 14 32 37 –5 40 Quarter-finals
1995–96 1. liga 9th 30 11 6 13 33 34 –1 39 Round of 32
1996–97 1. liga 11th 30 7 11 12 33 37 –4 32 Quarter-finals
1997–98 1. liga 14th 30 9 6 15 37 47 –10 33 Quarter-finals
1998–99 1. liga 15th 30 8 8 14 26 43 –17 32 Round of 32
1999–00 2. liga 2nd 30 17 8 5 50 22 +28 59 Quarter-finals
2000–01 1. liga 16th 30 4 9 17 30 65 –35 21 Round of 32
2001–02 2. liga 4th 30 15 5 10 56 34 +22 50 Round of 32
2002–03 2. liga 1st 30 17 7 6 47 27 +20 58 Round of 32
2003–04 1. liga 16th 30 4 7 19 23 53 –30 19 Round of 16
2004–05 2. liga 3rd 30 12 10 6 32 23 +9 46 Semi-finals
2005–06 1. liga 14th 30 7 10 13 30 43 –13 31 Round of 64
2006–07 1. liga 6th 30 12 10 8 35 29 +6 46 Quarter-finals
2007–08 1. liga 9th 30 10 8 12 32 37 –5 38 Round of 16
2008–09 1. liga 8th 30 11 10 9 45 38 +7 43 Quarter-finals
2009–10 1. liga 5th 30 12 12 6 42 33 +9 48 Winners
2010–11 1. liga 1st 30 21 6 3 70 28 +42 69 Quarter-finals Runners-up
2011–12 1. liga 3rd 30 19 6 5 66 33 +33 63 Quarter-finals Winners
2012–13 1. liga 1st 30 20 5 5 54 21 +33 65 Quarter-finals
2013–14 1. liga 2nd 30 19 9 2 64 21 +43 66 Runners-up Runners-up
2014–15 1. liga 1st 30 23 3 4 70 24 +46 72 Quarter-finals Runners-up
2015–16 1. liga 1st 30 23 2 5 57 25 +32 71 Semi-finals Winners
2016–17 1. liga 2nd 30 20 7 3 47 21 +26 67 Round of 16
2017–18 1. liga 1st 30 20 6 4 55 23 +32 66 Round of 16
2018–19 1. liga 2nd 35 24 6 5 57 32 +25 78 Round of 16
2019–20 1. liga 2nd 35 23 7 5 68 24 +44 76 Semi-finals
2020–21 1. liga 5th 34 17 7 10 60 45 +15 58 Runners-up
2021–22 1. liga 1st 35 26 7 2 61 21 +40 85 Round of 16
2022–23 1. liga 3rd 35 18 7 10 60 38 +22 61 Round of 32
2023–24 1. liga 3rd 35 21 7 7 76 40 +36 70 Runners-up

History in European competitions

The following is a list of the all-time statistics from Plzeň's games in the three UEFA tournaments it has participated in, as well as the overall total. The list contains the tournament, the number of seasons (S), games played (P), won (W), drawn (D) and lost (L). The statistics include qualification matches.

As of 2 August 2018.
Competition S P W D L GF GA GD
Champions League 5 32 15 6 11 56 54 +2
Cup Winners' Cup 1 2 0 0 2 1 7 –6
Europa League 8 49 22 12 15 79 59 +20
Total 14 83 37 18 28 136 120 +16

Honours

National

  • Czech First League
    • Winners (6): 2010–11, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2021–22
    • Runners-up: 2013–14, 2016–17, 2018–19, 2019–20
  • Czech Cup
    • Winners (1): 2009–10
    • Runners-up: 2013–14, 2020–21, 2023–24
  • Czech Supercup
    • Winners (2): 2011, 2015
    • Runners-up: 2010, 2013, 2014
  • Czech 2. Liga
    • Winners (1): 2002–03

Club records

Czech First League records

  • Best position: 1st (2010–11, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2021–22)
  • Worst position: 16th (2000–01, 2003–04)
  • Biggest home win: Plzeň 7–0 Ústí nad Labem (2010–11), Plzeň 7–0 Teplice (2020–21)
  • Biggest away win: Zlín 1–7 Plzeň (2023–24)
  • Biggest home defeat: Plzeň 1–5 Drnovice (1997–98), Plzeň 0–4 Příbram (2003–04), Plzeň 0–4 Slavia Prague (2006–07), Plzeň 0–4 Ostrava (2007–08), Plzeň 0–4 Olomouc (2011–12)
  • Biggest away defeat: Ostrava 6–0 Plzeň (2005–06)

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Football Club Viktoria Pilsen para niños

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