FC Slovan Liberec

Slovan Liberec
	Logo
Full name	FC Slovan Liberec, a.s.
Nickname(s)	Modrobílí (Blue-whites)
Founded	1958
Ground	Stadion U Nisy, Liberec
Capacity	9,900
Chairman	Zbyněk Štiller
Manager	Petr Rada
League	Gambrinus liga
2009-10	9th
Home colours	Away colours

FC Slovan Liberec is a Czech football club founded in the city of Liberec. The club is one of the most successful in the Czech Republic; winning two league titles and the domestic cup in past ten years. FC Slovan Liberec is also one of the richest clubs in the Czech league. The main sponsor is Preciosa a.s. a glassmaking company.

History

The Early Years

Since Liberec was, until 1945, a city where the majority of inhabitants were of German nationality, it was Germans who first established clubs and played their own league. The first Czech football club SK Liberec was established after World War I, on 11 May 1919. In 1922, the originally German club FK Rapid Ober Rosenthal turned into the Czech club SK Rapid Horní Růžodol. In the same year, another Liberec-based club - SK Doubí - was established, followed by AFK Stráž bezpečnosti in 1931. On 27 February 1934, SK Liberec took on the new name of Slavia Liberec so that the Czech footballers could affirm their club's Slavic character at a time when the Nazi regime in neighbouring Germany already represented a serious threat to the former Czechoslovakia as well as all of Europe.

The rivalry that once existed in Liberec between Rapid and Slavia can be compared to a smaller version of the rivalry between Prague's two most famous clubs, Sparta and Slavia. In 1938 the Munich Agreement was signed, in which representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany forced Czechoslovakia to withdraw from their border area and surrender it to Germany. After Liberec was incorporated into the German Reich, Czech football in the city came to a halt for a full seven years.

Post-War Era

At the end of World War II and with the liberation of Czechoslovakia in 1945, Liberec took on the character of a Czech city. The first post-war game was played in Turnov on 10 June 1945 by Liberec's football club Slavia. On 15 July 1945, representatives of Czech football clubs from the border areas that had started up again met at the Radnice hotel. The result of the meeting was the verdict that each border-area club continue in the same league that it had played in up until 1938. After seven years of forced inactivity, Slavia Liberec was again included in Class I A and Rapid Horní Růžodol in Class II. In February 1948 the Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia. Under the new name of Kolora, Rapid Liberec, former Horní Růžodol, fought its way to be promoted to the premier league. Due to the poorly thought-out restructuring of Czechoslovak physical education and sports, Kolora remained in the second league - yet an administrative decision placed Slavoj Liberec, originally established as Čechie, in the premier league. At the time, Slavoj had only played in the regional league. This reorganization created a lot of bad blood in Liberec. After one season, Slavoj was relegated to the second league. Three years later, Kolora once again battled its way up to be promoted to the premier league, but the team could not manage to save themselves from relegation the following season. Whenever Kolora, which later played under the name of Jiskra, met up with Slavoj Liberec, the match was always important and a rough battle to the end.

Slovan is born

In 1958, the decision was taken to close the Jiskra and Slavoj clubs and merge the two into a single team that would have the potential to win a spot in the premier league. Although this plan stirred up very negative reactions among footballers and fans alike and despite the fact that members of Slavoj originally declared that they reject the plan, in the end they changed their minds. As a result, TJ Slovan Liberec was formed on 12 July 1958. With this name, the football club affirmed the Czech character of the club as well as the region where it played. The very first competitor the newly created team faced was Spartak Praha Sokolovo, as the famous team Sparta Prague was called at the time. Slovan lost 0:3. Despite of all its efforts, for a long time Slovan Liberec was unsuccessful in its fight for a place in the premier league. At certain stages of its history, it was even relegated to the regional division or third league.

In the 1970s, Slovan managed to be promoted back to the second league, which at the time included five Bohemian, one Moravian and ten Slovak teams. Due to the vast distances, the footballers from Liberec even had to board planes to play against teams in Bardejov or Michalovce, located in the eastern parts of the country. In 1971, Slovan again failed in its attempt to be promoted to the premier league. Following this were two relegations and promotions back to the second league.

Modern Day Slovan

Slovan Liberec starting eleven before the Czech Football Cup final match against Sparta Prague, May 2008

After overcoming a financial crisis that the club found itself in following the 1989 "Velvet Revolution", Slovan liberec finally got a chance to advance to the top league. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, the six best teams in the second league were promoted to the newly created Czech premier league. Slovan ascended to the first league with the formation of the Czech league in 1993, and has maintained this position ever since. In the 1990s Slovan Liberec achieved a series of mid-table finishes.

In 2002 Slovan Liberec became the first champions of the Czech Republic outside of Prague. Coach that brought Slovan to its first title was current coach Ladislav Škorpil. One season later Slovan attempted as a Czech champion to reach group stage of Champions League but lost to AC Milan (0–1, 2–1). Milan went on to win the Champions League that season. Subsequently the team finished fourth in 2002/2003. Due to a league wide corruption scandal in the 2004/05 season, Slovan were penalised by six points. Slovan still achieved fifth place with 46 points. In season 2005/2006 Slovan achieved the second league title and confirmed leading position between Czech teams outside of Prague and broke dominance of Sparta and Slavia.

In June 2007 popular coach Vítězslav Lavička resigned because of problems in the club management and disappointment from the unsuccessful UEFA Champions League qualifications loss against FC Spartak Moscow. Liberec continued in UEFA Cup, where Slovan defeated Serbian champion Red Star Belgrade and achieved good results in the group stage. Next season under coach Michal Zach was beyond expectations of the club owners and Slovan experienced one of the worst seasons in its modern history even though Zach was replaced by former coach Škorpil. Slovan ended sixth in final league standings. In the same season the team reached the final of the Czech Cup, but lost in penalty shootout against Sparta Prague. The season 2008/2009 started with blamage in UEFA Cup, when Slovan lost in second qualification leg to Slovakian club MŠK Žilina. Liberec began the season in domestic league against the champion Slavia Prague and won 2–1. Slovan also won a match against Sparta Prague 3–0 but series of bad results with average teams caused that Slovan finished the autumn on the 5th place. In the spring Slovan started to play more offensive football and improved its play. Slovan won a derby against local rival FK Jablonec or defeated the ambitious team from Mladá Boleslav by 3 goals. A Croatian striker Andrej Kerić scored 15 goals and became the league's top scorer. Slovan finished third and will play UEFA Europa League the upcoming season 2009/2010.

Names and crest

File:Slovanliberec50.gif

Slovan Liberec created a new crest for fiftieth club anniversary.

TJ (Tělesná Jednota) Slovan Liberec was created in 1958. In 1980's the club used TJ Slovan Elitex (a textile company) Liberec. A new name FC (Football Club) Slovan Liberec was announced in 1993, still the same year, FC Slovan WSK Liberec (WSK was an abbreviation for Wimpey Severokámen, a club sponsor). Only one year later in 1994, FC Slovan WSK Vratislav (Vratislav - a beer brand) Liberec. In 1995 Slovan returned the to its "old name" FC Slovan Liberec.

The crest represents the colours of Slovan (blue & white) and the mountain Ještěd near Liberec with famous television tower on the top.

Honours

Gambrinus liga (Czech League)
- Winners (2): 2001/2002, 2005/2006
Pohár ČMFS (Czech Football Cup)
- Winners (1): 2000
UEFA Cup
- Quarter-finals: 2002
UEFA Intertoto Cup
- Finals: 2004

Performances in Gambrinus liga

Season	Place	Points	Score
1993-94	10th	32	36:32
1994-95	4th	51	49:46
1995-96	7th	44	34:30
1996-97	5th	46	33:30
1997-98	5th	47	39:32
1998-99	9th	38	33:34
1999-00	8th	38	21:24
2000-01	6th	45	39:31
2001-02	1st	64	55:26
2002-03	4th	50	33:30
2003-04	6th	46	38:27
2004-05	5th	46	45:26
2005-06	1st	59	43:22
2006-07	4th	58	44:22
2007-08	6th	44	35:31
2008-09	3rd	52	41:28
2009-10	9th	37	34:39

Slovan in Europe

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Score
2000/01	UEFA Cup	1st Round	IFK Norrköping	2–2, 2–1
		2nd Round	Liverpool FC	0–1, 2–3
2001/02	UEFA Cup	1st Round	Slovan Bratislava	2–0, 0–1
		2nd Round	Celta de Vigo	1–3, 3–0
		3rd Round	RCD Mallorca	3–1, 1–2
		4th Round	Olympique Lyon	1–1, 4–1
		1/4 Finals	Borussia Dortmund	0–0, 0–4
2002/03	UEFA CL	3rd Qual.	AC Milan	0–1, 2–1
2002/03	UEFA Cup	1st Round	Dinamo Tbilisi	3–2, 1–0
		2nd Round	Ipswich Town FC	0–1, 1–0 (4–2 pen)
		3rd Round	Panathinaikos FC	2–2, 0–1
2003	Intertoto Cup	2nd Round	Shamrock Rovers	2–0, 2–0
		3rd Round	Racing de Santander	1–0, 2–1
		Semifinals	FC Schalke 04	1–2, 0–0
2004	Intertoto Cup	2nd Round	FK ZTS Dubnica	2–1, 5–0
		3rd Round	Roda JC	1–0, 1–1
		Semifinals	FC Nantes	1–0, 1–2
		Finals	FC Schalke 04	1–2, 0–1
2005	Intertoto Cup	2nd Round	Beitar Jerusalem	5–1, 2–1
		3rd Round	Roda JC	0–0, 1–1
2006/07	UEFA CL	3rd Qual.	FC Spartak Moscow	0–0, 1–2
2006/07	UEFA Cup	1st Round	Red Star Belgrade	2–0, 2–1
		Group	Sevilla FC	0–0
		Group	SC Braga	0–4
		Group	Grasshopper-Club Zürich	4–1
		Group	AZ Alkmaar	2–2
2007	Intertoto Cup	2nd Round	Tobol Kostanay	1–1, 0–2
2008/09	UEFA Cup	2nd Qual.	MŠK Žilina	1–2, 1–2
2009/10	Europa League	3rd Qual.	FC Vaduz	1–0, 2–0
		Play-off	FC Dinamo Bucureşti	3–0, 0–3 (8–9 pen)

Current squad

As of 3 September 2010

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
1	GK	CZE	Zbyněk Hauzr
2	DF	CRO	Renato Kelić
4	MF	CZE	Marcel Gecov
5	MF	CZE	Michal Zeman
6	MF	CZE	Lukáš Vácha
7	FW	CZE	Jan Nezmar
8	DF	CZE	Jiří Liška
9	FW	CZE	Jakub Vojta
10	MF	SRB	Miloš Bosančić
11	DF	CZE	Miroslav Holeňák (vice-captain)
14	FW	CZE	Ladislav Martan


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
15	FW	CRO	Andrej Kerić
17	DF	CZE	Tomáš Janů (captain)
19	DF	CRO	Lovre Vulin
20	MF	SVK	Michal Breznaník
21	DF	CZE	Radek Dejmek
23	MF	CZE	Petr Papoušek
24	FW	CZE	Jiří Štajner
25	DF	CZE	Jiří Fleišman
27	MF	SVK	Ján Vlasko
30	GK	CZE	David Bičík
32	DF	CZE	Theodor Gebre Selassie