Automotoklub Markéta Praha is a Czech

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team based in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, Czech Republic. The team race at the

Markéta Stadium The Markéta Stadium () is a 10,000-capacity multi-use stadium on U Vojtěšky in Břevnov, Prague, Czech Republic. The stadium hosts motorcycle speedway and has been the home of the Speedway Grand Prix of Czech Republic since 1997. The speedwa ...

History

Following the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Czechoslovak military began forming sports teams and regional and national competitions. In 1953, a law (following the Soviet model) determined that all clubs should be voluntary sports societies, with athletes being allocated to clubs according to their civic occupation. The speedway team and stadium was closely associated with the Czechoslovak police force and the speedway team started life known as Rudá Hvězda Praha (Red Star Prague). It was not until the fall of

Real socialism Real socialism, better known as actually existing socialism was an ideological catchphrase popularized during the Brezhnev era in the Eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union. The term referred to the Soviet-type economic planning implemented ...

in the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

countries, that the club changed its name to Olymp Praha. On 9 July 1990, the company called Autoklub Markéta at PSK Olymp Praha was established. The team were champions of the former Czechoslovakia on 26 occasions, winning the first seven editions of the competition and then winning a further 19 times until the

Dissolution of Czechoslovakia The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the Self-determination, self-determined Partition (politics), partition of the federal republic of Fifth Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovakia into the independent ...

. The dominance of Prague speedway was such that the club ran two teams in the top division (Olymp Praha A and Olmyp Praha B) and another called Markéta in 1.Liga. The origins of the name Markéta is unknown. Continuing its connection with the police, the team raced as PSK (Policejní sportovní klub) Olymp Praha (and then Olymp Praha again) competing in the Extraliga. They won the Extraliga eight times from 1992 until 2003. In 2015, the club became known solely as AK Markéta Praha and in 2023 became champions of the country for the fourth time with the prefix Markéta.

References

{{reflist Speedway teams in the Czech Republic Sport in Prague

History

See also

References