FK Viktoria Žižkov is a Czech professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club from the district of
Žižkov 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 ...
. The club competes in the
Czech National Football League
The Czech National Football League (, ''FNL''), known as Chance Národní Liga due to sponsorship reasons, is the second level professional association football league in the Czech Republic. Before 2013 it was known as 2. liga or Druhá liga. The ...
, the second tier of football in the country. It won the
Czechoslovak First League
The Czechoslovak First League (, ) was the premier football (soccer), football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed Gauliga Sudetenland and Ga ...
title in the 1927–28 season, and has also won two editions of the
Czech Cup
The Czech Cup (), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association.
The Czech Cup was first held in 1961. The winner ...
.
History
Early years
The team was founded by students in 1903 in the town of
Žižkov (since 1922 part of
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 ...
). At that time the students chose red and white striped shirts as their colours in honour of the colours of the
Flag of Bohemia
The flag of Bohemia is a historic flag, which now forms part of the design in the modern flag of the Czech Republic. The flag, a horizontal bicolour, was based on the colours of the former List of Bohemian monarchs, monarchs of Bohemia.
The hera ...
. Those same colours remain today. Viktoria's main successes fall into the period between the world wars — until 1948 it was the third most successful
Czechoslovak club, winning the Czechoslovak championship in
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly demonstrating that DNA is the genetic material.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris B ...
and finishing as runners-up in 1929. It won the
Czechoslovak Cup
The Czechoslovak Cup () was a football cup competition held in Czechoslovakia. It was officially created in 1960 and folded in 1993 with the split between Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The cup was played throughout Czechoslovakia until 1968–69. F ...
in 1913, 1914, 1916, 1921, 1929, 1933, and 1940, and came runners-up in 1919 and 1920. It successes gained international recognition, even as a result, giving the name to the Polish club
Victoria Jaworzno.
Post-war era
After
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 ...
and the beginning of communism in 1948 the club descended to the lower leagues and they didn't rejoin the top flight until 1993. In the 1950s the club underwent several name changes as a result of which the club briefly lost its historic name ''Viktoria''; ''Sokol'' (1950), ''Sokol ČSAD'' (1951) and after a merger with Avia Čakovice the club was called ''TJ Slavoj Žižkov'', a name which lasted until 1965 when the historic name was restored.
1990s and 2000s
In 1993 Viktoria was promoted again to the highest league as a result of the
Velvet Divorce
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on December 31, 1992, was the self-determined partition of the federal republic of Czechoslovakia into the independent countries of the Czech Republic (also known as Czechia) and Slovakia ...
and the Slovak clubs walking away to form their
own league. Viktoria was very successful between 1993 and 2003, competing in four European cups. Žižkov has won the national knock-out cup for the eighth time in 1994 and finished as runners-up in 1995.
In
2001
The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...
Viktoria Žižkov won their ninth cup in history followed by knocking Scottish team
Rangers out of the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
in 2002, going through on the away goals rule after extra time at Ibrox. The team finished third in the league on two more occasions, in 2002 and 2003.
In 2004, after a string of poor results and a corruption scandal, the team was relegated again to the
second league. In 2007 the team successfully made it back to the Czech First League, finishing the season as runaway champions of the 2nd league. After finishing mid-table in their first season back in the top flight, in 2009 they were relegated back to the
second league after struggling all season, with one of the only highlights being
Petr Švancara winning Czech Television's goal of 2008 (gol roku), with his stunning individual effort to open the scoring in Žižkov's 4–2 home victory against
FK Bohemians Prague (Střížkov)
FK Bohemians Prague (), formerly known as FC Střížkov Praha 9, was a football club from Střížkov, Prague, Czech Republic. The club played two seasons in the Czech First League, attracting controversy for refusing to play a fixture and ult ...
.
Žižkov bounced back to the top flight after finishing runners-up to
FK Dukla Prague in 2011. Their season started with just seven points from the opening 14 rounds of the
2011–12 Czech First League
The 2011–12 Czech First League, known as the Gambrinus liga for sponsorship reasons, was the 19th season of the Czech Republic's top-tier football league. It began on 29 July 2011 and was originally due to end on 26 May 2012, although due to th ...
, resulting in the club parting company with coach
Martin Pulpit on 23 November.
In January, with the club bottom of the league, it was revealed that only ten players from the first half of the season were still at the club. A particular loss was goalkeeper
Tomáš Vaclík
Tomáš Vaclík (; born 29 March 1989) is a Czech professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Portuguese Primeira Liga club Boavista F.C., Boavista and the Czech Republic nationa ...
moving to
Sparta Prague
Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional football club based in Prague.
It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in central Europe, winning t ...
. Žižkov finished bottom of the league with 19 points, and were relegated to the second division.
Historical names
* 1903 – Sportovní kroužek Viktoria Žižkov
* 1904 – SK Viktoria Žižkov
* 1950 – Sokol Viktoria Žižkov
* 1951 – Sokol ČSAD Žižkov
* 1952 – TJ Slavoj Žižkov (after merger with Avia Čakovice)
* 1965 – TJ Viktoria Žižkov
* 1973 – TJ Viktoria Žižkov Strojimport
* 1982 – TJ Viktoria Žižkov PSO
* 1992 – FK Viktoria Žižkov
Stadium
The club's original stadium was located in the Ohrada region, but this was closed down in 1928. Viktoria's present ground,
FK Viktoria Stadion, was opened in 1952 and is situated on Seifertova třída, just a short walk (one tram stop) from
Prague's main railway station. It has a capacity of 5,037. In 2007 the club opened a fanshop at the ground for the sale of club mementos.
Players
Current squad
.
Out on loan
Notable former players
In popular culture
The very popular 1931 Czech comedy film ''
Muži v offsidu'' is centered largely on the culture and fans of Viktoria Žižkov and features unique footage of several matches from that time. The book, on which the film is based, was written by
Karel Poláček.
The Czech film actor
Vlasta Burian
Josef Vlastimil Burian, better known as Vlasta Burian, (9 April 1891 – 31 January 1962) was a Czechs, Czech actor, singer, comedian, footballer and film director. He is among the most famous Czech actors and comedians of the first half of the 2 ...
played as the regular goalkeeper for Žižkov around 1916 before setting out on his acting career. A plaque in
FK Viktoria Stadion now commemorates his appearances for the club.
Managers
*
Vladimír Táborský (1993)
*
Jiří Kotrba (1993–95)
*
František Kopač (1995–96)
*
Jaroslav Hřebík (1996)
*
Július Bielik (1997–98)
*
Jiří Štol (1998–99)
*
Petr Uličný (1999)
*
Zdeněk Ščasný (1999–02)
*
Vítězslav Lavička (July 2002 – Sept 2003)
*
Günter Bittengel
Günter Bittengel (born 14 July 1966) is a Czech football coach and former player. He played as a striker in the Czechoslovak First League and went on to play in the Czech First League after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. As a result, he al ...
(Nov 2003 – June 2004)
*
Stanislav Levý (July 2004 – Dec 2004)
*
František Kopač (2005)
*
Pavel Malura (2005–06)
*
Stanislav Griga (July 2007 – Sept 2008)
*
Josef Csaplár (Sept 2008 – Nov 2008)
*
Zdeněk Ščasný (Nov 2008 – Dec 2010)
*
Vlastimil Petržela (June 2009 – May 2010)
*
Martin Pulpit (July 2010 – Nov 2011)
*
Roman Nádvorník (Dec 2011 – Mar 2013)
*
Giancarlo Favarin (Mar 2013 – June 2013)
*
Jindřich Trpišovský (July 2013 – May 2015)
*
Roman Veselý (July 2015 – Sept 2015)
*
Zdeněk Hašek (Oct 2015 – Nov 2016)
*
David Vavruška (Dec 2016 – Oct 2017)
*
Bohuslav Pilný (Oct 2017 – May 2018)
*
Petr Mikolanda (Jun 2018 – Oct 2018)
*
Miloš Sazima (Oct 2018 – May 2019)
*
Zdeněk Hašek (May 2019 – Nov 2020)
*
David Vavruška (Nov 2020 – Dec 2020)
*
David Oulehla (Dec 2020 – Oct 2021)
*
Martin Pulpit (Oct 2021 – Apr 2022)
*
Daniel Veselý (Apr 2022 – May 2022)
*
Michal Šmarda (May 2022 – Feb 2023)
*
Michal Horňák (Feb 2023 – Dec 2023)
*
Marek Nikl (Jan 2024 – May 2025)
*
Jindřich Tichai (June 2025 – present)
History in domestic competitions
* Seasons spent at Level 1 of the
football league system
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' generally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...
: 14
* Seasons spent at Level 2 of the football league system: 15
* Seasons spent at Level 3 of the football league system: 10
* Seasons spent at Level 4 of the football league system: 2
Czech Republic
;Notes
History in European competitions
UEFA Cup
Mitropa Cup
In 1928 Žižkov took part in the
Mitropa Cup
The Mitropa Cup, officially called Coupe de l'Europe Centrale, Mitteleuropäischer Pokal or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European association football, football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the suc ...
, reaching the semi-final stage, where they lost in a play off to
SK Rapid Wien
Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English language, English, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian cham ...
after the initial two-legs between the teams produced a tie. At the quarter-final stage Žižkov knocked out
Građanski Zagreb (later to become
Dinamo Zagreb
Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...
) over two legs, winning the home tie 6–1.
Honours
*
Czechoslovak First League
The Czechoslovak First League (, ) was the premier football (soccer), football league in the Czechoslovakia from 1925 to 1993, with the exception of World War II. Czechoslovakia was occupied by German forces who formed Gauliga Sudetenland and Ga ...
**Champions:
1927–28
*
Czech Cup
The Czech Cup (), officially known as the MOL Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the major men's football cup competition in the Czech Republic. It is organised by the Czech Football Association.
The Czech Cup was first held in 1961. The winner ...
**Champions:
1993–94,
2000–01
*
Czech 2. Liga (second tier)
**Champions:
2006–07
*
Bohemian Football League
3rd Bohemian Football League (; ČFL) is one of the third level football leagues of the Czech Republic (the other is the Moravian-Silesian Football League). The league comprises teams from the historic Bohemia region.
History
The league was forme ...
(third tier)
**Champions: 2022–23
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viktoria Zizkov
Football clubs in the Czech Republic
Zizkov, Viktoria
Association football clubs established in 1903
Zizkov, Viktoria
Zizkov, Viktoria
Football clubs in Czechoslovakia
Football clubs in Austria-Hungary
Žižkov
Czech National Football League clubs