Dukla Prague () was a Czech football club from the city of

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 ...

. Established in 1948 as ATK Praha, the club won a total of 11 Czechoslovak league titles and eight Czechoslovak Cups, and in the 1966–67 season, reached the semi-finals of the European Cup. As late as 1985–86 they reached the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final and they also made a great impact in the American Challenge Cup competition in New York City with four wins between 1961 and 1964. The club sent seven players to the silver medal-winning Czechoslovakia national team in the 1962 World Cup, in a year which saw them win the fifth of their domestic league titles as well as their player Josef Masopust be named European Footballer of the Year. Between the start of the competition in 1955 and 1991, Dukla played more matches in the European Cup than any other team in Czechoslovakia. Dukla Prague football club was connected to clubs of other sports, but this connection continues no longer. However, separate athletics, rowing,

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

, modern pentathlon,

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, etc. clubs named Dukla Praha still nurture world-class athletes in their respective sports (like Roman Šebrle and others). In contrast to the football clubs, these are still under patronage of the Czech Army.

History

Dukla Prague was formed in 1948 as " (ATK) Praha" and started life in the top division of Czechoslovak football.Pivoda 2013, p. 7.Jeřábek 2007, p. 162. The Dukla organisation, as it later became known, was run by the Czechoslovak Army and included seven sports teams. The club changed its name to " (ÚDA) Praha" in 1953, winning the first of eleven league titles in the 1953 season. The club went on to win the 1956 league title, changing their name to "" the same year in honour of those had fallen at the Battle of Dukla Pass in 1944. The subsequent 1957–58 season brought a second consecutive league title for the club, and its third overall. The 1960–61 season marked the inaugural season of the Czechoslovak Cup. That season, the Dukla team completed a " double" as they defeated Dynamo Žilina in the cup final to add to their fourth league title.Jeřábek 2007, pp. 233–234. The club was on the verge of another double in 1962, winning the league but losing in the cup final to Slovan Bratislava. 1962 was also a World Cup year. Dukla was represented by seven players on the Czechoslovakia national football team, which reached the final before losing to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Dukla star Josef Masopust scored in the final as Brazil won 3–1, and was later named as the winner of the 1962 Ballon d'Or. Dukla spent the next two seasons winning the league again, making a total of four titles in a row. The 1964–65 season yielded just the Cup before Dukla completed its second double in 1965–66. The club's final trophy of the decade came in the 1968–69 cup. In the first nine seasons of the cup competition, therefore, Dukla had reached six finals and won four titles. The competition's format changed after the 1968–69 season, and it was not until 1980–81 that Dukla would record another title in the competition, repeating the achievement in 1982–83, 1984–85 and 1989–90. In the 1985–86 season, the club recorded its record win, a 10–0 victory against Dynamo České Budějovice.Pivoda 2013, p. 28.

International competitions

Between the start of the competition in 1955 and 1991, Dukla played more matches in the European Cup (45) than any other team in Czechoslovakia.Jeřábek 2007, p. 244. The five players from the Czechoslovak league with the most appearances in the competition in the pre-Champions League era of the European Cup all represented Dukla in the competition, these being Josef Masopust, Jozef Adamec, Jiří Čadek, Josef Vacenovský and Dušan Kabát. Czech writer and sports journalist Ota Pavel wrote a unique book about Dukla's first victory in the American Challenge Cup and named it ''Dukla mezi mrakodrapy'' (). The supremacy of Dukla was so undisputed the organizers decided to establish the American Challenge Cup as the final of next International Soccer League editions, in which Dukla was invited to play against the winners of the group stage. Dukla won three American Challenge Cups, over Brazil's America-RJ in 1962 (1–1 and 2–1), over West Ham United in 1963 (1–0 and 1–1) and over Zagłębie Sosnowiec in 1964 (3–1 and 1–1). In later years they struggled to maintain international recognition, however they were well known to British fans thanks to

Half Man Half Biscuit Half Man Half Biscuit are an English rock band, formed in 1984 in Birkenhead, Merseyside. Known for their satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs, the band comprises lead singer and guitarist Nigel Blackwell, bassist and singer Neil Cr ...

's cult song: "All I want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague away kit" which was the B-side of their 1986 single "The Trumpton Riots" and was subsequently issued on the album Back Again in the DHSS and then on the CD release of the album Back in the DHSS. Fans of the band have created considerable demand for replica Dukla Prague shirts and made the team a favourite among hipster football fans. Dukla's overall record in the International Soccer League and the American Challenge Cup thus comprises 11 wins, four draws and one loss with a score of 49–19.

Czech Republic era

1994 saw the club's long-running association with the military come to an end and at the same time its status as a top-division team was lost. Dukla finished last in the 1993–94 Czech First League, employing three different managers over the course of the season.Pivoda 2013, p. 99. In a season which saw the club lose 7–0 to Viktoria Žižkov, Dukla won just one of their thirty matches, a 1–0 victory against Hradec Králové. Dukla played the following 1994–95 season in the third-tier Bohemian Football League, finishing in third place behind SK Chrudim and Pelikán Děčín. Dukla was unable to win the league in the 1995–96 season either, again finishing third, this time behind Atlantic Lázně Bohdaneč and Česká Lípa. The club then merged with second division side FC Portál Příbram in 1996. The new club, which later became known as 1. FK Příbram, played one season in Prague at Juliska before moving to Příbram in 1997, the last home match at Juliska being a 2–2 draw with relegated Baník Havířov on 1 June 1997.

Reformation and return

The name of Dukla Prague disappeared from the Czech football for several years, but not forever. Dukla Dejvice, a local Prague team founded in 1959, began playing at Juliska stadium and adopted Dukla Prague's yellow and red colours. The club entered the Prague Championship in 2001. In November 2006, Dukla Prague management announced that it had agreed to take over the second league rights of the Jakubčovice team. The legendary club returned to the Czech top league in 2011.

Managers

The following individuals managed Dukla. In the 1948 season there were joint managers.Pivoda 2013, p. 36. * Ladislav Ženíšek, Jiří Zástěra (1948) * Ladislav Ženíšek (1949–50) *

Karel Kolský Karel Kolský (21 September 1914 in Kročehlavy – 17 February 1984) was a Czechs, Czech football (soccer), football player and later a football manager. He played for Czechoslovakia national football team, Czechoslovakia, for which he played 1 ...

(1951–52) * Bohumil Musil (1953) *

(1954–59) * Bohumil Musil (1959–60) * Jaroslav Vejvoda (1960–65) * Bohumil Musil (1965–69) * Milan Tošnar (1965–70) * Jaroslav Vejvoda (1969–73) * Josef Masopust (1973–75) * Jaroslav Vejvoda (1975–80) * Ladislav Novák (1980–85) * Jiří Lopata (1985–87) * Jaroslav Jareš (1987–90) * Ivo Viktor (1990–91) * Michal Jelínek (1991–92) * František Plass (1992) * Jiří Fryš (1993) * Dan Matuška (1993–94) * Svatopluk Bouška (1994)

History in domestic competitions

* Seasons spent at Level 1 of the football league system: 45 * Seasons spent at Level 2 of the football league system: 0 * Seasons spent at Level 3 of the football league system: 2

Czech Republic

;Notes

Honours

* Czechoslovak First League **Champions (11):

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1965–66, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1981–82 * Czechoslovak Cup **Winners (8): 1960–61, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90 * Czech Cup **Winners (4): 1980–81, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90 * International Soccer League **Winners: 1961

References

Bibliography

*Horák, Jindřich, Král, Lubomír. ''Encyklopedie našeho fotbalu : Sto let českého a slovenského fotbalu. Domácí soutěže''. Praha : Libri, 1997. 704 p. *Jeřábek, Luboš. ''Český a československý fotbal – lexikon osobností a klubů'', Praha: Grada Publishing, 2007. *Pavel, Ota. ''Dukla mezi mrakodrapy''. Praha : Slávka Kopecká, 2004. 183 p. Sebrané spisy Oty Pavla; vol. 1. *Pivoda, Aleš. ''Legenda se vrátila'' Praha: MAC, 2013. 157 p. *Sigmund, Stanislav. ''FC Dukla 1948–1998''. Praha : MJF, 1998. 51 p. {{FK Dukla Prague Defunct football clubs in the Czech Republic Prague, Dukla Prague, Dukla Sport in Prague Military sports clubs and teams Association football clubs established in 1948 Association football clubs disestablished in 1996 Prague, Dukla Military association football clubs in the Czech Republic 1948 establishments in Czechoslovakia 1996 disestablishments in the Czech Republic