The distance from Prague to Sparta in Greece is over 1,500 kilometres - yet the famous spirit of the ancient city of Sparta is exactly what those who founded the Czech club in 1893 wanted to reflect in the club name.
It was a club dedicated to ice skating, initially - with an ice hockey club bearing the same name still going today – but a football division would soon follow. The team soon established itself as a major force of the domestic game. Sparta won as many as 22 league titles in the former Czechoslovakia and racked up another 14 titles after the establishment of an independent Czechia.
Unsurprisingly, many of the biggest names in Czech football have worn the blue, yellow and red of Sparta. Petr Cech, Jan Koller, Tomas Rosicky and Pavel Nedved were all once in action for them. They also boast impressive recent exports like Adam Hlozek and Patrik Schick. There are more promising talents in Lars Friis's squad these days like Martin Vitik and Matej Rynes. A former Red Bull is also in their ranks in Asger Sörensen.
Sörensen usually takes a place in a back three along with Vitik and captain Filip Panak - in a 3-4-3 formation that has been a superb success so far in the Czech league. Six wins and a draw after seven matches has seen them into the league lead!
It has been a while since Sparta graced the biggest stage of European football. The clash against our Red Bulls is the Prague outfit's first match in the UEFA Champions League since December 2005, when they drew 0-0 against FC Thun. Sparta finished bottom of the group back in 2005/06.
Arena
Sparta Prague's home is the 19,000-capacity Stadium Letna known as the epet Arena . The stadium once offered space for around 45,000 fans, but a mysterious fire in 1934 led to the entire main stand - including the club archive and the trophy collection - going up in flames. The stadium on the west bank of the Moldova River was remodelled in the 1960s and 1994 to become the ground it is today.
We now have to head there in front of a full house as a new era of the UEFA Champions League gets underway. You can never count on three points in the Champions League, but we certainly want them this Wednesday! If you want to come alonng to support us in Prague, you can still buy tickets until Monday lunchtime for the away sector in our online ticket shop.
