SK Sigma Olomouc is a Czech professional football club based in the city of Olomouc. The club currently competes in the Czech First League, the first tier of Czech football. The club played in the first tier league for 30 years between 1984 and 2014, winning the Czech Cup and Czech Supercup in 2012. Being relegated to the Czech National Football League in 2014, the club won the league the subsequent season and were promoted back to the First League in 2015, but failed to stay in the top division and were relegated after only one season.
The club was founded as FK Hejčín Olomouc in 1919, playing in the national top league for the first time in the 1982–83 season as Sigma ZTS Olomouc.[1] The club next played in the Czechoslovak First League in the 1984–85 season, remaining in the top level of football for the rest of the Czechoslovak era.[1] Olomouc reached the quarterfinals of the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, their best result in the competition.[1] In the following season's competition, the club beat Turkish side Fenerbahçe 7–1 in the second leg of their second round tie and 7–2 on aggregate,[2] before going out of the competition at the hands of Italian team Juventus.
The club qualified to play European football in 1996 after finishing as runners-up in the 1995–96 Czech First League.[3]
Olomouc finished fourth in the 1998–99 Czech First League, again qualifying for European competition.[4] The club was fined 5,000 Swiss francs in October 1999 for racist chanting in a UEFA Cup match against Real Mallorca's black players.[5]
In August 2011, the club was fined 4 million Czech koruna and deducted nine points as a result of a corruption enquiry by the Football Association of the Czech Republic.[6] Olomouc won the Czech Cup that season, but were banned by UEFA from competing in the subsequent UEFA Europa League due to the corruption sanctions.[6] In 2014 the club finished 15th in the league, resulting in their relegation after 30 years in the top level of competition.[7]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
^ abcJeřábek, Luboš (2007). Český a československý fotbal – lexikon osobností a klubů (in Czech). Prague, Czech Republic: Grada Publishing. pp. 141–142. ISBN978-80-247-1656-5.
^Biddle, Steve (10 November 1992). "Sparta a Real Threat". Prague Post. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
^ abCrane, Jonathan; Kamide, Joey (26 September 2012). "Trouble brewing". Prague Post. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
Martin Vaniak
