Dukla Praha
Encyclopedia
Dukla Prague was a Czech
football club from the city of Prague
. During their heyday the club won 11 Czechoslovak league titles and nine Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966-67 season, reached the semifinals of the European Cup
. As late as 1985-86 they reached the UEFA
Cup Winners' Cup
semi-final and they also made a great impact in the American Challenge Cup competition in New York City
with four wins between 1961 and 1964.
Dukla Prague football club was connected to clubs of other sports, but this connection continues no longer. Separate athletics
, rowing
, handball
, modern pentathlon
, cycling
etc. clubs named Dukla Praha however still nurture world class athletes in their respective sports (like Roman Šebrle
and others). In contrast to the soccer clubs, these ones are still under patronage of the Czech Army
.
2-8, but anyway finished in 8th place of 14 teams in 1948 (only one half of season was played as the league system was changed from an autumn-spring to a spring-autumn season), and jumped up to fourth in 1949, the best result of the first years of the club.
In 1952 ATK Prague won its first trophy – the Czechoslovak Cup after beating "Builders’ XI" (team completed of two clubs from Teplice and Liberec) in the semifinal and Škoda Hradec Králové 4-3 in the final. In time for the start of the 1953 season the club began to play under the name ÚDA . It was time of the politically motivated reorganization of the Czechoslovak sport and physical culture. The team went on the season winning first championship with only one loss of 13 games (the league clubs played only once each other due to a big number of international matches that year).
The top players of the first era of Dukla Praha include Ota Hemele, Václav Pavlis
, Karol Dobai
, Ladislav Přáda, Ladislav Novák
, Jan Hertl
and others.
, that was fought by the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps
and Red Army
during World War II
. Again, in the year of the change of name, the club wins the Czechoslovak Championship five points clear of Slovan Bratislava
, it beat third place Spartak Praha Sokolovo, now known as Sparta Praha 9-0!
The club regained its title in 1957-1958 season, which started in 1957 spring and finished in 1958 spring. Spartak Praha Sokolovo, tied on 40 points, lost the title by two goals of goal difference. Dukla also won its first European Cup match, beating Manchester United at home 1-0 (after losing 0-3 in the first leg). The team then repeatedly finished in top three positions of the league.
Coach Karel Kolský was signed under first titles of Dukla, in 1961 Jaroslav Vejvoda took the club under its auspices and they won the fourth title seven points ahead of ČH Bratislava and clinched the double after the Czechoslovak Cup final 3-0 win over Dynamo Žilina
. It started series of four consecutive titles and between 1961 and 1964.
Josef Masopust
, key player of Dukla's midfield, was elected European Footballer of the Year
in 1962, when Czechoslovakia finished runner-up in the World Cup
.
In 1962 and 1964, the reigning Czechoslovak champion Dukla Praha participated in the Champions Cup and reached the quarterfinal both time beating the likes of Servette FC
and Górnik Zabrze
, losing to Tottenham Hotspur, Benfica Lisbon and Borussia Dortmund
in sequence.
The supremacy of Dukla was supported by performances of its reserve team, which even qualified to the top league in 1965 by winning the second league, but could not be promoted because of Dukla's first team participation in the competition.
Dukla won its last title of the 1960s in 1966 with the same record of 13 wins, 7 ties and six losses and +17 goals difference as the second place Sparta Praha. The team however got new top class reputation as a cup champion winning the Czechoslovak Cup in 1965, 1966 and 1969. Dukla confirmed its cup quality in the European Cup 1966-67
, eliminating Esbjerg fB
, R.S.C. Anderlecht
and Ajax Amsterdam
on its defeat-less way to the semifinal, where it lost 1-3 on aggregate to eventual trophy winners Celtic F.C.
.
The top players of this era of Dukla Praha included Ladislav Novák
, Svatopluk Pluskal
, Josef Masopust
, Pavel Kouba
, Jaroslav Borovička, František Šafránek, Rudolf Kučera and others.
.
Dukla played seven matches in the round-robin stage with following results:
The team's biggest threat was the midfield line of Svatopluk Pluskal
and Josef Masopust
; Rudolf Kučera was the top scorer of the tournament and the most popular player of the team for the New York City audience. The starting lineup of Dukla was as follows: Kouba - Šafránek, Čadek, Novák - Pluskal, Masopust - Brumovský, Vacenovský, Borovička, Kučera, Jelínek (Coach Vejvoda).
The final was a rematch duel against Everton
, which started the first game with a great pressure, but after failing to convert a penalty kick (saved by Pavel Kouba
Dukla took the control of the game and took advantage of technical combination play. After leading 5-0 in the half-time, Dukla won the game 7-2 and it went on to beat Everton in the rematch 2-0. Dukla's participation in the American Cup ended with eight wins of nine games and score of 39-11.
Czech writer and sports journalist Ota Pavel
wrote a unique book about Dukla's first victory and named it DUKLA MEZI MRAKODRAPY (Dukla Among Skyscrapers).
The supremacy of Dukla was so undisputed the organizers decided to establish the American Challenge Cup as the final of next International Soccer League editions, in which Dukla was invited to play against the winners of the group stage. Dukla won three American Challenge Cups, over Brazil's America-RJ in 1962 (1-1 and 2-1), over West Ham United in 1963 (1-0 and 1-1) and over Zagłębie Sosnowiec in 1964 (3-1 and 1-1). Only in 1965, in the last edition of the competition, Dukla was beaten in the American Challenge Cup by Polonia Bytom
0-2 and 1-1.
Dukla's overall record in the International Soccer League and the American Challenge Cup thus comprises 11 wins, four draws and one loss with a score of 49-19.
. In these years, Dukla could relay on two elite scorers – Ladislav Vízek
and Zdeněk Nehoda
, who helped it to another title in 1979.
In 1976, when Czechoslovakia won the European Championships
, goalkeeper Ivo Viktor
and Nehoda were key players of the team, based otherwise mostly on league's runner-up Slovan Bratislava.
Dukla participated in four editions of the European Cup between 1969 and 1977, but won only four of its ten games and only one two-leg tie. But in 1979, the club commemorated its success again in the UEFA Cup. Although Dukla met strong West-European teams of Lanerossi Vicenza
– without its last season top scorer Paolo Rossi
, Everton F.C.
, it went on to the third round, where it beat VfB Stuttgart
4-0 (goals by D. Hoeness – own goal, Vízek, Pelc and Gajdůšek two minutes before the end) after losing the away game 1-4. In the cup's quarterfinals, Dukla was eventually eliminated, drawing the away game 1-1 but losing at home to Hertha BSC Berlin
1-2. Those games were watched by 29,000 spectators. In the next years Dukla was an ordinary participant of the European competitions, but struggled to go past the first round until 1985-1986 season.
In 1982 Dukla finished first in the league and Vízek was the joint winner of the scorers rankings with 15 season's goals.
One year before, in 1981, Dukla won the Czech Cup and went on to the Czechoslovak Cup final, where it smashed Dukla Banská Bystrica
4-1 with two goals of both Nehoda and Vízek in the second half. Dukla thus started a series of six consecutive participations in Czechoslovak Cup finals, winning three, between 1981 and 1985.
As the national cup winner, Dukla also qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1985-86
and mounted another European-scene peak. By beating AEL Limassol
, AIK Fotboll
and S.L. Benfica, Dukla reached the semifinals, where it was eliminated by Oleg Blokhin
‘s FC Dynamo Kyiv
, which eventually won the trophy. A year later, Dukla eliminated Bayer Leverkusen
from the UEFA Cup before being knocked out by F.C. Internazionale Milano
, Leverkusen won the trophy the next season.
The domestic and especially international position of Dukla at the very end of the 1980s was a little weaker, but its player Milan Luhový
won the top scorers competition twice in 1988 and 1989.
The most famous players of this era were: Ivo Viktor, Ladislav Vízek, Zdeněk Nehoda, František Štambachr, Stanislav Pelc, Oldřich Rott, Miroslav Gajdůšek, Luděk Macela, Karel Stromšík
, Jan Fiala or Milan Luhový.
, after which the reputation of the army club had fallen, Dukla won the Czechoslovak Cup, winning three of last four games in the competition on penalty shootouts. The next year, Dukla was eliminated from the Cup Winners‘ Cup symbolically by its 1986 semifinal opponent, Dynamo Kyiv
, but now in the second round only.
Since the beginning of the 1990s the club had fallen on increasingly hard times. Their major rivals, such as Sparta Praha, had started to acquire major sponsorship deals. Dukla found it hard to acquire the same level of sponsorship, mainly due to the communist past which tainted the club.
It stayed in the championships until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia
. In the 1993-1994 season the fabled club won only one league game and for the first time since its foundation it was relegated, due to financial reasons directly to the third division.
The club's best players in this era included Pavel Nedvěd
, Karel Rada
and Günter Bittengel
.
After one year, Dukla Prague managed to win the second division and to be promoted back to the top level of Czech football in 1997 with the help of the cash injection. As the second-division team, Dukla played the Czech Cup final, but lost to SK Slavia Praha
on the golden goal
rule. The club management however could not make an agreement with army as the owner of the stadium and moved the club to Příbram
and subsequently renamed to FC Dukla and later to Dukla Příbram.
Václav Koloušek
, Antonín Kinský
and 1990 World Cup
veteran Ivo Knoflíček
were the most famous players of this era's Dukla Praha.
The club now has a name of FK Marila Příbram
.
The Dukla Prague association was founded again and the club with the famous name took Prague Championship (level five in the Czech football league system) over from Dukla Dejvice.
The club entered Prague Championship again in 2006. In November 2006, Dukla Prague management however informed, that it agreed on takeover of second league rights of the Jakubčovice
team.
band Half Man Half Biscuit
with their song "All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit". It is common for fans of the band to wear old-fashioned Dukla away kits at the group's gigs.
In 1951, Pavel Pásek wrote a comedy named 4:0 pro ATK with the subtitle Veselohra o lidu footballovém a sázejícím o 3 dějstvích (4-0 for ATK. Comedy about football and betting nation in three acts) and later rewrote it into the form of a short prose. The propaganda play tells the story of a player transformed by his spell at Dukla. The book was also translated into Polish
.
1Not an official cup competition.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
football club from the city of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. During their heyday the club won 11 Czechoslovak league titles and nine Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966-67 season, reached the semifinals of the European Cup
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
. As late as 1985-86 they reached the UEFA
UEFA
The Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
Cup Winners' Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA. The first competition was held in the 1960–61 season—but...
semi-final and they also made a great impact in the American Challenge Cup competition in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with four wins between 1961 and 1964.
Dukla Prague football club was connected to clubs of other sports, but this connection continues no longer. Separate athletics
Athletics (track and field)
Athletics is an exclusive collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking. The most common types of athletics competitions are track and field, road running, cross country running, and race walking...
, rowing
Rowing (sport)
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
, modern pentathlon
Modern pentathlon
The modern pentathlon is a sports contest that includes five events: pistol shooting, épée fencing, 200 m freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3 km cross-country run...
, cycling
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
etc. clubs named Dukla Praha however still nurture world class athletes in their respective sports (like Roman Šebrle
Roman Šebrle
Roman Šebrle is an athlete from the Czech Republic. He is considered to be one of the best decathlon athletes of all time. Originally a high jumper, he competes in decathlon and heptathlon for team TJ Dukla Praha and is a world record holder in the decathlon...
and others). In contrast to the soccer clubs, these ones are still under patronage of the Czech Army
Military of the Czech Republic
The Army of the Czech Republic comprise the land forces, the Czech Air Force and support units. From the late 1940s to 1989, the extensive Czechoslovak Armed Forces formed one of the pillars of the Warsaw Pact military alliance...
.
Foundation and First Decade
The club that ultimately became Dukla Prague was originally formed by the Czechoslovak army in 1948 and was initially known as ATK . It immediately got a chance to qualify for the top league and it won qualification playoff against the winner of trade-union competition, MZK Pardubice. In its first league season, ATK lost to the eventual champion SK Slavia PrahaSK Slavia Praha
Sportovní Klub Slavia Praha is a Czech professional football club founded in 1892 in the city of Prague.They play in the Gambrinus liga—the highest competition in the Czech Republic. Alongside Sparta Prague, they are considered one of the top Czech clubs and the rivalry between the two clubs is...
2-8, but anyway finished in 8th place of 14 teams in 1948 (only one half of season was played as the league system was changed from an autumn-spring to a spring-autumn season), and jumped up to fourth in 1949, the best result of the first years of the club.
In 1952 ATK Prague won its first trophy – the Czechoslovak Cup after beating "Builders’ XI" (team completed of two clubs from Teplice and Liberec) in the semifinal and Škoda Hradec Králové 4-3 in the final. In time for the start of the 1953 season the club began to play under the name ÚDA . It was time of the politically motivated reorganization of the Czechoslovak sport and physical culture. The team went on the season winning first championship with only one loss of 13 games (the league clubs played only once each other due to a big number of international matches that year).
The top players of the first era of Dukla Praha include Ota Hemele, Václav Pavlis
Václav Pavlis
Václav Pavlis was a football goalkeeper from Czechoslovakia. He was a member of the national team.Pavlis started his football career at Bohemians Prague. In 1951 he began his military service at Dukla Prague and stayed there even after end of his compulsory service, until the end of his career...
, Karol Dobai
Karol Dobai
Karol Dobay was a former Slovak football striker who played for Dynamo ČSD Košice, Dukla Prague and Jednota Košice. He overall played 152 matches and scored 37 goals during his career at the Czechoslovak First League...
, Ladislav Přáda, Ladislav Novák
Ladislav Novák
Ladislav Novák was a Czech football defender and later a football manager. He played 75 matches for Czechoslovakia, 71 of them as a team captain....
, Jan Hertl
Jan Hertl
Jan Hertl is a former Czech footballer.During his club career he played for Dukla Prague and Sparta Prague. He earned 23 caps and scored 1 goal for the Czechoslovakia national football team from 1952 to 1958, and represented the country in two World Cups.-External links:*...
and others.
Glorious late 1950s and 1960s
Finally in 1956 the club was renamed Dukla Praha in honour of the Battle of the Dukla PassBattle of the Dukla Pass
Battle of the Dukla Pass, also known as the Dukla / Carpatho-Dukla / Rzeszów-Dukla / Dukla-Prešov Offensive was the scene of bitterly contested battle for the Dukla Pass on the Eastern Front of World War II between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in September-October 1944. German resistance was...
, that was fought by the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps
I Corps (Czechoslovakia)
I Czechoslovak Army Corps was a unit of the Czechoslovak army in exile on the Eastern Front fighting alongside the Soviet Red Army, which was created on the April 10, 1944 at Chernivtsi and moved to Krosno area soon after....
and Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Again, in the year of the change of name, the club wins the Czechoslovak Championship five points clear of Slovan Bratislava
ŠK Slovan Bratislava
ŠK Slovan Bratislava is a football club based in Bratislava, Slovakia, that plays in the Corgoň liga. Founded as 1. ČsŠK Bratislava in 1919, the club changed its name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953...
, it beat third place Spartak Praha Sokolovo, now known as Sparta Praha 9-0!
The club regained its title in 1957-1958 season, which started in 1957 spring and finished in 1958 spring. Spartak Praha Sokolovo, tied on 40 points, lost the title by two goals of goal difference. Dukla also won its first European Cup match, beating Manchester United at home 1-0 (after losing 0-3 in the first leg). The team then repeatedly finished in top three positions of the league.
Coach Karel Kolský was signed under first titles of Dukla, in 1961 Jaroslav Vejvoda took the club under its auspices and they won the fourth title seven points ahead of ČH Bratislava and clinched the double after the Czechoslovak Cup final 3-0 win over Dynamo Žilina
MŠK Žilina
MŠK Žilina is a Slovak football club, based in the town of Žilina. They play in the Slovak Superliga and are one of the most successful clubs in this competition, having won five championships since the league's inception in 1993. The club and their supporters alike are nicknamed Šošoni...
. It started series of four consecutive titles and between 1961 and 1964.
Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust is a Czechoslovakian former football player and coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic as their most...
, key player of Dukla's midfield, was elected European Footballer of the Year
European Footballer of the Year
The "", literally translated as "the golden ball" and often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award, was an annual association football award. It was presented to the player who had been considered to have performed the best over the previous calendar year...
in 1962, when Czechoslovakia finished runner-up in the World Cup
1962 FIFA World Cup
The 1962 FIFA World Cup, the seventh staging of the World Cup, was held in Chile from 30 May to 17 June. It was won by Brazil, who retained the championship by beating Czechoslovakia 3–1 in the final...
.
In 1962 and 1964, the reigning Czechoslovak champion Dukla Praha participated in the Champions Cup and reached the quarterfinal both time beating the likes of Servette FC
Servette FC
Servette FC is a Swiss football club, based in Geneva currently playing in the Swiss Super League. They were playing in the Swiss Challenge League, the second highest tier of Swiss football having been relegated from the Swiss Super League at the end of 2004/05 season...
and Górnik Zabrze
Górnik Zabrze
Górnik Zabrze is a Polish football club from Zabrze. The club has won numerous championships, and was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s. For now Górnik has the most titles in Poland. The club plays in white or dark blue - red kit, and is based at the Ernest Pohl Stadium...
, losing to Tottenham Hotspur, Benfica Lisbon and Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund
Ballspielverein Borussia Dortmund, commonly BVB, are a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. Dortmund are one of the most successful clubs in German football history. Borussia Dortmund play in the Bundesliga, the top league of German football...
in sequence.
The supremacy of Dukla was supported by performances of its reserve team, which even qualified to the top league in 1965 by winning the second league, but could not be promoted because of Dukla's first team participation in the competition.
Dukla won its last title of the 1960s in 1966 with the same record of 13 wins, 7 ties and six losses and +17 goals difference as the second place Sparta Praha. The team however got new top class reputation as a cup champion winning the Czechoslovak Cup in 1965, 1966 and 1969. Dukla confirmed its cup quality in the European Cup 1966-67
European Cup 1966-67
The 1966–67 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by Celtic for the first time in the final against Internazionale, who eliminated defending champions Real Madrid in the quarter-finals...
, eliminating Esbjerg fB
Esbjerg fB
Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber also referred to as Esbjerg fB or simply EfB is a professional Danish football club from the port city of Esbjerg in West Jutland. The club was formed in 1924, as a merger between Esbjerg Boldklub af 1898 and Esbjerg Amatørklub af 1911. The club has training facilities...
, R.S.C. Anderlecht
R.S.C. Anderlecht
Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, usually known as Anderlecht or RSCA , is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht in the Brussels Capital Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian Pro League and is the most successful Belgian football team in European competitions as well as in the...
and Ajax Amsterdam
Ajax Amsterdam
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax , also referred to as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam or simply Ajax , is a professional football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands...
on its defeat-less way to the semifinal, where it lost 1-3 on aggregate to eventual trophy winners Celtic F.C.
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
.
The top players of this era of Dukla Praha included Ladislav Novák
Ladislav Novák
Ladislav Novák was a Czech football defender and later a football manager. He played 75 matches for Czechoslovakia, 71 of them as a team captain....
, Svatopluk Pluskal
Svatopluk Pluskal
Svatopluk Pluskal was a Czechoslovak footballer and holder of a silver medal from the World Cup in Chile in 1962.- Early life :...
, Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust is a Czechoslovakian former football player and coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic as their most...
, Pavel Kouba
Pavel Kouba
Pavel Kouba was a Czech football player.During his club career he played for Dukla Prague, where he won the Czechoslovak First League four times. He earned 3 caps for the Czechoslovakia national football team, and was part of the second-placed team at the 1962 FIFA World Cup...
, Jaroslav Borovička, František Šafránek, Rudolf Kučera and others.
American Challenge Cups
In 1961, Dukla Prague was invited to New York participate in the second edition of the International Soccer League, competition of 16 elite world teams. Dukla spent all summer in the United States, playing games and between them training in famous Central ParkCentral Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
.
Dukla played seven matches in the round-robin stage with following results:
- Dukla – Red Star BelgradeRed Star BelgradeRed Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...
4-2 - Dukla – Petah Tikva 7-1
- Dukla – Rapid Vienna 6-0
- Dukla – Concordia University (Montreal) 2-2
- Dukla – AS Monaco 2-0
- Dukla – RCD Espanyol de Barcelona 5-1
- Dukla – Shamrock RoversShamrock Rovers F.C.Shamrock Rovers Football Club are a professional football club from Dublin, Ireland. They compete in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland and are the most successful club in Irish football history. The club have won the League of Ireland title a record 17 times and the FAI Cup a record 24...
4-3 with many substitutes in the lineup
The team's biggest threat was the midfield line of Svatopluk Pluskal
Svatopluk Pluskal
Svatopluk Pluskal was a Czechoslovak footballer and holder of a silver medal from the World Cup in Chile in 1962.- Early life :...
and Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust
Josef Masopust is a Czechoslovakian former football player and coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic as their most...
; Rudolf Kučera was the top scorer of the tournament and the most popular player of the team for the New York City audience. The starting lineup of Dukla was as follows: Kouba - Šafránek, Čadek, Novák - Pluskal, Masopust - Brumovský, Vacenovský, Borovička, Kučera, Jelínek (Coach Vejvoda).
The final was a rematch duel against Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
, which started the first game with a great pressure, but after failing to convert a penalty kick (saved by Pavel Kouba
Pavel Kouba
Pavel Kouba was a Czech football player.During his club career he played for Dukla Prague, where he won the Czechoslovak First League four times. He earned 3 caps for the Czechoslovakia national football team, and was part of the second-placed team at the 1962 FIFA World Cup...
Dukla took the control of the game and took advantage of technical combination play. After leading 5-0 in the half-time, Dukla won the game 7-2 and it went on to beat Everton in the rematch 2-0. Dukla's participation in the American Cup ended with eight wins of nine games and score of 39-11.
Czech writer and sports journalist Ota Pavel
Ota Pavel
Ota Pavel was a Czech writer, journalist and sport reporter...
wrote a unique book about Dukla's first victory and named it DUKLA MEZI MRAKODRAPY (Dukla Among Skyscrapers).
The supremacy of Dukla was so undisputed the organizers decided to establish the American Challenge Cup as the final of next International Soccer League editions, in which Dukla was invited to play against the winners of the group stage. Dukla won three American Challenge Cups, over Brazil's America-RJ in 1962 (1-1 and 2-1), over West Ham United in 1963 (1-0 and 1-1) and over Zagłębie Sosnowiec in 1964 (3-1 and 1-1). Only in 1965, in the last edition of the competition, Dukla was beaten in the American Challenge Cup by Polonia Bytom
Polonia Bytom
Polonia Bytom is a Polish football club founded on 4 January 1920 in the Upper Silesian city of Bytom, during the hectic months of the Silesian Uprisings...
0-2 and 1-1.
Dukla's overall record in the International Soccer League and the American Challenge Cup thus comprises 11 wins, four draws and one loss with a score of 49-19.
Cup successes of the 1970s and early 1980s
Despite the 11th place league finish in 1971, the worst Dukla's result between the club foundation and 1992-1993 season, Dukla played on at the top of the championship, finishing on the podium again. Although it fell down to ninth place in 1975, it was back on top again two years later, winning the championship four points ahead of Inter BratislavaFK Inter Bratislava
FK Inter Bratislava is a Slovak football club, playing in the city of Bratislava.FK Inter Bratislava merged with FK Senica on June 18, 2009. Players of Inter Bratislava had to move to other clubs. In season 2010/2011 has been renewed and will start in 5.league...
. In these years, Dukla could relay on two elite scorers – Ladislav Vízek
Ladislav Vízek
Ladislav Vízek is a Czech football player. He played 55 matches for Czechoslovakia and scored 13 goals....
and Zdeněk Nehoda
Zdenek Nehoda
Zdeněk Nehoda is a Czech football forward. He played for Czechoslovakia, for which he played 90 matches and scored 31 goals as a tricky right-winger.He was a participant in the 1982 FIFA World Cup...
, who helped it to another title in 1979.
In 1976, when Czechoslovakia won the European Championships
1976 UEFA European Football Championship
-Semi-finals:-----Third place play-off:-Final:-Top scorers:19 goals were scored in 4 games for an average of 4.75 goals per game.4 goals Dieter Müller2 goals Dragan Džajić Ruud Geels...
, goalkeeper Ivo Viktor
Ivo Viktor
Ivo Viktor is a former Czech football goalkeeper. He played for Czechoslovakia, 63 matches, from 1966 to 1977.His national team debut was in 1966 against Brazil at Maracanã.He was a participant in the 1970 FIFA World Cup....
and Nehoda were key players of the team, based otherwise mostly on league's runner-up Slovan Bratislava.
Dukla participated in four editions of the European Cup between 1969 and 1977, but won only four of its ten games and only one two-leg tie. But in 1979, the club commemorated its success again in the UEFA Cup. Although Dukla met strong West-European teams of Lanerossi Vicenza
Vicenza Calcio
Vicenza Calcio is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. The club was formed in 1902 and currently plays in Italy's Serie B, having spent the entire 1960s and a large part of the 1990s in Serie A...
– without its last season top scorer Paolo Rossi
Paolo Rossi
Paolo Rossi is an Italian former football striker. In 1982, he led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot/top scorer honors, and the Golden Ball. After his performance at the 1982 FIFA World Cup he became a hero in the hearts of all Italians...
, Everton F.C.
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...
, it went on to the third round, where it beat VfB Stuttgart
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart, is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club is best known for its football team, which has participated in all but two Bundesliga seasons...
4-0 (goals by D. Hoeness – own goal, Vízek, Pelc and Gajdůšek two minutes before the end) after losing the away game 1-4. In the cup's quarterfinals, Dukla was eventually eliminated, drawing the away game 1-1 but losing at home to Hertha BSC Berlin
Hertha BSC Berlin
Hertha Berliner Sport-Club von 1892, commonly known as Hertha BSC or Hertha Berlin, is a German association football club based in Berlin. A founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900, the club has a long history as Berlin's best-supported side...
1-2. Those games were watched by 29,000 spectators. In the next years Dukla was an ordinary participant of the European competitions, but struggled to go past the first round until 1985-1986 season.
In 1982 Dukla finished first in the league and Vízek was the joint winner of the scorers rankings with 15 season's goals.
One year before, in 1981, Dukla won the Czech Cup and went on to the Czechoslovak Cup final, where it smashed Dukla Banská Bystrica
FK Dukla Banská Bystrica
FK Dukla Banská Bystrica is a Slovak football club from the town of Banská Bystrica. The club plays at the SNP Stadium .- History :* 1965 – Founded as VTJ Dukla Banská Bystrica* 1967 – Renamed AS Dukla Banská Bystrica...
4-1 with two goals of both Nehoda and Vízek in the second half. Dukla thus started a series of six consecutive participations in Czechoslovak Cup finals, winning three, between 1981 and 1985.
As the national cup winner, Dukla also qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1985-86
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1985-86
The European Cup Winners' Cup was won in season 1985-86 by FC Dynamo Kyiv in the final against Atlético Madrid. It was their second title in the competition, having already won it in 1975...
and mounted another European-scene peak. By beating AEL Limassol
AEL Limassol
Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou , commonly known as AEL Limassol , is a Greek Cypriot multisport club based in the city of Limassol, the port of Cyprus....
, AIK Fotboll
AIK Fotboll
AIK, , an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben, , when needed internationally AIK Stockholm, is a Swedish football club based at Råsunda stadium in Solna, a municipality in Stockholm County bordering to Stockholm City Centre...
and S.L. Benfica, Dukla reached the semifinals, where it was eliminated by Oleg Blokhin
Oleg Blokhin
Oleh Volodymyrovych "Oleg" Blokhin is a Ukrainian football coach and current head coach of the Ukrainian national team. Blokhin was formerly a standout striker for Dynamo Kyiv and the Soviet national team...
‘s FC Dynamo Kyiv
FC Dynamo Kyiv
FC Dynamo Kyiv is a professional football club based in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv. Founded in 1927, the club currently participates in the Ukrainian Premier League and has spent its entire history in the top league of Soviet and later Ukrainian football...
, which eventually won the trophy. A year later, Dukla eliminated Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer 04 Leverkusen is a German football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is the most well-known department of TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen, a sports club whose members also participate in athletics, gymnastics, basketball and other sports.-Origins and early years:On 27 November...
from the UEFA Cup before being knocked out by F.C. Internazionale Milano
F.C. Internazionale Milano
Football Club Internazionale Milano, often referred to as Internazionale or simply Inter, is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Italy. Outside Italy, the club is often called Inter Milan. They are the reigning FIFA Club World champions and Coppa Italia holders.Inter have always...
, Leverkusen won the trophy the next season.
The domestic and especially international position of Dukla at the very end of the 1980s was a little weaker, but its player Milan Luhový
Milan Luhový
Milan Luhový is a former football player. He played 31 matches for Czechoslovakia and scored seven goals.In his club career he played for Slovan Bratislava, Dukla Prague, Sporting Gijón, AS Saint-Étienne, PAOK Salonika and K. Sint-Truidense V.V.. He won twice the Czechoslovak Cup, in 1982 with...
won the top scorers competition twice in 1988 and 1989.
The most famous players of this era were: Ivo Viktor, Ladislav Vízek, Zdeněk Nehoda, František Štambachr, Stanislav Pelc, Oldřich Rott, Miroslav Gajdůšek, Luděk Macela, Karel Stromšík
Karel Stromšík
Karel Stromšík is a former football goalkeeper from Czechoslovakia. He was a member of the national team that competed at the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Stromšík obtained a total number of four caps for his native country, between 24 September 1980 and 24 June 1982.Stromšík played in his country for...
, Jan Fiala or Milan Luhový.
Crisis of 1990s
Yet in 1990, after the Velvet RevolutionVelvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
, after which the reputation of the army club had fallen, Dukla won the Czechoslovak Cup, winning three of last four games in the competition on penalty shootouts. The next year, Dukla was eliminated from the Cup Winners‘ Cup symbolically by its 1986 semifinal opponent, Dynamo Kyiv
FC Dynamo Kyiv
FC Dynamo Kyiv is a professional football club based in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv. Founded in 1927, the club currently participates in the Ukrainian Premier League and has spent its entire history in the top league of Soviet and later Ukrainian football...
, but now in the second round only.
Since the beginning of the 1990s the club had fallen on increasingly hard times. Their major rivals, such as Sparta Praha, had started to acquire major sponsorship deals. Dukla found it hard to acquire the same level of sponsorship, mainly due to the communist past which tainted the club.
It stayed in the championships until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia
Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
The dissolution of Czechoslovakia, which took effect on 1 January 1993, was an event that saw the self-determined separation of the federal state of Czechoslovakia. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, entities which had arisen in 1969 within the framework of Czechoslovak federalisation, became...
. In the 1993-1994 season the fabled club won only one league game and for the first time since its foundation it was relegated, due to financial reasons directly to the third division.
The club's best players in this era included Pavel Nedvěd
Pavel Nedved
Pavel Nedvěd is a retired Czech football midfielder. He is one of the most successful Czech players to emerge from the newly formed Czech Republic, winning numerous accolades with Lazio and Juventus, including the last ever Cup Winners' Cup...
, Karel Rada
Karel Rada
Karel Rada is a former Czech football defender. He played for the Czech Republic, for which he played 43 matches and scored 4 goals.He was a participant in the Euro 1996, where the Czech Republic won the silver medal....
and Günter Bittengel
Günter Bittengel
Günter Bittengel is a Czech football coach and a former player.During his playing career, Bittengel made over 100 league appearances for Dukla Prague.-External links:* at Hall of Fame Dukla Praha * at transfermarkt.de...
.
Merger with FC Příbram and Lapse
Slovak-origin Czech entrepreneur Bohumír Ďuričko finally took the plunge and agreed to save the ailing former giants. Ďuričko's first move was to buy rival team FC Příbram who at the time was in the Czech second division. The two clubs were merged in 1996 and the newly formed club took the place of Přibram in the Czech second division, playing its games in Prague.After one year, Dukla Prague managed to win the second division and to be promoted back to the top level of Czech football in 1997 with the help of the cash injection. As the second-division team, Dukla played the Czech Cup final, but lost to SK Slavia Praha
SK Slavia Praha
Sportovní Klub Slavia Praha is a Czech professional football club founded in 1892 in the city of Prague.They play in the Gambrinus liga—the highest competition in the Czech Republic. Alongside Sparta Prague, they are considered one of the top Czech clubs and the rivalry between the two clubs is...
on the golden goal
Golden goal
The golden goal is a method used in association football, field hockey, ice hockey and korfball to decide the winner of games in elimination matches which end in a draw after the end of regulation time. It is a type of sudden death. Golden goal rules allow the team that scores the first goal during...
rule. The club management however could not make an agreement with army as the owner of the stadium and moved the club to Příbram
Príbram
Příbram is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 35,147. The city is located on the Litavka river and the foothills of Brdy, 60 kilometers south-west of Prague, the country's capital...
and subsequently renamed to FC Dukla and later to Dukla Příbram.
Václav Koloušek
Václav Koloušek
Václav Koloušek is a football player from the Czech Republic who currently plays for FC Zbrojovka Brno in Czech 2. Liga.-Club career:...
, Antonín Kinský
Antonín Kinský
Antonín Kinský is a Czech footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He is currently without a club, after the bankruptcy of his former club, Saturn Moscow Oblast where he was the vice-captain....
and 1990 World Cup
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...
veteran Ivo Knoflíček
Ivo Knoflícek
Ivo Knoflíček is a Czech football coach and a former player. He played for Czechoslovakia, for which he played 38 matches and scored 7 goals. At the club level, he played mostly for SK Slavia Praha....
were the most famous players of this era's Dukla Praha.
The club now has a name of FK Marila Příbram
FK Marila Príbram
1. FK Příbram is a Czech football club from Příbram. The team originated from two clubs, the 1967 Champions Cup semi-finalist Dukla Prague, which tradition it carries, and FC Příbram, merged together in 1996.-History:...
.
New Dukla Praha in Czech local competitions
The name of Dukla Prague disappeared from the Czech football for several years, but not for ever. Dukla Dejvice, local Prague team founded in 1959, began playing in Juliska stadium and adopted Dukla Praha's yellow and red colors.The Dukla Prague association was founded again and the club with the famous name took Prague Championship (level five in the Czech football league system) over from Dukla Dejvice.
The club entered Prague Championship again in 2006. In November 2006, Dukla Prague management however informed, that it agreed on takeover of second league rights of the Jakubčovice
Jakubcovice Fotbal
Jakubčovice Fotbal is a Czech football club. In 2006/2007 it played in the Czech 2. Liga; after finishing 11th in the table it was swapped by FK Dukla Prague and Jakubčovice Fotbal began next season in a lower division....
team.
Dukla Prague in popular culture
Dukla was immortalized by BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
band Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit
Half Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...
with their song "All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit". It is common for fans of the band to wear old-fashioned Dukla away kits at the group's gigs.
In 1951, Pavel Pásek wrote a comedy named 4:0 pro ATK with the subtitle Veselohra o lidu footballovém a sázejícím o 3 dějstvích (4-0 for ATK. Comedy about football and betting nation in three acts) and later rewrote it into the form of a short prose. The propaganda play tells the story of a player transformed by his spell at Dukla. The book was also translated into Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
.
Historical names
- 1948 - ATK Praha
- 1953 - ÚDA Praha
- 1956 - VTJ Dukla Praha
- 1976 - ASVS Dukla Praha
- 1991 - FC Dukla Praha
- 1994 - FK Dukla Praha
- 1996 - merger with FC Příbram to FC Dukla Praha (see, 1. FK Příbram)
Honours
- Czechoslovak Football League ChampionshipsCzechoslovak First LeagueThe Czechoslovak First League was the premier 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 Gauliga Böhmen und Mähren leagues on occupied territories...
: 11- Winners 1953Czechoslovak First League 1953-League standings:-References:*...
, 1956Czechoslovak First League 1956-League standings:-References:*...
, 1958Czechoslovak First League 1957-58-League standings:-References:*...
, 1961Czechoslovak First League 1960-61-League standings:-References:*...
, 1962Czechoslovak First League 1961-62-League standings:-References:*...
, 1963Czechoslovak First League 1962-63-League standings:-References:*...
, 1964Czechoslovak First League 1963-64-League standings:-References:*...
, 1966Czechoslovak First League 1965-66-League standings:-References:*...
, 1977Czechoslovak First League 1976-77-League standings:-References:*...
, 1979Czechoslovak First League 1978-79-League standings:-References:*...
, 1982Czechoslovak First League 1981-82-League standings:-References:*... - Runners-up 1955Czechoslovak First League 1955-League standings:-References:*...
, 1959Czechoslovak First League 1958-59-Overview:It was contested by 14 teams, and CH Bratislava won the championship.-League standings:-References:*...
, 1974Czechoslovak First League 1973-74-League standings:-References:*...
, 1978Czechoslovak First League 1977-78-League standings:-References:*...
, 1981Czechoslovak First League 1980-81-League standings:-References:...
, 1984Czechoslovak First League 1983-84-League standings:-References:*...
, 1988Czechoslovak First League 1987-88-League standings:-References:*...
- Winners 1953
- Czechoslovak Football CupCzechoslovak CupThe 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 between the winners of Czech Cup and Slovak Cup...
: 8- Winners 19521, 1961, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1990
1Not an official cup competition.
Former Notable Players
- Ladislav NovákLadislav NovákLadislav Novák was a Czech football defender and later a football manager. He played 75 matches for Czechoslovakia, 71 of them as a team captain....
- Svatopluk PluskalSvatopluk PluskalSvatopluk Pluskal was a Czechoslovak footballer and holder of a silver medal from the World Cup in Chile in 1962.- Early life :...
- Josef MasopustJosef MasopustJosef Masopust is a Czechoslovakian former football player and coach. He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1962. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's Jubilee, he was selected as the Golden Player of the Czech Republic by the Football Association of the Czech Republic as their most...
- Zdeněk NehodaZdenek NehodaZdeněk Nehoda is a Czech football forward. He played for Czechoslovakia, for which he played 90 matches and scored 31 goals as a tricky right-winger.He was a participant in the 1982 FIFA World Cup...
- Ivo ViktorIvo ViktorIvo Viktor is a former Czech football goalkeeper. He played for Czechoslovakia, 63 matches, from 1966 to 1977.His national team debut was in 1966 against Brazil at Maracanã.He was a participant in the 1970 FIFA World Cup....
- Ladislav VízekLadislav VízekLadislav Vízek is a Czech football player. He played 55 matches for Czechoslovakia and scored 13 goals....
- Pavel NedvědPavel NedvedPavel Nedvěd is a retired Czech football midfielder. He is one of the most successful Czech players to emerge from the newly formed Czech Republic, winning numerous accolades with Lazio and Juventus, including the last ever Cup Winners' Cup...
- Karel Krejci