Sparta Praha is among the oldest and most popular sports clubs in the country, with a number of fans not only in Prague but throughout the whole of the Czech Republic. The foundation of the club dates back to 1893 (

AC Sparta Prague Athletic Club Sparta Praha (), commonly known as Sparta Prague and Sparta Praha, is a professional association football, football club based in Prague. It is the most successful club in the Czech Republic and one of the most successful in cen ...

). Club colours are red, yellow, and blue.

History

Basketball Club Sparta Praha (short: BC Sparta Praha) is a Czech men's basketball club from

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

founded in 1939 as a section of omnisport club Sparta Prague. Since that time it has been a long-term member of the basketball elite. This is confirmed by its results both in the First League and the participation of its players in the national team. During the course of its history, BC Sparta Praha has been headed by as few as four representatives. The first chairman was Václav Jeřábek (1939–52), the second Josef Ezr (1952–90, a full 38 years!), the third

Miloslav Kříž Miloslav Kříž (29 May 1924 – 20 May 2013) was a Czech professional basketball player and coach. As a player, he played first for Uncas Prague, and later for Sparta Prague, but he was better known as a head coach and trainer, especially as t ...

(1990–93) and the fourth Pavel Majerik (1993–2005). Amongst important functionaries and coaches in the history of the club are for example Josef Klima, Lubomir Bednar, Hana Ezrova, Cyril Mandel, Vladimir Heger, Zdenek Miskovsky, Lubos Dobry, Zbynek Kubin and Michal Jezdik.

Coaches

Competitions and Honours

The basketball players of Sparta Praha played their first match against the Prague Sokol team on 23 December 1939 and won 42–35, similarly as in the second match on 20 January 1940 when they beat YMCA Prague 44–19. In the season 1939/40 the Sparta Prague basketball players won their First League championship trophy with the team: Bartonicek, Bartu, Ctyroky, Dolezal, A.Dvoracek, L. Dvoracek, Faloun, Hlousek, Hruda, Jencek, Klima, Labohy, Prokop, Trpkos, with coach Jerabek. In the season 1959/60 Sparta won their second league championship trophy with the team:

Jiří Baumruk Jiří Baumruk (27 June 1930 – 23 November 1989) was a Czech professional basketball player and coach. Club career Baumruk spent his club career playing with Slavia Prague (1952–1953), and namely with Sparta Prague (1950–1951, 1954–196 ...

, Kinsky, Krasny, Lodr, Prazak, Rojko, Tomasek, Czesany, Kliner, Pietsch, Rotter and coach

Josef Ezr Josef Ezr (3 October 1923 – 2 November 2013) was a Czech basketball player. He was voted to the Czechoslovak 20th Century Team in 2001. National team career With the senior Czechoslovakia national team, Ezr competed in the men's tournament ...

. Also to be counted amongst Sparta's successes are 10 seasons in which Sparta was runner-up in the First League and 10 seasons in which Sparta finished third in the First League, as well as second place in the Czech Cup in 1995 and third place in the same tournament in 1996. The Sparta team is in second place in the historical table of the First League, behind

Zbrojovka Brno Zbrojovka Brno, s.r.o is a maker of small arms in Brno, Brno, Czech Republic, wholly owned by Colt CZ Group, Colt-CZ Group. In the past it also made light artillery, cars, motorcycles, tractors and various tools, such as typewriters and early c ...

and ahead of Slavia VŠ Praha. In the history of Sparta there are two particularly successful periods: 1959–64 (once champions, twice runners-up, twice third place) and 1989–94 (4 times runners-up and once third place).

European competitions

FIBA Champions' Cup (1)

*1961, lost in the Quarter-Finale Steaua București, Romania (60-50 & 47-65)

FIBA Cup Winners' Cup (1)

*1991/92: lost in the 2nd round

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, Greece (87-81 & 84-103)

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(12)

CSA Sparta Praha *1989/90 lost

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, Switzerland (88-83, 73-80) *1990/91 lost

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, Greece (64-72, 75-72) *1992/93 lost

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, Greece (82-91, 80-95) *1993/94 defeated

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, Switzerland (101-66, 98-71), then lost Fenerbahçe, Turkey (96-87, 56-95) *1994/95 lost

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, Belgium (75-91, 68-60) *1995/96 lost

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, France (51-78, 69-71) *1996/97 defeated

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, Poland (72-64, 68-70), then results in Group: Paris-Levallois, France (59-72, 45-82), Benston, Croatia (63-90, 41-60) and

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, Israel (69-94, 80-84) *1997/98 defeated

, Poland (63-60, 75-67), then results in Group: Echo Houthalen, Belgium (78-76, 62-70),

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, Spain (49-89, 52-91) and Nancy, France (77-85, 56-103) *1998/99 defeated

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, Cyprus (54-71, 97-65), then results in Group:

Apollon Patras :''The first version of this article has been based in the text of :el:Α.Σ. Απόλλων of the :el:Κύρια Σελίδα, Greek Wikipedia published under the GFDL.'' A.S. Apollon Patras (Greek language, Greek:''A.Σ. Απόλλων Πατ ...

, Greece (62-85, 64-72),

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, Israel (66-81, 50-80) and Brotnjo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (67-85, 43-55) *1999/00: defeated Arkadia Traiskirchen, Austria (63-70, 78-67) then results in Group:

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, Croatia (62-82, 51-62), Maccabi Ramat Gan, Israel (68-71, 71-99) and

Maroussi Marousi or Maroussi (), also known as Amarousio (), is a city and a suburb in the northeastern part of the Athens urban area, Greece. Marousi dates back to the era of the ancient Athenian Republic; its ancient name was '' Athmonon'' () and it r ...

, Greece (63-103, 82-85) *2000/01 lost

DJK Würzburg Deutsche Jugendkraft Würzburg, commonly known as DJK Würzburg, is a German sports club. It is most known for its basketball section, which in the past had a professional team. Its best known former player is Dirk Nowitzki. Currently, the sport ...

, Germany (51-90, 59-71) *2001/02 lost Pivovarna Laško, Slovenia (86-111, 65-102).

Notable players

(31 October 1923 – 2 November 2013) Sparta Prague player (1948–1959), coach (1952–1964), president (1952–1990) *

(27 June 1930 – 23 November 1989) Sparta Prague player (1949–1964), coach (1971–1979) *

Bohumil Tomášek Bohumil Tomášek (21 June 1936 – 2 November 2019) was a Czech basketball player and coach. He was voted to the Czechoslovak 20th Century Team in 2001. Playing career Club career Tomášek won two Czechoslovak League championships, in t ...

(born 21 June 1936) Sparta Prague player (1949–1964) * Zdeněk Douša (born 5 March 1947) Sparta Prague player (1966–1987) *

Vladimír Vyoral Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology T ...

(born 5 December 1961) Sparta Prague player (1980–1991, 1996–2002), coach (2004) *

Michal Ježdík Michal (; ; ) was, according to the first Book of Samuel, a princess of the United Kingdom of Israel; the younger daughter of King Saul, she was the first wife of David (), who later became king, first of Judah, then of all Israel, making ...

(born 4 August 1963) Sparta Prague player (1981–1998), coach (1994–2003) * Jiří Zídek Jr. (born 2 August 1973) Sparta Prague Player (1989–1991), NBA (1995–1998) *

Ondřej Starosta Ondřej Starosta (born 28 May 1979) is a Czech former professional basketball player. Player career *1995/98 USK Praha, Slavia Praha *1998/00 BC Sparta Praha, Sparta Praha *2000/01 Real Madrid Baloncesto, Real Madrid ''youth team'' *2001/02 ...

(born 28 May 1979) Sparta Prague player (1998–2000) *

Pavel Miloš Pavel ( Bulgarian, Russian, Serbian: Павел; Czech, Slovene, and (although Romanian also uses Paul); ; ; ) is a male given name. It is a Slavic cognate of the name Paul (derived from the Greek Pavlos). Pavel may refer to: People Given ...

(born 26 July 1979) Sparta Prague player (1996–2005), NBA Draft 2001 candidate *

Jiří Welsch Jiří Welsch () (born 27 January 1980) is a Czech former professional basketball player for BK Pardubice of the Czech Republic National Basketball League (Czech Republic), National Basketball League. He has also represented the senior Czech Rep ...

(born 27 January 1980) Sparta Prague player (1998–2000), NBA (2002–2006) *

Sacha Killeya-Jones Sacha Liam Killeya-Jones (born August 10, 1998) is an American-British professional basketball player for Kawasaki Brave Thunders of the B.League. He played college basketball for Kentucky. High school career Killeya-Jones grew up playing foo ...

(born 1998), American-British basketball player for

Hapoel Gilboa Galil Hapoel Gilboa Galil () is a professional basketball club that is based in north-east Israel. The club plays its home game in the Israeli Basketball Premier League (the top tier of Israeli basketball) in a 2,250-seat arena in Gan Ner. History T ...

of the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

References

External links

*
BA Sparta Prague
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparta Praha, BC Sport in Prague Basketball teams in the Czech Republic Basketball teams established in 1939 Basketball in Czechoslovakia 1939 establishments in Czechoslovakia