FC Baník Ostrava

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Baník Ostrava

Full name	Football Club Baník Ostrava, a.s.
Nickname(s)	Chachaři, Baníček
Founded	1922; 102 years ago (1922), as SK Slezská Ostrava
Ground	Městský stadion, Ostrava
Capacity	15,123
Chairman	Václav Brabec
Manager	Pavel Hapal
League	Czech First League
2023–24	4th of 16
Website	https://www.fcb.cz/
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

FC Baník Ostrava is a professional football club from Ostrava in the Czech Republic.

Founded in 1922 as SK Slezská Ostrava, Baník has won numerous national and international trophies.

The club was founded on 8 September 1922 as SK Slezská Ostrava, when 20 activists signed the establishment treaty in the U Dubu restaurant. The signatories were mostly poor coal miners from the Kamenec coal mining settlement in Ostrava. The founders were Karel Aniol, Arnošt Haberkiewicz, Petr Křižák, František Mruzek and Jaroslav Horák.^[1]

SK Slezská Ostrava was a poor club, raising money for the functioning of the club was a common concern. It didn't have its own playing field and was forced to loan fields from wealthier clubs. The first field of its own was built in autumn of 1925 at Kamenec. It was however stony and did not meet requirements of the football officials. In 1934 club activists succeeded in renting the land at Stará střelnice from regional wealthy industrialist Count Wilczek. During the summer of 1934 a new field was built there. Many workers volunteered to help with the construction for free. Workers and coal miners often came directly from shifts to build the field.^[2]

SK Slezská Ostrava began to compete with other teams in the league system in the spring of 1923. It started in the lowest division (III. třída župy) and was promoted to the higher division the same year. It took, however, some time for the club to reach the highest divisions of football in Czechoslovakia. In 1934 the club won promotion to the Moravian-Silesian Division, one of the highest leagues in the country. The promotion made SK Slezská Ostrava a popular team in the city and public interest was rising. The 1935 derby against Slovan Ostrava was watched at Stará střelnice by 5,400 spectators.^[3]

The First League in Czechoslovakia was dominated by Prague teams at that time, which were advanced in all aspects. Promotion to the First League was, therefore, a big success for SK Slezská Ostrava. In 15 years the team advanced from the obscure minnows to the highest level of football in the country. The first league match at Stará střelnice was played on 22 August 1937 against 1. ČsŠK Bratislava. In the second match, the newcomer team faced famous Sparta Prague in Prague. Though Sparta's roster was full of national team players, Baník won 3–2 and caused an immediate sensation.^[4] SK Slezská Ostrava survived three seasons in the First League before being relegated in 1940.^{[citation needed]}

SK Slezská Ostrava played in the Division until 1943, when it was again promoted to the First League. Promotion to the highest league sparked even stronger interest for football in local people. Later, famed opera singer Rudolf Asmus even sang the new anthem for the club. In the 1943–44 season the home attendances of SK Slezská Ostrava reached the highest level so far. The match against Slavia Prague was attended by 33,000 people.^[5]

In 1952 the club adopted the name DSO Baník Ostrava. Since then the name went only through slight changes. In the 1954 season, Baník achieved its biggest league success so far, finishing second in the league after Sparta. In 1959 Baník played for the last time at the old Stará střelnice stadium. Stará střelnice did not meet the requirements set by the football association. The pitch was not grassy, but covered with slag, which was also a reason to close down the stadium. The new Bazaly stadium was constructed in 1959 in Slezská Ostrava, and was opened on 19 April 1959.

In the 1965–66 season Baník was weakened by the generation change. It ended 13th in the league table and was relegated to the Second League. A year later Baník was again promoted to the top division. Since then Baník has played exclusively in the top flight of football in the country.^[6]

In 1972/73 and 1977/78 Baník won the Czechoslovak Cup.^[7] In the 1975-76 season, the club won the Czechoslovak league for the first time.

The team's squad was stable in the Golden Era years. The best players like Lička and Vojáček were regularly playing for the national team. Others like Radimec, Rygel, Němec and Šreiner played also for the Olympic team. In the 1979–80 season Baník won its second Czechoslovakian title, finishing five points ahead of Zbrojovka Brno. In the 1980–81 season of the UEFA European Cup Baník reached the quarter-finals, where it was knocked out by Bayern Munich. In the same season, Baník also won the First League again. For the next two seasons, Baník finished second in the league table. After the 1982–83 season, coach Hadamczik resigned, thus symbolically ending the Golden Era of the club.

In the following years, Baník was unable to reach the highest positions in the league. The team was undergoing another generation change and young players did not maintain their performance for the whole season. Baník however regularly appeared in the upper part of the league table. In the 1988–89 and 1989–90 seasons it finished second in the league. In 1991, Baník won the Czechoslovak Cup by beating Spartak Trnava 6–1 in the final.^[8]

In the 2003–04 season they won the Czech Republic league.^[9]

In the 2015–16 season they were under financial distress and were bought by Czech millionaire Václav Brabec who originated from Kroměříž. They were relegated to the Czech Second League for the 2016–17 season. In the 2016–17 season they would finish 2nd and started their rebuild to compete in the Czech First League for the 2017–18 season.

With no youth training facilities before the new ownership, under Václav Brabec the team began investing 150 million Kč in three facilities.

1) A partnership in 2017 with K-9 Grade School of J. Šoupal, where they have at their disposal 2 natural fields and 1 artificial field for the youth development.

2) building (expected complete early 2019) new training grounds at Vista that will enable the team to have 2 more artificial fields and 1 natural field for their youth teams.

3) The team is working with the Dvořák High School that will enable their athletes to finish a degree in sports management as well as all 20–25 individuals to train together.

The team has also received the rights to an academy that will practice at the new city-owned Bazaly facility that is being transformed into 5 practice fields for the youth.

Václav Brabec hired former Baník Ostrava star and home-grown player Marek Jankulovski to take over the role of Dušan Vrťo as the teams Sport Director. Jankulovski has brought in a few players such as Daniel Holzer, Patrizio Stronati and Adam Jánoš for the 2018–19 season.

In the 2020–21 season Marek Jankulovski has stepped down from his role to take the Chairman Board of Directors role. Milan Baroš has retired. Acquisitions before the 2020/21 campaign came from FC Slovácko in Jan Juroška and Tomáš Zajíc. The new team kit provider became Puma who won the contract over existing kit manufacturer Adidas.

Former stadium Bazaly was their home from 1953 to 2015 and had a capacity approximate 17500, but in the golden years over 20,000 occupants of standing room only were a common sight.

Currently, the Bazaly site is being transformed into a Youth Academy that will have 5 training fields.

Their stadium is the Městský stadion – Vítkovice Aréna, which has a capacity of 15,275.^[10]

Future: There is some talk that the city will build an all soccer stadium in the area formerly occupied by the coal mine Zárubek. Though the plans are in the initial stages with no expected construction time.

In the late 2000s Baník had attendances higher than most within the Czech First League.^[11][12][13]

Ultra supporters of Baník call themselves Chachaři, which means "bad boys" in the local dialect.^[14] Some of the ultras' songs contain lyrics proudly demonstrating willingness to not only sing, but also fight for their club. Baník's ultras have made friendships over the years, and in 2006 celebrated 10 years of partnership with 2nd division Poland club, GKS Katowice. The celebration took the form of a game between the two teams, organised by the clubs' directors. The fixture took place at GKS's stadium, where throughout the 90 minutes the opposing sets of fans sung one another's songs. At the end of the game, both sets of fans climbed over metal fences in order to race onto the pitch come the final whistle to embrace and exchange scarves.^[15]

As of 3 September 2024.^[16]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  NGA Emannuel Aririerisim 5 MF  CZE Jiří Boula 6 DF  CZE Michal Fukala 7 DF  CZE Karel Pojezný 9 MF  CZE David Buchta 10 MF  CZE Matěj Šín 12 MF  SVK Tomáš Rigo 13 MF  CZE Samuel Grygar 14 MF  CZE Radim Šudák 15 DF  GHA Patrick Kpozo 17 DF  CZE Michal Frydrych 19 DF  CZE David Lischka 20 FW  NGA Abdullahi Tanko 21 FW  CZE Jiří Klíma

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 MF  MLI Issa Fomba (on loan from Leganés) 24 DF  CZE Jan Juroška 28 FW  CZE Filip Kubala 30 GK  SVK Dominik Holec 32 MF  BRA Ewerton 33 FW  SVK Erik Prekop 35 GK  CZE Jakub Markovič 37 DF  CZE Matěj Chaluš 41 GK  CZE Mikuláš Kubný 66 DF  SVK Matúš Rusnák 95 MF  CZE Daniel Holzer — DF  CMR Roan Nogha (on loan from Nkufo Academy) — DF  DEN Alexander Munksgaard

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  SVK Ladislav Almási (at Dunajská Streda) — DF  BIH Eldar Šehić (at Pardubice)

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  CZE Jaroslav Harušťák (at Teplice) — GK  CZE Martin Hrubý (at Vyškov)

As of 26 May 2024.^[17]

Highlighted players are in the current squad.

Most appearances [edit] # Name Matches 1 Martin Lukeš 316 2 René Bolf 235 3 Jan Laštůvka 231 4 Radek Slončík 214 5 Martin Čížek 187 6 David Bystroň 183 7 Jiří Fleišman 168 8 Libor Žůrek 165 9 Pavel Besta 163 10 Milan Baroš 158

Most goals [edit] # Name Goals 1 Milan Baroš 45 2 Martin Lukeš 42 Václav Svěrkoš 4 Petr Samec 27 Martin Čížek 6 Mario Lička 25 7 René Bolf 24 Lukáš Magera Nemanja Kuzmanović 10 Libor Žůrek 23 Ladislav Almási

#	Name	Clean sheets
1	Jan Laštůvka	74
2	Vít Baránek	46
3	Petr Vašek	31

^{[citation needed]}

• Seasons spent at Level 1 of the football league system: 30
• Seasons spent at Level 2 of the football league system: 1
• Seasons spent at Level 3 of the football league system: 0
• Seasons spent at Level 4 of the football league system: 0

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2004–05	UEFA Champions League	3Q	Bayer Leverkusen	2–1	0–5	2–6
	UEFA Cup	1R	Middlesbrough	1–1	0–3	1–4
2005–06	UEFA Cup	1R	SC Heerenveen	2–0	0–5	2–5
2008–09	UEFA Cup	3Q	Spartak Moscow	0–1	1–1	1–2
2010–11	UEFA Europa League	2Q	FC WIT Georgia	0–0	6–0	6–0
	UEFA Europa League	3Q	Dnepr Mogilev	1–2	0–1	1–3
2024–25	UEFA Conference League	2Q	Urartu	5–1	2–0	7–1
		3Q	Copenhagen	1–0	0–1	1–1 (1–2 p)

• Czechoslovak First League / Czech First League
  • Champions (4): 1975–76, 1979–80, 1980–81, 2003–04
  • Runners-up (6): 1954, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1988–89, 1989–90
• Czechoslovak Cup / Czech Cup
  • Winners (4): 1972–73, 1977–78, 1990–91, 2004–05
  • Runners-up (4): 1978–79, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2018–19

• Mitropa Cup
  • Winners: 1988–89
• Mitropa Super Cup
  • Winners: 1989
• European Cup
  • Quarter-finalists: 1980–81
• Cup Winners' Cup
  • Semi-finalists: 1978–79
• UEFA Cup
  • Quarter-finalists: 1974–75

Source:^[18]

• Best position: 1st (2003–04)
• Worst position: 16th (2015–16)
• Biggest home win: Ostrava 6–0 Plzeň (2005–06), Ostrava 6–0 Slovácko (2023–24)
• Biggest away win: Teplice 0–5 Ostrava (2022–23)
• Biggest home defeat: Ostrava 1–5 Sparta (2000–01), Ostrava 0–4 Liberec (2004–05), Ostrava 0–4 Jablonec (2013–14), Ostrava 0–4 Plzeň (2015–16)
• Biggest away defeat: Slavia 7–0 Ostrava (2002–03)

• Bruzl, Igor; Šiřina, Petr (2004). Baníčku, my jsme s tebou!. Prague: Ottovo nakladatelství. ISBN 80-7181-124-6.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FC Baník Ostrava.

• Official website
• Fan site