Slavia Prague

Slavia was founded on 2 November 1892 by medicine students in Vinohrady, Prague, as a sport club aimed at increasing sport activity among students. Initially the club focused on cycling, and expanded to football in 1896. On 25 March of that year, Slavia won their first match against AC Prague 5–0. The captain of this team was Karel Freja. Four days later, Slavia played against Sparta Prague, with the match finishing 0–0, this match being the start of the rivalry between these two clubs. In 1905, Scottish manager and former Celtic player Johnny Madden brought new tactics and views on football from his home country to the club.

He managed to set up an early golden age for the club that lasted 25 years. Under Madden Slavia won 134 domestic matches out of a total of 169, and 304 internationals out of 429 between the years 1905 and 1930. In 1930, Madden retired from Slavia and professional football at the age of 66, though he remained in Prague for the rest of his life.

In the 1934 World Cup, the Czechoslovak national team included eight Slavia players. The second golden period came when Slavia bought Josef Bican from Admira Vienna. Slavia with Bican won titles in 1940, 1941, 1942 and 1943, while many football players were at war. In 1951 Slavia finished in 11th position in the league. Poor results continued during the 1950s and 1960s when Slavia were relegated twice, in 1961 and 1963. They next played in the top level of football in 1965.

In 1996, Slavia won their 14th title after 49 years. During this season, Slavia played in the semi-final of the UEFA Cup and four players of this team had big importance for the silver medal-winning Czech team from UEFA Euro 1996.

Slavia participated in the qualifying rounds for the UEFA Champions League five times (1996, 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005), being eliminated each time until finally qualifying for the group stage in the 2007–08 season following a 3–1 aggregate victory over Ajax in the third qualifying round. For the group stage, Slavia were drawn in Group H along with Arsenal, Steaua București and Sevilla. They started with a 2–1 win at home against Steaua and a 4–2 loss to Sevilla. Next came two matches against Arsenal; Slavia lost 7–0 at the Emirates Stadium, but in the second leg they managed to draw 0–0. In Bucharest came a 1–1 draw, which qualified the Czech team for the UEFA Cup round of 32, from third place in Group H, in spite of a home 0–3 defeat against Sevilla.

In October 2006, the construction of the new and long-awaited stadium at Eden for 21,000 spectators began. The stadium was opened on 7 May 2008 with an exhibition match against Oxford University.

In the 2007–08 and 2008–09, Slavia were back-to-back Czech champions, although they did not play in the Champions League group stage due to elimination in the qualifying rounds by Fiorentina (0–2 on aggregate in 2008–09) and Sheriff Tiraspol (1–1 on away goals rule in 2009–10). In the 2009–10 season the club managed only 7th place in the league.

In the autumn of 2010, the club found itself in crisis due to its economic problems. It was discovered that Slavia owed 112 million Czech koruna to the club's former owner, ENIC Sports Ltd (English National Investment Company). As a result of this, major cost-cutting was needed to service this debt and it was confirmed that the squad would need to be purged. In addition to the players sold, midfielder Petr Trapp left the club mid-season, claiming that Slavia had not paid his wages for three months.

On 5 May 2011, the first leg of the cup semi-final against Olomouc was suspended after the first half at a score of 1–1 due to Slavia fans invaded the pitch in protest against the deteriorating financial situation of the club. As a result of this action, Sigma were awarded a 3–0 win.

In September 2015, CEFC China Energy Company bought the team. Since November 2018, the club owners have been the Sinobo Group and CITIC Group.

Since December 2023, the club is owned by the Czech businessman Pavel Tykač, who bought the club from Chinese owners for reported 2 billion Czech crowns.