Banik Ostrava
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| Full name | Football Club Baník Ostrava, a.s. |
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| Nickname(s) | Baníček |
| Founded | 1922, as SK Slezská Ostrava |
| Ground | Městský stadion, Ostrava |
| Capacity | 15 123 |
| Chairman | Václav Brabec |
| Manager | Vlastimil Petržela |
| League | Czech National Football League |
| 2015–16 | First League, 16th (relegated) |
| Website | Club home page |
FC Baník Ostrava is a football club from the Silesian part of the city of Ostrava, Czech Republic. It is based in Slezská Ostrava district of the city.
Founded in 1922 as SK Slezská Ostrava, Baník has won numerous national and international trophies. The home stadium is Bazaly, and club colours are blue and white. Baník's greatest national rivals are Sparta Prague. Regionally, Silesian neighbours SFC Opava were at one time their rivals in the local derby. However, with the relegation of SFC Opava from the Czech First League in 2005, the rivalry is not what it once was.
The club was founded on 8 September 1922 as SK Slezská Ostrava, when 20 activists signed the establishment treaty in the U Dubu restaurant. The signatories were mostly poor coal miners from the Kamenec coal mining settlement in Ostrava. The organizers of the founding were Karel Aniol, Arnošt Haberkiewicz, Petr Křižák, František Mruzek and Jaroslav Horák. The club was officially registered on 14 October 1922. Karel Aniol became the club's first president. First jerseys of SK Slezská Ostrava were red-white striped. Since April 1923, however the club played with white jerseys and blue shorts. These colours were used since then. The first match ever occurred on 4 March 1923, when SK Slezská Ostrava faced reserve team of famous local side Slovan Ostrava.
SK Slezská Ostrava was a poor club, raising money for functioning of the club was a common concern. It had no own playing field and was forced to loan fields from wealthier clubs. The first own field was built in autumn of 1925 at Kamenec. It was however stony and did not meet requirements of the football officials. In 1934 club activists succeeded in renting the land at Stará střelnice from regional wealthy industrialist Count Wilczek. During the summer of 1934 a new field was built there. Many workers volunteered to help with the construction for free. Workers and coal miners often came directly from shifts to build the field.
SK Slezská Ostrava began to compete with other teams in the league system in spring of 1923. It started in the lowest division (III. třída župy) and was promoted to higher division the same year. It took however some time for the club the appear in the highest divisions of football in Czechoslovakia. In 1934 the club won the promotion to the Moravian-Silesian Division, one of the highest leagues in the country. The promotion made SK Slezská Ostrava a popular team in the city and the public interest was rising. The 1935 derby against Slovan Ostrava was watched at Stará střelnice by 5,400 spectators.
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