MFK Vitkovice

MFK Vitkovice is a football club from Vitkovice, Ostrava, Czech Republic. It was founded in 1919 as FC Vitkovice, announced bankruptcy in 2011 and transformed to MFK Vitkovice. The club won the Czechoslovak First League in the 1985–86 season.

The club has always been somewhat overshadowed by the town's main team FC Banik Ostrava. The teams have a mutual rivalry, as Banik is based in the Silesian part of the city, while Vitkovice are located in the Moravian part of Ostrava. MFK Vitkovice however still maintain a small local fan base.

They also hold a rivalry with regional side FK Fotbal Trinec from Trinec.

History

The club was founded in 1919 as SK Slavoj Vitkovice and played their matches in the Kuncicky district of Ostrava. The club however vanished due to financial problems and was succeeded in 1922 by SK Vitkovice. The club then became one of the strongest teams in the Ostrava region. In 1937–1938 a new stadium was constructed in the district of Vitkovice. It was supposed to be opened to the public in October 1938 but it was unable to proceed due to the German occupation of the city. Instead, the stadium was opened a few years later.

The club played in the highest division from 1950 to 1952. In 1952 the league underwent reorganization and Vitkovice were forcibly relegated to a lower division. However the club won promotion to the top flight again in 1981. Then in the 1985–1986 season the club achieved their greatest success, as Vitkovice led by manager Ivan Kopecky won the Czechoslovak First League. Vitkovice subsequently played in the European cup for the first time in their history. The club was strongly financially supported by local iron and steel works which unfortunately fell into a financial crisis after the Velvet Revolution of 1989. The industry withdrew some of its support and the club was forced to merge with FC Karvina in 1994. Afterwards the club was relegated to the Second Division. The merger was overturned a year later, which meant the club was r

This page also has a version in other languages :  Витковице (russian)