Hi everyone, first time post, I hope you can help. I am in Praha with friends for 3 days arriving Sat 12th April and would love to catch a match in the Gambrinus League. Can anyone please confirm the time of the Zizkov fixture and give any general advice on attending a match in my favourite city? Diky
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the times can vary from 10.30 am to about 5.30 pm depending on TV coverage,and times can change at short notice (I have been caught out before).Hopefully a local can confirm the times for you.If not go to the ground early ,they usually have a sign up on the gates to let you know the kick-off tomes,you may not understand what it says but the time mentioned will be the kisk-off time.
The Zizkov Ground is only a few stops on the tram from the city center and the tram stops right outside the ground.can%26#39;t remeber thetram number (could be 5 9 %26amp;26).Tickets are cheap.I have been to a few games in Prague over the years and always take a few badges from my local club (Hearts) to swop /give way to local kids ,on a viat a couple of years ago the game Zizkov was cancelled due to a frozen pitch and i gave away a brand new hearts scarf to a lucky we kid.
if you got to my pictures in my profile you will see a picture of me inside the Zizkov ground.
if you want to spend a bit of time in the area there is a good little 10 ppin bowling alley right opposite the ground at the tram stop.
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Here are the dates and the times, if already available: …sport-dienst.de/vereine/viktoriazizkov/2008/
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Wow, thanks Unclegus and Martinaprague - your quick responses are most helpful.
I have passed the ground on an earlier visit and believe that it has been %26quot;refurbished%26quot; since then. I am looking for an authentic football experience having been to games at Hammarby in Stockholm and St Pauli in Hamburg in recent years. Other sites I have checked suggest the kick-off will be at 10:15am on Sunday 13th which I thought was unusual but apparently not! This should help to blow away any first-night pivo induced cobwebs.
Unclegus, I am not sure how much the local kids would be impressed with a range of football souvenirs from Bury FC or FC United but will take your advice and bring along a few Liverpool and Man U badges. BTW do you know whether there are any football-friendly bars in Zizkov likely to show the Premier League games later on Sunday? If not it looks like a central Sports Bar beckons although I would much rather spend my time in U Cerneho Vola!!
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I don%26#39;t know any football bars in the area to watch the big games but Legends in the city (just off Old Town Square)has about 20 Tv sets including 2 huge ones and shows all the games..
for a real %26quot;Football%26quot; experience see if the Bohemians are playing,they have a small ground but the most enthusiastic crowd of any match I have been to see and their Mascot (a Kangaroo) is the absolute greatest.
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BTW Bury knackered my football bet this weekend .
I had Shrewebury to beat them at home.part of a 7 home wins section.
£1 totally wasted.
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A much better option might be the Slavia - Liberec match, also on the 13th, but at 5pm in the afternoon. Slavia will be fighting for championship spot, and Liberec possibly battling for that last UEFA place...
There will be no trouble at all getting a ticket from the ground on the day of the match - despite the above circumstances, the attendances do not tend to be high and they have a got a relatively large ground (stadion Evzena Rosickeho, just next to the enormous concrete Stahov stadium which is, BTW, the largest stadium in the world with 300000 seats - but is only used as Sparta%26#39;s training ground nowadays)
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Thanks GCEK, will consider the Slavia game although we have a couple of Man Utd fans in our group who are likely to want to watch the game against Arsenal - talk about having your cake and eating it.
I prefer a more homely feel personally so will be suggesting the Zizkov game (Bohemians would have been my preference but they are not at home that weekend). The Slavia-Spurs game gave the impression of a large ground, only part-filled and with some distance to the pitch.
Unclegus suggests Legends for televised football but are there any others in case we split up? I heard that The Pack off Vaclavske Namesti was reasonable and I have enjoyed O%26#39;Che%26#39;s in the past. Also can anyone advise whether the hockey playoffs are finished as I intend to satisfy all sporting needs on the Sunday so that the remaining time can be dedicated to beer culture and exploring the city.
Thanks for all your help so far and sorry to unclegus for the £1 that the Trotters cost you.
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You are right about the ground being part-filled, but that is unfortunately the case at all Czech football grounds, Zizkov no exception.
The last time I went to a match there it was a most bizarre ground - it was against Sparta when Pavel Nedved et al were still playing for them, and Poborsky was playing for Zizkov. It seemed as though it had been squeezed into a big courtyard between the houses. Maybe it is different now.
Despite the %26#39;illustrious%26#39; opposition, there must have been 1000 people there...
I always followed Brno in its many guises - they used to have a great ground, capacity anything up to 80000 (at least that is how many got into the Metallica concert :) ) - a huge concrete monstrosity with trees growing out of the cracks. In the early - mid 1990s they always seemed to get about 30000, but they were far and away the largest crowds in the country, and then it dropped off suddenly with the lack of success on the pitch. It was always funny to see the away end - usually they could literally have come in a taxi, or even on a bicycle, there were so few of them, except when Banik or Sparta played - then maybe 20 would bother to make the journey from Ostrava/Prague, but there must have been 600 riot police to look after them.
They%26#39;ve moved now to something more sedate, and they%26#39;re doing well in the league again.
You could go to both if you want to miss watching Manyoo - Arsenal. I am sure the highlights will be on somewhere, and the result won%26#39;t change for your not being there. After all, live football is so much better, and it won%26#39;t set you back too much.
BTW - don%26#39;t you mean the Shakers? the Trotters are my local - Bolton :)
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Oops! Obviously I don%26#39;t know my Shakers from my Trotters - sorry GCEK I%26#39;m a Rugby League fan at heart but hope that the Trotters can survive in the top flight :-)
Great plan, I will see if the boys fancy Zizkov and Slavia with perhaps the Liverpool v Blackburn game as the over-hyped commercialised meat in the sandwich. Do you know whether Slavia has a fan-pub or similar? I have never been up to Strahov on my 4 previous visits to the city.
BTW I fancy celebrating my (significant) birthday next year and will be looking to combine Prague with Brno to broaden my Czech experience. It seems that you have a real affection for Brno and it sounds fabulous. Are there any regional brews specific to Brno or should I ask pivero separately?
Na Zdravi
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Yes - in Brno there is Pegas and Starobrno which are indigenous to the city, but also Cerna Hora which is close by - only a couple of places still serve that. Pivero is a bit of a %26#39;purist%26#39; :) (I%26#39;m sure he wouldn%26#39;t mind me saying that) and so the fact that Starobrno is now owned by Heineken is a minus, but it is really not bad and produces some very good beers in addition to its staple fare, such as 14% Cerveny drak, or Baron Trenck.
Other than that there is what is possibly the best pub in the country - Blahovka - which is tiny and smoke-stained but just wonderful, and serves Prazdroj (but not tea!) bvv.cz/i2000/…
Just look through some of my other contributions for other tidbits :)
I am and shall continue to be evangelical about the place - very few people give it a chance, but those that do are not sorry. It is a beautiful city, but it is one of those places where not everything is laid out on a plate - you have got to do a bit of digging.
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