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ArseWeb presents: Arsenal vs Sparta_Prague
- Official site with English version but no news at all (in English) beyond results
- PraguePost:
is a Prague-based, English-language newspaper, which
has local news that is of interest to an English-speaking audience. It's
updated every Thursday on the web. It also carries restaurant
and bar listings as well as a "what's on" guide. Thanks to ArseWeb reader and Praguophile Ben Frost for this link, and the next...
- Globopolis a travel guide website with an excellent section on
Prague. It lists what's on in the city, and some good places to enjoy the
wondrous Czech beer.
Total record
The only time that Arsenal played Sparta Prague prior to the Champions League of 2000-2001 was
a friendly in 1946 (which ended 2-2).
12/09/2000 AWAY W 1 - 0 (Champions League 1st group stage)
25/10/2000 HOME W 4 - 2 (Champions League 1st group stage)
18/10/2005 AWAY (Champs League group stage)
02/12/2005 HOME (Champs League group stage)
Sparta_Prague Info
- Sparta have something of a problem with a right-wing hooligan
faction, to such an extent that a lot of decent Prague citizens
won't go to the matches anymore. There are websites glorifying
the violence, including one with a gallery of pictures from
Copenhagen - but not of the match.
- The following courtesy of Ben Frost, August 2000
Sparta's stadium, the Letna stadium, is the best in the Czech Republic. It
seats around 25,000, and as well as being used for all of Sparta's games, it is
also used for Czech Republic internationals. Sparta Prague is more than just a
football club - they are also national ice-hockey champions, and they have teams
which play numerous other sports as well - most of their teams are national
champions or thereabouts (imagine if Manchester United were rugby and cricket
champions as well - nightmare!!). Most of the "other" Sparta Prague teams play
behind the football stadium on the same complex. The Letna stadium is a curious
one - it partly resembles some of the new grounds that have recently appeared in
England, with 4 near-identical stands. The seating in much of the stadium is
like some Italian grounds - in that it is like a steep terrace with backless
seats tacked on.
Prague is currently gearing up to host the IMF/World Bank conference between
September 19th and 28th - the city is bracing itself for an influx of delegates,
and also for some 20,000 to 50,000 anti-capitalist protesters. Hopefully, when
Arsenal are in town this will not have reached full-swing, as it will obviously
mean that flights and accomodation are hard to come by. However, the Czech
police have just been put through a crash course in crowd control and riot
training in preparation - let's hope that they're not too keen to try out their
new "skills".
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