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Viktoria Plzen: a team with European experience
Experienced in European competitions, Viktoria Plzen, from the Czech Republic, face PAOK for the third matchday of the League Phase of the 2024-25 UEFA Europa League. Victoria have six league championships, one Czech Cup and two Super Cups in their trophy cabinet, while after some… ups and downs, in the last 20 years they have been a mainstay in the top division. Last season they finished third both in the regular season and in the Play offs, 17 points behind the champions, Sparta Prague.
- Pilsen or Plzen is a city in western Bohemia. It is the fourth largest city in the Czech Republic (90 km west of Prague) and is known for its Pilsner beer.
- In 1911 Jaroslav Ausobský, an executive of the state railways, submitted a request to establish a new football club in Plzen. In August 1911 the newly formed club Viktoria played their first match, losing 7–3 to Olympia Plzeň.
- For the first 18 years of its existence, Viktoria was purely an amateur club. In June 1929, an emergency membership meeting agreed to go professional and enter the national professional league. It finished its first season in seventh place, but the following season it reached second place, which meant a first promotion to the first division (Gambrinus liga). In the 1934–35 Czechoslovak Championship, Viktoria finished fourth and then played in the 1935 Mitropa Cup, the top European club competition at the time. Two matches against Juventus brought the Czechs to the center of European football, with a home draw (3-3) and a defeat in Turin (5-1).
- Viktoria played without success in League One, being relegated for the 1938 season but returning to the top flight the following year.
- For a number of years there was no stability, until 1972, when as Skoda Plzen they remained in the first division for eight years. From 1980 until the breakup of Czechoslovakia 13 years later, Viktoria frequently moved between the country’s top two leagues.
- In 1971 they won the Czech Cup via a draw after the two-legged final with Sparta Prague ended 4-4 on aggregate and 5-5 on penalties.
- In 1992 the club returned to its historical name FC Viktoria Plzeň and the following season was promoted to the first division, where it remained until 1999.
- Victoria won their first championship in 2010–11, finishing with 69 points to Sparta Prague’s 68. In the 2011–12 Champions League Play-offs they defeated FC Copenhagen 5–2 (on aggregate) and qualified for a group alongside Barcelona and AC Milan, in which they finished third, with one win over BATE Borisov. It went on to the 2011–12 Europa League in the round of 32, where it lost 4–2 on aggregate to Schalke after extra time.
- The club’s Stadion města Plzně was rebuilt in 2011. In the same year, on June 11, Viktoria celebrated its centenary with its fans in the courtyard of the Pilsner Urquell brewery. The stadium is now called Doosan Arena and has a capacity of 11,700 seats.
- In 2012, the club participated in the Europa League of the 2012-13 season, even reaching the round of 16, where they were eliminated by the Turkish side Fenerbahce. The successful year ended with winning the championship for the second time in its history.
- In 2013–14 the club participated in the group stage of the Champions League and finished third. They then reached the last 16 of the Europa League before being eliminated by Lyon.
- In the 2023–24 season, Viktoria reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League. They topped their group (Dinamo Zagreb, FC Astana, FC Balkan) and became the first Czech team in UEFA competition to achieve six group stage wins while conceding just one goal. In the round of 16, Viktoria eliminated Servette before being eliminated themselves in the quarter-finals – in extra time – by Fiorentina.
- Pavel Horvath was voted Viktoria’s greatest player of all time at the club’s centenary gala in 2012.
- The average age of the current squad is 25.3 years.
- Their journey to the Europa League started from the third qualifying round, with Kryvbas from Ukraine (1-2 away, 1-0 at home). In the Play offs they faced Hearts. Initially, they were defeated 1-0 by the Scottish side but in the second leg they prevailed with the same score, taking their qualification to the League Phase.
