From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Aug 2027
6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sparta Prague may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer from Ventspils for Jiri Darida was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market16 Aug 2027
Amar Memić wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sparta Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Andy Irving was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match14 Aug 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sparta Prague and Zlin in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. John Mercado is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matouš Trmal, and the manager let it.
Market16 Aug 2027
The name of Daniel Kerl has come up in conversations Sparta Prague were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Aug 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and OFI waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sparta Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Both of them Jan Kuchta's — 8.63
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.63, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Sparta Prague have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market9 Aug 2027
Amar Memić has his eye on Europe
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sparta Prague can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Matouš Trmal and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Matěj Ryneš beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match7 Aug 2027
A 2‑1 win over Sigma Olomouc, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John Mercado, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jul 2027
0‑3 to Slovan Liberec, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market2 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sparta Prague have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market2 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market2 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Roman Macek
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Roman Macek will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sparta Prague the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market2 Aug 2027
Ki-Jana Hoever wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sparta Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Nobody could get near Amar Memić
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Sparta Prague have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market26 Jul 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sparta Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Jul 2027
OFI come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sparta Prague did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Jul 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Jan Kuchta wants continental football; whether Sparta Prague can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Andy Irving in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Jul 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sparta Prague and Viktoria Plzen, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
Qarabag come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sparta Prague did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market19 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Filip Panák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
5 academy graduates step up at Sparta Prague
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Vladimir Sima is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market19 Jul 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Vladimir Masopust has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ki-Jana Hoever is on it.
Looking ahead19 Jul 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amar Memić’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sparta Prague needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sparta Prague can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jul 2027
Andy Irving wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sparta Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jan Kuchta commits to Sparta Prague for another 4 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market12 Jul 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andy Irving is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market12 Jul 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Patrik Brabec is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad12 Jul 2027
18 new faces, and Sparta Prague are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
When it matters, Andy Irving plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sparta Prague may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market5 Jul 2027
Jihlava come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sparta Prague did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market5 Jul 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Market5 Jul 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. John Mercado wants continental football; whether Sparta Prague can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. John Mercado is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Sparta Prague asked and Sigma Olomouc said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sparta Prague people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market28 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sparta Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and Sparta Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch28 Jun 2027
The goals keep arriving from Jan Kuchta’s exile
19 goals in 24 games at Legia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sparta Prague updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jan Paluska is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
John Mercado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Sivert Mannsverk has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Prekop is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market28 Jun 2027
The phone has started ringing about Nick Verschuren again, and this time the name on the line is Jablonec. Sparta Prague are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Zlin waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sparta Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market21 Jun 2027
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Sparta Prague have paid $4.8M for Prince Adu Kwabena, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Andrej Kostić is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Jun 2027
John Mercado and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 Jun 2027
Jaroslav Zelený has left for Pribram in a $200.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad21 Jun 2027
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Andy Irving knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andy Irving trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Pribram waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Sparta Prague is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Jun 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Matěj Mikulenka had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
The offer went to Viktoria Plzen this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen have kept their man, and Sparta Prague go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market14 Jun 2027
Roman Macek hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sparta Prague can pretend not to have heard.
Market14 Jun 2027
The offer from Banik Ostrava for Tobias Guddal was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ondřej Kričfaluši is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Erik Prekop falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
$20.5M on the table at Austin FC. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Market7 Jun 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Sparta Prague, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Jun 2027
Amar Memić wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sparta Prague hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andy Irving is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patrik Vydra and Sparta Prague agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
A loan enquiry to Viktoria Plzen: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market7 Jun 2027
No place for Bas Kuipers in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bas Kuipers has his answer from Sparta Prague; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
When it matters, Filip Panák plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 May 2027
Andrej Kostić is the young player of the season
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 20-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
Loan watch31 May 2027
19 goals on loan for Jan Kuchta
24 appearances at Legia and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Market31 May 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Sparta Prague heard it as anything else.
Market31 May 2027
Amar Memić wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad31 May 2027
Filip Panák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch31 May 2027
10 clean sheets on loan for Peter Vindahl
24 appearances at Sampdoria and the goals have stopped going in. Sparta Prague lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
Squad31 May 2027
Sparta Prague are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout31 May 2027
Josimar Alcócer asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 May 2027
Filip Panák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Andrej Kostić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch24 May 2027
“I watch every Sparta Prague game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Jihlava runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout24 May 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ki-Jana Hoever is on it.
Market24 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with John Mercado’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 May 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sparta Prague. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout24 May 2027
Jakub Martinec knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sparta Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad24 May 2027
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Squad24 May 2027
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
John Mercado was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Prekop is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market17 May 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Pavel Barak has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market17 May 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniel Jankto is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 May 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Petr Barak is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 May 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stanislav Darida has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Loan watch17 May 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sparta Prague, and 2 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout17 May 2027
When it matters, Andy Irving plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout17 May 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 May 2027
John Mercado in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Prekop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“I watch every Sparta Prague game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Viktoria Plzen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout10 May 2027
Filip Panák gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Filip Panák is on it.
The dugout10 May 2027
Andy Irving knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sparta Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market10 May 2027
The Andy Irving story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andy Irving signs something — a contract at Sparta Prague or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch10 May 2027
22 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Loan watch10 May 2027
5 appearances at MTK Budapest and the goals have stopped going in. Sparta Prague lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 May 2027
20 days out for Aleš Sukdolák after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sparta Prague will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market3 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Loan watch3 May 2027
19 goals on loan for Jan Kuchta
24 appearances at Legia and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Market3 May 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. John Mercado wants continental football; whether Sparta Prague can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad3 May 2027
Andy Irving in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kostić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout3 May 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sparta Prague, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Aleš Sukdolák out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sparta Prague will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Filip Panák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Erik Prekop falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch26 Apr 2027
“I did not go to Jihlava to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sparta Prague and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Ki-Jana Hoever has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market26 Apr 2027
The Matěj Ryneš talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sparta Prague know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Apr 2027
36 days out for Aleš Sukdolák after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sparta Prague will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Filip Panák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Erik Prekop falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
When it matters, Andy Irving plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market19 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with John Mercado’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sparta Prague. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Garang Kuol’s exile
3 goals in 18 games at Jablonec — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sparta Prague updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch19 Apr 2027
6 appearances at Jablonec and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
13 graduates from an academy now rated 15 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
Aleš Sukdolák breaks a bone — 47 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Filip Panák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kostić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Pavel Kadeřábek
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sparta Prague, and 2 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Too much change too quickly at Sparta Prague
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Filip Panák has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
9 clean sheets on loan for Peter Vindahl
21 appearances at Sampdoria and the goals have stopped going in. Sparta Prague lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
54 days out for Aleš Sukdolák after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sparta Prague will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
19 goals on loan for Jan Kuchta
24 appearances at Legia and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Prekop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sparta Prague are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Something was said to Andy Irving and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
“I watch every Sparta Prague game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kolos runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tobias Guddal, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Jaroslav Zelený has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Aleš Sukdolák breaks a bone — 62 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Andy Irving and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Prekop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
8 clean sheets on loan for Peter Vindahl
19 appearances at Sampdoria and the goals have stopped going in. Sparta Prague lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
70 days out for Aleš Sukdolák after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sparta Prague will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Andy Irving was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The step up is real for David Lášek
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kostić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
When it matters, Andy Irving plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Asger Sørensen, and the manager let it.
Market22 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with John Mercado’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sparta Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Mar 2027
Aleš Sukdolák breaks a bone — 78 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Andy Irving in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Prekop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Mar 2027
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sparta Prague, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Filip Panák has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
Peter Vindahl’s loan is measured in nothing happening
7 clean sheets from 17 appearances at Sampdoria. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
19 goals on loan for Jan Kuchta
24 appearances at Legia and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pavel Kadeřábek and Sparta Prague agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Prekop is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Sparta Prague are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market8 Mar 2027
Adam Ševínský returns from a loan that gave him nothing
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Jaroslav Zelený has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Loan watch8 Mar 2027
6 shut-outs in 16 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Peter Vindahl has been having a lot of them.
Market8 Mar 2027
The name of Ki-Jana Hoever keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Sparta Prague say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Mar 2027
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Sparta Prague can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
38 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market1 Mar 2027
A loan that did nothing for Adam Ševínský
4 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Sparta Prague no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market1 Mar 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Matěj Ryneš’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Sparta Prague would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Filip Panák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Prekop is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market22 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Kolos have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Josimar Alcócer. The answer from Sparta Prague has not changed — yet.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
When it matters, Andy Irving plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market22 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with John Mercado’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sparta Prague. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
The goals keep arriving from Garang Kuol’s exile
3 goals in 18 games at Jablonec — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sparta Prague updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Loan watch22 Feb 2027
6 appearances at Jablonec and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
Tobias Guddal knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sparta Prague, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
$850.0K was the most the club would pay and Jablonec were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Filip Panák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Prekop was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Viktoria Plzen to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sparta Prague and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Pavel Kadeřábek
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Filip Panák has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Sparta Prague would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
5 shut-outs in 13 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Peter Vindahl has been having a lot of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Feb 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Slovacko, and it could have been more.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Erik Prekop takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Erik Prekop provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
The goals keep arriving from Jan Kuchta’s exile
19 goals in 24 games at Legia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sparta Prague updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Slovan Liberec wanted more than $1.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Nobody could get near Amar Memić
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
John Mercado in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.27 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Andrej Kostić is the month’s best young player
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Sparta Prague will try not to make too much of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Jan 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Mlada Boleslav, and it could have been more.
Market1 Feb 2027
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Sparta Prague have paid $9.0M for Erik Prekop, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
No sign of nerves from Andrej Kostić at 20 — 7.91
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrej Kostić did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Sparta Prague close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The offer went to Slovan Liberec this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The offer went to Jablonec this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Sparta Prague asked and Sigma Olomouc said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Andy Irving and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Gornik Zabrze; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sparta Prague can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jan 2027
Slovacko come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sparta Prague did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
The goals keep arriving from Jan Kuchta’s exile
17 goals in 23 games at Legia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sparta Prague updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad25 Jan 2027
John Mercado and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Andy Irving falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
Matouš Trmal gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Market18 Jan 2027
The fee is $2.8M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Slovan Liberec drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Sparta Prague asked and Apollon said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market18 Jan 2027
The offer from Kashima Antlers for Matěj Mikulenka was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 Jan 2027
The fee is $1.4M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Banik Ostrava drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Filip Panák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch18 Jan 2027
22 appearances away from home and 15 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Banik Ostrava; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sparta Prague have done the hard part with Slovan Liberec, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
No sign of nerves from Andrej Kostić at 20 — 8.02
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Andrej Kostić did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from Ferencvaros for Jakub Surovčík was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Filip Panák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Loan watch11 Jan 2027
14 goals on loan for Jan Kuchta
21 appearances at Legia and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Andrej Kostić. 1‑0 against Jablonec, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jan 2027
Losing 0‑2 is one thing; losing to Slavia Prague in a derby is a wound that takes months to close.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Jan 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Sparta Prague have gone to Slovan Liberec with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sparta Prague may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The offer went to Banik Ostrava this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Match2 Jan 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Market4 Jan 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. John Mercado wants continental football; whether Sparta Prague can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 37. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match26 Dec 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Filip Panák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Andy Irving falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Sparta Prague will be judged on one thing only.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Pavel Kadeřábek
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Andy Irving has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Daniel Stanek after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad28 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and Amar Memić sits out. Sparta Prague lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Dec 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Pribram, and it could have been more.
Match19 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Sparta Prague do not lose
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Amar Memić
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Andy Irving in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 8.46 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.32, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kostić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Daniel Stanek could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Dec 2026
3‑0, and John Mercado took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sparta Prague tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Andrej Kostić, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
7.93, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Match12 Dec 2026
Whatever happens, Sparta Prague do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad14 Dec 2026
John Mercado in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Andy Irving falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I watch every Sparta Prague game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Viktoria Plzen runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.33 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
12 goals on loan for Jan Kuchta
17 appearances at Legia and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Amar Memić
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Andy Irving and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match5 Dec 2026
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sparta Prague, and 4 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
16 appearances away from home and 11 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Uchenna Aririerisim, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Andrej Kostić named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Andrej Kostić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Loïc Mbe Soh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Filip Panák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kostić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Pavel Kadeřábek
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Something was said to Filip Panák and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
7.25, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Sparta Prague had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Andy Irving has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Dukla Prague came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Nov 2026
1‑1 against Slovacko, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Jakub Surovčík decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Andrej Kostić, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Filip Panák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Andy Irving falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match21 Nov 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Matěj Ryneš’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sparta Prague.
The terraces23 Nov 2026
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matouš Trmal, and the manager let it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 8.59 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Matěj Ryneš at his very best
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Player ratings
From twelve yards, and Jhoanner Chávez misses
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Filip Panák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Surovčík, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Filip Panák gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Filip Panák is on it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Loïc Mbe Soh falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Andrej Kostić, 19, steals the show — 7.75
Marked 7.75 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Filip Panák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrej Kostić is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match9 Nov 2026
Position 9, 19 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sparta Prague, and 4 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Tobias Guddal
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
14 appearances at Legia and the goals keep coming. Sparta Prague are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Match7 Nov 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
John Mercado and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andy Irving is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Viktoria Plzen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Pavel Kadeřábek
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
A promise honoured for Filip Panák
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sparta Prague told Filip Panák something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Viktoria Plzen to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sparta Prague and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Andy Irving in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match24 Oct 2026
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Slovacko. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Match24 Oct 2026
Three points for Sparta Prague, 3‑2 the final word against Slovacko in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match24 Oct 2026
No time for Slovacko to settle
The goal that put Slovacko ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Sparta Prague equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Samuel Adegbenro falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Sparta Prague are still strangers to each other
14 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Andy Irving has become a man the manager trusts
-
The terraces
The glare is on Matouš Trmal
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Sparta Prague's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sparta Prague has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andy Irving and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Andrej Kostić falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Amar Memić runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Filip Panák has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Half-satisfied: Daniel Stanek on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Jaroslav Zelený
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Sparta Prague told Jhoanner Chávez something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
The goals keep arriving from Jan Kuchta’s exile
7 goals in 12 games at Legia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sparta Prague updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Filip Panák and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andy Irving was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Oct 2026
John Mercado scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Teplice, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Matouš Trmal gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Santiago Eneme-Bocari and Sparta Prague agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom12 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Jaroslav Zelený has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sparta Prague will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Oct 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Filip Panák in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sparta Prague this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Sparta Prague
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Andrej Kostić is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Sparta Prague will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pavel Kadeřábek, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Andrej Kostić named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Andrej Kostić is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Loïc Mbe Soh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Daniel Stanek after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Filip Panák was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Amar Memić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Sep 2026
Jablonec left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrej Kostić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ki-Jana Hoever ran the middle of the pitch — 6.95
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad28 Sep 2026
14 new faces, and Sparta Prague are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniel Stanek to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakub Surovčík, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Amar Memić
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Filip Panák and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andy Irving falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.31. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Uchenna Aririerisim, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
When it matters, Filip Panák plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Jaroslav Zelený
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match19 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Sparta Prague?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Slavia Prague? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Amar Memić runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Andy Irving and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matouš Trmal, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
Slavia Prague next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
Match12 Sep 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Bohemians 1905 scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Samuel Adegbenro falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.86 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Sparta Prague had the best player on the pitch.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daniel Stanek was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Sparta Prague dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Sep 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Pribram, and it could have been more.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Andrej Kostić takes the afternoon — 9.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrej Kostić provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Andy Irving takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andy Irving provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Sparta Prague until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Andy Irving was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Tobias Guddal
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 4‑1, already talking about the next one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Joao Grimaldo slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Joao Grimaldo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Amar Memić beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague asked and Seattle Sounders said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
John Mercado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Sparta Prague training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andy Irving is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Santiago Eneme-Bocari. 2‑0 against Jihlava, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of David Lášek
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes of Andy Irving at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sparta Prague.
Squad31 Aug 2026
14 new faces, and Sparta Prague are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
In brief
-
Squad
David Lášek has had enough of the bench
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
The dugout
Jaroslav Zelený dropped after a run of poor form
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 52. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Jihlava, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match19 Aug 2026
Ondřej Pavlík wins it after the whistle should have gone
103 minutes played. Ondřej Pavlík found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Jihlava went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Ondřej Pavlík, 20, steals the show — 7.85
Marked 7.85 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Matouš Trmal arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Matouš Trmal has, at Sparta Prague, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market24 Aug 2026
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Sparta Prague have paid $2.5M for Matouš Trmal, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.85, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague asked and Viktoria Plzen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Andy Irving and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Fee done, terms next for Matouš Trmal
Sparta Prague and Teplice have settled on $2.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market17 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague spend $4.8M to raise the standard
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $4.8M has been paid because Amar Memić is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Market17 Aug 2026
KV Oostende pay $3.9M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Teplice for Emmanuel Uchenna Aririerisim was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Patrik Blahút would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Patrik Blahút is living that version at Sparta Prague, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market17 Aug 2026
Business is business: Matyáš Vojta goes
Slovan Liberec paid $2.2M and Sparta Prague took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Andy Irving and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” David Lášek and Sparta Prague agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Fehervar had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague offered $5.2M; Viktoria Plzen said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague asked and Viktoria Plzen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Sparta Prague have done the hard part with Slovacko, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to Teplice this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Viktoria Plzen for Adam Ševínský was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andy Irving and Sparta Prague agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
John Mercado and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Matěj Ryneš and Sparta Prague agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Andy Irving was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Fehervar have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Josimar Alcócer. The answer from Sparta Prague has not changed — yet.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Matěj Ryneš
Still no offer on the table, and Matěj Ryneš’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sparta Prague are still strangers to each other
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Andy Irving asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Loïc Mbe Soh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Ondřej Pavlík
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Market
Sparta Prague bring in an old head