Full name | FK Baník Most 1909 |
---|---|
Founded | 1909 |
Ground |
Fotbalový stadion Josefa Masopusta, Most, Czech Republic |
Capacity | 7,500 |
Chairman | Milan Fric |
Manager | Stanislav Hofmann |
League | Bohemian Football League |
2014–15 | Czech 2. Liga, 15th (relegated) |
Website | Club home page |
FK Baník Most 1909 is a Czech football club based in the city of Most, approximately 75 kilometres north-west of Prague. The club played top-flight football for the first time in their history in the 2005–06 Czech First League.
The club's home stadium is Fotbalový stadion Josefa Masopusta, which was built in 1961. The opening match of the new stadium was played on 24 May 1961 against English side Liverpool F.C., which won against Most 4–1.
In 2011, Baník Most signed an agreement whereby Arsenal Česká Lípa would function as their farm team.
The club was founded on 19 May 1909, and there were very basic beginnings. Football activity in Most would be interrupted for significant periods of time during World War I and World War II, but even long thereafter, the quality of football in Most remained modest, as Most would play in the lower Czechoslovak leagues from the 1950s all the way through to the 1980s.
In the 1990s though, Most earned two promotions – first to the Bohemian Football League, the third-highest league in the country, then, in the 1996/97 season, to the Czech 2. Liga.
In the spring of 2003 the club was bought by Italian industrial gas company SIAD, and the Italian company's involvement sparked a modestly but increasingly successful new era for the club. The club took the name "FK SIAD Most" from the 2003/04 season.
By winning the 2. liga championship in the 2004/05 season, Most finally gained promotion to the Czech First League, for the 2005/06 season. Extensive reconstruction of the club's stadium – which included the installation of a new pitch, 7,500 seats, and floodlights – was completed in time for the club's first match in the top flight. After a slow start, manager Přemysl Bičovský was dismissed, making way for the arrival of Zdeněk Ščasný. Scasny – a highly regarded manager, who had previously been in charge of Czech clubs AC Sparta Prague and FK Viktoria Žižkov and Greek clubs OFI Crete and Panathinaikos FC – helped the club hold its position in the Czech First League, guiding the team to a respectable 10th place in the table.