We are very grateful to Pavel Pillar, the PR Director at FC Viktoria Plzen, for kindly offering us the time needed for this interview, despite being contacted very late. Read on for his insight on the club, the city, qualifying for Champions League and his thoughts on the upcoming game on FC Barcelona.
Q: Some football fans may not have a clear idea about FC Viktoria, How would you introduce the club for them?
A: It´s a small family club, which celebrate this year 100 anniversary – the completely history you can find in attached document. In the long history the biggest moment came last year, when for the first time won the Czech league. And today´s match in Barcelona – that´s a dream of all generations of Pilsen fans.
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the city?
Plzeň is the fourth biggest city in Czech republic (after prag, Ostrava and Brno). It´s known like a city of bier – in this city is made very popular bier “Pilsner Urquell”. It´s also the city of sport – most popular are football, ice-hockey and Handball. Last year Plzen was chosen from the European Union like a “European city of culture in the year 2015”.
Q: Winning the league title last season then qualifying to play in the Champions’ League group stage this season were the best achievements in the club’s modern history, what are the main factors leading to that exceptional success?
A: The most important thing is, that team stayed together for the last three seasons. The´re a lot of players, who used to play in Sparta or Slavia Prag – they have enough experiences with the big games. The coach Pavel Vrba os an excellent specialist – he is the trainer of the Czech republic for year 2010. Very important was sommer 2010 when came to the club new owner – mr. Paclík and solved most of the financial questions. Very important is support from city Plzeň – right now we´re rebuilding our stadium in Pilsen – that´s why we have to play Champions league games in Prague.
Q: Yet things are not going well so far this season, the club is in fourth place…
A: For the team it´s a new experiences to play in so many competisions – Czech league, Czech cup and champions league – and we want to be successful in all of them. But now it´s getting better – we are on the fourth place in Czech league and we hope, till end of autumn gonna be even better.
Q: How can you describe the team’s football style? Where do you believe your main strengths are and what are the weaknesses that troubled the team most this season?
A: We´re trying to play offensive football with a lot of chances. Very important person is the captain Pavel Horvath – he is very experienced and his left foot is one of the best in the whole Czech league. Most of the rest players are very fast, technical and they profit from Pavel´s skills.
Q: How did you feel when you knew you will play AC Milan, FC Barcelona and BATE in the champions’ league group stage? Was it a good news or you would’ve preferred easier draw?
A: We were enthusiastic. It´s a very hard group and we all know, that AC Milan and Barcelona are one of the best clubs all over the word – but it´s perfect experience for the fans and players. And we still can fight with Borisov for the third place in the group.
Q: How can you describe the clubs performance in this competition so far after a qualification round and two games played in the group stage?
A: Qualification round was a big surprise for the whole Czech public – first of all games in Trodnheim and Copenhagen were really big moments for our team. We were little disappointed after the game against Borisov – but first point in the first champions league game was after all a good result. AC Milan was a better team in the game, but we showed a good performance – and that´s what we want to do today against Barcelona.
Q: And now it’s the game against FC Barcelona…
A: We´re meeting the best team in the world. We want to enjoy this game and show performance, that we could be proud of.
Q: How did the team prepare for this match? Any unfortunate injuries or missing players in the squad travelling to Barcelona?
A: The team is complete and all the players can´t wait the beginning of the game.
Q: The match starts 0-0 with one point for each team, Will FC Viktoria defend the point in this game or try to get the three points and improve their position in the group?
A: We want to be active and do our best to make the game for Barcelona as complicated as possible. There are going to be fve thousand fans from Pilsen – we don´t want do defense for ninety minutes and disappoint them.
Q: Václav Pilař was full of praise for Messi in his most recent interview; will stopping Messi be the main mission for FC Viktoria? Is he the player who decides this match?
A: Messi is the special one, but the whole team is amazing – every single player. It would be crazy to concentrate only for one player – excellent are all of them,
Q: Who are the players FC Viktoria will count on most to hold the team together against Barcelona? What are your main concerns?
A: We´ll try to be successful as a team, but in the last weeks Petr Jiráček, Václav Pilař and Daniel Kolář play a wonderfull game – all of them are in the Czech national team.
Q: Your last thoughts at the end of the interview and before the big match.
A: We believe, that´s gonna be a wonderfull match and our fans can be proud of us.
Thank you very match for the time you offered and the insightful thoughts you shared with us. We hope to watch a great game, and best luck for the two clubs this season.
(Interview conducted by Ramzi) You can follow us on twitter @footballmood
Want to know more about the history of FC Viktoria Plzen? Read on!
THE HISTORY MILESTONES OF FC VIKTORIA PLZEŇ
The Football Association of the Czech Republic originated in 1901, which was formed to keep an eye on the order and organization of football. After the birth of this association on the 28th February 1901 the Football Association for the Royal City of Pilsen was established. Disagreements among clubs caused a quick end of this Pilsner association. Not until 23rd March 1909 did the Football Association of the West of the Czech Republic succeed. In those days of Pilsner football there appeared names of football clubs, such as SK Plzeň, FC Union, SK Slavia, SK Olympia, SK Český Lev and AC Sparta. A big rivalry was noticed among these clubs not only on the football pitch but also in terms of the life of clubs.
The roots of FC Viktoria Plzeň can be traced in Dobytčí trh, a place where nowadays an ice-hockey stadium is situated, where boys living near Doudlevecké Street would come to play football. When the soldiers finally left their barracks near this street, these buildings were soon occupied by young fans of a new kind of sport. They then learnt basic techniques with a special ball and played until the dark chased them home. They established their own club (kroužek) called Blesk.
At this time there were no rival teams for Blesk to play against, but the boys had to play some real matches. That is why all of them moved into FC Union and after some time into a newly born club SK Smíchov Plzeň. However, they found out that the idea to establish their own club and to defend its colours was the best. The members of Blesk found a manager, a clerk of the national railway called Jaroslav Ausobský who applied for the licence to give rise to a new football club in Pilsen. The foundation meeting of Viktoria Plzeň took place in 1911. Right before it Viktoria played its first match against Olympia Plzeň on 27th August 1911. Viktoria in the red-blue team kit lost 3:7.
In 1917 Viktoria became a winner of the District Cup for the first time and they were placed in the 2nd class of the championship. After the 1st World War the club fixed its position among the best clubs. Although Viktoria worked in purely amateurish conditions in 1922-23 they won 6 matches out of 9 in Spain, which was the first destination of the tournament abroad. In June 1929 there was an extraordinary meeting of the members of the club, whose task was to decide the question about entering the professional football league. Viktoria applied to enter the 2nd professional league, in which there were 8 teams in 1929-30: SK Náchod, Meteor VIII, SK Libeň, SK Rakovník, SK Čechie VIII, Nuselský SK, Slavoj Žižkov a SK Viktoria Plzeň.
In the first year of the 2nd league Viktoria ended up in 7th place, but immediately the next year this club lifted to 2nd place, so it meant historical progress into the 1st league. In the highest league the football players played really well and in 1935 they fought their way to the Middle-European Cup. In those days this was the highest competition the clubs could reach, because of their 4th place in the home league. Due to two matches with a famous club named Juventus Turin, Viktoria became noted in European football.
After the successful years in the 1st league some failures came and in 1938, Viktoria fell to a division from where after a year they came back among the Czech top teams. All the football competitions were affected by the war and that is why there were no Slovakian teams anymore. In 1942 Viktoria slumped in this division again, but after only one year they returned to the highest level where they maintained their position until 1952. In this year they ended up at 11th place in the Championship of the Czech Republic (1st league), however, it paid off the absurd reform of the football competitions, which were henceforth organized according to industrial fields. As a result of this reform, Viktoria, coupled with 7 other clubs were set aside from the 1st league. They played one out of two groups of the National League (2nd league), they finished in 6th place, however, because of another reorganization they dropped down to the Western League, which they won in a sovereign way.
In those days the name of the club was at first Sokol Škoda Plzeň and then changed to Spartak Plzeň. An effort to come back amongst the top teams of the Czechoslovak Republic took 9 years to succeed. Finally in 1961 Spartak succeeded. They celebrated the 50th anniversary of their origin in a worthy way; nevertheless they kept their position only for two years. In 1963 they dropped down this league again and came back up only for one year in 1967. It was a time of ups and downs within the club. In 1972 Sparta changed its name to Škoda Plzeň and settled down in the highest league for the next 8 years.
Before that in 1971 they won the Czech Cup and as a finalist of the Czechoslovakian Cup they entered the Cup Winner´s Cup and played two incredible matches with the famous club Bayern Munich. After 1980 there was again a long period of oscillating between the 1st and the 2nd leagues, but in the beginning of 1990´s after the dividing up of Czechoslovakia, the situation was getting better and better.
In 1992 the club returned to their historical name FC Viktoria Plzeň and the year after they became a part of the 1st league, where they stayed until 1999. After one year Viktoria came back again but only for one year. This club was a good importer of football players of high quality especially for the teams from Prague. This is why the position of Viktoria in 1st and 2nd league changed a lot.
Viktoria transformed into a joint-stock company in those days, in which 99% belonged to an Italian company called Fotbal EAST Ltd. This situation did not change until 1995 when Plzeňská sportovní a.s. became a new owner of the club and gained 100% of them, so the club returned back to Pilsen in terms of property. Subsequently, the club was stabilized in sense of economics and sport and Viktoria has been playing 1st league since 2005.
THE BIGGEST SUCCESSES OF VIKTORIA PLZEŇ
The first biggest success of Viktoria was in 1922, when they won the Championship of West Bohemia. Viktoria coupled with 8 other teams acted in a sovereign way, no match was lost and there was only one draw. Viktoria was winning this championship for the next 6 years and in 1926 they won the title of the Junior Championship of West Bohemia. During this year Viktoria organized a big trip to Spain where 6 matches out of 9 were won, 1 draw and only 2 matches were lost.
In May 1926 Viktoria went to Jugoslavia where 8 matches were played with different results. The club became more and more famous within European football; they also celebrated the 15th anniversary of its origin.
There were also 3 trips to France in 1933, which were very successful. The team played 12 matches and they won 9 of them.
Under the 1st Republic Viktoria were written into the football history of 1935, when they started in the Middle-European Cup because of the 4th place in the home league. Unfortunately their competitor in the 1st round was Juventus Turin, in which they had several world champion players from 1934. The game finished 3:3, which was played in Luční Street in front of an audience of 18 000 spectators. These are the names of the Viktoria players: Dědič - Wana, Mudra, Bešťák, Biro, Vlček, Horák, Čulík, Červený, Hess and Bína. However in Turin they were beaten 1:5 and were knocked out. Nevertheless, the whole of European football now knew the name of FC Viktoria Plzeň. In 1935 Viktoria also played several successful matches in the north of Africa.
The year 1939 was mostly taking up travelling the north of Europe. It was one of the most successful years, which were taken by the Czechoslovakian teams. 14 matches out of 17 were won, 1 draw and only in 2 of them Viktoria was beaten. The competitors were, for example, the national team of Latvia or Lithuania.
Viktoria played the final of the Czech Cup twice in the fall of the 2nd World War. In 1943 they were beaten by Sparta Praha 1:3 and 1:7, and in 1944, when Viktoria beat České Budějovice, Zlín and Slavia Praha were beaten twice by Sparta Praha in the final again (4:2 and 4:3). In 1948 Viktoria ended up in 2nd place after Slavia Praha in the 1st League, but it was not an official and complete league year. Since 1949 our football leagues changed their organization according to the Russian model of their system of Spring and Autumn, that is why in autumn 1948 only half of the year was played. This year was successful for Viktoria. They only lost to ATK Praha, which caused Viktoria to finish 2nd place after Slavia Praha.
Viktoria Plzeň was also successful in the field of junior teams. In 1951, under the name Škoda Plzeň, they became the winner of the Championship of the Czech Republic. The players (Hodina, Štogr, Beránek, Šerý, Salcman, Ženíšek, Lukeš, Skřivan, Zoubek, Tauš a Sloup) won all the matches led by the coaches Václav Svoboda, Václav Dědič and Emil Hrudlička.
In 1961, named Spartak Plzeň the club began to play in the 1st League. After the autumn they finished in 3rd place. In 1962 they played a friendly match with the famous Brazilian team Flamengo Rio de Janeiro and won 2:1 in Štruncovy Sady (the football stadium in Pilsen). It was an incredible match, František Hlavatý, a goal keeper, contributed with his great saves and when Stanislav Štrunc added two goals, it was a big surprise because Brazil became a winner of the World Championship for the second time!
In 1961-62 Spartak was introduced to the 1st League and finished in 9th place, and they qualified to play in the Rappan´s Cup because of it. AC Padov, Swiss FC Chaux-de-Fonds anf Hungarian Banyasz Dorógy were also in the same group. The results of the matches were as follows; Padova 0:5, 1:1, Chaux - de - Fonds 1:1, 1:3, Banyasz Dorógy 7:1, 2:4. The team from Pilsen did not move ahead from the basic group, although they played in the international club league which was considered as a big success.
The decline to the 2nd League in 1971 was a big disappointment for the players and the team; however, Škoda Plzeň was really successful in the cup. They won the Czech Cup and despite they lost twice to Spartak Trnava (1:2 and 1:5) in the final of the Czechoslovakian Cup. They also played in the Cup Winner’s Cup because the Slovakian team could not start in this cup competition, nevertheless they were not lucky because in the 1st round Bayern Munich with famous players like Beckenbauerem, Gerdem Müllerem, Breitnerem came to Pilsen. The Czech team consisting of Šestava J. Čaloun - Špinka, Plass, Michálek, Pleško - Süss, Sudík - Kamír, Bachner (Hoffmann), Bican and Ziegler played bravely and lost only 0:1. In Munich though they lost 1:6 and were knocked out.
In the years between 1972-80 Škoda Plzeň continued to play in the 1st League and in 1977 two very important historical events happened, in May the offender Stanislav Štrunc scored which won them the match with Inter Bratislava (2:1). It was his 100th goal and he entered the prestigious League of Top Scores. The club players, J. Čaloun, Sudík, Brusnický, Michálek, Kopřiva, Rejda, Sloup, Jelínek, Berger, Uličný, Süss, Forman, Dvořák, Štrunc, Minařík, Vojta, Hřebík, Morávek, Fojtík, Bican, Karafiát and the coach Tomáš Pospíšil finished in 6th place of the Czechoslovakian Championship which was a great achievement! They were better than most teams for example Ostrava, Slovan Bratislava, Bohemians, Teplice, Sparta, Trnava, VSS Košice and other famous clubs.
In 1993-94 in the separate Czech 1st League under the renewed name of Viktoria Plzeň, the club was led by the coach Zdeněk Michálek and finished 5th position in this new league. This great place was gained because of the efforts of M. Čaloun, Bečka, Diepold, Drahorád, Heřman, Janota, Kopřiva, Mika, Purkart, Skála, Slabý, Susko, Šámal, Šamberger, Šmejkal, Švejdík, Tesař, Vágner and Vlček.
In the new century a young football team celebrated success as well. In June 2001 the under 15 team won the Czech Championship, they beat Zlín (2:1) in the final match. The team (led by the coaches Josef Žaloudek and Miloš Kopecký) were Jiří Misař, David Král, Ondřej Šiml, Jakub Sádlík, Jan Procházka, Tomáš Borek, Lukáš Tomášek, Michal Chocholatý, Pavel Vacek, Michal Smejkal, Ivan Ševčík, Stanislav Protivínský, Martin Dolejší, Lukáš Ulč, Zdeněk Kolář, Martin Fillo, Karel Řezáč and Zbyněk Toman.
In June 2008 the under 19 team became the winner of the Czech Championship, it was the second title in the history of the club. Houdek, Frei, Blažek, Chvojan, Bauer, Nový, Mandous, Matas, Puchmertl, Vitouš, Darida, Mudra, Staněk, Dvořák, Vaněček, Hulina, Štverák, Herák, Mašek, Mičkal, Bezděk and the coaches Karel Krejčí, Jiří Kohout, Jiří Žilák and Jiří Krbeček gained the gold medals.
THE STADIUM
The first football pitch of Viktoria was a ground in Bory. The Municipal Authority of Pilsen gave it to the new club under the football ground called SK Český Lev. However, they trained in the rooms of today’s ice-hockey stadium “na Dobytčáku”, because going to Bory was quite far away.
In 1920 Viktoria´s big dream became true; they gained a real football gound. It was bought from SK Plzeň for 20 000 Czech Crowns and it was situated in the Královské Square (nowadays náměstí Míru). SK club moved to Bory, Máchova Street. The members of Viktoria paid the money needed for buying it. The biggest credit of it made vice chairman Vališ, who gave his own savings of 14 000 Czech Crowns. The ceremonial opening was held on 26th September, when the team also played a match with Hagibor Praha. The match finished a 3:3 draw especially thanks to two offenders – Štapl who scored twice and “Mindě” Kučera once.
In 1929 the club was not lucky and the football pitch which was expensive and hard to build was lost. They had to move away because of a big town development. Thus the club, with great chances to become one of the top teams in the whole country, economically strong, technically well-equipped and with the players of high quality, stayed without a football pitch.
The discussions about the ground with the city council immediately began and were successful. Viktoria obtained for rent a place in Roudná in Luční Street. They also bought the seating area for 13 000 Czech Crowns. Each member of the club had to pay 100 Czech Crowns for the building of the new football pitch and had to work for 50 hours there. The new stadium is still standing there till this day and is still in quite good conditions. The stadium named Viktorka was ceremonially opened on the 11th May 1930. The Budapest club Hungaria was invited and came well trained and ready to jump into the game – and won 4:1. The ball which was used to play this match was thrown off the plain into the middle of the football pitch. The football ground was roofed in 1933 and there were also a room made for trophies.
The stadium in Luční Street sustained damage during the 2nd World War in 1945. During the air-raid of the Americans to Pilsen on 17th April the stadium was damaged, only ruins remained there after that. On 24th May 10 000 people gathered at the ruined stadium because of the match against a team from the American army. Viktoria won 11:1 and in June the stadium was ready again for the big football matches. Despite being damaged by fire the stadium was rebuilt thanks to the great help of other clubs.
In 1953 some works in Štruncovy Sady started and it was opened for public in 1955 on the occasion of Spartakiada. Later on there was finished the Brána borců and the main seating area, which was in those days one of the best ones in the whole of Czechoslovakia. B. Kavan and J. Brabec from the Pilsner Stavoprojekt were the designers of the project for the stadium, whose capacity was 35 000 people out of which 7 600 seats were for sitting.
Between 2002-03 a wide reconstruction was undertaken in the City stadium in Štruncovy Sady in order to comply with the standards of the Football Association for the Czech Republic and therefore the stadium capacity was lowered to 7,425 seats.
In 2008 an artificial lawn of the third generation was opened in Luční Street, where except for it there are three more lawn football pitches. The statics of the origin wooden stands were seriously affected because of the big floods of 2002 – it was drowned under 2 meters of water and so had to be taken away in parts 2003. Only bricked changing rooms remained.
Nowadays in Štruncovy Sady there is apart from the heated football pitch (since 2003) a smaller one with an artificial lawn (20 x 40 meters).
Now our new stadium is under reconstruction – the new stadium it is going to be ready in summer 2012 with capacity of 12 500 fans. Dreams are coming truth.
THE MOST FAMOUS NAMES
Vladimír Bína
Vladimír belonged to the generation of football players who brought fame to Viktoria especially between the wars. He was born in 1909 and started to play football in the north of the Czech Republic. He came to Pilsen in the autumn of 1932 as a 23-years-old man, and stayed there until 1947 for 15 years.
He became a part of the team with Jabornický and Žaloudek as goal keepers and the other players were Protiva, Šimek, Přibáň, Fábera, Bešťák, Mizera, Kuželík, Názler, Bína, Čulík, Hess, Rajniš and Vlček. Vladimír Bína played a great game in the position of an attacker. This player was self-sacrificing and liked to play with the joy of the game, coupled with the great art of football techniques and his sense of quick decisions made him one of the biggest players of Viktoria. He was the back bone of the team.
He played 261 matches in the colours of Viktoria in the 1st League and scored 38 goals. This football player also played for the national Czechoslovakian team in 1933 against Austria (3:3) and was also a part of the team which played the Middle-European Cup against Juventus in 1933.
After the war he moved to Litvínov where he died at the age of 79.
Vladimír Perk
With 130 goals he is a member of the Club of League Greats. He was born in 1920 and came to Luční Street from SK Karlov, aged 19 in 1939. He immediately became a part of the big aces of Viktoria. Bína, Bešťák, Moravec, Vlček, Tajčner and Dědič accepted him and adored his ability of scoring. There was hardly any match without Perk scoring! Three or maybe four goals per match as in Zlín, this was not any surprise of Perk.
During the occupation he represented the Czech nation and in one match against Morava he scored four times. Immediately after the war he put on the Czechoslovakian sporting kit in Paris. He travelled around the whole of Europe with Viktoria and played 201 matches in the highest league with this team.
When he finished being an active football player in 1954 he started to be a football coach. He led teams such as Škoda “A” and “B”, Karlov, RH Plzeň and Bolevec.
He died in 1998 at the age of 87.
Stanislav Štrunc
Another member of the Club of League Greats with one hundered goals was born in 1942, and he tried to play football when he was 13 years old in Spartak Plzeň. At first he was placed between the posts; however thanks to his speed and impetuousness, he quite soon became an attacking winger. He also played for Spartak Skvrňany for a while, but because he scored a lot he soon came back to Spartak Plzeň where his great career started.
He scored in the highest league for the first time in Žilina in 1961. In 1965 he left for Dukla Praha where he shot 65 goals in the 1st League. Stanislav Štrunc was a member of the national Czechoslovakian team three times, of the Olympic team six times and of the junior team six times as well. He played against Brazil and coupled with another football player from Pilsen named Miloš Herbst who was also in the Olympic Games in Mexico of 1968.
He came back to Pilsen in 1972 and scored again. Finally, against Inter Bratislava in 1977, it was his anniversary 100th goal. He completed a total of 329 matches in the 1st League. After that he finished in Viktoria but still played in some lower leagues – in Kaznějov as a playing coach and in Pilsen for the team called Potraviny, today’s Sparta Plzeň.
He passed away too soon in 2001 as a 59 years-old legend.
František Plass
One of the best football players in Czechoslovakia during the 1960´s and 1970´s was born in 1944 and he came to Spartak Plzeň from ČSAD at the age of 19. Later he was called Pilsner Beckenbauer thanks to his ability to completely control the ball, great football technique and sense for the combination and perfect thinking during the game.
He played 11 official international matches for Czechoslovakia, also a lot of matches for the Olympic and junior teams. As a universal football player he tried to function in several positions – namely, centre back, midfield and striker. The most useful job of this player was apparently in a position of a libero, so called “free player”.
He the backbone of the team and played 169 1st-league-matches and scored 16 times. He was allured by Sparta, Slavia or Slovan Bratislava but never left Pilsen. His loyalty for this city was exemplary.
After a few years, he left in 1976 as a coach to Cheb coupled with Jiří Lopata and these two names led RH Cheb into the 1st League for the first time in their history. Later he was a trainer for Dukla Praha, Ústí nad Labem, once he nearly moved up to the 1st League with Škoda team and he was also at the origin of a miracle in Blšany.
Zdeněk Michálek
It has been 43 years since he appeared in Štruncovy Sady for the first time. He was born in 1947 and began to play football in Bory at the football pitch of SK Plzeň. He scored for Lokomotiva in the position of left winger since 1955. In 1966 he moved to Škoda Plzeň and straight away in 1967 he helped this team, under the coach Vlastimil Chobota to move up the 1st League.
Later the coach Karel Kolský moved Michálek to full-back. This decision was based on his discipline during the game, ability and intelligence. Rudolf Vytlačil, a famous coach chose Michálek to become part of the national team of the Czech Lion, which was an unofficial representation of the Czech and Morava. He played in Chile, Peru, Columbia and Uruguay.
A serious injury finished his career as an active football player in 1976. He started to function in the position of a trainer’s assistant; he also was a secretary and later started to be a coach as well. He was a leader of a junior team, functioned also in Příbram, Rakovník, Rokycany or German Regen, with which he had a big success. The most important thing is, of course, that he always returned to Pilsen and helped Viktoria to move up to the 1st League several times, which is very unique! Moreover, he contributed to the final position of 5th place for this new up and coming team in this league.
He belongs to the biggest fixed stars in the history of Viktoria. He enlisted to the annals as its excellent and maximum trusted player (142 starts in the 1st League and 18 goals) and a brilliant trainer of high quality as well.
Josef Čaloun
In 2009 he crowned his 30-years service working for Viktoria. He was a goalkeeper for 14 years and later became a coach for the next 16 years. It is not only Čaloun, who stayed in the memories of the football public. There were two of his relatives before him, who trained as well – namely, his cousin František with his son Michal. Čaloun was born on 18th June 1946 and started to play football in Zliv in the south of Bohemia. He went through Dynamo České Budějovice, Dukla Tábor and Pardubice in order to get to Škoda Plzeň in the summer of 1970.
He experienced all ups and downs with this team. It happened twice that he dropped down to the 2nd League; however, he was a member of the team which he continuously played in the highest League from 1972 to 1980 where his number of starts was 261 as a goalkeeper and he contributed also in the matches against Bayern Munich. In 1977 he won the trophy for the best goalkeeper of the league and despite Sparta allured him to play there, he continued in Pilsen.
He was also part of the national Olympic team for two years; he though did not go to the Olympics because of unknown reasons and in 1980 lost his chance to win the gold medal. Čaloun significantly helped in the match against Borussia Dortmund. He left Pilsen for Svéradice, which went up from the West League to the 3rd League. As a goalkeepers´ coach he brought up a significant number of big names, such as Havel, Ticháček, son Michal, Hauzr and a lot of others including the present ones.
Jiří Rubáš
He belongs to the best coaches in the history of the club. He was born in 1922 and as a junior he was placed to a position of a forward in Rokycany. After the transfer to Bohemians he was retrained to the midfield or defender. For the Czechoslovakian national team he participated in 6 matches.
In 1954 he finished being an active player and immediately started to be a trainer in Bohemians. He left for Ostrava after 14 years from where he finally moved to Pilsen in 1970. He stayed here for 5 seasons. He took this new team to the 1st League, with which he dropped down but after only one year they moved up again and Pilsen played in the 1st League continuously until 1980. In 1975 he left for Ostrava and reached the trophy for the winner of the 1st League with Baník Ostrava.
He came back to Pilsen, a 2nd-league team in June 1986 and after two years he significantly helped the team to achieve the 1st League again. His big training advantage was that he was able to create positive and friendly atmosphere in the team, nevertheless, in terms of the discipline he was strict, rigid and uncompromising. He assumed the presumption of success was discipline.
He died as an 83-years-old in 2005.
Jiří Sloup
He fits in a heavily branched clan of the Sloups. He was born on 30th April 1953 and first kicked the ball in Sokol Letná where he went from juniors to adults. The year before he joined the army he attempted the division in ČSAD Plzeň. In 1974-76 he played for the military service in Dukla Tábor and in one year he scored 22 goals in the 3rd League. He was later picked to play for Škoda Plzeň by the coach Tomáš Pospíchal. At first he was placed in the position of left winger, later a midfielder and finally a full-back.
He was a very high-powered player, excelled at shooting from the middle and long distance. He scored a lot of goals from 20 or 30 meters. In 1982 he transferred to follow the coach Pospíchal to Bohemians, with whom he gained the trophy of the winner of the Czechoslovakian Championship and also played in the European Cups against famous teams. He came back to Pilsen after three years and significantly helped Škoda. He had in total 231 starts in the 1st League and in spite of being a defender he was still able to score 48 goals. He played 8 matches for the national “A” team and scored once.
He scored against the legendary goalkeeper Dino Zoff at the stadium San Siro in Milan in 1982. The match finished 2:2 draw and Czechoslovakia gained a worthy point during the qualification for the Euro Championship. He left Škoda at the age of 36 and finished his active career after the year when he scored nine times.
Pavel Nedvěd
A holder of the Golden Ball Trophy for the Best European Footballer in 2003 made his first steps to big football from Pilsen. He was born in 1972 and first kicked the ball in his hometown of Skalná and then onto Cheb where he played went to Pilsen in 1986. His coach was a legendary man Josef Žaloudek who made the birth of fateful relationship between them and he was also the one who strongly influenced Nedvěd as a player.
He was able to use his left and a right foot as well, also good with his head. He was in a good physical condition and was literally obsessed with football. He started to play in the “A” team in 1990, in 1991 he transferred to Dukla Praha and after that Sparta and the Czech national team were waiting for him. He became world known for the first time in Euro 1996 in England from where he won a silver medal and soon he joined Lazio and then Juventus in 2001.
Nedvěd played in Euro 2000 and 2004 and also in the World Championship in 2006 for the national team. He is also the winner of the Cup Winner´s Cup, a finalist of the Champions League, a finalist of the UEFA Cup and also won the Czech Cup and the Czech 1st League several times.
He played all the trainings and matches to capacity, and his attitude to the game was always at maximum level. He learnt these habits right in Pilsen.
Josef Žaloudek
He belonged to the best junior coaches in the whole country. He brought up a significant number of later big names and he was heavily involved in the professional development of Pavel Nedvěd. He was born on 3rd January 1941 of the football family in Nýřany. His father was a goalkeeper and two older brothers Adolf and Oldřich were referees. He himself was trying to succeed as a player but soon he started his career as a coach. He gained his highest trainers´ education in 1978 and became a leader of the training academy for juniors in Škoda Plzeň.
Žaloudek brought up the under 15 team and won the trophy for the best team in the Czech Republic in 2001. Martin Fillo was one of the players who played for the west Bohemian team. Some of the players who were in his care later started their career as a coach as well, for example Vítězslav Lavička or Jaroslav Šilhavý. A wrongly underestimated football specialist trained as his last stop at 33rd sport basic school of Terezie Brzková in Skvrňany.
He passed away after a hard disease on 3rd August 2003 at the age of 62. A lot of celebrities from the Czech football came to say goodbye to him including Pavel Nedvěd, common fans, coaches, officers and players. There is held a juniors´ memorial trophy every year in honour of Josef Žaloudek and the stadium in 33rd basic school carries his name.
Petr Čech
In the football history of the Czech Republic there was no better a goalkeeper than Čech. Since he was 16 he regularly participated in Euro and World Championship at junior categories. Čech is also a winner of Euro U-21 in Switzerland in 2001, participant of Euro 2004 in Portugal, World Championship in Germany in 2006 and Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.
He was born in 1982 in Pilsen. His beginning with football is settled in Viktoria and he stayed there until 1999 when he transferred to Blšany. He appeared in Sparta Praha in 2001 when he already was Czech number one goalkeeper. He was offered to go to French Stade Rennes in 2002 and after two years the famous club Chelsea chose him where he immediately became number one and started to pick up the trophies of the winner of Premier League. He also stars in The Champions League.
This 197 cm tall goalkeeper has got great technique, excellent reflexes and hardly any Achilles´ heel. He appears as a completely calm and concentrated player even in some crucial moments. He is also great in directing the defence of the team.
Not only the Czech Republic, but also Viktoria Plzeň becomes widely known thanks to his achievements. He learnt the alphabet of goalkeepers in this club.
THE FUTURE OF FC VIKTORIA PLZEŇ
Almost one hundred years long, history ties Viktoria down to settle amongst the top teams of the Czech Republic and to represent the west-Bohemian region in the 1st League in a dignified way, eventually to fight the way to play in some European club league. The high level of football is possible to keep on a long term basis only if there is a balance in terms of finance and economics of the club. This is the first priority to pay attention to.
On behalf of this balance it is necessary to develop the cooperation with the world known company Škoda Plzeň or if you like related company Škoda Power s.r.o. as well as with other companies namely, Japanese Daikin and Plzeňská teplárenská a.s.
Another aim is to concentrate on the development of the junior and women football, as well as the professional football. The club also needs to watch the young talents in the wide region and to give the chance to the best ones to develop their own skills in the youth teams of Viktoria.
In order to improve the quality of the base they need to be heavily involved in the discussions about the new stadium and to continue up dating the training premises in Luční Street in Roudná, which are intended especially for the young players.
