As Europe’s political, economic, and social hub for more than a millennia, Prague stands as a cultural city shrouded in years of history and different civilizations. It owes its historical past to the great Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy in the 20th century and the Kings of Bohemia who were part of the ancient Roman Empire.
As the capital city of Czech Republic, today, Prague celebrates itself as an important European city with an impressive city infrastructure including public transport system and its array of public universities and hi-tech scientific research centers. However, one area where Prague holds a key position is sport.
City of Prague
Prague, otherwise known as Praha, was founded approximately in year 880 AD by prince Bořivoj who belonged to the Premyslid dynasty. By the 10th century, Prague had become an important trading destination for many of Europe’s merchants including Jewish settlers. The city was well known for comprising of one of the most important slave markets during the time.
The city has been the home of many monarchies and kings which led to many infrastructure development projects to be built including cathedrals such as the Saint Vitus Cathedral by which time the city had become an archbishopric.
Prague and sport
Prague is the cornerstone of many sport activities, clubs, and national stadiums. The Strahav Stadium, for instance, is the largest sports stadium in the world. Although it is no longer used for sports events, it has housed a capacity of around 250,000 people and is now used to host pop and other music concerts.
Prague is known for having 5 football clubs, 2 ice-hockey clubs, and for hosting other sports events such as the Sparta Prague Open and Prague Open for tennis, ice-skating tournaments, and more.
Rugby
The city of Prague is famously known for its RC Slavia Prague rugby club. It was started in the late 1920’s and has since emerged as an iconic club winning 5 out of the first 6 Czechoslovak Championships and winning an impressive 12 Championship trophies up to date.
As the oldest rugby club of the country, the RC Slavia club now has its own ground known as the ‘Prague’s Eden Park’. The club also offers training sessions for adults. The training season runs between March and November excluding July and another runs between December and March.
Czech Republic has also qualified for the upcoming 2015 Rugby World Cup. For those interested in viewing league and international rugby matches, visit the ticket site for further details.
