Extreme Football Tourism: CZECHIA: Sokol Drnovice (1955-1961) / TJ Drnovice (1961-1989) / TJ JZD Drnovice (1989-1990) / TJ Agro Drnovice (1990-1991) / FC Drnovice (1991-2000) / FK Drnovice (2000-2003) / 1. FK Drnovice (2003-2007) / 1. FKD (2007-) / MFK Vyškov (2021-)

Sportovní Areál, Drnovice Vyškov District (1. FKD & MFK Vyškov, formerly Sokol Drnovice / TJ Drnovice / TJ JZD Drnovice / TJ Agro Drnovice / FC Drnovice / FK Drnovice / 1. FK Drnovice)

Czechia, region: South Moravia

12 VIII 2024 / MFK Vyškov - SK Slavia Praha B 1-0 / National Football League (= CZE level 2)

Timeline

1932 / In Drnovice, a village of some 2,000 inhabitants situated 2km to the west of Vyškov in Moravia, a football club is founded, ČSS (Česka Sportovni Společnost) Drnovice.
1933 / One year after the club’s foundation, ČSS Drnovice settles on a pitch at Staré Luh.
1947 / Abandoning the pitch at Staré Luh, ČSS Drnovice settles on a newly laid-out playing field in Drnovice’s castle gardens – the location of the modern-day stadium.
1948 / As the Sokol movement takes over ČSS Drnovice, the club is renamed Sokol Drnovice.
1955 / As the playing field in the castle gardens is given a quarter’s turn, giving it its current position, the new ground – officially known as the Sportovní Areál from that time onwards – is officially inaugurated on September 4th, 1955. In the following years, the facilities are gradually upgraded with the addition of an athletics track and a small stand.
1961 / Sokol Drnovice changes its name to become TJ (Tělovýchovná Jednota) Drnovice.
1970 / A new main stand is constructed, while the renovation also involves the facilities being extended with pitches for other sports, including tennis and volleyball.
1977 / Never having managed any important results in the first forty odd years of its existence, TJ Drnovice now wins the title in the Vyškov District League, the seventh level of Czechoslovakia’s football pyramid, thus acceding to the 1B Division of the South Moravian League, the sixth tier – though, due to a reorganisation of the football pyramid, becoming the seventh tier from 1981 onwards.
1982 / Former club player Jan Gottvald, now a local entrepreneur, takes over TJ Drnovice with the ambition of taking his club up the leagues.
1983 / Winning the title in the II. Division of the South Moravian League, TJ Drnovice accedes to the II. Division of the South Moravian Regional Competition, i.e. the sixth level of the football pyramid.
1985 / Winning the title in the II. Division of the South Moravian Regional Competition, TJ Drnovice accedes to the I. Division of the South Moravian Regional Competition, the fifth level of Czechoslovakia’s football pyramid.
1986 / Winning the title in the I. Division of the South Moravian Regional Competition, finishing 7 points ahead of closest followers TJ Spartak Hulín, TJ Drnovice accedes to the “Divize”, the fourth and lowest tier of Czechoslovakia’s national divisions, for the first time in club history.
1987 / Winning the title in Group D of the Divize, with an equal number of points as runners-up TJ Baník 1. Máj Karvina, but with a better goal difference (+40 vs. +29), TJ Drnovice wins promotion to the Second Czech National Football League, the third level of the national football pyramid.
1989 / TJ Drnovice changes its name to become TJ JZD (Jednotné Zemědělské Družstvo) Drnovice; JZD was the name of Czechoslovakia’s collective farms during the communist period – probably the name change was due to an early form of sponsorship in the twilight era around the fall of the communist regime.
1990 / TJ JZD Drnovice clinches the title in Group B of the Second Czech National Football League, 2 points ahead of closest rivals TJ TŽ Třinec; as such, the club accedes to the First Czech National Football League, the antechamber of the national football pyramid. For the new season, TJ JZD Drnovice changes its name to become TJ Agro Drnovice, probably because JZD changed its name to Agro after the liberalisation of the economic system in Czechoslovakia.
1991 / In its first season in the First Czech National Football League, FC Agro Drnovice narrowly staves off relegation, finishing 1 point above TJ Sklo Union Teplice and the relegation zone. For the 1991-92 season, a new sponsor takes over, with the club name changing to FC Gera Drnovice.
1993 / In the year of Slovak independence and the break-up of Czechoslovakia, FC Gera Drnovice finishes in second place in the Czech National Football League, enough to be placed in the 1. Liga, the new top division of the new Czech football pyramid – along with five other clubs: champions FK Viktoria Žižkov, as well as FC Viktoria Plzeň, SKP Union Cheb, TJ Slovan Liberec, and FC Zlín. This historic promotion sees FC Drnovice acceding to the top of the football pyramid for the first time in club history. That summer, building works get underway on a new, much larger main stand (the current West or A Stand), as the club seeks to give its ground the allure fitting its newly won status. As bicycle manufacturer Olpran takes over from Gera as Drnovice’s sponsor for the 1993-94 season, the club officially changes its name to become FC Olpran Drnovice. Under this new name, the club makes its debut in the 1. Liga with a 2-1 home win over FC Union Cheb attended by 4,000 spectators. In the following seasons, FC Drnovice holds its own rather comfortably in the 1. Liga, with sixth and fifth place finishes in 1995 and 1996 as first highlights.
1994 / In one of the most controversial events in Czech football of the decade, FC Drnovice players Milan Poštulka and Rostislav Prokop are banned from playing football for two seasons after failing a drug test in the early months of 1994. As it turns out later, the forbidden substances were added to caramel sweets given to the players by FC Drnovice’s trainer Jindřich Dejmal, who is sacked subsequently and replaced by future Czech national trainer Karel Brückner. That same year, as Jan Gottvald sells FC Olpran Drnovice to chemical company Chemapol, the club name is adapted to become FC Petra Drnovice – with Petra being a reference to oil, one of the products sold by Chemapol. Nonetheless, Gottvald, who becomes vice-chairman of Czechia’s Football Association, holds a stake in his club. In the following years, Chemapol prioritises the enlargement of the Sportovní Areál, with the completion of the new main stand being accomplished before the end of 1994.
1995 / Karel Brückner leaves FC Drnovice for ASK Inter Slovnaft Bratislava in January 1995. Meanwhile, FC Drnovice’s striker Radek Drulak, purchased from Chemnitzer FC the previous year, crowns himself top scorer of the 1. Liga (15 goals) as well as becoming FC Drnovice’s first-ever player to win a cap for the Czech national team. Drulak, who does even better in the following season, scoring an impressive 22 goals, leaves the club to join FC Linz in 1996.
1996 / For the first time in club history, FC Drnovice reaches the Czech Cup final, held at Stadion Evžena Rošického (Strahov) in Prague, being defeated on the day by AC Sparta Praha (4-0) in a match attended by 7,814 spectators. Also in 1996, the East or B stand is inaugurated at the Sportovní Areál.
1997 / Former Czechoslovak international defender Ján Kocian, who was part of his country’s squad for the 1990 World Cup, takes over as FC Drnovice’s manager, staying with the club for the 1997-98 season only. Also in 1997, seats are added to the East Stand as well as to the uncovered, lower parts of the West Stand, with total capacity of the ground now being 8,000.
1998 / FC Drnovice reaches the Czech Cup final for the second time. As two years previously, the final is held at the Stadion Evžena Rošického (Strahov) in Prague, with 8,285 spectators witnessing the club suffering defeat at the hands of FK Jablonec (2-1 A.E.T.). Also in 1998, Jan Gottvald leaves the club altogether following a conflict with Chemapol’s CEO.
1999 / As Czechia’s organises the European U16 Championships, the Sportovní Areál hosts two matches, including one of the semi-finals. That same year, the stadium also hosts an international friendly between the national sides of Czechia and Switzerland (3-0). Also in 1999, FC Drnovice signs Slovak international Vladimír Kinder from Middlesbrough FC; Kinder would stay with the club for no longer than one season, leaving for FC Artmedia Petržalka in his native country the following summer.
2000 / In the best season in club history, FC Petra Drnovice, finishes in third place in the 1. Liga, with just the two traditional top teams from the capital, AC Sparta Praha and AC Slavia Praha, finishing ahead of the village club. As such, FC Drnovice, coached by Karel Večeřa, qualifies for the UEFA Cup for the first and only time in the club’s existence. In the summer of 2000, one year after the bankruptcy of the club’s main sponsor Chemapol, the club is sold to the Perspol company, owned by former Czech tennis player Tomáš Petera, who cedes the club to Jan Gottvald several months later. In the summer of 2000, FC Drnovice officially drops the element ‘Petra’ from its name, becoming FK (Fotbalový Klub) Drnovice – thereby taking on a name without a reference to a sponsor for the first time in eleven years. Under this new name, the club survives the UEFA Cup’s qualifying round, defeating Bosnia’s FK Budućnost Banovići (4-0 aggr.), before being eliminated in R1 by TSV 1860 München (1-0 aggr.).
2001 / With the club having run into financial problems after sponsor Chemapol fell away, chairman and owner Jan Gottvald sees no other option but to sell his club to the Corimex company in March 2001, leaving the club altogether in October of the same year. Incredibly, given the club’s financial situation, the terraces behind both goals are equipped with seats that same year, bringing total ground capacity down from 8,000 to 7,000. Also in 2001, Czechia’s national team plays a match in Drnovice for the second and last time, defeating South Korea in an international friendly (5-0).
2002 / In February 2002, Jan Gottvald is condemned to a prison sentence for financial fraud and other white-collar crimes in his capacity as strongman of ‘his’ football club. Meanwhile, on the pitch, FK Drnovice finishes in second-last place in the 1. Liga, thus dropping back into the 2. Liga along with bottom club SFC Opava. The relegation became all but unavoidable following the sale of nine (!) players to FK Přibram in the closing stages of the season in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. Due to financial problems and the alleged fraud in the exchange of players by club officials, however, the club is retrograded one extra division, thus finding itself in the Moravian-Silesian Football League, i.e. the third tier of Czech football, after nine consecutive seasons in the top flight. Around that same time, the terrace on the southern side of the stadium must have been removed to enable an enlargement of the pitch to be in conformity with new UEFA rules; also, around that same time, the seats added to the northern terrace, added only in 2001, are removed.
2003 / In February 2003, FK Drnovice is purchased by a local company, Garimondi, which cedes the club to Jan Gottvald, who is set free on a bail of 20 million Czech crowns. Following this, the club adapts its name to become 1. FK Drnovice in the second half of the 2002-03 season. Under that new name, the club clinches the title in the Moravian-Silesian Football League, 9 points ahead of closest rivals FC Baník Ostrava B, thus winning promotion to the 2. Liga.
2004 / Runners-up in the 2. Liga, 1 point behind champions FK Mladá Boleslav, 1. FK Drnovice manages its second promotion in a row, thus returning to the 1. Liga after an absence of just two seasons. Jan Gottvald sells his club to Swiss company Sunstone.
2005 / As Sunstone fails to find partners to help funding top division football in Drnovice, the company sells the club back to Jan Gottvald and his son Robert for 10 million Czech crowns. In spite of finishing in a safe eighth place in the 1. Liga, 1. FK Drnovice is retrograded to the 2. Liga due to financial problems, following which Jan Gottvald takes the decision not to apply for a 1. Liga licence.
2006 / In January 2006, all players of 1. FK Drnovice’s first team go on strike after not having received their wages from July of the preceding year onwards. The club finishes the season in fourteenth place in the 2. Liga, with an equal number of points as number 15 AC Sparta Praha B, but with the goal difference saving the club from relegation. However, due to ongoing financial problems, the club ceases all activities, being removed from the football pyramid altogether for the 2006-07 season.
2007 / One year after the demise of 1. FK Drnovice, a phoenix club is founded by a group of former supporters. This grassroots club, 1. FKD, starts its life at the lowest non-league level, in the IV. Division of the Vyškov District League, i.e. the tenth division of Czechia’s football pyramid, winning three consecutive promotions in its first three seasons before the onslaught comes to a halt.
2017 / One year after the stadium comes into private hands following an auction, the Sportovní Areál is purchased by Vyškov’s town council. Also, some time between 2004 and 2017, the seats on the Eastern Stand must have been removed, turning it into a terrace – and making the West Stand the only part of the ground with seats. Due to safety regulations, total ground capacity has been brought down to 4,500.
2021 / In the 2020-21 season, cut short in the fall of 2021 due to the second COVID lockdown, MFK (Městsky Futbalový Klub) Vyškov from nearby Vyškov manages the highest point average in the Moravian-Silesian Football League. Being given the opportunity to be placed in the 2. Liga for the new season by the Czech FA, the club accepts the offer – thus acceding to the second level of Czechia’s football pyramid for the first time in club history. To to Vyškov’s municipal stadium Za Parkem (capacity 3,000) not meeting the licence conditions for the 2. Liga, the club moves into a groundshare with non-leaguers 1. FKD at the Sportovní Areál for the new season.
2023 / Runners-up in the 2. Liga, 4 points behind champions MFK Karviná, MFK Vyškov qualifies for a promotion play-off against FC Zlín, the club which finished second from bottom in the 1. Liga – but it loses the tie 1-0 (aggr.). That same year, MFK Vyškov’s owner, Cameroonian entrepreneur Kingsley Pungong of the Rainbow World Group, who had been at the helm of the club from 2014 onwards, sells the club to American investment company Blue Crow Group.
2024 / In a repeat of the events of the previous season, MFK Vyškov finishes in fourth place in the 2. Liga, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, in which it is defeated by 1. Liga club MFK Karviná (2-0 aggr.).