FC Petržalka

FC Petržalka is a Slovak football club based in Bratislava. The club was founded in 1898 and it promoted twice to the top flight 1. liga in the Czechoslovakia during 1980's (for 1981–82 season and 1984–85 season) and spent another 14 consecutive seasons in the Slovak first league from 1996–97 to 2009–10. The biggest international success of Petržalka was participation in the group stage of the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League and Round of 32 of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup. Several years later, after losing its owner a different company took over the piece of land under the club's old home ground Štadión Petržalka for commercial building-up and the stadium was demolished.

The football club founded in 1898, from the previous sport club Pozsonyi Torna Egyesület which was grounded in 1880, initially played in the regional Hungarian league. The club has been known by 17 names in its history, including Artmedia Bratislava (after their advertising agency sponsors). Artmedia played in the top flight Slovak league from its inception in 1993 until 2010. The club achieved its biggest success in the mid-2000s (decade), while playing under the coach Vladimír Weiss. The club won the Corgoň Liga title in 2005 and later qualified for the group stage of the Champions League, where it achieved the biggest success of all the Slovak clubs. Later, in 2008 the club won the double, but during the next season most of the squad left the club.

The club plays its home matches at its own new stadium with a capacity of 1600. The team wears white and black striped shirts.

History

* 1898 – Founded as ''Pozsonyi Torna Egyesület''
* 1939 – Renamed ''Engerau Pressburg''
* 1945 – Renamed ''ŠK Petržalka''
* 1949 – Renamed ''Kovosmalt Petržalka''
* 1953 – Renamed ''Spartak Kovosmalt Bratislava''
* 1963 – Renamed ''TJ Považské Strojárne Bratislava''
* 1965 – Renamed ''SKS Petržalka''
* 1976 – Renamed ''TJ ZŤS Petržalka''
* 1986 – Merged with ''TJ Internacionál Slovnaft Bratislava'' to form ''TJ Internacionál Slovnaft ZŤS Bratislava'', but split again in 1990.
* 1990 – Renamed ''1. FC Hydronika Petržalka''
* 1991 – Renamed ''1. FC Petržalka''
* 1993 – Renamed ''FK Artmedia Petržalka''
* 2004 – Renamed ''FC Artmedia Bratislava''
* 2007 – Renamed ''FC Artmedia Petržalka''
* 2009 – Renamed ''MFK Petržalka''
* 2010 – Renamed ''FC Petržalka 1898''
* 2014 – Bankruptcy - renamed ''FC Petržalka akadémia''
* 2017 – Renamed ''FC Petržalka''

2005–06 European campaign

They famously reached the lucrative group stage of the UEFA Champions League in 2005–06 after wins over Kairat Almaty, Celtic and Partizan Belgrade. They beat Almaty 4–3 on aggregate in the 1st qualifying round despite a 2–0 defeat in the first leg since they won second leg by 4–1. However it was on 27 July 2005 that they made their mark on the tournament, producing one of the shock results of Champions League history as they beat 2003 UEFA Cup finalists and 1967 European Cup winners Celtic 5–0 in the first leg of their Champions League 2nd qualifying round match. The stunned Celtic side could not quite recover, only managing to win the return leg 4–0, and Artmedia held on to progress in the tournament. On 23 August 2005 they clinched a place in the group stages after overcoming Serbian club Partizan Belgrade 4–3 on penalties after a 0–0 aggregate scoreline thus becoming the second Slovak club after 1. FC Košice in 1997–98 to reach the coveted Champions League proper. Their success was even more remarkable considering Artmedia's entire annual budget is just over £1m.

Artmedia also made history by becoming one of the first two clubs ever to advance from the first qualifying round into the Champions League group stage. The other club to do so was 2004–05 winners Liverpool, who were given a special entry into the first qualifying round of the 2005–06 event, and joined Artmedia in the group stage.

Artmedia played their Champions League fixtures at the Tehelné pole ground of crosstown rivals Slovan Bratislava because their own ground does not meet UEFA standards for Champions League play.

On 28 September 2005, Artmedia made history once again by becoming the first Slovak side to collect a point in the Champions League group stage (in the eighth attempt by a Slovak side to do so). In another famous upset, they came back from a 2–0 first-half deficit to defeat 2004 Champions League winners Porto 3–2 at Porto's home ground.

Eventually, they finished third in the group, parachuting them into the UEFA Cup, but not before missing a late chance to score a goal in the return fixture against Porto that would have sent them to the round of 16 at Rangers' expense.

In December 2005 the goalkeeper Juraj Čobej underwent a complicated brain surgery attempting to remove a malign tumor. Fortunately, he has fully recovered and has already stood a firm ground in goal during the first rounds of the 2006–07 season.

Artmedia lost the home leg of their UEFA Cup round of 32 tie with Levski Sofia 1–0 and were knocked out of the tournament after an away defeat of 2–0.

After the successful season the coach Vladimír Weiss left to join FC Saturn Ramenskoe. Several players left the club, among others Ján Ďurica to FC Saturn Ramenskoe, Balázs Borbély to 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Blažej Vaščák to Treviso FBC.

2008–2014 decline of Petržalka

The club reassigned Vladimír Weiss as head coach for the 2007–08 season. Some of the players came back, the club's captain Ján Kozák returned from a loan at WBA, Aleš Urbánek, Branislav Fodrek and Branislav Obžera returned, and the new faces in the club, among others, included Czech fullback Radek Dosoudil

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