FC DAC 1904
The club from the tiny
Hungarian-speaking town of
Dunajska Streda were promoted to the
top flight in 2013 after winning 2.Liga.FC NITRA
Founded in 1909 and one of
Slovakia’s oldest clubs, but their
best performance to date was third place
in 2008. Controlled by a security company
run by local oligarch Miroslav Bodor.MFK RUZOMBEROK
Won their first league title in- Their majority shareholder,
Milan Fil’o, is said to be one of the richest
people in Slovakia.
FK SENICA
Founded in 1921 but have never
won a major trophy and attract
crowds of less than 800. Struggling this
season, owner Vladimir Levarsky wants
to sell.SKF SERED
After 104 years, the club won its
first major honour in 2018, taking
the second-tier title. The club is owned by
Robert Starecek.SK SLOVAN BRATISLAVA
Slovak’s biggest and most
successful club, founded in 1919
they have a turnover of €9.1m a year and
have been champions 12 times.FC SPARTAK TRNAVA
League winners last season,
Slovakia’s second-best supported
club average 6,700 fans but owner
Vladimir Poor has never enjoyed much
rapport and after 25 years in charge he
has put the club up for sale.AS TRENCIN
Owned since 2007 by former
Holland international Tschen La
Ling. Double winners in 2015 and 2016,
they are the only Super Liga club with an
outside sponsor.FK ZELEZIARNE PODBREZOVA
Famed for their youth programme
and owned by Vladimir Sotak,
who runs the local steel company. With
attendances below 1,000 they have the
league’s smallest playing budget.MFK ZEMPLIN MICHALOVCE
Sole representatives from the
east, they were promoted as
second division winners in 2015. Owner
is construction magnate Jan Sabol.MSK ZILINA
Winners of seven titles, most
recently in 2017, and owned
by one of Slovakia’s richest men, Jozef
Antosik. Second-biggest club in financial
terms with annual turnover of €8.1m.FC ZLATE MORAVCE
Slovak Cup winners in 2007 and
owned by construction magnate
Viliam Ondrejka, but weak in financial
terms with a turnover of just €785,000.SLOVAKIAa Kmotrik company
- Petrzalka reached
the group stage of the
Champions League in
2005-06, but when
the club’s ground was sold
and demolished in 2012 they were
left homeless and so folded. Inter were
also left without a home and collapsed
after Kmotrik bought their old ground as
a temporary base for Slovan, who played
there until the end of last year, when they
moved into the new national stadium.
The collapse of Inter, Petrzalka and
Kosice from Slovakia’s second-biggest
city has left a vacuum and those bigger
clubs have been replaced by small teams
with tiny grounds and very few fans.
“We have a few small clubs that are
like a village and every season there is a
problem as they don’t have the money,”
says players’ union president Jan Mucha.
“Slovak football is all about the owners. If
they don’t want to pay,
they don’t pay.”
Mucha sought to
counter this by setting up
a union a few years ago,
and the owners clubbed together to sell
TV rights collectively for around € 1
million a season.
Unlike many countries, the Super Liga
owners all get on and Slovan’s owner
even has a box at the DAC stadium.
When the first phase opened, Vilagi’s
guests included Kmotrick, Spartak
Trvnava owner Vladimir Poor, the former
state president Ivan Gasparovic – and
Viktor Orban.
While the emphasis on DAC’s
Hungarian roots meets some opposition,
the Super Liga needs its best attended
club more than ever. Vilagi knows that.
And so does Viktor Orban as he seeks to
expand his sphere of influence past
Hungary’s borders.SUPER LIGA 2018-19
Changing... (top)
DAC’s new dressing
room; (above)
Slovan’s old ground