Various sports and sports teams have a long tradition in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, with many sport teams and individuals competing in the best Slovak and international leagues and competitions. Many significant sports events, such as World and European Championships, have been held in Bratislava. The 2011 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships were held in Bratislava, along with

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of app ...

. A new arena was built to host this event.

Football (soccer)

Football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

is currently represented by one club playing the top Slovak football league

Fortuna Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, ...

: *

ŠK Slovan Bratislava ŠK Slovan Bratislava (, "Bratislava Slav") is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Slovak Super Liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953. Slovan is the mo ...

:ŠK (''Športový Klub'' - Sports Club) Slovan was founded on May 3, 1919 as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava (''1. Československý športový klub''). Its home ground is the

Tehelné pole Tehelné pole or National football stadium ( sk, Národný futbalový štadión) is a multi-use stadium in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was completed in 2019 and is used for football (soccer), football matches, including the home matches of ŠK Slov ...

(Brickfield) stadium with a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 22,500. ŠK Slovan is the most successful football club in Slovak history and the only winner of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup from former

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. It won the cup in the 1968-69 season. ŠK Slovan also won the top Slovak and Czechoslovak football leagues and

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup () is the main knockout cup competition in Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League. History The competition was first contested in 1969. Until 1993, the winner of the Slovak Cup would face the w ...

and Czechoslovak Cup several times. ŠK Slovan has had the most players in the

Slovak national football team The Slovakia national football team ( sk, Slovenská futbalová reprezentácia) represents Slovakia in men's international football competition and it is governed by the Slovak Football Association (SFZ), the governing body for football in S ...

in history. Many famous Slovak footballers played in ŠK Slovan, for example Peter Dubovský,

Jozef Adamec Jozef Adamec (26 February 1942 – 24 December 2018) was a Slovak football forward and manager. Adamec won seven Czechoslovak First League titles in his club career, winning two with Dukla Prague during his military service, followed by five ...

Karol Jokl Karol Jokl (29 August 1945 – 28 October 1996) was a Slovak football player and manager. He played for ŠK Slovan Bratislava and Czechoslovakia. Between 1963 and 1975 he played in the Czechoslovak First League for ŠK Slovan Bratislava, scorin ...

Jozef Vengloš Jozef Vengloš (18 February 1936 – 26 January 2021) was a Slovak professional football player and manager. He held a doctorate in Physical Education and also specialised in Psychology. He was selected by FIFA on various occasions to lecture ...

Róbert Vittek Róbert Vittek (; born 1 April 1982) is a Slovak former professional footballer who played as a forward. With 23 goals in 82 matches since 2001, Vittek is the second top scorer in the history of the Slovakia national football team. He played fo ...

. The club had 7 players in the Czechoslovak team that won the

1976 European Football Championship The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 16 and 20 June 1976. Only f ...

Ice hockey

Three winter sports arenas are situated in Bratislava:

Ondrej Nepela Ondrej Nepela (22 January 1951 – 2 February 1989) was a Slovak figure skater who represented Czechoslovakia. He was the 1972 Olympic champion, a three-time World champion (1971–73), and a five-time European champion (1969–73). Later in h ...

Winter Sports Stadium, V.Dzurilla Winter Sports Stadium and Dúbravka Winter Sports Stadium. The ice hockey team

HC Slovan Bratislava Hockey Club Slovan Bratislava ( sk, Hokejový klub Slovan Bratislava) is a professional ice hockey club based in Bratislava, Slovakia. In 2012, it left the Slovak Extraliga and joined the international Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). In 2019, i ...

represents Bratislava in European most prestige ice hockey league

KHL The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; russian: Континентальная хоккейная лига (КХЛ), Kontinental'naya khokkeynaya liga) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs b ...

Slovnaft Arena The Ondrej Nepela Arena ( sk, Zimný Štadión Ondreja Nepelu) (also known as ''Orange Arena'' during the 2011 IIHF World Championship, 2011 IIHF Championship, or as ''Slovnaft Arena'') is an indoor arena in Bratislava, Slovakia. It is primarily ...

, which is second name of

Winter Sports Stadium, is home to HC Slovan. The club, founded in 1939, is a six-times Slovak Extraliga and one-time

Czechoslovak Extraliga The Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League was the elite ice hockey league in Czechoslovakia from 1936 until 1993, when the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Slovak Extraliga and Czech Extraliga formed from the split. History ...

winner. HC Slovan also won the 2003-04 Continental Cup. Notable former HC Slovan players include

Vladimír Dzurilla Vladimír Dzurilla (August 2, 1942 in Bratislava, Slovakia – July 27, 1995 in Düsseldorf, Germany) was a Slovak ice hockey goaltender playing for Czechoslovakia. Dzurilla, a refrigerator repairman by profession, was goalie for the ...

Václav Nedomanský Václav Nedomanský (born 14 March 1944) is a Czech former ice hockey forward. Nedomanský is best known as the first Czech hockey player to defect to North America to play. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2019. He is also a membe ...

Peter Šťastný Peter Šťastný (; born 18 September 1956), also known colloquially as "Peter the Great" and "Stosh", is a Slovak-Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1980 to 1995. Šťastný is the ...

, and

Miroslav Šatan Miroslav Šatan (; born 22 October 1974) is a Slovak former professional ice hockey right winger, who played 15 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL), five in the Tipos Extraliga, and three in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Playing ...

. Since 1993, Ondrej Nepela Winter Sports Stadium hosts

Ondrej Nepela Memorial The Nepela Memorial ( sk, Memoriál Ondreja Nepelu), formerly known as the Ondrej Nepela Trophy in 2013–15 & 2017 and the Ondrej Nepela Memorial, is an annual senior-level international figure skating competition. Named after Figure skating at t ...

, an annual senior-level international figure skating competition. It hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey Championship in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Basketball, Handball, Volleyball, and Water Polo

Inter Arena Pasienky (originally ''Inter Hala Pasienky'') is home to two professional clubs—

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

club Slovan Bratislava and men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

club Inter Bratislava—and training and playing-ground for other teams. Slovan Bratislava competes in the top Slovak league Women's ''Extraliga'', and Inter Bratislava in Men's ''Extraliga''. ŠKP (''Športový Klub Polície'' - Police Sports Club) Bratislava is a

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

club. Its women's handball team, founded in 1993, plays in the Women's Handball International League, which is a joint

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

and Slovak top handball league. And its men's handball a-team competes in Handball International League, a joint Czech and Slovak handball league. A

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

team VKP Bratislava (''Volejbalový Klub Polície'' - Police Volleyball Club) plays in men's ''Extraliga''. Slávia UK Bratislava is a sports club of

Comenius University Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...

(UK - ''Univerzita Komenského'' - Comenius University). Its volleyball team plays in women's ''Extraliga'' and its

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

team competes in men's ''Extraliga''.

Rugby union

is the centre of

rugby union in Slovakia Rugby union in Slovakia is a minor but growing sport. Governing body The governing body is the Slovak Rugby Union. History Rugby union was introduced to Czechoslovakia (as it was then) by the Czech/ Moravian writer Ondřej Sekora, when he retu ...

. Rugby in Bratislava date back to at least as early as 1927, when it is recorded that ŠK Slávia Bratislava played a match.
Rugby Klub Bratislava has been established in 2005, and is currently playing with club based next to the borders, in Austria, Czech Republic, and Hungary.

Gaelic Football (GAA)

The Slovak Shamrocks are the first and so far only Gaelic football team in Slovakia. An international club with members from over 16 countries. The membership of the club consists of individuals from a wide variety of professional backgrounds. It provides an important network of support and is in a position to help its members arrange accommodation, gain employment and grow their social circle after relocating to Bratislava. In July 2011, an Irish Family Sports Day took place in the small town of Čunovo on the outskirts of Bratislava. This modest event saw the first appearance of the Slovak Shamrocks GAA. From these inauspicious beginnings, interest quickly grew in the club, which soon attracted a diverse range of members and followers from all walks of life in Slovakia's capital. The club now plays in the GAA European Gaelic Football Championships.

Tennis

National Tennis Centre, which includes

Aegon Arena , former names = Aegon ArénaSibamac Aréna , address = Príkopova 6 , location = Bratislava, Slovakia , coordinates = , type = , genre = , broke_ground = , b ...

, hosts various cultural, sports and social events. Several

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

matches were played there, including the

2005 Davis Cup The 2005 Davis Cup was the 94th edition of the most important tournament between nations in men's tennis. A total of 130 teams participated in the tournament. The final took place 2–4 December at the Sibamac Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia, with ...

final between Slovakia and

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

. Tatra banka Open, an

ATP Challenger Series The ATP Challenger Tour, known until the end of 2008 as the ATP Challenger Series, is a series of international men's professional tennis tournaments. The Challenger Tour events are the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP T ...

tournament, is hosted annually in NTC. Slovak professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

players

Dominik Hrbatý Dominik Hrbatý (; born 4 January 1978) is a Slovakian former professional tennis player. Hrbatý reached the semifinals of the 1999 French Open – Men's singles, 1999 French Open, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in ...

and

Karol Kučera Karol Kučera (born 4 March 1974) is a retired ATP professional male tennis player from Slovakia. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 6 in September 1998, reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open the same year. In 20 ...

were born in Bratislava. In 1966, Bratislava named its new multi-sports stadium after tennis player

Ladislav Hecht Ladislav Hecht (; hu, Hecht László ; August 31, 1909 – May 27, 2004) was a Jewish Czechoslovak-American professional tennis player. He won the gold medal in singles at the 1932 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine, and won the 1934 Hung ...

Other

Water Sports Centre Čunovo is a

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

and

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

area. The centre is open for public and professionals, including Slovak representatives. The Centre hosts several international and national

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

and

kayak A kayak is a small, narrow watercraft which is typically propelled by means of a double-bladed paddle. The word kayak originates from the Greenlandic word ''qajaq'' (). The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each se ...

competitions annually.

Devín Devín (, hu, Dévény, german: Theben) is a borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, located in the Bratislava IV district. Originally a separate village at the confluence of the Danube and Morava rivers, Devín maintained its rural cha ...

- Bratislava National run (''Národný beh Devín - Bratislava'') is the oldest athletic event in Slovakia. The first race was organized in 1921 and the 60th race was celebrated in 2007. The international race is 11,625 metres long and attracts about 1,500 attendants annually.The Bratislava City Marathon
is organized annually since 2006. It offers several races, including

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

half-marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish or shortcut ...

and skating race. A

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also u ...

is located in

Petržalka Petržalka (; german: Engerau / Audorf; hu, Pozsonyligetfalu) is the largest borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Situated on the right bank of the river Danube, the area shares a land border with Austria, and is home to around 100,000 ...

Horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

and

dog racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

events and dog shows are held there regularly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sport In Bratislava