Czech club has long history. Four years ago it celebrated its 100th anniversary. In the days of Czechoslovakia this team was called TI Škoda. Their most significant achievement was reaching the national cup final. That let them make their debut in the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. In the first round Plzeň side faced Bayern Munich. German club flattened them 7:1 on aggregate. After that the Red-Blues fans had to wait for 39 years to see their team in euro cups again.
The year 2003 is considered to be the start of new era for Viktoria. The club found a serious sponsor and reconstructed the stadium. In 2011 Viktoria won the domestic league for the first time in their history. The same year they reached the Champions League group stage. Eventually they finished third and were outplayed by Schalke-04 in the Europa League round of 32.
Two seasons later Viktoria won the Czech First League again. Still in the Champions League group they triumphed only in one game (against CSCA Moscow) and joined the Europa League. In the round of 32 they outplayed FC Shakhtar Donetsk, but after that were defeated by Olympique Lyonnais. Last year Czech side finished second in the domestic league, but then lost against FC Petrolul Ploiești in the Europa League third qualifying round.
This year the battle for title will be very exciting in CzechRepublic. After 16 matchdays Moroslav Koubek’s men are leaders with AC Sparta Prague lacking only one point behind them.
Koubek took charge of the team this season. His priority is to win the national championship.
The majority of Viktoria players are Czech, but 30-year-old goalkeeper Matúš Kozáčik is Slovak.
Leading defenders are CzechRepublic internationals David Limberskýand František Rajtoral. Key midfielders are Václav Pilař and Daniel Kolář.
The top striker of the team is Stanislav Tecl (pictured), who has five goals in 16 matches to his name this season.
Viktoria have already played six sparrings during the winter break (W-4, L-2).
They’ll face the White-Blues on February 10.
You can watch this game live on Dynamo Kyiv YouTube channel.
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