MFK Petržalka

	Čobej Petráš Debnár Ďurica Urbánek Vaščák Borbély Kozák Fodrek Halenár Hartig
	The squad, which played in most of the matches of the 2005-06 Champions League.; Other members include: Obžera, Staňo, Tchuř, Konečný, Gomes and Mikulič

MFK Petržalka
	ArtmediaBratislava.gif
Full name	Miestny futbalový klub Petžalka
Nickname(s)	Engerau,
Founded	June 7, 1898 as Pozsonyi Torna Egyesület
Ground	Pasienky, ; Bratislava, Slovakia
Capacity	13,000
Chairman	Vladimír Bajan
Manager	Michal Hipp
League	Corgoň Liga
2008–09	Corgoň Liga, 6th
Home colours	Away colours
	Current season

MFK Petržalka (before FC Artmedia Petržalka), is a Slovak football club based in Petržalka, a borough of the capital Bratislava. It plays in the Corgoň Liga, the top tier of league football in Slovakia.

The club's home ground, which is Štadión Petržalka, is not currently in use.^[1] The club is playing its home matches at Štadión Pasienky, which it shares with Inter Bratislava.^[2] The team wears white and black striped shirts and has the nickname Engerau (german for Petržalka).^[3]

The club, founded in 1898, initially played in the regional Hungarian league.^[4] Since the establishment of the top flight Slovak league in 1993 Artmedia has been its constant member. The club achieved its biggest success in the mid 2000s, while playing under the coach Vladimír Weiss.^[5] The club won the Corgoň Liga title in 2005 and later qualified to the group stage of the Champions League, where it achieved the biggest success of all the slovak clubs. Later, in 2008 the club won the double, but during the next season most of the squad left the club.^[2]^[1]

History

1898 - Founded as Pozsonyi Torna Egyesület
1919 - Renamed Pozsonyi Torna Egyesület
1953 - Renamed Kovosmalt Bratislava
1956 - Renamed Spartak Kovosmalt Bratislava
1963 - Renamed TJ Považské Strojárne Bratislava
1965 - Renamed Spartak Sklárske stroje Bratislava
1974 - Renamed TJ SKS Bratislava
1976 - Renamed TJ ZTS Petržalka
1986 - Merged with TJ Internacionál Slovnaft Bratislava to form TJ Internacionál Slovnaft ZŤS Bratislava, but split again in 1990.
1990 - Renamed TJ ZŤS Petržalka
1990 - (later) Renamed 1. FC Hydronika Petržalka
1991 - Renamed 1. FC Petržalka
1993 - Renamed FK Artmedia Petržalka
2005 - Renamed FC Artmedia Bratislava
2007 - Renamed FC Artmedia Petržalka
2009 - Renamed MFK Petržalka

2005-06 European campaign

They famously reached the lucrative group stages of the UEFA Champions League in 2005-06 after wins over Kairat Almaty, Celtic and Partizan Belgrade. They beat Almaty 4-3 on aggregate in the 1st qualifying round despite a 2-0 defeat in the first leg. However it was on 27 July 2005 that they made their mark on the tournament, producing one of the shock results of Champions League history as they beat 2003 UEFA Cup finalists and 1967 European Cup winners Celtic 5-0 in the first leg of their Champions League 2nd qualifying round match. The stunned Celtic side could not quite recover, only managing to win the return leg 4-0, and Artmedia held on to progress in the tournament. On 23 August 2005 they clinched a place in the group stages after overcoming Serbian power Partizan Belgrade 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 aggregate scoreline thus becoming the second Slovak club after 1. FC Košice 1997-98 to reach the coveted Champions League proper. Their success was even more remarkable considering Artmedia's entire annual budget is just over £1m.

Artmedia also made history by becoming one of the first two clubs ever to advance from the first qualifying round into the Champions League group stage. The other club to do so was 2004-05 winners Liverpool, who were given a special entry into the first qualifying round of the 2005-06 event, and joined Artmedia in the group stage.

Artmedia played their Champions League fixtures at the Tehelné pole ground of crosstown rivals Slovan Bratislava because their own ground does not meet UEFA standards for Champions League play.

On 28 September 2005, Artmedia made history once again by becoming the first Slovak side to collect a point in the Champions League group stage (in the eighth attempt by a Slovak side to do so). In another famous upset, they came back from a 2-0 first-half deficit to defeat 2004 Champions League winners Porto 3-2 at Porto's home ground.

Eventually, they finished third in the group, parachuting them into the UEFA Cup, but not before missing a late chance to score a goal in the return fixture against Porto that would have sent them to the round of 16 at Rangers' expense.

In December 2005 the goalkepper Juraj Čobej underwent a complicated brain surgery attempting to remove a malign tumor. Fortunately, he has fully recovered and has already stood a firm ground in goal during the first rounds of the 2006-07 season.

Artmedia lost the home leg of their UEFA Cup round of 32 tie with Levski Sofia 1-0 and were knocked out of the tournament after an away defeat of 2-0.

After the successful season the coach Vladimír Weiss left to FC Saturn Ramenskoe.^[7] Several players left the club, among others Ján Ďurica to FC Saturn Ramonskoe, Balázs Borbély to 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Blažej Vaščák to Treviso F.B.C..

Results

First qualifying Round: Artmedia - FC Kairat Almaty 0:2, 4:1
Second qualifying Round: Artmedia - Celtic 5:0, 0:4
Third qualifying Round: Artmedia - Partizan Belgrade 0:0, 0:0, 4:3 (penalty shootout)
CL Group H - Artmedia - Inter Milan 0:1
CL Group H - FC Porto - Artmedia 2:3
CL Group H - Rangers - Artmedia 0:0
CL Group H - Artmedia - Rangers 2:2
CL Group H - Inter Milan - Artmedia 4:0
CL Group H - Artmedia - FC Porto 0:0
UEFA Cup Round of 32 - Artmedia - Levski Sofia 0:1
UEFA Cup Round of 32 - Levski Sofia - Artmedia 2:0

2008

The club reassigned Vladimír Weiss as head coach for the 2007-08 season. Some of the players came back, the club's captain Ján Kozák returned from a loan at WBA, Aleš Urbánek, Branislav Fodrek and Branislav Obžera returned, and the new faces in the club, among others, included Czech fullback Radek Dosoudil, Brazilian midfielder Cléber and Czech striker Zbyněk Pospěch.

The club went on to win the title in the Slovak league for the second time, beating rivals MŠK Žilina in the important matches and in the final table as well. Before the new season the club owner Ivan Kmotrík left the club, which left later impact on the team. During the UEFA Champions League 2008-09 qualification round Artmedia won over FC Valetta and Tampere United, but lost to Juventus, with which the club suffered 0-4 loss in the first leg and later only drew 1-1. During the next stages several players left the club (4 of the to local rivals ŠK Slovan Bratislava).^[1]

Stadium

Artmedia used to play their home matches at Petržalka Stadion. The pitch at the place of the stadium has been there for more than a hundred years. Even before World War II, the stadium was the venue of several international matches. Although destroyed during the war, new stand soon arose from the ruins of the old one and the stadium started to resemble its current look. Major changes have occurred in last ten years, following improvements in Artmedia's footballing results. Stands behind goals were totally reconstructed and a new one was built along the pitch.

Today's estimated capacity is 10,000; it is however impossible to give the exact value, because older part of the stadium still remains for standing visitors. The average attendace of league matches at this stadium is floating above 4,000, one of the highest in Slovakia. However, the stadium does not meet some of the UEFA criterions, therefore the club has been forced to play its international matches elsewhere. Notably, they played their 2005-06 UEFA Champions League campaign at Tehelné pole, home venue of crosstown rivals Slovan Bratislava.

Current squad

As of 14 March 2009 [2] [3] [4] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
4	FW	SVK	Pavol Ďurica
5	DF	TOG	Karim Guédé
6	MF	SVK	Tomáš Kóňa (on loan from Sparta Prague)
7	MF	SVK	Patrik Mráz
8	MF	SVK	Vojtech Horváth (on loan from Inter Bratislava)
9	FW	SVK	Tomáš Majtán (on loan from Inter Bratislava)
10	MF	SVK	Martin Mikulič
11	DF	CIV	Mamadou Bagayoko (on loan from Slovan)
12	FW	SVK	Jakub Sylvestr (on loan from Slovan)
13	DF	CZE	Lukáš Nachtman (on loan from Slovan)
14	FW	BRA	Esis Steines Caihame
15	MF	BRA	Anderson Gonçalves Pedro


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	MF	SVK	Juraj Czinege (captain)
17	DF	SVK	Kornel Saláta
18	GK	SVK	Luboš Kamenár
19	DF	SVK	Peter Struhár (on loan from Slovan)
20	MF	SVK	Branislav Fodrek
21	MF	CZE	Aleš Urbánek
22	DF	SVK	Erik Čikoš (on loan from Inter Bratislava)
23	DF	SVK	Roman Konečný
24	DF	SVK	Peter Burák
30	GK	SVK	Miroslav Hýll
??	GK	SVK	Tomáš Jenčo
??	DF	SVK	Juraj Kuráň (on loan from Slovan)

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.