What's in a Prague street name

Originally published on Twitter on 30 August 2022.

U Viktorie was built in late 2021.

It’s named after the home ground of FK Viktoria Žižkov (officially the eFotbal Arena).

Viktoria was set up in 1903, with most players being local students.

It grabbed people’s attention by beating Sparta 1:0 in 1906. In 1909, the club got its own training ground, at Ohrada (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/19/prague-3-day-11-na-ohrade/).

Becoming more and more successful, they won the Charity Cup in both 1913 and 1914. They also won the championship for the only time in 1928.

Around 1916, the future legendary actor Vlasta Burian was their goalkeeper.

The successful 1931 film, Muži v offsidu, directed by Svatopluk Innemann and based on the novel by Karel Poláček, is about Viktoria Žižkov’s fans.

You can watch it here.

In the 1930s, there were plans to build a huge stadium for the club at Třebešín (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2022/11/26/day-96-na-trebesine/). This proved financially unviable, and the team spent about two decades playing on other clubs’ pitches.

Communism meant name changes (Sokol in 1950, Sokol ČSAD in 1951, TJ Slavoj Žižkov in 1952, then back to its current name in 1965), and over forty years outside of the Czechoslovak First League.

Businessman Vratislav Čekan bought the club in 1992, just when it was about to go bankrupt. Money meant good players, a swift return to the (now) Czech First League, and a victory in the first ever Czech Cup in 1994.

Here they are playing Chelsea in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in the same year:

Financial difficulties kicked in in 1996, however, and Čekan sold the club, and the hard times started again.

In 2003, the club was found guilty of bribery (https://english.radio.cz/why-i-wont-support-my-local-football-club-8628865…); in 2014/5, players boycotted games for a while as their salaries weren’t being paid.

Viktoria currently plays in the third tier ČFL, having just been relegated.

Its most recent match was two days ago against Teplice B; Viktoria won 2-1.