Sparta walk tall despite exodus
By Ladislav Josef  

With 32 league championships to their name, AC Sparta Praha are by far the
most successful team in the Czech Republic. Since Czechoslovakia ceased to
exist in 1993, the club have reaffirmed their domestic dominance.

Eight titles
Sparta have won eight of the ten league titles since the Czech 1. liga was
established, with only SK Slavia Praha in 1996 and FC Slovan Liberec six
years later interrupting that sequence. They have also achieved remarkable
results in Europe, reaching the UEFA Champions League in four of the last
five seasons and advancing from the group stage on three occasions.

Essential sales
The results are even more notable considering Sparta regularly lose their
best players abroad, a familiar story for Czech sides. The list of famous
alumni is long: 2003 European Footballer of the Year Pavel Nedved left for
S.S. Lazio in 1996, while Jan Koller moved to Belgium's KSK Lokeren the same
season.

Revenue raised
Since 1999, when Axel Diekmann – a former dentist turned publisher - bought
the club, Sparta have sold a total of 22 players to foreign clubs and raised
in the region of 44m. Playmaker Tomás Rosicky brought in the most money,
departing for BV Borussia Dortmund in a 14m deal in January 2001.

Debts cleared
Goalkeeper Petr Cech, whom Sparta dispatched to Stade Rennais FC for 4.5m in
July 2002, and striker Vratislav Lokvenc, who joined 1. FC Kaiserslautern for
3.6m two years earlier, were also vital transfers. Diekmann paid 10m for
Sparta and inherited debts of about 30m but has pulled the club out of the
red thanks to the income from transfer fees and the Champions League.

All change
Despite that, the exodus of talent has continued in 2003/04, with Marek Kincl
- who scored the late goal against Lazio that took Sparta into the Champions
League knockout rounds – signing for FC Zenit St. Peterburg, midfield player
Tomás Zboncák following former Sparta coach Jaroslav Hrebík to FC Dinamo
Moskva, and international Libor Sionko - the sole survivor of the team that
reached the Champions League second group stage in 1999/00 - sold to
Austria's Grazer AK.

New stadium
Despite the huge player turnover, Sparta are not only the most successful
Czech side, but also the richest with their annual budget around 10m, three
times that of main rivals Slavia. Sparta own the most modern stadium in the
country – Prague's Toyota Arena is regularly used by the national team -
with 20,500 covered seats, and last year inaugurated a new training centre,
built at a cost of 8m.

Sizeable budget
Sparta are therefore able to offer the highest wages, which enables them to
sign the likes of Karel Poborsky, formerly of Manchester United FC, SL
Benfica and Lazio. Coveted international midfield player Petr Vorísek and
gifted Under-21 striker Jan Rezek both arrived in January from FK Teplice.

Powerful chairman
Club president Vlastimil Kostál is the man behind Sparta's modern-day
success. Doubts were raised when this 46-year-old chemistry graduate, who
never played top-level football, joined Sparta in 1999. Five years on,
however, Kostál is the most powerful man in Czech football, and recently
announced his candidature for the presidency of the Football Association of
the Czech Republic. He and Sparta go from strength to strength.

League championships: 1912, 1919, 1922, 1926, 1927, 1932, 1936, 1938, 1939,
1944, 1946, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1965, 1967, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990,
1991 (Czechoslovakian), 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003
(Czech).

Czechoslovakian Cup: 1964, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1989, 1992.

Czech Cup: 1993, 1996.

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