Viktoria PlzeňFC Viktoria Plzeň is a club whose history is best told through its names. It was founded on 11 June 1911 as SK Viktoria Plzeň on the initiative of a railway official, Jaroslav Ausobský. Its first match, played that August in red shirts and dark blue shorts, ended in a 7–3 defeat to Olympia Plzeň. Red and blue remain the club's colours today. During the 20th century the team played under names that reflected the city's industrial history: Sokol Škoda Plzeň (1949), Sokol ZVIL Plzeň (1952, after the Lenin Works), Spartak Plzeň (1953) and TJ Škoda Plzeň (1965). It returned to its historic name in the early 1990s.
For its first 18 years the club was amateur, and in 1929 it decided to turn professional. In the following seasons it won its first promotion to the top division. In 1934/35 it finished fourth, which earned a place in the 1935 Mitropa Cup, then the most important European club competition. Against Juventus Viktoria drew 3–3 at home and lost 5–1 in Turin. The club later moved repeatedly between the divisions, and from 1972 to 1980, as Škoda Plzeň, it spent eight consecutive seasons in the top flight. Earlier, in 1971, it had won the Czech section of the Czechoslovak Cup and lost the nationwide final to Spartak Trnava 7–2 on aggregate. Because Trnava had also won the league, Plzeň entered the 1971/72 Cup Winners' Cup, where it went out in the first round to Bayern Munich (7–2 on aggregate).
A new chapter began in the 21st century. In 2005 local investors took over 100% of the club, and the Škoda company returned to the fold. Pavel Vrba was coach from 2008 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2019. On 18 May 2010 Viktoria won the Czech Cup final 2–1 against Jablonec, its first major trophy, and in 2010/11 it won its first national championship with 69 points to the 68 of Sparta Prague. Further titles followed in 2012/13, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2017/18 and 2021/22, six in total, along with two Czech Super Cups (2011, 2015). The club celebrated its centenary on 11 June 2011 in the courtyard of the Pilsner Urquell brewery, and in the anniversary poll in January 2012 Pavel Horváth was voted its greatest player of all time.
In Europe the club made its Champions League group-stage debut in 2011/12 after eliminating FC Copenhagen (5–2 on aggregate); it was drawn with Barcelona and Milan. The 2012/13 Europa League was especially memorable: Viktoria won its group ahead of the defending champions, Atlético Madrid, then beat Napoli 3–0 away and 2–0 at home in the round of 32. It was eliminated in the last 16 by Fenerbahçe. The club also reached the Champions League group stage in 2013/14, in 2018/19 (against Real Madrid, Roma and CSKA Moscow) and in 2022/23, when it faced Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Inter in the same group.
The club's most celebrated recent run came in the 2023/24 UEFA Europa Conference League. Viktoria became the first Czech team in European competition to win all six group matches, conceding only one goal, against Dinamo Zagreb, FC Astana and FC Ballkani. In the round of 16 it eliminated Switzerland's Servette, and in the quarter-finals it lost to Fiorentina after extra time. Supporters affectionately call the club "Viktorka."
The team plays its home matches at the Stadion města Plzně (the city stadium), rebuilt in 2011 and holding about 11,700 spectators. In 2017 beer-can-shaped substitutes' dugouts were installed there, a nod to the city's brewing tradition. Petr Čech, who started playing at the age of seven, and Pavel Nedvěd, the 2003 Ballon d'Or winner, both trained in the club's youth teams (then Škoda Plzeň). The club's record appearance holder is David Limberský (393 matches) and its top scorer is Daniel Kolář (66 goals).
